They were no longer acting like best buds. Instead, they were acting like... a man and a woman.
On a date.
Fuck.
What the hell was he supposed to do about this? Truth be told, this was exactly what he’d hoped for, but not exactly the circumstance in which he envisioned it happening. Call him a romantic, but he’d thought of a much more appealing place for them to come to terms with any sort of physical attraction than Mama’s Diner.
On the other hand, he hadn’t actually expected it to happen at all.
“So, what did my dad say?” Zoey asked, interrupting his thoughts.
“Same as last time. He knew what I was talking about, but he wanted me to clarify it for him all over again. Still no decision.”
He hadn’t talked much about their plans with Zoey because quite frankly, she didn’t seem all that interested. Supportive? Yes. Oddly enough. She just didn’t care to talk about it, which was interesting because it had turned into a hot topic for her at the moment.
“Who knows with him,” Zoey penetrated him with those beautiful blue eyes.
It was clear they needed to find a much safer topic.
“So, how’d it go at the Wilson’s? You get Vanessa to work today?”
Zoey laughed, and her husky voice sent a shiver down his spine. He tried like hell to ignore it.
“V always works. She just likes to complain about it when she does.”
Rachel interrupted them, setting their tea glasses on the table and standing oddly close to Kaleb which was just a little awkward. Normally, he wouldn’t have thought much of it, shrugging it off like he usually did. Without ego, Kaleb was acutely aware of the heads that turned when he and his brothers were in a room, generally of the female persuasion. Yet, when he was sitting across from the one woman whose head he didn’t seem to be able to turn, it didn’t do a whole lot for him.
“Did you get her to clean the bathrooms?” Without trying to be rude, Kaleb continued his conversation with Zoey and Rachel finally took the hint.
“One. I consider that progress.” Zoey laughed again. “There for a while she was seriously trying to convince me that she was allergic to toilets. Not bleach or cleaner, but to the actual toilet. She’s nuts.”
“What’s up with her and my brother?” Until Zane had shown up at Moonshiner’s Kaleb would’ve never guessed that there might be something going on between his brother and Zoey’s friend, but even he felt the sexual tension sparking between the two of them.
“I was wondering the same thing.” Zoey sipped her tea, sat the glass back on the coaster before sliding her hands down the glass to wipe the condensation away. Kaleb had a sudden longing to be that fucking glass.
Maybe it was in the air, whatever the hell it was.
“So, have you decided on whether you’re coming to my parent’s fiftieth wedding anniversary party?” Kaleb asked after a few moments of silence.
“Next weekend, right?” Zoey asked, still fondling that damn glass and still not looking at him.
“Yes. And since you owe me, I know you’ll be there, right?”
That got her attention.
“I owe you?” A sexy little grin tugged at the corners of Zoey’s mouth and just like every time he was around her, Kaleb felt a throb begin between his legs.
“You do.” He confirmed, smiling back. He had no idea what she owed him for, but it sounded good.
Before he had to answer, Rachel approached their table with two plates overflowing with food, setting them down in front of them while smiling at Kaleb. When she didn’t turn away immediately, Kaleb looked up at her.
“So, I was wondering...” Rachel let the sentence hang, looking just a tad bit nervous.
Oh hell.
Kaleb liked Rachel; she was a sweet girl, always flirting with him and all of his brothers when they came into her parents’ restaurant, but that was also the downside to eating there once a week.
“You know, Kaleb,” Zoey began, trying to appear serious, yet Kaleb could see a devilish gleam in her eyes, “I’d really like to go out with you next weekend.”
Kaleb fought the urge to laugh and choke all at the same time.
“Well!” Rachel said before stomping off.
Kaleb watched Zoey while Zoey watched Rachel leave.
“You know, I get it that you’re a sexy guy, but shit, do they have to swarm all over you whenever we go out together?” Zoey stated, clearly exasperated as she picked up her fork and began digging into her food.
Kaleb mirrored her, grabbing his fork, trying to focus on the food in front of him, but having a damn hard time. Did she seriously just call him sexy?
He found himself staring at her, watching while she pushed her food around on her plate.
“What?” She asked when she finally acknowledged him.
“I’m beginning to worry about you, Zoey.” He had to do something to ease the tension coursing between them because honestly, the throb that had started between his legs had turned into a full blown ache, and he damn sure wasn’t going to be able to sit there much longer with a hard on. So he decided to tease her. “First you tell Vanessa that you fantasize about kissing me and now you call me sexy.”
“Oh, get over yourself, Kaleb Walker.” Zoey laughed, but there was another pink tinge to her cheeks. She was even more beautiful when she blushed.
He’d always thought of her as being pretty, ever since he’d been in the eighth grade. But sitting here with her, it was like seeing her for the first time. She was stunning. Even in her oversized t-shirt and sexy as hell tight jeans, the woman made him want things.
What he didn’t understand was what was different now. Tonight specifically.
They had been friends for years, going out at least twice a week, hanging out on the weekends most of the time with his friends or hers, or both. Ever since he had taken her to her senior prom, they’d been close friends, but although he’d always been attracted to her, Kaleb had never considered anything more. Tonight, looking at her, he couldn’t get his mind off of what she would look like naked, beneath him...
And yes, if truth be known, he’d fantasized about that on more than one occasion. But never had he felt as though something might be reciprocated on her side. It wasn’t like they had ever hinted around about any possible attraction to one another.
Kaleb tried to eat the food in front of him, but he was having a damned hard time thinking, much less eating. Instead, he continued to steal glances of the beautiful woman across from him.
Thankfully, neither of them spoke much for the rest of the meal, finishing quickly and not lingering the way they normally did. Kaleb managed to track down Rachel, having to go find her just so he could pay the bill, and once that was taken care of he found Zoey halfway to her truck, not even waiting for him.
“Hey!” He called out to her when her legs began moving faster.
“Sorry.” Zoey mumbled. “I need to... get home... to my dad.”
Well, if that didn’t sound like a lie, Kaleb didn’t know what did. Something was going on because the Zoey standing before him was not the same woman he’d seen when he walked into Moonshiner’s earlier.
Reaching out, he took her hand, and it was then and there that Kaleb knew exactly what was going on between them. When she flinched like she had been burned, he was pretty damned sure she felt it, too. That spark of electricity that had nothing to do with static, and everything to do with something much more intimate.
She pulled away immediately, and Kaleb let her go.
“Are you all right?” He asked, taking another step closer.
The difference in their heights was significant. Since Kaleb topped out at six feet four inches, and Zoey couldn’t possibly be more than five feet two if that, he had to look down at her and she up at him. He’d never paid much attention to it until now. Until he thought of nothing more than kissing her and in order for that to happen, he was going to have to lean down, or she was going to have to go up on her toes. Either
way, it wasn’t going to happen, and he knew that, but his brain still entertained the idea.
“So, if I don’t see you next week, I will see you at my parents’ party, right?” Kaleb had no doubt he would see Zoey several times before then, but for now he was going to give her the illusion of space.
Whatever this was – the shift in the atmosphere – they’d both been affected by it obviously. Zoey might want to ignore it, or pretend it didn’t happen, but Kaleb knew this was just the opportunity he’d been looking for.
Zoey nodded her head in agreement before she bolted for her truck, leaving Kaleb standing in the parking lot. He watched her tail lights as they disappeared into the darkness, a smile on his face. This was going to get interesting.
Chapter Three
♀♂
Zoey heard the truck as it pulled up the drive, and she glanced out the window in her father’s kitchen just in time to see Kaleb’s truck barreling up the long narrow driveway.
Shit.
She hadn’t seen him since their awkward as hell dinner, and she had purposely put him off the last time she talked to him. Not because she didn’t want to see him, but because she did.
In a bad way.
In a way that she wasn’t sure he’d be comfortable with. Knowing Kaleb and his flirting ways, he’d probably think she had lost her mind if she gave in to what she was suddenly feeling for him. Granted, it wasn’t a foreign feeling by any means. It’s just that she denied herself that one little desire for so long it felt a little awkward to be around him at the moment.
“Who’s out there?” Her dad called from the living room, interrupting Zoey’s wayward thoughts.
The man had superhuman hearing apparently, or maybe he just had a sixth sense when it came to the Walker boys.
“Kaleb.” She called out, drying the last dish before sitting it in the dish drainer.
“Damn boy.” Carl grunted and Zoey smiled.
She knew why he was there, which was the only reason she wasn’t sneaking out the back door. Kaleb wasn’t there to see her, but rather her father. According to Carl, Kaleb had stopped by twice during the week to speak with him and yet again, he was giving poor Kaleb the runaround. Her father didn’t tell her that last part, but Zoey knew him all too well.
A gentle knock sounded on the side door, the main entrance everyone used when they stopped by. In the last few months, it had been Grand Central Station at the Stranford house, what with the various Walker men coming and going to talk to her father.
“Come in.” Zoey called out, drying her hands on a dish towel. “What brings you by?” She asked, pretending there wasn’t some weird nervous tension between them after the last time they saw one another.
“Is your dad here?” Kaleb asked now standing just inside the doorway in the oversized kitchen. His deep, rich baritone sent a chill racing down her spine, and she ignored it. Or tried to anyway.
“In the living room.” She said, tilting her head in that direction. “Go on in.”
The smile Kaleb shot back at her was pure sin and Zoey had to turn away just to keep her reaction to herself.
At twenty nine years old, one would think she’d figured out how to control her overheated libido, but, unfortunately for her, that had never happened when it came to Kaleb; no matter how much she pretended otherwise. Good thing he never seemed to notice, or he just didn’t care.
“Hey.” Kaleb called to her, forcing her to turn his way again. “Don’t run off. I want to talk to you when I’m done here.”
“Umm... ok.”
Talk to her? Zoey watched as Kaleb disappeared into the living room and for a brief moment, she considered disappearing. If her damn curiosity hadn’t won out, she would have too. Instead, she busied herself with the laundry she had put off for the last two days.
It had been a busy week for her and Vanessa, having acquired two new clients whose houses were almost as big as the Wilson’s and had just as many kids to boot. Her little cleaning company was growing, and she and Vanessa were beginning to feel the pain of working so many hours just to get it all done. Not for the first time, she wondered whether she should hire a few more people to help make it easier.
Admittedly, she had a hard time committing to sharing her business with anyone else except for V. It had been a long road to get to this point in her life, and the independence she’d established had come at a high price. Even if she was living at home, Zoey knew she was making it on her own. And she knew the hard work wasn’t going to kill her.
Ever since her mom had passed away, almost four years before, Zoey had returned home to live with her father. It was actually a series of events that played out during that time which convinced her to stay, but she hated to think about the rest, so she did what she did best. She ignored it.
Initially, she hadn’t planned to move back home, just wanted to stay for a little while to make sure her father was taken care of, considering he was getting up there in age. Her mother hadn’t been young when she finally conceived Zoey, and her father was a good decade and a half older than her mother. That put him just a few months shy of eighty, and he was showing every single minute.
Which meant Zoey was back home full time, living in the guest house and trying to help out with the remedial chores. After the first couple of weeks of being back at home, finding herself divorced, and just a little distraught, Zoey had come up with a plan. Instead of moping around the house, because that definitely wasn’t in her nature, she had decided to clean houses for a living.
Her father found the decision amusing considering she’d gone to college and all, but Zoey had been going through a period where she didn’t want to be around people. Ok, so yes, she’d been moping.
It didn’t take long for her to establish a regular clientele and found herself with more work than she could handle, which was when she turned to Vanessa Carmichael, her best friend since grade school and now her one and only full time employee. Since that day, they hadn’t slowed down. Not that Zoey was complaining – work was good. Especially in the small ranching community they lived in.
When Zoey sought V to help her, she’d been working as a dog groomer and decided what the hell – Zoey still laughed at the idea because V was certainly not the kind to get dirty, especially cleaning other people’s messes. But, the two of them worked like clockwork and V had the same strong work ethic as Zoey, so it all worked out.
Now she struggled to find the time to clean her father’s house on a weekly basis, hence the reason she was there on a Friday afternoon folding laundry and doing dishes when she would much rather be out with Vanessa or Kaleb. Well, maybe not Kaleb, but that was only because she was still freaked out by whatever chemistry had sparked between them the week before. She still wasn’t completely sure she hadn’t imagined it.
Standing in the laundry room, Zoey heard Kaleb’s booming voice as he talked to her father, having to talk louder than normal due to Carl’s hearing loss – and the volume of the television. Come to think of it, Zoey had to wonder how he knew every time someone pulled down the main drive to the house.
Filling a plastic basket with towels, she went to work folding them quickly, before moving on to toss another load of clothes in the washer. There always seemed to be extras to wash thanks to the rags they used to clean houses. Today was no exception.
“Hey.”
Zoey jumped at the sound, turning and nearly stumbling head first into Kaleb who was standing only a foot or so behind her. Putting her hands out to stop herself, she ended up damn near face planting into his chest.
“I’m so sorry.” She whispered; her hands suddenly glued to his massive chest. God he smelled good - something woodsy and fresh and far too appealing. And why the hell were her hands still on his chest because holy shit, no matter how many years she’d seen him without a shirt on, Zoey had never expected him to feel quite as hard as he looked.
“No. I’m sorry.” Kaleb stated, putting one large hand over hers which were, yes, still planted o
n his chest.
The warmth of his callused fingers as they brushed against the back of her hand had her nearly stumbling yet again. For all the time she had known the man, never once did his touch have the impact it did right then.
Looking up into those intense blue gray eyes, Zoey felt more than saw the heat reflected there. Taking a quick step back, she pulled her hands from underneath his and shoved them into the pockets of her jeans. “What’s up?” She asked, going for unaffected, but probably sounding like an idiot.
“Can we take a walk?” Kaleb asked, glancing back toward the living room where her father sat watching television.
“Sure.” Zoey didn’t know why she was committing herself to this endeavor because, after that little electric jolt, she wasn’t so sure her legs would hold her up.
Being close to Kaleb was doing strange things to her insides.
Chapter Four
♂♀
Kaleb wasn’t sure what the hell had just happened, but he was certain that whatever it was that sparked between him and Zoey, she had felt it too. From the second her hands touched him, an electric current jarred his entire body to attention. This wasn’t necessarily a good thing right now.
He had asked Zoey to go for a walk with him, only now he had a fucking hard on that was making it damned difficult to stand, much less move. That single touch had his cock raring to go, harder than granite and throbbing like a mother fucker.
Letting her walk in front of him, he attempted to situate himself so that he didn’t do any damage because his jeans were suddenly way too tight. Stepping out into the bright Texas sunshine, the warm August breeze wasn’t helping cool him down either.
“What did you want to talk about?” She asked, stopping suddenly and turning to look at him.
Kaleb nearly skidded to a stop, wary of touching her again because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep from pulling her against him the next time. And he was fairly certain there would be a next time. That was exactly the reason he was there, he just hadn’t intended it to be this soon.
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