She gritted her teeth and returned to the task at hand, bound and determined to get the rest of it done without his help.

Without him touching her again.

He was still worrisomely close, and now that she had been close enough to smell him, it seemed like it was all she could do. Smell him. He didn’t stink. No. Instead, he was like cedar and dirt, a little bit of sweat, that was somehow enticing.

She had been smelling dirty, sweaty men her entire life, and why this one man’s sweat should make her want to get closer instead of recoil, she didn’t know.

It shouldn’t be different.

He wasn’t different.

She put all of her focus on installing the motor, ignoring the fact that Gabe was still standing behind her. She knew that it was taking her probably twice as long as it would take him to do. Even if she could figure it out, it still wasn’t her forte. But she managed to get it in, and when she reconnected the power, she sent up a small prayer that the thing would actually work. When it actually did, her breath left her body in a rush of relief. Thank God.

“There, that went pretty well. After you asked for help,” he said.

She shot him her deadliest glare, which she had on pretty decent authority was quite deadly.

“Well, if you need any motor installed in the future, obviously I’m your person.”

“Eventually, there will be too much horse business for you to see to for any of that nonsense.”

“I mean, here’s hoping.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” she said.

“Do you need a drink?” he asked.

She was tempted to say no, but she was hot and thirsty and he’d certainly made his point that if she found a way to be stubborn for the sake of it, he’d make her suffer. “Some water would be good.”

“There’s water in the office. Just come this way.” She knew that there was an office space in the barn, but as far as she could tell, it was rarely used. He opened the door for her on their way into the barn, and she didn’t think to protest, and then he did it again when they stepped into the office space, and he led her toward a mini fridge that was filled with soda and bottled water.

“Oh,” she said. “That’s nice.”

“Feel free to help yourself whenever you’re out here working. Sorry. I should have shown you that on the first day.”

“Well, since today is only day two, I think I’ll get over it. So what was today about?” she asked. “Really.”

Considering the discussion she had last night with Wyatt, Bennett and Grant, she honestly did want to know. What exactly he was doing. How he saw her. She didn’t want to do anything quite so vulnerable or sad as asking him how he saw her, but she was curious about a few things.

“Honestly, I think you’re great with the horses, Jamie, but I think you have an issue being told what to do. And the reality is, I’m in charge, and I’m going to need you to take orders sometimes. And I need to know that if I leave you in charge when I leave, you’re going to be able to get everything done. Not just by doing it yourself, but by getting the right kind of help if necessary.”