Page 26 of Trick or Tease

GARRETT

“ G arrett Hogan,” I said into the phone, trying to sound professional despite being stark naked in a dusty old farmhouse, dick swaying with every movement.

“Hey, I saw you on the news.” Ron Geiss’s familiar voice came through my phone. And I felt even more naked with my boss on the other end of the line.

“The news?” I asked.

“Your farm is a hit. Have you been leading a double life on me?”

I blinked, still lust drunk from what had just happened with Sabrina. My brain felt foggy, slow to process. “What are you talking about?”

“I saw a clip going around about this super popular haunted farm attraction. It’s going viral, Garrett. Looks like an untapped gold mine.”

I turned back toward Sabrina, who was pulling on her clothes with remarkable speed. I could practically feel the walls going up between us again. The magic of the last hour was evaporating with each word from Ron’s mouth.

“Viral?” I repeated, struggling to switch gears. “I don’t understand.”

“The news segment about your family’s farm. It’s all over social media. People are sharing it like crazy, talking about driving up from the city for this haunted hill thing. You’ve got something special there.”

My brain was sludge because there was no way my boss was talking to me about a corn maze. “Ron, it’s just a small-town event. Pumpkin chunking and a corn maze.”

“Small town?” Ron laughed. “Kid, you’re sitting on a potential goldmine and you don’t even know it. Rural tourism, agritourism, and haunted attractions are huge. These are multi-million-dollar industries. And you’ve got the perfect setup.”

Sabrina had her shirt on now and was avoiding my eyes completely. I could see her shutting down. It was the weird aftermath and I should be there kissing and doing the whole aftercare thing. I did just fuck her on the floor in a house that’s probably five minutes from falling down.

I was a dick, but not that big of a dick. She mattered and I needed to make sure she knew that.

“I’m not following,” I said into the phone, though part of me was starting to understand where Ron was going with this.

“When I told you to go out and look for work, I didn’t expect the property we’d be selling was yours,” he said with a laugh.

I shook my head. I felt drunk. I got laid—not drunk. What the hell was wrong with me?

“Selling?” I repeated.

“I’ve looked into it and I think I know a few buyers who would be interested in something like that,” Ron continued. “They could build it up even more, make it a cash cow. You could make a lot of money. The firm can bring you on as a client and we all stand to benefit.”

I rubbed my hand over my face in an attempt to clear the last of the lust haze I’d been dunked in. “I don’t want to be a client. I want to be a partner.”

I heard him sigh. Like I was being difficult. I was still trying to figure out how he knew about the farm and on what planet he thought I wanted to sell.

It was like I jumped in right in the action scene of a movie. I had no idea what the fuck was going on. Or who the players were. But apparently, Ron thought he and I were players.

Why? What would make him think I was remotely interested in giving up my farm or becoming a client? Was he trying to push me out?

“Look, I wanted you to bring something to the table,” Ron said.

“I need to see you make moves. This is something. This would be a big move. We can branch out. Widen the net so to speak. I know there are all kinds of rural properties that could bring in big money. We’ve focused on the commercial side, but I think you are onto something.

Ten smaller deals can provide more profit than one big deal if we play it right. ”

“I can appreciate that, but I’m not looking to sell my family’s farm,” I said, making sure to keep my voice down.

Sabrina has gone downstairs, but I didn’t want her to hear my conversation. Unfortunately, even to my own ears I didn’t sound convinced. I had left room in there for an offer.

And Ron heard it.

Fuck.

Money was important. My family could pretend they were happy just making it and they didn’t need much, but that was bullshit.

Money could buy them airline tickets to go where their RV wouldn’t.

Money could buy them cruises and nice hotel stays.

If there was a possible opportunity for my family to be setup, I needed to know.

I needed the details before I gave the hard no.

I walked to the top of the stairs and spotted Sabrina’s legs. She was exploring the rest of the house. I went back into the room where my clothes were still on the floor and closed the door.

“Give me a ballpark figure on how much you think this place would be worth,” I said.

It felt dirty, like I was betraying my family, but in reality, I was looking out for them.

I was set up. I would keep making damn good money, but Billy and my parents weren’t going anywhere.

Billy wanted to marry Lucy. If he had that kind of money, he could buy her a nice ring and a big house. They could start a family.

Ron’s laugh in my ear brought me back to the moment. “Millions. I pulled the county records and did some quick research, but maybe it could be even more.”

Holy shit.

I was thinking maybe a million. Not several million. Millions were worth a lot more than nostalgia and sentiment. My family could make new memories.

“No kidding,” I said. I did my best to sound cool, like I knew it was worth that much. I could play hardball. It was what I did, and if Ron guessed millions, it meant that was a jumping-off point. I could get more. I was that good.

“Let me send out an appraiser,” Ron said. “She can tell us exactly what you’ve got on your hands when it comes to a potential sale. You know the drill.”

“Okay,” I said. “Have her reach out. We’ll see if it’s worth it.”

“I’ll shoot you an email as soon as I get the date.”

“Thanks, Ron.”

I hung up and stared at the phone for a moment, my mind racing. Millions. The word kept echoing in my head as I quickly pulled on my clothes. I pulled on my shoes and quickly tied them.

When I made it downstairs, I found Sabrina examining the old kitchen, running her fingers along the dusty countertop. She looked up when she heard my footsteps. I could see the wariness in her eyes.

“Everything okay?” she asked, her voice carefully neutral.

How much had she heard?

I cleared my throat, hating myself for what I was about to do. “Yeah, just work stuff. Actually, I asked my boss to recommend a real estate appraiser to come check out the property.”

Her eyebrows rose. “An appraiser?”

“For insurance purposes,” I said, the lie sliding out easier than it should have. “With all the foot traffic you guys are expecting for the festival, it’s smart to make sure everything’s properly valued and covered. If someone gets hurt on the property or there’s damage to any of the buildings…”

Sabrina nodded slowly. “That actually sounds like a really smart idea. I hadn’t even thought about liability issues.” She smiled, and it felt like a knife twisting in my gut. “It’s nice having a lawyer around who understands all that stuff.”

“Just want to make sure my family’s protected,” I said, which wasn’t entirely a lie. It just wasn’t the whole truth either.

“When’s the appraiser coming?” she asked, moving toward the front door.

“Not sure yet. Ron’s going to email me the details.”

We stepped out into the afternoon sunlight, the day comfortably warm. I automatically reached for her hand. She let me take it, but I could feel the distance that had crept in during that phone call. The easy intimacy from upstairs felt like it had happened days ago instead of minutes.

“We should probably head back,” she said, glancing toward the main house in the distance.

“Sabrina,” I started, not sure what I wanted to say. That I was sorry? That the call had nothing to do with us? That I wasn’t already mentally calculating what my family could do with millions of dollars?

“It’s okay,” she said, squeezing my hand. “I get it. We all have responsibilities.”

We walked back down the hill in comfortable silence, our fingers still intertwined. I found myself stealing glances at Sabrina’s profile. Her hair was mussed from our time in the old house. There was a piece of cobweb clinging to her shoulder that I wanted to brush away.

But something had shifted between us during that phone call. I could feel it in the way she held herself, the careful distance she was maintaining even while holding my hand. The easy intimacy we’d shared upstairs felt fragile now, like it might shatter if I said the wrong thing.

We had officially entered the morning after phase. Except it was the middle of the day. I had no idea what to say. I knew we should probably address the situation, but what was there to say? We had sex.

Amazing sex.

I wanted more sex, but that felt like it could be opening some doors I didn’t want to deal with. We were both adults and we needed to talk about what happened.

“Sabrina—”

“Don’t,” she said. “Not now.”

I nodded because I understood. And I was relieved.

“Later then,” I said.

She grunted, which I assumed was agreement.

“I should probably shower,” she said as we approached the main house. “Get all this dust and other evidence out of my hair before Billy starts asking questions.”

“Good idea,” I agreed, running my free hand through my own hair and feeling the grit. “I’ll do the same.”

We paused in the driveway.

“Uh, will you be back?” I asked. “To work. Or whatever.”

She smiled. “Kind of have to.”

“Yes. Of course. Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” She grinned. And all that weirdness was gone. “It’s not every day you get an afternoon delight.”

I laughed. “Technically, it’s not even noon yet.”

“That just means we have the whole rest of the day in front of us.”

Damn. The woman had me twisted in knots.

I watched her walk to the four-wheeler she must have driven over this morning.

It almost made me laugh. Country life was so different from the way I lived in Manhattan.

People out here drove four-wheelers and golf carts all over the place.

No need to catch a taxi or take the subway.

I watched her disappear down the driveway with her hair trailing behind her.

I had a flashback to childhood. How many times had I stood and watched her leave on that very same four-wheeler?

I turned around to go inside when a flash of black caught my eye. A sleek black cat darted across my path, moving from the barn toward the cornfield. It paused for just a moment to look back at me with bright green eyes before disappearing into the stalks.

A chill ran down my spine. I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was some kind of omen. Which was ridiculous. I didn’t believe in superstitions or signs from the universe. I was a rational man who dealt in facts and evidence and billable hours.

But the guilt sitting heavy in my chest felt anything but rational.

I went inside, anxious to get a shower before Billy got home. If he saw the state I was in, he was going to have some questions. He loved Sabrina like a sister and I knew he was protective. The last thing I wanted to do was open that can of worms. He would kick my ass in a heartbeat.

I headed straight for the bathroom, turning the shower on as hot as I could stand it, and stripped out of my clothes. As the water washed away the dust and cobwebs from the old house, I tried to convince myself that I hadn’t done anything wrong.

The appraisal really was a smart idea. With all the liability issues that came with opening the farm to the public, my family needed to know what they were dealing with. Insurance companies would want current valuations. It was the responsible thing to do.

So why did I feel like such an asshole?

Maybe it was the way I’d lied to Sabrina about the insurance angle. Or maybe it was the way my pulse had quickened when Ron mentioned millions. The way I’d immediately started calculating what that kind of money could mean for my family’s future.

For my future at the firm.

I scrubbed shampoo through my hair more aggressively than necessary, as if I could wash away the guilt along with the dust. The truth was, I loved this place. I always had. But loving something wasn’t always enough.