Page 6 of Rough and Rugged

I opened my mouth to sayno thank yousince he’d had his mouth on the mug. Then I thought about my mouth on where his…

Beare placed the cup in my hand and started pointing to the wide area next to my house. He was rambling on like he had my full attention, but my eyes were on the nearly full cup.

Fuck it.

Placing my mouth where his had been, I took a sip and nearly choked on the strong brew. But I took another, much longer drink and savored it. Five sips in, and the sleep fog dissipated as caffeine flooded my veins.

When Beare mentioned something about how close his place was going to be next to mine, my hand shot up to stop him from talking. “What?”

“What—what?” Beare’s eyebrows furrowed deep.

I blew out a breath and eyed the man. “How close are you going to be to the house?”

Beare walked over to the wooden stake pounded into the ground. He sliced an arm through the air. “Here.” He cast a glance over his shoulder and a smirk crossed his face like he had a secret.

“Isn’t there some sort of ordinance prohibiting you from building so close to another structure?” I asked. I walked over tomyside of the property and followed the invisible line Beare showed me.

“There’s no such ordinance. These are the woods, Axton. There’s no town.” The gleam in Beare’s eyes was one of triumph. And the way he said my name, it sounded predatory.

“Umm… I don’t think so.” I looked at the imaginary space again and grunted out, “No.”

“What do you meanno?” Beare stepped into my space like he owned the air I breathed. “I can do whatever I want. This is my land and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Blood whooshed in my ears as I panicked. I so wanted to backpedal and run in the opposite direction. But I was damn tired of relenting, especially from anyone I feared. It was about time that I took my life by the balls, face whatever adversary got in my way, and fought for what I wanted.

Yet, there had to be a diplomatic way to fix this, a way to compromise. If only because we would be neighbors.

“But why so close?” I didn’t move, just looked him straight in his gorgeous blue eyes. “You have so many acres to choose from, why here?”

We stood there for long minutes before his sly smile dipped into a frown. He moved back a step. “It’s the best vantage point to see the lake.”

He wasn’t wrong. The view from my bay window was divine. But that still didn’t mean it was alright to build his home literally inches from my property line. Geez, if there was a window planned on that side of his house, he could see right into my bathroom.

Hell, no to that.

“There have to be some sort of rules.” I remembered my aunt had a dispute with the town we—she lived in, about her pool being past the boundary lines or something.

The sly grin back on his chiseled face said it all. “Like I told you, this isn’t a town.” Beare strode over, took his coffee cup out of my hand and headed to his camper. “By the way, this is just a courtesy. My cousins will be here in a few days and the building will be up soon after that. There will be noise at all hours.”

“But, that’s not ok—” Before I could finish my sentence, he raised a hand to stop me from talking. Beare Beckett clearly didn’t know what courtesy meant.

His eyes narrowed into pinpricks and my entire body prickled with alarm as though I was his prey. “I’ll give it you to straight, Axton. This land—what you bought for whatever amount of money—”

“One dollar,” I cut in.

His nostrils flared and red crept along his neck, up to his cheeks. “My mother sold you this acre for one dollar?”

“Yes.” I was still shocked at my good fortune, but I kept that bit to myself.

“No matter. What I’m trying to say is that this land—including that acre you’re standing on, has been in my family for generations. And I want to keep it that way. So, you can see I’m not happy that my mother sold it to you.” His growl was deep and a river of apprehension rippled through me.

“I didn’t know,” I defended.

Beare took a long, audible breath, as tension left his wide shoulders. “I know this isn’t your fault, but is there any way I can buy the land back from you? I’ll pay any price.”

His sudden earnestness had me thinking maybe I should. But then, I glanced at the house, and thought of the future I desperately wanted and something snapped inside me. I couldn’t leave this place. Not when my heart was already invested.

I took a not-so-confident breath, looked into Beare’s pleading stare and said, “No.”