Julia couldn’t be positive because the only light in the car was from the overhead dome, but she was pretty sure one of Freckles’s painted-on eyebrows was much higher than the other.
A howl rumbled from inside her house, and Julia saw Mr. Donut’s black nose pressed up against the fogged-up glass of her living room window. For a dog with such stubby legs, he sure had an impressive ability to jump onto the white plastic patio chair she was temporarily using in place of an actual sofa.
“When are you going to tell Kane to take his dog home?” Freckles asked.
“I keep meaning to. But every time the subject comes up, there’s always some sort of distraction, and we get to talking about something else.” She didn’t want to say out loud that the distraction was usually the way he looked in his sexy flannel shirts. At least on her end. She was beginning to suspect Kane had some issues with his attention span. The poor man changed the subject every time she brought up therapy. He surely wouldn’t appreciate her diagnosing him with ADHD, even if she was a neurologist.
“If you ask me, Sug, I think you like having that grumpy ol’ guy around a lot more than you let on.”
“Kane’s not that grumpy... Oh. You meant the dog.” She hoped her aunt couldn’t see the flush of heat blossoming on her cheeks. “Yes, I do rather like having Mr. Donut for company. You know my father was terribly allergic to animals, so I’m finally getting to fulfill a childhood dream with only half the responsibility. Maybe I’ll wind up getting one of my own if my schedule ever allows it.”
Freckles tsk-tsked. “That blasted schedule of yours. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a bajillion times. You need to make time for the important stuff, Sug.”
“Important stuff like what?”
“Like making your house a home.”
“You’re right, as usual. In fact, Kane brought over a few decorating catalogs for me, and I’ve been meaning to visit that furniture store in Boise.”
“Ugh. That’s not what I meant, child.”
Julia knew she was supposed to pick up on some hidden meaning here, but she preferred things in black and white. Why couldn’t everyone just speak more literally?
“How’s the An Apple a Day dating service going?” her aunt asked.
“Not bad.” She shrugged, thinking Freckles had the same tendency as Kane to switch conversation topics before Julia could figure out what message they were trying to convey.
“Not bad isn’t the same thing as good.”
“That’s why I said not bad. But do I really have to take a date to that hospital gala?”
“Unless you want people to talk, you should go with someone. Now that Kane lost that bet to you, I wonder if he is taking anyone.”
“I wouldn’t know. He made it pretty clear that he has no interest in dating or socializing in general. Then after I proved that I could ride a bike, I didn’t want to be a poor sport and bring the subject up.”
“Well, let’s try to find out, shall we?”
“Why?”
“Because...oh, never mind. You let Aunt Freckles worry about it. But right now, those sales aren’t going to shop themselves. I’ve got to get going to make it to the Midnight Madness Blowout.”
Julia gave her aunt a hug and exited the car. Maybe she could approach the subject with Kane by appeasing his ego and telling him he could still pick whom she took as her plus-one. Lord knew she wasn’t finding anyone suitable on her own and now that Freckles brought up the idea of him bringing another woman to the gala, the last thing Julia wanted was to have to sit at some table all by herself, watching as he bestowed that sexy little smirk of his on someone else. Forewarned was forearmed, right?
Forcing the conversation could have other advantages, as well. Like reminding her that Kane wasn’t in the running himself, no matter how much she loved being welcomed by his family or how good his rear end had looked on that bike seat in front of her.
Chapter Ten
“What do you mean, Freckles thinks you should go out dancing?” Kane shook his head at Julia. “Do you know how to dance?”
“I took classical ballet when I was younger.” She squared her shoulders, ready to shoot down his arguments and his negative attitude. It had been only a week since she’d proven herself more than capable of riding a tandem bicycle. He of all people should know she wasn’t one to give up. “And I’ve been watching a few videos on YouTube. I think I’ll be able to manage.”
Julia passed Kane an opened cardboard container, and he grimaced at its contents. “So, who’s the lucky guy who gets to take you dancing?”
When she’d pulled up at seven that evening, Julia had been surprised to see Kane’s Bronco at the curb in front of her house, all the downstairs lights blazing. She’d brought home takeout from the tiny Chinese restaurant near the hospital and had just offered to share some of her dinner with him when the conversation segued from the baseboards he’d finished sanding into her plans for the weekend.
“I don’t know yet. That whole online thing hasn’t been going according to plan. My last match was a sixty-eight-year-old pharmaceutical sales rep from Rexburg who lives with his mother. PharmBandit889 said his mom wouldn’t approve of him dating a modern woman who worked outside the home and asked if I’d be willing to quit.”
“What’d you tell him?” He sniffed the sweet-and-sour sauce before dipping his spring roll in it.
“I told him there’s no way I’d quit my job for any man. Or his mother. Anyway, Freckles said if I get dressed up and go to a club, I’ll find plenty of men to dance with.”
“By yourself? No way.” This overprotective big brother role Kane had taken on was grating on every one of Julia’s only-child nerves. How else was she supposed to find a date and get over this stupid attraction to him? She was willing to try anything at this point.
“Not alone,” she defended herself. “Your sister Kylie called me the other day and said Luke’s friend Lieutenant Renault asked for my phone number. I was thinking he might want to go with me.”
The chopstick in Kane’s hand snapped in half. “You do not want to go to a bar with Renault.”
“Why not? His rank really isn’t that much below mine. He’s an officer. I don’t think the Navy will have a problem with fraternization. Besides, it’s not a bar. It’s a dance club.”
“A dance club with a bar inside. Those places are meat markets. And going with some hotshot like Renault? It’d be like sending a lamb into a den of lions with their alpha leader as her date. What are Kylie and Freckles thinking, making a suggestion like that?”
Kane tossed a piece of General Tso’s tofu to Mr. Donut, who caught it easily before changing his mind and letting the small cube roll off his tongue and onto the floor.
“You know, I really don’t think you should feed him from the table like that,” Julia said.
“This isn’t exactly a table.” Kane used his hands to jiggle the floppy plywood balanced on top of two sawhorses.
“Good point. That reminds me. Aunt Freckles invited her friend Cessy Walker to go furniture shopping with us in Boise tomorrow. Maybe I’ll look for something more permanent for the dining room.”
“First your aunt wants you to go to a bar with some overly muscled, overly confident, macho SEAL,” he said before shoving a scoop of vegetable fried rice in his mouth. She didn’t point out the similarity between Renault’s build and his, although Kane definitely had the advantage when it came to making her legs wobbly. The man seemed determined to find fault with Luke’s friend, so maybe he knew something Julia didn’t. “And now she wants to subject you to the self-appointed Sugar Falls socialite and decorating queen?”
“What’s wrong with Cessy Walker? Aunt Freckles says she can be a bit on the snobbish side, but that she has impeccable taste and good style.”
“Nothing’s wrong with her,
exactly. She’s nice enough, I guess, and she means well. But when she and your aunt get together, their opinions become a force of nature, and you can be assured they’ll steamroller right over you. A whole team of Navy SEALs like your dance partner Renault wouldn’t be able to stop them.”
“He’s not my Renault. And why are you in such a bad mood all of a sudden? Surely you aren’t intimidated by Cessy Walker?”
Kane rolled his eyes. “Oh please. I could handle that queen bee with one arm tied behind my back.”
“Great. Then maybe you can go with us tomorrow?” Julia issued the challenge and then held her breath. The steamroller picture he’d just painted didn’t seem all that appealing, and she wouldn’t mind having him there for backup.
“No way. I handle Cessy Walker best by avoiding her.”
“You can’t tell me you’re afraid of a little sixty-something-year-old lady.”
“Don’t let her hear you refer to her as being in her sixties. And I’m not afraid of the woman. At least, not when it’s just her. But last spring, she and your charming aunt got together and planned a bachelor auction to raise funds for the new firehouse the city’s building just north of downtown.”
“So? What’s wrong with that?” To Julia, charities and fund-raisers were an integral part of giving back to the community, and it seemed normal that one of the wealthier socialites in town would lead the noble charge.
“What’s wrong is that they didn’t tell any of the so-called bachelors what they were doing and then tricked us all into getting up on stage when the auction started.”
“Us?” Julia’s lips twitched completely of their own accord. She’d bet the antisocial Kane Chatterson didn’t like being thrown into the limelight one bit. But instead of feeling sorry for him, a small part of her wished she could’ve been a fly on the wall to see him forced out of his comfort zone like that. And to see how high the bidding got. “You mean, you were one of the bachelors?”
“Not for long, I wasn’t,” he said, wiping his mouth with a paper napkin. “I walked out the door before the opening bids even started. I got an earful about it the next day from my sister, along with half the women in town. They said I was being a spoilsport and uncharitable. I said I was being myself, and they got what they should’ve expected.”
“What would it have hurt to go along with it?”
“What would it have hurt?” Kane took off his ball cap and ran his fingers through his short-cropped hair. “What if someone had actually bid on me?”
“Then you would have taken her on the date she paid for. You know—” she pointed her empty soda bottle at him, trying not to appear too giddy at the opening she’d been waiting for “—we talk about my dating life, but we never talk about yours.”
He picked up their plates and carried them to the sink. “That’s because there’s nothing to talk about. Just like you, I’m not out looking for someone to share my life with. I’m much more comfortable being alone. Women, no offense, have a tendency to complicate things and push for more than I’m willing to give.”
Wow. It was no more black-and-white than that. He was making it more than clear that he didn’t return her feelings—whatever those were. Even she didn’t know if this was just physical attraction or something more.
And did she sound that defensive when she’d made a similar argument? A kernel of pity wedged itself in her chest, and she wondered if he’d also been burned by a bad relationship. But at the same time, she envied him for knowing exactly what he didn’t want and for not letting anyone tell him he had to be with a woman to be happy. Even if Julia lost out because of it.
“No offense taken,” she said, putting her professional face back in place. “So I guess that means you won’t be bringing a date to the Sugar and Shadow Shindig?”
“You guess right. I’m not about to let one of my family members talk me into online dating or going out to bars to meet people.”
“Again, it’s a dance club, not a bar. And it’s because I promised my aunt that I’d give finding a date a solid effort. I’m not like you, Kane. I don’t like to let people down or give something less than one hundred percent.”
He was standing in front of the sink, making it difficult to see his expression. But there was no missing the sudden tensing of his shoulders. Without turning toward her, he asked, “Are you saying I don’t give things one hundred percent?”
Uh-oh. Now she’d gone and insulted him. Maybe she should’ve taken a page out of his book and not even attempted to be friendly to him. Clearly she wasn’t getting any better at making friends, no matter how much of an endeavor she made. She stood and crossed the room. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that you seem comfortable with the status quo. That’s not a bad thing, Kane. I actually envy that about you. Here, let me help you with the dishes.”
She put her hand on his arm, and instead of jerking it away, which would have been something she’d expect if he were angry with her, he kept it eerily still.
“They’re already done,” he said, his voice as tight as his motionless biceps. There went that weird tingling in her head, followed by the sensation making its way down her neck. She quickly pulled her hand from the warm flannel of his sleeve and mentally grasped at some sort of neutral topic to shift the conversation into something that would make sense to her, that wouldn’t send her body into sensory overload.
“I’ve been noticing that you’ve done quite a few dishes around here since I’ve moved in.”
“How do you know that I’m the one doing them?” He twisted a dish towel in his hands, but kept his body and attention planted firmly in place in front of her kitchen sink.
“Because I didn’t think the plumber or any of the roofers you hired would clean up my messes after I leave.”
“Sorry about that.” He began to wipe down the perfectly spotless counters. “It’s just that I don’t like being surrounded by a lot of clutter or chaos when I’m working. It can be very distracting for me.”
“Has anyone ever suggested that you might have some issues with your attention span?”
“Only every teacher since kindergarten.”
“Have you been formally diagnosed with ADHD?”
He looked up to her ceiling, and the corners of his taut mouth dropped ever so slightly. “Yeah. When I was seven years old and still not reading, my parents took me to the doctor. They prescribed some medicine, and it helped me focus a little better in school, but it made me sick to my stomach, and I had problems falling asleep.”
“But there are so many doses and different types of medications that it takes a while to get it all dialed in correctly.”
“If you say so.” He went back to the counter, using the dish towel to scrub at an invisible mark. “Will you hand me that bottle of cleaner from under the sink?”
This time, though, she wouldn’t let his penchant for changing topics sidetrack her. “Did you ever try anything else to help with your ADHD?”
When he saw she wasn’t going to indulge him in his counter-cleaning smoke-and-mirrors routine, he let out a breath, turning to lean against the cabinet. “Mom and Dad tried it all. Behavioral coaches, tutors, breathing exercises, positive reinforcement. I could deal with it okay enough at home and when I played sports, but anything that required me to be still and concentrate was too difficult.”
“That’s very unfortunate,” she said in her best medical professional voice. She doubted a man like Kane would appreciate her pity. “Have you done anything about it since you’ve reached adulthood? There are new medicines and resources now that could be quite beneficial.”
“I deal with it by staying busy and keeping other people’s houses clean so I can get my work done.”
Julia didn’t want to push him, not when he was so close to revealing such an integral part of himself that surely had shaped his life and the wa
y he saw the world. But she’d get her answers eventually. She always did. In the meantime, she would allow him to change the subject back to her.
“I should be better about that,” she said, only somewhat remorseful. “I grew up with housekeepers and parents who wanted the house pristine enough to grace the pages of Architectural Digest. I never even lived in a dorm on campus. I moved straight from their house to the officers’ quarters, where we would have random inspections. This is my first time living on my own, and I guess I went a little over-the-top with my rebellion against tidiness. Are you going to add housekeeping services to your invoice?”
“I should.” He smirked, and Julia was relieved that the earlier tension was losing steam. Mr. Donut let out a yawn from underneath the pseudotable, drawing their attention.
“Just as long as you issue me a credit for all the pet-sitting I’ve been doing for you these past few weeks.” She tried to form her lips into a matching smirk.
Kane shook his head. “What pet-sitting?”
“Your dog. The one you leave here every night?”
“Jules, I don’t have a dog. And if I did, I certainly wouldn’t bring him to work with me.”
“Hello?” She pointed to the hound with the droopy ears. “What about Mr. Donut?”
“What about him?” Kane crossed his arms over his chest. “He’s not my dog.”
“Then whose is he?”
“I thought he was yours.”
“I’ve never owned a pet in my life.”
The animal in question let out a whiff of air, and Kane waved his hand in front of his nose. “It looks like you own one now.”
“No. I only let him stay here because I thought he belonged to you and I was doing you a favor.”
“What kind of person would leave their pet at someone else’s house without asking?”
“I don’t know. I thought it was odd myself, but you’re kind of a mystery.”
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