He grinned and rested his butt against the counter, setting the full glass beside him as he typed back.
“It’s new, but cool. It’s kind of a bad time for me so I’m taking it day by day.” He crossed his arms and waited for Cole to reply.
“Well hell, McDaniel. When do you ever do anything easy?”
Connor nodded. Cole had a point.
“She’s here. I’m bringing her to the baby shower.”
“She got a name?” Cole asked.
“Yeah, Julie Banks. We’ve met her before. One time with Bateman. She’s a friend of Kenzie’s.” Connor shot back.
“I don’t remember a Julie Banks.”
“Me either, but I don’t know how we missed her. She’s beautiful.”
“How about dinner on Saturday? Maybe we can all go out after the shower?” Cole suggested.
“That’s fine. Whatever. Work it out. We’ll go.” Connor wasn’t much for texting. He’d never worked out being able to use his thumbs. Instead, he typed with his forefinger, making the whole process stupidly long. Connor pushed away from the counter and reached for the glass when his phone vibrated again. He took the second to palm his cell again, reading Cole’s text.
“Making plans without asking? I see this relationship’s going to last.” He could hear Cole’s sarcastic tone mocking him and he couldn’t resist a reply.
“You’re a dick.” This time he waited for whatever Cole had to say about that.
“Yep. Spot on as usual. Goodnight, princess.”
All things considered, that was a tame response for Cole.
“Goodnight.” Connor typed and dropped the phone back in his pocket. Suddenly, he jerked his head to look over his shoulder, his body tensing as his eyes shifted toward the back door. Seconds later, it opened. Bruno stepped inside the dark kitchen and it took a second for each to stand down from that initial moment of not expecting the other.
“I didn’t expect you out of the room for a while,” Bruno said, walking past him through the kitchen toward the bedrooms.
“She needs to sleep. She’s exhausted. Did you just do anything I should know about?”
“No,” he said at the doorway without looking back. Connor stared after him. Bruno was going to be a problem. The guy was a dick, hard to take, but needed in Julie’s life. The sentiment on both sides was clear—they barely tolerated one another and nothing Connor did broke through that “I’m an asshole” deal Bruno radiated to the world. When he heard the back bedroom door close, he again picked up the glass and went for his room. Sleep wouldn’t kill him either. It would be hard with her there, but the desire to give her whatever she needed seemed to override everything else.
Connor set the glass of water on the nightstand beside her and quietly undressed. Once in bed, he even managed to carefully wrap himself around her. She responded, instinctively turning into him, draping her body across his. She never woke. Her perfume made it hard to fall asleep, but eventually he did. Proud of himself for letting her get some rest.
~~~
Julia rolled to her back and blinked her eyes open. A slow smile touched her lips as she stared at the camo-colored ceiling fan rotating above her. She looked over at the other side of the bed. There wasn’t really one. Julia was sprawled across the middle. She lifted a head, looked around, and confirmed what she suspected from all the quiet—she was the only one in the room.
When she saw the glass of water, she reached for it, lifting enough to take a long drink. Only then did she see the alarm clock. It was eleven forty-five in the morning. She bolted up, jostling the water. She had slept almost twelve hours; she never did that!
Julia wiped at the water droplets then scrambled out of bed and went for her suitcase. She quickly rummaged through her clothes, pulling on a pair of jean shorts, a T-shirt, and a sweatshirt before grabbing her cosmetics case. She barely remembered to give a slight knock before opening the bathroom door. No way did she want to catch Bruno in a compromising situation. She’d never be able to scrub that image from her mind.
At the sink, she brushed her teeth and then hurried to yank the brush through her hair. It didn’t help much, and she quickly pulled it back in a low ponytail. Digging around her makeup bag, she found her mascara remover, hurriedly eliminating the dark smudges under her eyes.
She stepped back, and surveyed her entire appearance.
She shook her head. Yeah, Connor might like the way her breasts looked unencumbered, but she didn’t. She lifted her shirts and went back for a bra. When everything was in place, she opened the bedroom door and stepped into the hallway. She followed the sounds coming from the kitchen and found Bruno sitting on one of two barstools at a small center island. Connor manned the stove, frying what looked to be hamburgers in a pan. He had quite a spread laid out on the cabinet, much like the one he’d prepared for her when she’d gone to his house last Sunday.
Bruno and Connor didn’t speak, but she didn’t see either of them as big talkers so it wasn’t abnormal. The fact they were in that same room spoke volumes to a possible balance Bruno must have achieved where Connor was concerned.
“Good Morning,” she said as she walked inside the kitchen. Bruno had seen her from the moment she’d turned the corner from the hall. He’d positioned his stool so he could see everything going on inside the house.
Connor turned, his smile inviting her to his side. Oh man, she had it so bad for him. His T-shirt tightened over his chest when he extended an arm toward her, accentuating his thick shoulders and biceps. He cocked his head, nodding at her to come his way. She did, and he puckered, bending for a simple kiss.
“Did you sleep well?” His whole attention was on her as he scanned her entire face, deciding that answer for himself.
“I think too well. I can’t remember ever sleeping this long. I feel like I missed half the day with you,” she said, nuzzling up against him.
Bruno cleared his throat, and Julia wrinkled her brow and looked over at him. He only ever got involved when something was wrong, and whatever he had to say would certainly zap her relaxed mood. He made a point of looking down at his wristwatch then up at her. “It’s noon. You did miss half the day.”
She stood there stunned, staring at Bruno. “Did you just make a joke?”
“Bruno and I made a breakthrough. And by the way, his real name is Rex, which I think might fit him better than Bruno,” Connor said, moving the hamburger patties to a plate.
“Your name’s Rex? Are you serious?” she asked, moving to a barstool. Bruno ignored that, reached for a patty before Connor ever got the plate of hamburgers on the counter, and began building his burger.
“We also took a group vote while you were sleeping and decided to check out the shooting range his father built,” Bruno said, slathering mustard on his bun. She looked between them. Privately they both spoke like reasonable human beings, but not in public, especially Bruno. He was almost a mute. All these words between them were kind of blowing her mind.
“I did say my vote might change if you didn’t want to do that,” Connor added, opening the refrigerator door. “Want something to drink? I have water, sweet tea, soda, and a pot of coffee I kept fresh over there.”
“Coffee,” she said, climbing off the chair and going directly for the pot.
“The cups are in the cabinet right above.” When she’d made her cup and turned back, Connor was standing opposite of Bruno, making two plates. He extended one, placing it in front of her barstool.
“Are these the beans we had last time?” she asked excitedly, her stomach letting out a loud growl as she lifted back on the seat.
“I made a batch when it looked like breakfast wasn’t gonna happen,” Connor said, taking the seat across from her.
“He can cook,” she said to Bruno who just nodded with his mouth full. Julia wasn’t quite sure coffee and the lunch he’d prepared complimented one another, so she sat back to drink her hot coffee before digging in. “So we’re going to the shooting range? I’m not real
ly a big fan of guns. Are there people there?”
“No. It’s on the back part of our land. I’ve gotta go out there anyway to feed,” Connor said before taking a big bite.
“Feed what? Like animals?” she asked, taking another long drink.
Connor nodded. He finished his bite and swiped a napkin across his mouth before saying, “My parents have some cattle, a couple of pigs, chickens, a horse, and a pack of dogs. I told my uncle I’d feed while my parents were gone. I waited to see if you wanted to go with me.”
“So we’ll do that before we go shoot?” Actually, after seeing all Connor’s trophies praising his ability to shoot a gun, she’d known that would probably be a problem for their relationship. Thank God, she’d relaxed her stance on gun control since Bruno had come into her life.
“Yep.”
“He has a bunch of trophies for shooting things,” she said, looking over at Bruno. She finally gave in to her desire to taste those beans and put her coffee cup aside to dig into the plate of food in front of her. Her gaze lifted to Connor’s as she gave a delighted moan. They were delicious, just like the last time he’d made them for her.
“I bet.”
“What’s that mean?” Julia asked, looking between the two of them.
“Nothing. We talked about what I do,” Connor said, taking a drink from a glass of water.
“What do you do?” Julia asked, stopping in mid-motion of taking another bite.
“I shoot. I told you that last night,” Connor said, taking a big bite of his hamburger. She thought she was missing something, but couldn’t put her finger on what, and Connor changed the subject before she could question him further. “We’re supposed to have a cool front coming through this afternoon, but it’s not really gonna drop temperatures. It may or may not bring rain. You never know around here.”
“I brought some warm things, did you?” she asked Bruno.
“Yeah.”
She smiled when he answered gruffly, between bites, his head down, focused on his food. He was so weird.
“Oh, and Cole invited us to dinner Saturday. He was gonna coordinate with Bateman and Prescott. Does he need to include you, Bruno? I need to tell him before he makes the reservation,” Connor asked. She turned her grin toward him, loving how he tried to include Bruno.
“No.”
Connor suppressed a grin, winking at her before taking another bite.
“You know, it’s surprising he’s doing this right now. He’s really rigid with the rules and boundaries he places between us,” Julia said, patting Bruno on the shoulder.
“We were talking about your safety. It broke the ice,” Connor informed her. Bruno just grunted with a full mouth, causing them both to laugh.
“Can we take a picnic when we go?” she suggested, thinking how fun it would be to eat outside like that. She loved the idea of country living. In theory, she envisioned herself in a life like this. All except the bugs that Tina had teased her with after googling the topic. Some that were native to Texas looked like the size of her hand. The spiders alone made her think they had to be folklore. No one would live with spiders that big.
“We can do whatever you want,” Connor answered.
Bruno gave a heavier grunt, and he picked up his plate, scooted off his barstool, and headed for the back door.
“Where’s he going?” she asked, watching him walk away.
“There’s a patio table out there. I suspect we’re a little too saccharine for him.”
“I thought the distance he kept was just employee-employer, but maybe I was a too girlie for him,” she said, scooping up another bite of beans.
“You aren’t too girlie for me,” Connor added, attempting to hide his smile behind his napkin.
“That was a real good thing to say,” she nodded, taking her bite.
“Thank you. Finish eating. We have a lot to do.” Connor started gathering different things off the breakfast bar before rising. When he went for the bowl of beans, she stopped him, getting another spoonful before he put them away.
~~~
Connor set his parents’ AM/FM radio to a local country-music oldies station, blaring out a Loretta Lynn tune, while he and Julie danced a slow two-step around his parents’ covered back porch.
Apparently, Julie had never spent a full day in the country. She’d told him the closest she’d ever gotten had been an annual elementary school field trip to the pumpkin patch when she lived in Downers Grove, a suburb of Chicago.
Today, she’d had a ball feeding the animals, watching him and Bruno shoot—although she hadn’t participated—then having a picnic by the stock tank his family had dug up more years ago than he could remember. When a small snake slithered past, she’d jolted upright, and screamed loud enough to show him exactly how she had won that contest.
After his battle with the creature left him the victor, she’d rewarded him accordingly for such a feat. Since Bruno still hovered nearby, that meant a kiss and tight hug, but he took it with pride and promises of more in the future.
“I had a great day,” she said against his ear, barely moving, close to just swaying with him, which was more than fine. Either way, holding her so closely had her body rubbing suggestively against his in all the right places.
“I can’t see how,” he answered honestly, pulling his head back to gaze into her eyes. He could get lost in the features of her lovely face. She held a patient, kind stare that did something to his heart. He slid a hand up over her shoulder to cup her neck and hold her head as he leaned in to place small, lingering kisses along the corner of her mouth.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to just be,” she said, wrapping her arms tighter around his waist, grinning at him with a dreamy-eyed expression. A Dixie Chicks song came on, and Julie turned her head toward the radio, making his kiss land somewhere along her cheek.
“This is oldies? I used to listen to this when I was younger.”
“Me too. I was twelve or thirteen and gonna marry Martie Maguire,” Connor said, pulling her attention back to him.
“Is that the singer?” They had all but stopped, doing nothing more than swaying to the music.
“No she’s the blonde, taller one. I was almost five-ten back then. We knew I was gonna be tall, so I needed the woman I was going to marry to be tall.” He remembered covering his walls in posters of her. He had quite a thing for Martie back in the day.
“Marry her because she was tall?” Julie said, laughing. “Mine was Lance Bass. Imagine my surprise when he turned out gay. Very disappointing. And yes, I’m taller than him, too.”
“My disappointment came when they talked trash about President Bush. I knew then that I was going into the military, and I hated that they’d talked bad about our country. I was so idealistic. All those posters got ripped down. I was so angry,” Connor said, rolling his eyes at the absurdity of that time. He’d been so passionate about his course of life.
Those thoughts led to others, and he could feel his heart rate accelerating. Not in a good Julie-pressed-against-him way, but in a how-could-the-navy-do-this-to-him kind of way, and he shut those thoughts down. Forced himself to change the conversation.
“You work a lot?”
“Yeah. I’m always so busy all the time. I wish your parents were here. I’d love to meet them,” she said and laid her head on his shoulder, again scooting along the floor as a Hank Williams song began to play. It picked up the beat, but they didn’t. Instead, the simple shuffle had him tightening his arms around her.
“They wouldn’t know what to think about you,” he said honestly.
“Why?” she asked, her breath tickling his neck.
“I haven’t brought a girl home,” he said absently, enjoying the flow of her body against his until her head popped up, her body stopped moving, and she looked at him in shock.
“Not even in high school?” she asked, clearly doubting his words.
“Nah. I did prom once. Didn’t really like any of that,” he s
aid, reaching around to her neck to press her head forward, liking when she laid her cheek on his shoulder. She fought him for a second, but finally gave in, leaning in and running her nose along the length of his neck.
She pressed her lips right below his ear before she whispered, “I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true.”
“So I’m the first girl you brought home? Or did I invite myself?”
“I invited you,” he said, laying his cheek against hers while closing his eyes. They were back to just standing and swaying. His grip tightened, holding her firmly against his body. She’d been perfect today, his perfect partner. Into everything he did, wanting to take part in everything just to be by his side. God, he had it bad for her.
“I think that means you like me…” She teased him, lifting on her tiptoes, slightly dislodging his arms around her, to kiss his neck again. They had even stopped the sway, giving up any pretense to dancing. He just stood there now, holding her.
“I do, very much, but I honestly can’t see how it’s gonna work between us.” Even as he said the words, he knew he had to do whatever it took to keep this woman in his life. That strong sense of possession had him wrapping both arms around her, pressing her against him, head to toe.
“Why? I think it’s going well,” Julie said, lifting a hand to his cheek, caressing him as her caring gaze met his.
He stared down at her worried face. For whatever reason, she was into him. He shouldn’t have said that out loud. Those were his long-time defense mechanisms jumping up to help guard him against the enormous pain he’d face by losing her.
“Why? You’ve got some changes coming. We need to figure out what’s going on with your head, but I’m flexible. I can travel,” she said, now placing both her hands on his cheeks, holding his head as she lifted to kiss his lips. “I like you, Connor. We can figure it out in order to stay together.”
Connor just stared down at her. Those words were the only thing that made him sane, gave him something to hang on to. They were a small hope, most probably unrealistic, but still a hope and the thing that kept him from emotionally tanking over everything going on with his fucked up life.
Mission Happy (A Texas Desires Novel Book 3) Page 19