Racked and Stacked

by Lorelei James

  He stepped in front of Riss, herding her against the door. “You shoulda called me. I’da been happy to take you anywhere.”

  Riss fiddled with the collar of his coat. “You were a little busy last week hand-grenading life as you knew it.”

  “True. Tonight will be the first time I’ve seen my sisters since I informed them of how my life changes will affect them.”

  “Oh no, Palmer. What did you do?”

  “Made some executive financial decisions regarding Lea’s future education. I’d already paid for this semester of school, which includes her rent. But that’s it; the cash cow has dried up. Lea had better figure out how to make this third career change work, or find another way to fund it because I’m out.”

  She stood on her tiptoes and put her lips next to his ear. “Hearing you laying down the law gets me hot.” She snickered. “Unless you’re trying to lay down the law with me, ’cause them’s fighting words.”

  “I like fightin’ with you.” He turned his head and fit his mouth over hers, indulging in the hot and hungry kiss he’d been dying for.

  The world around them went still, allowing his focus to boil down to Riss kissing him back with equal ferocity. And this was some heady shit.

  She ripped her mouth free from his. “Go. You’re already getting these panties wet.”

  He loved how she held nothing back. “Here’s an idea . . . Maybe you should come with me.”

  “Not. A. Chance. Face the family fire on your own.” She pecked him on the lips one last time. “But I will want all the juicy details when I see you for our date on Saturday afternoon.”

  “You’re setting up our first date?”

  “Unless you have a conflict?”

  “No conflict.” He pressed his lips to her temple. “No conflict Sunday either, so maybe you oughta pack an overnight bag.” He blew in her ear. “And extra panties.”

  * * *

  Ike barely squeaked into the auditorium before the lights went down. Jen had saved him a seat in the second row next to Mikayla’s grandma Alice. No sign of Alice’s son Mikey—aka Jen’s baby-daddy number one. Lea sat on the other side of Kay, in the farthest seat away from him. His four-year-old nephew, Elijah, squirmed off his chair and crawled around Alice’s legs to climb into Ike’s lap.

  Elijah was a quiet little boy, still at the sweet and snuggly stage, so Ike tucked him against his chest, knowing that these moments would be gone pretty soon.

  Ike had been to enough of these programs over the years that he zoned out when Mikayla’s class wasn’t on stage. It’d been a crazy week. He’d dropped into bed every night exhausted, but exhilarated. Opening up to Riss and taking a hard look at who he’d become forced him to admit to himself that he wasn’t the man he wanted to be. Even if none of his family and friends understood his need for change, he felt proud of himself for the first time in a long time.

  Maybe he’d known on some level that taking Riss into his home would force him to face the truths he’d been avoiding. Now he felt like he’d been given a second chance.

  Clapping started, pulling him out of his own head. He shifted his leg before it fell asleep and noticed Elijah had conked out. Ike glanced up and saw Alice smiling at him.

  She whispered, “You’re so good with him and Mikayla. You should have a couple kids of your own. You’d be a great father.”

  He smiled and said nothing, although he saw Lea talking to Kay and rolling her eyes.

  The program lasted about an hour and they waited in their seats for Mikayla to finish backstage. As soon as Elijah woke up he returned to Jen’s lap.

  Lea ignored him.

  Tough love, Ike.

  “Uncle Spike! You came!” Mikayla yelled as she raced toward him, blond pigtails bouncing, her colored paper beard hanging by a string from one ear.

  He caught her and managed to block a groin shot. “You were excellent on stage as always, Micky-D.”

  “I wish you’d stop calling her that,” Kay complained. “The kid is gonna get a complex when other kids start using it.”

  “When she tells me to stop, I will.”

  “I like it,” Mikayla declared. “It’s our thing, huh, Uncle Spike?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Are we gonna get ice cream now?” she asked.

  “You deserve it,” Alice said. “But Grandma’s got an early day tomorrow. I’ll see you this weekend.”

  Mikayla hugged her good-bye and addressed her mom. “Are we goin’ to DQ?”

  “Yes.” Jen looked at him over Elijah’s head as she zipped his coat. “See you there.”

  So much for his plan to head straight home.

  Since he hadn’t eaten supper, Ike ordered a burger and two orders of fries, knowing Mikayla and Elijah would demolish one order.

  At the table for six, Ike ended up sitting between Mikayla and Elijah, with his sisters lined up across from him like judge, jury and executioner.

  “So what’s gotten into you?” Kay asked.

  “Maybe the better question is who he’s gotten into,” Lea retorted.

  Ike smiled, refusing to take the bait. He dug in his pocket and pulled out a handful of change, which he passed to Mikayla. “Why don’t you and Elijah play that racing game for a bit.”

  “Come on, E. The grown-ups wanna gossip,” Mikayla said with the world-weary wisdom of her eight years.

  As soon as the kids were out of earshot, Jen jumped him. “You’re working construction? What happened to your partnership in the stock contracting business?”

  “Renner and Hugh will buy me out or we’ll decide to end operations and sell off the few assets. In the meantime I needed a job so Holt hired me.”

  “Why can’t you get your old job back with Stocksellers?”

  He looked at Lea, her dark brown hair hiding the stubborn set to her jaw. “Because I was fired, although I believe they used the term ‘downsizing.’”

  “Fired?” Kay repeated. “You never told us that.”

  “I never told anyone that because I was embarrassed. Thirty-seven and unemployable. Not my proudest moment. The contracting business is a bust too. So I’m throwing all my failures out at once.” He slurped his milk shake. “Fun, huh?”

  “Why did you say ‘unemployable’?” Lea asked. “Can’t you, like, . . . get another job as a livestock broker with a different company?”

  Ike shook his head. “There was a three-year noncompete clause that I hadn’t paid attention to. But I can go outside the five-hundred-mile radius they set. And I could broker deals for half a dozen of my longest-standing clients for a period of two years . . . with fifty percent of the profit going back to Stocksellers. Oh, and I had to sign an NDA about that.”

  “What made you decide to tell us this now, almost two years later?”

  Before Ike answered Kay, Jen said, “It’s her, isn’t it? She had something to do with this.”

  Her. She. Jen’s way of trying to rile him up by not giving Riss’s name importance. “Riss had a lot to do with this.”

  Three pairs of eyes widened.

  “I thought you hated her.”

  “Nope.”

  “Are you living together?”

  “Nope.”

  “So you’re with her. As in . . . ?” Kay prompted.

  Lea said, “They’re talking as well as fucking, which isn’t a step in the right direction, from what I can tell.”

  Ike set down his cup. “Riss and I are dating. Deal with it.”

  Another set of exchanged glances between them.

  Lea totally ignored Jen’s warning and opened her mouth. “That’s it? Deal with it? You’re not gonna lecture me about being respectful toward her?”

  “I’m done policing your behavior, Lea. You’ve been an adult for a decade. If my expectations about respect haven’t sunk in by now, the
n I doubt they ever will. If you’re hell-bent on disrespecting her when you meet her, Riss will take you to task on it, not me.”

  “What bothers me is that you told your new girlfriend about all this life-changing stuff and you couldn’t be bothered to tell us. We’re family, Ike. We should’ve been told first.”

  “Maybe you should’ve asked.”

  None of them had a smart retort for that.

  Ike stood. “I’ve got an early day tomorrow. I’ll say good-bye to the kids on my way out.”

  Dismissal shocked them into silence.

  Too bad he hadn’t tried that years ago.

  Chapter Twenty

  On Saturday afternoon, Ike tried not to call Riss a dozen times to see exactly when she’d be over.

  He might’ve peered out the front window a time or ten.

  He might’ve checked his appearance in the hallway mirror once or twice.

  He might’ve popped half a package of breath mints.

  He might be just a little anxious.

  Riss wasn’t the only one with no history of dating.

  He hadn’t done the girlfriend thing since high school . . . before his mother died. And dating hadn’t been an option when he’d had guardianship of his sisters.

  By the time he had his own place, he’d already established his preference for one- or two-night hookups. The few times he’d had overnight female guests in his house, he’d seen the calculating looks as they mentally redecorated and replaced his office with a nursery.

  No, thanks.

  He wasn’t sure if he even wanted kids. And he sure as hell hadn’t discussed the possibilities with any of the one-offs who’d warmed his bed.

  Was that something he and Riss would have to address down the road?

  When the doorbell rang, his heart raced, and he nearly tripped over his own damn feet to get to her.

  Riss smiled tightly. He recognized the anxiety dogging him showed in her face and her posture, given her white-knuckled grip on the duffel bag.

  “Hey, hot stuff. I’m glad you’re finally here. Come in.”

  “If we’re leaving right away to go on the date, I’ll keep my coat and stuff on. It’s a pain to take off.”

  Crap. Had it been his responsibility to come up with a specific plan for this date?

  She gave him a once-over. “We won’t be stupidly awkward with each other now that we’re dating, will we?”

  “No. But I ain’t gonna strip you to the skin the second you’re in the house, so you might as well come in while I’m getting ready.”

  She actually looked annoyed. After she stomped the snow from her boots, she came inside and dropped her duffel bag on the bench.

  And for some stupid reason, Ike began to babble. “I know we said no dating rules, but it’s probably best if we take this slow. No pressure, go with the flow . . .”

  “Live-in-the-moment kind of a thing?” she supplied.

  “Yep.”

  Riss snorted. “Dude. You are the least spontaneous guy I know. You are so set in your ways it’s ridiculous.”

  Ike snagged his shearling coat from the coatrack. “I was the least spontaneous guy. I threw a hand grenade into my life, remember? I oughta get credit for that.”

  “Fine, I’ll grant you that. But that doesn’t mean you’ll suddenly become Mr. Go-with-the-Flow.”

  “You’re wrong.”

  “Prove it.”

  Of course she challenged him first thing. “How?”

  “No matter what happens today, you follow my lead.”

  Do not panic. “I’ll follow your lead . . . within reason.”

  “See?” She whapped him on the arm. “You’re already qualifying it. If I wanted to date a grumpy old man, I would’ve let Jim Barnes take me out. He’s asked me, like, fifty times.”

  Jim Barnes. One of the seventy-something regulars at Buckeye Joe’s. As if. “I’m nowhere near Jim Barnes’s age.”

  “Word on the street is he doesn’t even need Viagra.”

  “Neither do I.”

  Riss opened her mouth, likely to retort “Prove it” again, but he placed his fingers over her lips. “Woman, when will you learn this shit doesn’t work with me? This whole taunting tactic to goad me into tearing your goddamned clothes off to prove how badly I want to fuck you.” He inched closer. “That is a given. But we’re doin’ the date thing first. So suck it up and grow some damn patience for a few hours.”

  She smiled. “There he is. The bossy, pissy Ike I know and like. You started to worry me that you’d become sickeningly nice now that we’re dating.”

  “God forbid.”

  As Ike settled his black Resistol hat on his head, Riss said, “Do you mind driving?”

  “Not at all. Where are we goin’?”

  “Casper.”

  “What’s in Casper?”

  She smirked. “The scene of the crime—aka our first date.”

  “You preplanned something?”

  “Of course I did. Something really thoughtful.”

  When her smile widened he fought another surge of panic. But he managed to smile back. “By all means, darlin’, let’s get this date started.”

  The only difference on this drive to Casper was that Riss held his hand the entire time. As soon as they pulled into town, she said, “We have some time to kill so let’s go to Runnings.”

  “Sure.” He shot her a wry look. “I’m worried a trip to Runnings is setting a precedent that I only take you to the best places. Where could I take you on the second date that could possibly compare?”

  “You could take me there again. I love that store. Where else can you buy clothes, ropes, corn chips, salt licks, toys and baby chickens? It’s one-stop shopping at its finest.”

  “You’re familiar with their rope section?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

  Yes, sweet cheeks, I surely would. I might be mechanically challenged, but when it comes to ropes . . . I’ve got all sorts of tricks.

  “What’s that smirk for, Palmer?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

  “Tssssss. I feel that burn.”

  His usual manner of shopping—get what he needed and get out—wasn’t how Riss did things. She wanted to shop. Take her time, look around.

  And since he worried she’d lift something she wasn’t supposed to—like the portable generator he caught her eyeing—that meant he was shopping too.

  Which he hated.

  Or he thought he hated it until he’d experienced shopping with her. The crazy woman made the mundane fun.

  So far they had two bags of circus peanuts, a roll of camo duct tape and a rain gauge in the cart—none of the items made sense, nor had Ike chosen any of them.

  They’d managed to pass through the “As Seen on TV!” aisle without adding anything new to the cart and now they were in the women’s clothing section.

  “What about these?” she asked.

  Ike homed in on the black panties she’d draped over her cast. “You honestly need a pair of underwear with ‘Sinday’ spelled out on the crotch?”

  “I don’t need them. I said I like them.” She tossed them back in the bin and pulled out another pair. “Do you like these better?”

  He squinted, because he couldn’t possibly be reading that right. “‘My other ride is a cowboy.’” Their eyes met. “Oh hell no. I never wanna see them words across your ass.”

  “Even if you’re the cowboy in question that is my ride?” she cooed.

  Ike slipped his arm around her waist and brought her body to his. When he felt the weight of those luscious tits pressing into his chest, rational thought vanished. Riss was soft and warm and they fit together perfectly. Why were they in the damn ranch supply store when they should be rolling around in his big bed?

 
“Stop growling at me, Ike.”

  “Then stop taunting me.”

  “It’s your fault.”

  “What did I do now?”

  “Dressed like that for our date. All hot, cowboyed up in a long coat, boots and jeans and this tight shirt that shows off your muscled arms. And then, you just had to go and put that black cowboy hat on, didn’t you?” She bit her lip. “I needed a distraction because banging you next to the water softener pellets wasn’t an option.”

  A slow smile spread across his face. “So teasin’ me with images of you wearin’ nothin’ but them panties is a distraction . . . for you?”

  “Yes. It levels the playing field. I feel like now you’re lookin’ at me the same way I’ve been lookin’ at you. And for that, I deserve a reward.”

  “What kind of reward?”

  Riss’s gaze moved to his mouth. “A kiss.”

  “Right here, right now, in the ranch supply store?”

  “Yes, because you didn’t even kiss me hello at your house. I’m pretty sure that violates a dating rule. So to make it up to me, you have to violate your personal ‘no PDA’ rule and mack on me immediately.”

  Her logic made no sense. “Hold that thought.”

  “Am I such a bad kisser that you don’t wanna kiss me again?”

  “God no.” He slid his hand up to curl his fingers around the nape of her neck. “Didn’t we agree to take this slow?”

  She broke eye contact. “I don’t recall.”

  Ike chuckled and whispered, “Liar.”

  Her entire body trembled against his.

  Since whispering in her ear elicited that reaction, he did it again. “Riss.”

  “Mmm?”

  “Tell me you believe I wanna kiss you more than anything.”

  “Uh . . . I guess you do.”

  He brushed his lips across her ear. “You guess? You don’t know?”

  She tried to squirm away. “If you truly wanted to kiss me more than anything, you would’ve done it by now.”