“Of course I like her. I—”
“No, are you attracted to her?”
Archer appeared startled. “She’s beautiful, but she’s not my type. She definitely needs more than I could be comfortable giving.”
Doc frowned slightly “She may not be a Little.”
He couldn’t really believe he was considering this. He barely knew her. He’d met her yesterday and he was talking about feeling something for her.
Him. The guy who had hidden himself away in the middle of nowhere, so he barely had to deal with people.
Even though he had a deep need to take care of others. Something that even playing doctor to everyone living on the ranch wasn’t fulfilling.
Maybe that was it. He wasn’t exactly happy. He’d thought he could at least be content with his life. But maybe he was ready for more. Maybe he’d just needed to figure out this shit with Evelyn and Archer to move on.
Or maybe he’d needed to be tempted by a slightly odd, somewhat messy, curvy blonde who very much needed some guidance in her life.
Hmm. Or a combination of both.
“She might not be interested in me.”
“I’ve seen the way she looks at you. Don’t think that’s an issue. There is something going on with her, though. Most women wouldn’t live like this. Not without a good reason.”
He wasn’t wrong about that. But that just meant he would need to work at getting her to open up.
First though, was getting her to talk to him.
* * *
The knock on the door brought her out of her scene with a frown.
She turned to the door, trying to pull herself away from Adelaide and Ren’s story. This one was a doozy, but she couldn’t help but feel like she was missing an element.
She just wasn’t sure what the element was. When it finally appeared, she figured she was gonna get a hell of a shock. Some stories were like that. She had them all plotted out. Knew where it was going then boom. Suddenly the heroine had a serial killer stepbrother who always considered her to belong to him and didn’t want to share.
Ooh. Now that sounded interesting. She wrote that in her notebook. She just hoped she remembered which notebook she’d put it in when she came to find it again. She really did need to organize her desk. She sighed. Hell, she needed to organize her life.
The idea of a personal assista
nt floated across her brain again. Only how would she ever find a personal assistant when she lived out here?
Another knock and she turned to the door. It could only be one of two people and she was betting on Archer. Doc hadn’t knocked the last two times he’d barged in to demand she come eat.
She grimaced. She knew she was being rude. And a wimp. Sure, she’d gotten into the flow with this story, but when she’d come in here, she’d been hiding from the two of them.
Total wuss.
“Yes?” she called out, stretching out her back.
To her surprise, it was Doc that walked in. He shut the door behind him. Uh-oh, that didn’t seem like a good sign.
“Why’d you shut the door?”
“I wanted some privacy.”
“For what?” She eyed him suspiciously. “If you’ve come to tell me you really are a serial killer and a cannibal, could you wait until I’ve finished this book? I’ve got a lot of people waiting on me to get it out and I’m sure your instincts to torture and kill can wait a few days.”
“Girl, I am not here to torture and kill you.” He gave her that look. The one she got from people when they thought she was crazy. She’d seen that look enough in her life. She’d moved here to get away from it.