by Jeannie Watt
She held his gaze, unable to tear hers away. “You kind of make it hard to say no.”
“But you’re free to.”
“No?” she said, her gaze still locked with his. Could he see how surprisingly difficult it was for her to utter that simple word? She loved having the dogs, but she’d had no idea until she’d moved to Montana how much she appreciated human company.
“Do you mean that?”
She shook her head and he smiled, making her heart race a little faster. Chemistry was an amazing thing—something one didn’t go looking for. Something that just... happened. So why did it happen with this guy with whom she had so little in common? He was a single dad, whose first obligation was to his daughters. She was a woman with secrets she didn’t want to share. Not a great combination.
“I want to be back before dark.”
“I’ll drive you back and check the house.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to say “No. I’ll handle it.” Instead, she said, “Yes. I’ll come to dinner. Thank you.”
* * *
KENDRA AND BAILEY were delighted to have company for dinner. They instantly launched into plans to use Grandma’s pretty plates.
“Good idea,” Katie said. “And while your dad shows Alex around, maybe we could pick flowers and make bouquets so that the table is really pretty.”
“Yeah!” the girls said in unison.
But after putting on her mismatched shoes, Bailey said, “I want to go on the walk with Daddy and Alex.”
“Works for me, Bill.”
Alex glanced up at Nick and he explained, “Bill Bailey—”
“Won’t you please come home.” She smiled. “One of my roommates took banjo lessons and she sang that song a lot. She also did a nice rendition of ‘Oh! Susanna.’”
“There aren’t any songs with my name,” Kendra informed Alex.
“Maybe you could write one.”
Kendra bit her lip as the idea sank in. “I don’t know how to write a song, but maybe when I’m older.”
“Maybe,” Alex said.
Katie nodded her agreement, then said, “I’m going out to the garden to see about early flowers. We should have dianthus and carnations and who knows what else.”
“I’ll help,” Kendra said.
Bailey looked torn. She took hold of Nick’s hand as he started for the back door, then shook her head. “I’ll help with flowers.”
“Pick the prettiest ones,” Nick said, his hand bumping against Alex’s as he stopped at the door.
“I will. I’ll get the purple ones!”
Alex laughed as Bailey raced after her aunt and sister. “You must be constantly entertained.”
He smiled down at her. “It’s the best kind of entertainment.”
He opened the door, and Alex stepped out onto the porch where the breeze lifted the tendrils of hair around her face.
“Ready for the tour?”
“Totally.”
Nick took her through Katie’s greenhouse, where she grew the herbs, and showed her the first buildings his great-great-grandfather had built, which were made of squared-off logs with white chinking in between. They toured the barn, where a little goat seemed to appear out of nowhere.
“That is Lizzie Belle,” Nick said as the animal blinked up at Alex with a curious gold gaze. “Somewhere in the vicinity is Wendell, her goat partner-in-crime.”
“She’s adorable.”
“Until you find her standing on your truck,” Nick said dryly. “Just ask Brady. Lillie Belle likes his truck best of all.” As if to prove the point, Lizzie Belle scampered up a stack of hay bales, then back down again.
“When will I meet Brady?” A bold statement to Alex’s ears, because it implied that she was going to be involved enough with this family to meet everyone.
“He’ll be home in a matter of weeks. He’s at welding school and taking a side course in horse shoeing. He’s always been good with horses, and shoeing will give him a sideline career.”
“It’s good to do something you love.”
“Did you?”
She shot him a look, telling herself there was no need for the barriers that started shifting into position. “It was a job that I was good at. Lots of people work in jobs they don’t love but are good at. That’s why we live for weekends and vacations.”
Nick laughed. “Right you are.”
“I bet you like your job.”
“I’m lucky. When Brady gets back, he’ll handle a lot of the ranching with Katie’s help, and I can work contracting jobs, thus bringing in some income to help support the ranch.” When she frowned at him, he explained, “Ranching is an occupation that can be hit or miss, depending on markets. It’s good to have outside work for security.”
“Ah,” Alex said, skirting the large puddle in the middle of the driveway, the little goat coming up to peer curiously into the water before doing an adorable jumping buck and then retreating behind Nick.
“I have to bring in a load of gravel and fill that,” Nick said, nodding at the puddle. “It’s been getting bigger with each storm this spring.”
“It’s practically a lake. Maybe you should build a dock instea—”
Before the last word was out of her mouth, something knocked the back of her knees in the perfect spot to cause them to buckle. Nick made a grab as Alex pitched forward with a startled cry, but he was too late. The next thing she knew, she was on her belly in the puddle, sputtering against the mud and water that had hit her square in the face. Nick was instantly beside her, a strong hand under her arm as he helped her to her feet.
“I am so sorry.” He reached out to wipe a dab of mud off Alex’s face with his thumb.
“I don’t think it was your fault,” Alex replied, shooting a look at Lizzie Belle, who blinked at her, then scampered off, tossing her head.
“Sometimes she gets playful with guests. She means well,” Nick said. Alex made a face at him, then looked down at her muddy front. At least her jeans were still relatively dry. Nick’s jeans were totally dry, with the exception of some splash marks. Only his boots were muddy, from when he’d come to her rescue.
“I’ll lend you one of my shirts.” He took her wet hand in his and led her into the house, where he released her fingers and pointed down the hall.
“The bathroom is that way. I’ll see what I have that might come close to fitting you.”
“It doesn’t have to fit,” she said as he took off in the opposite direction. Like anything he wore would come close to fitting her.
She pulled several paper towels off the roll on the counter, then went into the bathroom. One look in the mirror and she wished she’d taken more towels. And thank goodness she’d pinned her hair up, or it would be as muddy as the front of her shirt was. She grimaced as she pulled the shirt away from her body, then sucked in a breath and pulled it over her head. Where to put it? She was still holding the shirt a few seconds later when a knock came on the door. “I found something.”
She cracked the door and reached her arm out. Nick pushed a soft sweatshirt into her hand.
“Thank you. Do you have a plastic bag?”
“I’ll get one.”
Alex closed the door and set the gray sweatshirt on the edge of the bathtub and sacrificed a few of the paper towels to set the wet, muddy shirt on, then used the rest to clean the grime off her face and neck. At least it was only mud. It could have been so much worse if the little goat had pulled her trick in the cow pasture Nick had toured her through.
“Plastic bag,” Nick said from the other side of the door.
Alex opened the door and took the bag, dropping her shirt and dirty paper towels inside.
“Dinner smells great, by the way,” she said as she came out of the small room, pulling the door shut behind her.
“We can wash your shirt,
you know.”
“That’s okay. The shirt will help me make a full load,” she said facetiously. Actually, if she put all of her clothes in the washer at once, she’d barely have a full load. She’d brought only the basics to the wilds of Montana—jeans, T-shirts, cozy flannel shirts. Clothing she thought would make her invisible.
“You sure? It’d be clean before dinner is over.”
“Are you pressuring me into having my laundry done?”
He smiled, but the expression in his eyes was serious as he said, “No pressure. I promise.” He was not referring to laundry.
“Good,” she whispered back.
For a long moment they stood, connected by silence, then he reached for her, his hands warm against her waist, and lowered his head until his lips were within a breath of hers. Alex closed the distance, sliding a hand around the back of his neck, his skin warm beneath her palm as she met his lips in a long, satisfying kiss.
Satisfying and at the same time unsettling.
“Daddy!”
Alex and Nick jerked apart, Nick stumbling over his own feet as he put space between them.
“Oh, there you are,” Kendra said as she came into the room, carrying a bouquet of freshly picked flowers, obviously intended for the empty vase sitting on the counter.
“Yes. Here I am,” Nick agreed, sounding like a guy who was not used to hiding his actions.
Kendra gave him an odd look, and Alex pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. An astute little girl who knew that her dad was acting funny. “Lizzie Belle is all muddy.”
“Imagine that,” Nick said seriously. “Maybe she fell in a puddle.”
Kendra appeared not to have heard him. “Hey...isn’t that your sweatshirt?” she asked, pointing at Alex.
“I fell in the mud, and I probably splashed Lizzie Belle.” She held up the plastic bag. “My shirt’s in here. Your dad lent me his shirt to wear home.”
Kendra regarded them both suspiciously, as if wondering if they were putting her on. “Girls shouldn’t wear boy clothes.”
“I see,” Alex said seriously.
Kendra looked at both of them again, then moved to the counter and stuck the flowers in the vase. “Aunt Katie and Bailey are bringing more, then we’ll fix them to look pretty.”
“They already look pretty,” Nick said.
Kendra beamed at him. “I’ll go help Bailey bring her flowers.”
Once she was gone, Nick gave Alex a look. “I’ll, uh, work on that girl-clothes, boy-clothes thing.”
“I think it’s the age,” Alex said, half remembering something from her basic psychology classes.
“Or her penchant for rule following.”
“I had that same penchant.”
“Yeah?” he asked softly. “When did you outgrow it?”
Alex pretended to consider. “I think it was about two months ago.”
Nick smiled down at her. “Better late than never, I guess.”
CHAPTER TEN
GETTING KNOCKED INTO a mud puddle by a renegade nanny goat shouldn’t have been the catalyst for forging a closer bond with Nick Callahan, but that was exactly what had happened—on her end, anyway. Maybe it was the genuine concern he’d shown as he’d picked her up out of the puddle and made certain she was okay. Perhaps it was the offer to do her laundry.
Or the kiss.
Their first kiss had been experimental. They’d both wondered, and considering the time they were spending together, it may have been inevitable.
But the second kiss was different—it had been an offer of comfort and closeness, which Alex had accepted and now half-regretted. Nick and his family were working their way into her heart, bypassing her defenses, rendering her emotionally vulnerable.
She wasn’t ready to risk emotional vulnerability, but she didn’t want to be totally alone, and she definitely wanted her house fixed.
In other words, she was in something of a bind, and the only remedy was to tactfully set some boundaries for the good of everyone involved, because it wasn’t as if she was going to be spending less time with the Callahan family. She’d volunteered to help bake cupcakes for Nick and Katie’s grandmother’s booth at a big event in the Gavin City Park.
Alex had somehow mentioned that one of her few creative talents was piping frosting, something her mother’s cook had taught her on summer break when she was thirteen and battling boredom, and the next thing she knew, she was part of the volunteer baking crew.
She hadn’t mentioned the cook or a break from boarding school. Nick had probably already filled his family in on the fact that she had an independent income, but in case he hadn’t, she saw no reason to highlight her privileged upbringing. Despite alarm bells going off as she became more involved with the Callahan family, she didn’t want to set herself apart as a person whose background had nothing in common with theirs.
Maybe that was yet another warning sign.
But she’d promised to make and pipe frosting onto cupcakes, and she would follow through. Ryan-Evanses were big on following through. In her mother’s case, it was due to noblesse oblige. In Alex’s case, it was because she didn’t like to break promises.
Bailey and Kendra toured Alex through the house, showing her all the stuff “Dad did.” He’d put in French doors and built decks outside of each bedroom and had totally remodeled the kitchen before Bailey was born, but the girls still seemed aware of everything he’d put his hand to in the ranch house. Nick enjoyed hero status with his daughters. It was well deserved. He was a good guy, and part of her wondered why she had to meet this good guy when her life was so unsettled.
After admiring several dozen stuffed animals that resided in the corner of Kendra’s bedroom, Nick announced that it was time to take Alex home.
“Can we come, too?” Kendra asked hopefully. She tightened her grip on Alex’s hand, making Alex’s heart melt. Kendra came off as a stoic little girl upon first introduction, but she’d been all smiles as she toured Alex through the house.
“Our seats are already in the truck,” Bailey added. “And we’d go to bed really fast when we get back.”
“It’s bath night,” Katie reminded the girls.
“We can take a bath in the morning,” Kendra said.
Alex knelt down between the two girls, still hanging on to Kendra’s hand as she put herself at eye level. “How about you guys take your bath and go to bed on time, and when I come over to help with the cupcakes, I’ll teach you how to make a frosting flower.”
Little Bailey’s mouth dropped open. “You can teach us that?”
Alex gave a solemn nod. “I can and I will.”
“Can we eat the flower?” Bailey asked, shooting a look up at her dad.
“You can eat the flower,” he agreed. “And you can make one for me to eat, too. But I want a big one.”
Kendra laughed and let go of Alex’s hand. “Okay.” She smiled at Alex, then threw her arms around her, giving her a quick hug. Bailey did the same from the other side, and Alex went still before she put an arm around each girl and returned the hug. She’d never been the recipient of a spontaneous child hug and was stunned at how it turned her heart to jelly.
“Okay, guys,” Nick said, putting a hand under Alex’s elbow and helping her to her feet. “You’ll see Alex soon. Now scoot off to the bath so that I can get her home before dark.”
Nick kept his hand at her elbow as she said goodbye to Katie and the girls, his grip warm and reassuring, and wildly distracting.
Could she afford to lean on this man for reassurance and warmth?
The best answer she could come up with was “to a degree.” She wanted to stay close to the Callahan clan, but she wasn’t ready for deep emotional attachments, which meant that before the night ended, Alex needed to draw a boundary.
* * *
THE SUN WAS just setting whe
n Nick pulled up to Alex’s house, where Roger’s head appeared as a flash of white at the front window, then disappeared again as Nick turned off the ignition.
“Well, he’s still there,” Alex said dryly.
She’d left the dogs in the house to make certain that Roger didn’t escape the backyard while she was gone, although, to Roger’s credit, the little dog showed no sign of wanting to leave. Nick just hoped that he hadn’t destroyed a pillow or something. Alex had had enough animal adventures for one evening.
“Appears so,” Nick agreed as Roger’s head appeared and disappeared again. “But if he’d had opposable thumbs, it would be a different story.”
The head appeared again, only this time less of it showed before he disappeared again.
“Maybe I should set a chair there, so that he doesn’t have to jump so high.”
“Jumping is good exercise.” Nick gave her a quick sideways look, which she met with a sideways look of her own. It was becoming more and more obvious—to Nick, anyway—that they shared a wavelength, a connection that had seemingly come out of nowhere, and it was more than just a physical attraction. More than two healthy adults being healthy. He wondered if Alex shared his assessment of the situation.
She smiled at him as she reached for the door handle. “You don’t have to check the house. I very much doubt anyone is there with Roger and Gus on guard.”
“I’d feel better.”
“Would you?” she asked simply.
He shrugged. “I get protective.”
“As long as you don’t get controlling, we’ll do okay.”
He wanted to ask what they would do okay with, but there was time for that. Right now, he was content to let this fledgling relationship grow in fits and starts. There was really no hurry.
Alex opened her door and Nick did the same. Together they walked up the front walk to the rebuilt porch, which looked great, even if he did say so himself. For one brief moment he flashed on the first time he’d taken Kayla home, and how they’d kissed on a porch very much like this.