And where had that thought come from?
He cleared his throat along with his mind. “Drink your coffee,” he suggested. “Then we’ll chat.”
“Here’s a better idea—I’ll go back to sleep for another three hours and then we’ll chat.”
He shook his head. “I have to be at the restaurant in three hours.” He glanced at the Tissot watch on his wrist, a graduation present from his mom and a symbol of her pride in what he’d accomplished and her belief in his future—when she’d believed that his future was at Jo’s Pizza. “Actually, less than that now.”
Erin peeled back the tab on the lid and cautiously sipped the hot liquid.
“You said your sister and her husband are coming...when?” Kyle prompted.
“Please,” she implored. “I need at least three minutes for the caffeine to hit my brain before I can be expected to have a conversation.”
“Do you think maybe you could get dressed in those three minutes?” he asked. “Or at least grab a robe?”
“You don’t get to show up at my door before nine o’clock on a Sunday morning and be offended that I’m in my pajamas,” she said.
“I’m not offended,” he told her. But he was inching close to being aroused, and that was dangerous territory for their relationship. “You just look a little...um...cold.”
He’d been trying really hard not to notice that the tight peaks of her nipples were pressing against the thin fabric of her top, but his eyes were clearly not accepting the commands from his brain, because his gaze kept dropping to her chest. And when he managed to lift it to her face again now, he saw that her cheeks were a darker shade of pink than the skimpy top that clung to her breasts.
“I’ll get dressed,” she decided. “But I’m taking my coffee with me.”
He nodded as she turned to go, failing again in his efforts not to notice that the hem of those shorts barely covered the sweet curve of her butt—and that she had really great legs.
Obviously he’d been too long without a woman if he was ogling a friend, he decided, and she deserved better than that. He swallowed another mouthful of his own coffee and nearly scalded his throat in the process, no doubt punishment for his inappropriate thoughts.
Erin and his sister had been roommates at the University of Texas and remained in close contact after graduation, though Kyle didn’t meet Erin until she came to Haven for Lucy’s wedding. There had been a hint of a spark in the beginning, but when he’d realized the sexy stranger’s connection to his sister, he’d ruthlessly extinguished it. Not just because he knew that Lucy wouldn’t approve and he didn’t want to be the cause of any more friction in his family, but also because any kind of romantic entanglement—no matter how temporary—with someone he might cross paths with again at family events was a complication he didn’t want.
A smart decision, as it turned out, because Erin’s visit to town for the wedding had resulted in her moving to Haven only a few months later. In the six years that had passed since then, Kyle and Erin had gotten to know one another a lot better and become good friends themselves. And while he’d never lost sight of the fact that she was a beautiful woman, he’d also never been tempted to make a move that would jeopardize their friendship.
Because as much as Kyle appreciated and enjoyed female companionship, his track record with relationships was abysmal. The biggest barrier to success was always his demanding work schedule. While there were plenty of women who liked the idea of dating a chef, none of them—or at least none that he’d gone out with—had understood that being in charge of a kitchen required him to be in the kitchen. Which meant that he worked every Friday and Saturday night and every major holiday, and stealing away for a romantic weekend wasn’t likely to ever happen.
Mikayla, a court clerk and his most recent ex, claimed to understand that his job required him to work weekends—but she’d been certain he didn’t mean every weekend. Of course, she worked eight-to-four Monday through Friday, and she’d started to resent that he was always at work when she got home and that they could never go away for a few days—or even a single Saturday night—because he was needed at the restaurant. After five months of dating—mostly late evenings, when the restaurant closed early, or Saturday mornings, before he went in to work—she’d decided that she wanted more than a few hours a week with someone who was too selfish and self-centered to appreciate everything she was offering.
He hadn’t dated another woman since she walked out the door. He simply didn’t have it in him to disappoint anyone else.
And the absolute last person he’d ever want to disappoint was Erin, which was just one more reason he had to forget how temptingly sexy she’d looked in those skimpy pj’s.
Easier said than done, he suspected.
Copyright © 2021 by Brenda Harlen
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ISBN-13: 9780369710109
The Horse Trainer’s Secret
Copyright © 2021 by Allison Lee Johnson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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The Horse Trainer's Secret Page 22