Chapter 4

Chapter Four

H e was standing dangerously close to Kira. Dangerous, because she looked like she might strangle him. Dangerous, because he had the sudden urge to pull her closer. Which was insane. You wouldn’t try to snuggle with a feral cat, and tugging Kira into his arms right now would amount to the same thing.

Her cheeks had turned pinker the angrier she got with him and at this point were downright rosy. She blew out a breath, fluttering the bangs away from her forehead. He hadn’t had a chance to notice just how beautiful she was the other day when she was clearly upset and wrapped in an old blanket, but today … today he was noticing. But he should stop noticing, because noticing would do absolutely no good. Not only was she incredibly not interested in him noticing, but he had very specifically sworn off beautiful women. Not to mention he was only here temporarily.

There were endless reasons why he should step back, why he should stop holding her fiery gaze, why he should walk right the hell out of here.

But Kira was right. He got off on fixing things. He should have kept his mouth shut about this tree-farm shack, about lots of things he’d said to Kira since he met her.

Except now, looking at her bundled into her new coat with its faux-fur-trimmed hood, like she was ready for an arctic expedition, he found himself opening his mouth again.

‘How’s the main house?’

She narrowed her eyes at him like he had nefarious motives for asking. ‘It’s fine.’

‘You sure?’

Her internal struggle on how to answer was written clearly across her face. She didn’t want to ask him for help, obviously. But that house was at least a hundred years old and had been vacant for the past three, according to Logan. There was no way things were running perfectly in there.

Not that it was any of his business if they were or not. He could just leave. He could tell his sister and her crazy neighbors that he’d found nothing, that he wasn’t going back, that he had work to do. He could walk away and leave Kira here with her new farm and her wide eyes and her lack of customers.

But what he wouldn’t be able to do was to stop thinking about how she might be unsafe in that house. The town was worried about her encountering some mythical dead body, but what they should be worried about was carbon monoxide poisoning. Or a gas leak. Or faulty wiring.

So, yeah, he wanted to fix a few things for her. If she let him.

Was that so wrong?

Kira blew out a long dramatic sigh. ‘I guess if you really wanted to, you could maybe look at the boiler for me. I don’t seem to be getting much heat. So, I mean … if it would be fun for you…’

‘I’ll check it out.’

She might have been rolling her eyes at him, but he had already turned around and walked out of the cabin. His dogs were waiting for him. Pudgie had dozed off under a tree, Odie immediately started yapping at the sight of him and Elizabeth loped loyally to his side.

‘Come on,’ he said, and Elizabeth and Odie followed, the big dog at his hip and the little one scurrying around his feet. He turned around to see Kira scooping Pudgie up and carrying her in her arms. She whispered something in the old dog’s ear. He decided it was best to ignore what seeing her snuggle his favorite dog did to him, turning his insides soft and achy. It was just the sort of thing to have him renovating her entire house by the end of the week.

He shook his head and trudged toward the main house. He was just going to make sure it was livable and then he really would stay away from this farm and this woman who wasn’t even remotely interested in him and he didn’t need in his life anyway. Regardless of how his dogs felt about her. They also ate trash so they didn’t exactly have discerning tastes.

The house was an old Victorian with a big wraparound porch. It looked like a dilapidated version of a doll’s house Jeanie used to have when they were kids. He climbed the front steps, promising himself that he was just being neighborly. He would have insisted on helping even if Kira had been an old man, or a nun, or anyone, really. Although maybe he wouldn’t have been quite as eager about it.

‘Stay,’ he told the dogs, but Kira huffed behind him.

‘They can come in.’ She cuddled Pudgie closer. ‘We can’t just leave the poor babies outside,’ she crooned.

‘Right. Of course.’ He opened the door, and Elizabeth and Odie raced inside.

Kira laughed and he added the throaty sound of it to the things he was ignoring.

The temperature in the house wasn’t much better than outside. No wonder this woman had taken to wearing comforters.

‘Kira, it’s freezing in here.’

She put Pudgie gently on the sofa and tucked a fleece blanket around her. He would swear the dog grinned at him.

‘I know. That’s what I said.’

‘You didn’t. You said you weren’t getting much heat. I don’t think you’re getting any.’

She shrugged. ‘Semantics.’

‘Kira.’

‘What?’

‘You can’t live here like this.’

Her mouth set in a firm line. He was about to get kicked out on his ass if he didn’t scale down the protective vibe.

‘I can and I do and I’m fine.’ She spun on her heel and marched off toward what he assumed was the kitchen in the back of the house. ‘The boiler is in the basement if you want to look at it.’ She gestured to a door under the main staircase. ‘Otherwise you can feel free to get the hell out.’

She didn’t look back, just left him standing in her entryway hall feeling like an asshole for wanting to help her. He should go, clearly. He had things to do other than be abused by irrationally angry Christmas-tree farm owners: things like his actual job. But … but it really was freezing in here and he said he would take a look and, damn it, he couldn’t just leave her here like this.

The radiator in the hall clanged like someone was hammering the pipes and then hissed like an angry cat. He took that as a sign. He would just take a quick look. Besides, his dogs were gone; Elizabeth and Odie had totally abandoned him to follow Kira, and Pudgie snored loudly from the couch.

Might as well take a look.

* * *

He found Kira an hour later in the kitchen nursing a cup of coffee with all three dogs curled up at her feet. He ignored this cozy picture of domestic bliss and instead launched into his findings.

‘You need a new boiler.’

Kira raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow. ‘No kidding.’

Bennett sighed and ran a hand down his face in frustration. Why was she making this so difficult?

‘Nothing is leaking at the moment, so I think the only real danger is if the pipes freeze. You’re getting a little heat coming through, but I don’t know if it’s enough to keep water flowing.’

Kira’s brow furrowed. ‘Okay, thank you.’

No snarky comment.

‘Okay, so you’ll get a new boiler?’

‘As soon as I have money for a new boiler, I will get one.’

He swallowed the urge to offer to pay for a new boiler. That would be too much even for him. But still he hated the idea of Kira cold and alone in this house.

‘Maybe in the meantime you could have someone come out and get the fireplace operational. You could heat at least some of the house with that until you get the boiler.’

‘Why do you care?’ She placed her mug down on the table and leaned back in her chair to study him. She was wearing at least two bulky sweaters and fingerless gloves. Inside. She was cold and he hated it.

He shifted on his feet. ‘You said it, I’m a fixer.’

‘Hmm. Well, I’m not a damsel in distress.’

‘I never said you were.’

She quirked an eyebrow. ‘So, you do this with everyone? This helpful boy-scout thing?’

‘I was never a Boy Scout.’

Her lips pulled up in the corner, an almost smile.

‘Well, thank you. Thank you for checking the boiler. And for the suggestion about the fireplace.’

‘Of course.’

‘There’s fresh coffee, if you want some.’

He should get back to work, but he’d already missed the whole morning. Passing on coffee at this point seemed silly. Especially if Kira was actually offering it to him instead of biting his head off.

‘Sure, thanks.’’

Kira gestured to the coffee maker. ‘Help yourself. The mugs are in that cabinet.’

The house might be old, but Kira’s small appliances were top of the line, and her mugs were all matching earthy tones lined up with their handles pointed in the same direction. He had to admit it was all very visually appealing. And it made him wonder about her even more.

‘How did you end up here?’ he asked, bringing his mug over to the table.

She shifted in her seat, a small frown crossing her face.

‘Sorry. We don’t have to talk about it.’

‘No, it’s fine. Just not a terribly flattering story.’

‘Oh?’ he said, not able to help his teasing smile. ‘Now I really want to hear it.’

Kira rolled her eyes, but Bennett had a feeling it was more at herself than at him. ‘I was over-influenced by influencers.’

‘What does that even mean?’

‘I thought I could do this…’ She waved her hand around, in a gesture that encompassed everything from the house to the farm outside. ‘All this. I thought I could buy an old farmhouse and have a garden and make pickles…’

‘Pickles?’

‘Yeah, like pickle all kinds of vegetables and line them up in neat little jars and I could just, I don’t know, do something for myself for once. By myself for once.’

He nodded slowly, not really sure what the hell to make of any of that, but she was talking to him and he liked it. He didn’t want to say something that would make her stop.

‘And I don’t know. Clearly, I screwed up. And now I’m here in this big, old house with this farm I never intended on having.’

He wanted to ask how that would happen. How do you end up buying a farm without knowing but he knew better than to say that out loud.

‘I’ve never been very … practical. That was Chloe’s thing.’

‘Chloe?’

‘My twin. She’s gone.’

‘Oh, God. I’m so sorry.’

Kira’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, no, I’m sorry! She’s not dead. She’s in Denmark.’

Bennett blew out a long breath. Jesus, he’d thought he’d dredged up memories of her dead twin.

‘She’s in Denmark with her new husband.’ Kira made a face at that as though this new husband was something foul. ‘And I’m here alone.’

Alone. And cold.

She shrugged and gave a self-deprecating laugh. ‘I couldn’t even survive one day of being open without needing you to rush in and help me.’

‘I didn’t actually do anything.’

‘Well, that’s true.’

He laughed and her smile grew, warming him up even in this drafty house. ‘How about I call my dad later and see if he has any tips about these old radiators?’

A sharp shake of her head sent her hair cascading over her shoulders. ‘You don’t have to do that.’

‘Consider it a favor to me,’ he said, leaning toward her across the table, just a little, just enough to watch her blush spread. ‘It gets me off, remember?’

She sputtered. ‘I never should have said that.’

‘You were right. I like it. I like feeling … useful.’

Her lips twitched somewhere between a smile and a scowl.

‘Okay, fine. But that’s it.’

‘Deal.’

She eyed him over the rim of her coffee mug, and he found he had more questions after this little chat than he’d had before they started.

‘I should go,’ he said, standing before he could do any more, offer any more. He needed to go before he did something crazy, like suggest he wrap Kira in his arms to warm her up. A pointless daydream.

‘Sure. Thanks again.’

There was just one more thing, because Bennett still wasn’t smart about women, despite his best efforts. ‘Will I see you at the tree lighting?’

Kira scrunched up her face like a child being forced to eat their vegetables. ‘I guess so.’

He chuckled. ‘It might be fun.’

‘Crazier things have happened.’

As he rounded up his dogs and headed out, Bennett refused to think of all the crazier things he’d like to happen with the prickly and intriguing Kira North.