Read Loving The Country Boy (Barrett's Mill Book 4) for Free Online

she couldn’t come up with anything suitably crushing, she shouted, “In your dreams, Weatherby!”
    Without looking back, he held up his hand before climbing into what could only be described as a red mini–monster truck. Still rattled by their bizarre exchange, she took solace in the fact that she’d gotten the last word. Only because he’d let her, she realized while she put the sawmill truck in gear and headed in the opposite direction Heath had taken.
    Still, considering the way her life had been going recently, she’d take any victory she could get.
    * * *
    Tess Barrett was really starting to bug him. He just didn’t know why.
    Pounding out the bent sheet metal on the front fender of Olivia’s sedan, Heath let his mind wander to her headstrong granddaughter for a few minutes. Their spirited exchange that morning echoed in his mind, amusing him one second and aggravating him the next. Just like she did, he realized with a scowl.
    He just didn’t know why.
    Realizing his thoughts had begun to repeat themselves, he did his best to put them aside and focus on his work. It was tough to do when all he could think about was how the flowing pink blouse Tess was wearing today set off her eyes, not to mention the fact that she smelled like magnolias on a warm summer evening.
    The iron mallet he was using slipped off the fender and nailed his thumb hard enough to jerk him back to reality. Shaking his throbbing hand, he set down the hammer and took a swig of cold water before holding the bottle against the bruise that was already forming beneath his skin.
    “Man needs to pay attention when he’s swinging one o’ those things.”
    Glancing over his shoulder, Heath found his boss, Fred Morgan, watching him with a bemused look on his craggy face. He was the one who’d taken Heath under his wing as a teenager, showing him how to turn his natural-born love of all things mechanical into a job he could do anywhere. Not to mention, he’d made a spot for Heath when he returned from Alaska, no questions asked.
    Chuckling at his own clumsiness, Heath got to his feet and held up his hand. “Nothing’s broken, so I’ll live.”
    “Good to hear.”
    “Did you need something?”
    “Just making sure you’re all here,” Fred replied in his usual forthright way. “You seemed a little distracted when you came in this morning.”
    “I’m fine.”
    “Tess Barrett could distract a dead man out of his own grave,” the older man continued with a knowing look.
    “How’d you—oh, right. Your wife has binoculars.”
    “Technically, they’re mine, but she uses ’em a lot more than I do. Just thought you oughta know the hens are watching you, so make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”
    “Thanks for the heads-up.” Heath figured saying anything more than he already had would only get him a lecture he didn’t want, so he deftly changed the subject. “I made out a parts list for this monster. It’s on your desk.”
    “I’ll go call it in.”
    “Y’know, they’ve got a website where you can enter everything yourself. You get an email confirmation and a quicker delivery date because they don’t have to pay someone to answer the phone and write it all down.”
    Fred gave him a baffled look. “Then what happens to Edie, the nice old lady who takes down orders for them? One of the reasons I deal with them is I like talking to a person instead of punching my way through some automated menu till I finally get to the right department.”
    “She could spend that time doing other things.”
    “Like what? It’s a parts warehouse. You think they’re gonna teach her how to drive a forklift or something?”
    Since he’d never given any thought to how their parts supplier functioned, Heath didn’t have an answer for that one. “Okay, you got me there. Edie wins this round.”
    “Good boy. Now, get back to work before I take this break outta your lunch.”
    He punctuated that with a vague motion toward the jacked-up sedan