The Wallflower Mate

18

The next morning, Mary stepped out of her little cabin with a basket filled with freshly cooked breakfast. She had used up Luis's ingredients yesterday in making them a little breakfast. Inside the basket was hash that was mixed with roasted red pepper and mushroom. She even chopped the asparagus to mix into the hash. Alongside, she packed some freshly baked bread that was lightly toasted with butter and a plate of sunny side up eggs from the eggs that Luis gave her.

Seemed like a hearty meal for breakfast but it was the perfect meal to provide the energy a farmer would need to get their daily tasks done.

Glancing down at her basket filled with her breakfast, she adjusted the little cloth that covered the top. Little did she check her surroundings, Ryker was already waiting for her outside her home.

When Mary looked up, she saw Ryker standing in the middle of the opening in front of her home. She didn't know what to think---actually she knew what she was thinking. She had thought Abraham and Gray will return to take her on another brief tour today. That was part of the reason she got up early and cooked breakfast. Mary wanted to quickly run over to Luis's farm.

Today, he wore dark denim work pants that looked like he has worn them for a while judging by the wash on the dark blue color. The moccasin styled toe work boots worn over his pants. He didn't even bother fixing the hem to cover them. At least he buttoned his red and black slim-fit flannel shirt and tucked one side of the ends in. The male was a spitting image of a lumberjack in these mountains with his medium-length taper fade cut and rolled-up sleeves. He dressed like he didn't care what anybody thought about him, but it still made him look almost crudely handsome.

Mary didn't realize she had stopped walking and had been gawking at him this entire time until he cleared his throat to get her attention.

Ryker's eyes did a slow sweep of her body. Every single hair on her body stood at attention.

Unspoken yet clear.

She had checked him out. It was his right to check her out.

Don't shuffle on your feet, Mary, she scolded herself.

At this moment, she was glad she had selected something decent to wear. A light grey button-up tucked into dark denim skinny jeans and little white casual shoes that were not fit for the mountains. Her mousy brown hair tied up into a high ponytail.

"Good morning," she greeted him first.

"Good morning," he replied. His eyes stopped on her lips a little longer.

Mary knew exactly what was on his mind. Their kiss from last night. She was well aware of everything that had happened. He had kissed her and admitted to desiring her.

"Where are Gary and Abraham?" Mary asked, hopefully deterring her thoughts from getting any darker.

"I assigned them some projects to work on. I'll be showing you around today," Ryker told her.

Together the two walked towards Luis's farm. A desire path created by years of human traffic. The thick masses of branches above covered most of the skies, but little sun rays slipped through the cracks and cast beautiful shadows in the atmosphere.

"I wanted to give Luis something nice. He was very sweet to me," she said.

Ryker gathered as much from the smell of food coming from her basket. He was internally glad that Luis was kind to her. Luis and Doris were an old mating couple, but known as the sweetest in the pack. They were kind to everybody.

The air between them had an answered question that hung in the air. Neither of them wanted to say anything to the other. Waiting to see who would speak up first. Mary held the handle of her woven basket tighter. Her eyes moving to stare ahead before turning to look at him. Unfortunately, the moment she looked at him was the moment he looked at her.