by Erika Kelly
Those broad shoulders tensed, like Delilah held the little girl hostage, and he was waiting for his opening to knock the wooden spoon out of her hand, grab the girl, and run.
“I didn’t wake her up or anything. I…” She didn’t normally get tongue-tied, but he was just such a formidable presence, so imposing. He made her feel…guilty.
Well, now, hang on. I haven’t done anything wrong.
Shifting the sleeping girl in her arms, she reached out to shake his hand. “Will, right? I’m Delilah.” Duh. He knows that. “It’s so nice to meet you. Thank you for letting me stay with you.”
“Here.” He reached out, effortlessly lifting Ruby and turning her so that she slumped against him.
The little girl’s head lifted, her eyelids barely staying open. “Wheel?” The utter relief in her voice made it sound like she’d been lost at sea for a month, and Will was the Coast Guard. She patted his shoulder, as if making sure he was okay.
His gaze rested on that tiny hand, and emotion choked his features. “Yeah, Rubes, it’s me.”
“Oh.” One gush of air shouldn’t have contained such contentment…but it did, and it turned Delilah’s heart to goo. The little girl wrapped her arms and legs around him the same way Delilah cuddled with her body pillow every night.
“I’ll put her to bed.” He quickly turned and left the kitchen.
But the image of his broad shoulders straining the width of his white T-shirt and his perfectly round ass in the black athletic shorts lingered.
I have to live with this guy?
Delilah had grown up with four brothers and all their friends. She was totally comfortable around guys. But Will Bowie? He was that hot guy in school who kept to himself, rarely made eye contact with anyone outside his tight group of athlete friends and, when he gifted a smile to someone, made her feel like the Pope had blessed her right there in the hallway.
Thankfully, she’d only be here two weeks. Those mysterious guys made her uncomfortable. She liked to know where she stood with people.
Shoving the tray into the preheated oven, she dumped the bowls, spoons, and measuring cups into the sink. She was exhausted, but at least the family would have a fun treat in the morning. She wouldn’t sponge off them.
“What were you doing with Ruby?”
For the second time, her body jolted at the sound of his commanding voice. With shaky hands, she shut off the faucet and reached for a red and white-striped kitchen towel. “I told you. She was wide awake when I came in tonight.”
“If it happens again, I’d appreciate it if you’d put her back to bed. Not…” He gestured vaguely around the kitchen. “Get her all stirred up with lights and activity.”
Stirred up? “She was asleep in my arms.”
Drawing in a breath that said, You’re getting on my last nerve, but you’re a visitor so I’ll give you a pass, he gave a fake and somewhat intimidating smile. “She’s only been here since Saturday, and she’s not sleeping through the night yet. I’m dealing with it by giving her a routine. So, if you see her up again, just take her back to bed.”
“Look, I didn’t walk in the door and pull a sleeping child out of bed to keep me company while I baked. She literally started talking to me from the top of the staircase.”
When Will didn’t like something, every muscle in his body turned to granite. Right, so stop arguing with him. You’re a guest in his house. “But, okay, if it happens again, I’ll put her to bed.” She flipped the faucet on, poured some dishwashing liquid onto a sponge, and scrubbed the mixing bowl.
But she didn’t see the sudsy water or the silver bowl. She saw those big, round eyes peering up at her. Where Momma? She couldn’t even stand the idea that the lost little girl was waiting for her mom to come back. She hit the faucet and reached for a dish towel. “Actually, no, I don’t think I can do that.”
His expression clouded and, if he’d been intense before, he’d just turned thermonuclear. “You’re going to have to do that. I’m teaching her to self-soothe at night. She’s got to adjust to a new normal, and that’s the only way to do it. If she relies on us to put her to sleep, she’ll never have the skills to do it herself.”
The only way? “Hang on. Let me finish. If she’d just been awake and waving to me, I would’ve put her back to bed. I might’ve read her a book first, but I certainly wouldn’t have baked muffins at midnight with her.”
“I don’t want you to read her a book. I want you to put her back to bed. You know what? Forget it. Next time it happens, wake me up, and I’ll handle it.
Oh, this guy. “Will, she asked me where her mom was.”
He flinched, as if she’d just flicked water in his eyes. His mouth opened, but no words came out. Just a slow hiss of breath. And then his shoulders went back. “What’d you say?”
“I didn’t know what to say, so I told her what I’d want my mom to say to me. That she loves her very much. That she was her mommy’s sweet angel.”
A look of defeat tipped his head down, drawing her gaze to his gorgeously sculpted thighs and big, bare feet.
“Has she done that before?” she said. “Asked about her mom?”
“Never.”
“So she has no understanding about what happened to her parents?”
“She never knew my dad. He…” When he swallowed, his Adam’s apple jumped. “He died a little over two years ago. Her mom…no, she doesn’t understand anything. I’m supposed to let her come to me with questions, and I’m only supposed to answer the questions she asks—not add my own information.”
Ah. So, he’d lost a parent, too. “Well, I think she’s waiting for her mom to come pick her up.”
Awareness struck, and his jaw slackened. “Her mom went away for a long weekend and never came back.” By his expression, if he were watching a movie, he’d hit the scene where the killer’s identity had been revealed. “Jesus. She’s waiting for her mom.” His voice sounded rough, raw with the revelation.
“Yeah, sounds like it. So, it kind of broke my heart. When I was a little girl and couldn’t sleep, my mom would take me into the kitchen and bake with me. I thought I’d try it with Ruby.”
“No. Don’t do that.” He must’ve seen her reaction to his aggressive tone, because he looked…well, frustrated. “Just let me handle it, okay?”
“Sure, yeah. If it happens again, I’ll wake you up.” She couldn’t imagine applying a textbook solution in this situation, but it wasn’t her call. This wasn’t her family. She turned back to the sink, but his big hand came down on the counter beside her, and she couldn’t help looking up at him. All her annoyance washed away when she saw the worry in his eyes.
“It’s a tough situation, but we’re doing the best we can. We can give her everything…except parents. It sucks for her, but that’s just the way it is.”
Just give her love. Oodles of kisses and hugs and…love.
She didn’t say it, of course. Just turned back to the sink to take care of the mess she’d made. When she glanced back at him, he was gone.
Tightening the backpack’s belt, Will glanced at the rooster clock. Six AM. Right on schedule. He checked the counter to make sure everything was ready for his protein shake—wait, were they out of almond butter? Ah, hell. He grabbed the grocery list and added it.
“Okay, Rubes, ready to go?”
“Go.” His sister gave a rallying cry from the backpack.
This kid. Everything was exciting to her. He opened the mud room door and stepped onto the back porch to find Uncle Lachlan stretched out in an Adirondack chair with a steaming mug of coffee. “Hey, old man.”
His uncle tipped his chin to the lawn. “Your guest’s playing leapfrog with Fred.”
In a deep squat, knees practically in her armpits, Delilah shifted her weight forward, lifting her feet off the blue yoga mat. Their rambunctious goat bounded straight for her. “Oh, crap.” Will started off the porch.
“Oh, come on. Let him have some fun.”
Not that Will coul
d’ve gotten there in time anyway. Besides, the goat had never hurt anyone in his eight years with the family. Will watched Fred playfully lower his head and ram into her ass, knocking Delilah sideways.
Will trampled down the stairs to get to her, relieved—and a little surprised—when he heard her laughter.
“You nut.” She rolled onto her knees and fielded the goat’s eager nuzzling with both hands. “What’d I ever do to you?”
He stopped at the bottom of the stairs to watch for a moment.
“Come on, fella.” She got up, swiping the grass off her black leggings. “I have to finish, so I’m putting you back where you belong.” Fingers tucked into his collar, she walked him to his pen and nudged him through it. Then, she went back to her mat and formed her body into the letter K, face turned up to the sky.
“Gee-yup, Wheel, gee-yup.” Ruby’s little feet kicked out.
“All right, Rubes.” He called up to his uncle, “I’m out of here. See you in an hour and a half.”
“Your mom might be up by then,” Lachlan said. “So, I’ll have found something else to do.” Watching the lawn, he sat forward with a big grin.
Will turned just in time to see Fred get up on his hind legs and smack the latch a few times with his nose. The gate swung open, and he raced towards his new friend.
“Delilah,” Will called.
“Oh, this is gonna be good.” Lachlan chuckled.
Will struck off to save his houseguest. Frolicking towards her, Fred nudged her from behind, knocking her face-down onto the grass. Peals of laughter filled the backyard, and it made Will smile.
She rolled onto her back. “Oh, my God.” The goat kept jumping around her, diving in for attention. “What’s the matter with you?” But she was still laughing.
“Come on, Fred.” He snatched the goat by the collar and led him back to his pen, twisting the wire around the latch to make sure he couldn’t get out. “All right, Ruby, let’s hit the road.”
“Hit wode, Wheel.”
When he turned, he found Delilah heading toward him, a hand shielding her eyes from the bright morning sun. “I guess I missed an important feature of goat entrapment.” She reached them and smiled. “I’ll remember that.”
Will’s pulse quickened “Yep.” He looked away. “Just twist this wire.”
“Got it.” She smiled up at Ruby. “Hi, sweetie. You going for a run with Will?”
“Wif Wheel.”
“That’s sweet of you to take her with you.”
“Marcella raised four of us. She’s doesn’t need to start all over again.” Something about this woman’s smile, her intelligent brown eyes, and all that bright-blonde hair scrambled his brain.
It didn’t happen all that often, a strong attraction like this, but there wasn’t a chance he’d go there with Callie’s best friend, so he stepped around her. “I’ll see you later.”
“Wait.” Her hand caught his forearm. “I just want to say how sorry I am about last night. It was a difficult situation, but I’m a guest in your home, and I want you to know I’ll mind my own business.”
“No worries. We’re all finding our way.” Go.
But she had a lost—maybe even sad—look in her eyes that kept him rooted. What had Callie said? Something about Delilah’s life going sideways, needing a change in scenery.
Well, he wasn’t about to ask her about it. Not my business. And yet, still, he found himself saying, “You need anything?” She’d just gotten in last night, knew no one. He could offer her…something.
She looked relieved. “I’ll try to stay out of your way, but maybe you could go over a few things with me? One of the reasons I came out here is to meet the chefs in the competition, so if you could point me in the right direction, I’d be grateful.”
“There’s a train. I can show you when I get back.”
“Awesome. Thanks.” She beamed a smile so bright it made his blood go fizzy. “Also, it’s important to me that I pitch in around here, and since I’m a chef, I’d like to cook for you guys. I just need to know what you guys like to eat.”
Normally, Marcella would handle these issues, but he and his brothers had given her the summer off. Between Ruby and a houseguest, he knew Marcella would think she needed to stay.
When he didn’t respond right away she said, “Never mind. I’ll talk to Marcella. I know you have a schedule to keep.”
“I do, but it’s summer, so my training schedule’s lighter.” His body needed to rest after an intense competition season. “I’ll be back at seven-thirty. I can show you around then.” He’d loan her a car, give her a tour, go over his diet, and then she’d be good to go.
“You don’t mind?”
The longer he looked at her, the more he noticed. Like her lush and expressive mouth, her lips, the color of raspberries. The pink in her complexion, and the roundness of her breasts and hips in the Lycra tank top and leggings. Ruby kicked her legs, snapping him out of his daze. “Of course not.” With a tight nod and smile, he headed out on his run.
Normally, he dealt with distractions by switching the channel in his brain, aiming his focus on the task at hand. Blocking temptation had never been much of an issue. He didn’t need booze or cake or a hookup that badly. No, he kept his eye on the ball. Always.
In this case, switching the channel meant having someone else get Delilah settled in, but Lachlan was unreliable and Marcella needed a break, so Will figured he could handle it.
He thought about the way she laughed, though. The way it lit up her whole face, made her hazel eyes sparkle, and wondered if he might be making a tactical mistake.
Lick.
Under a canopy of trees shading the sidewalk outside Bliss, the town’s ice cream parlor, Will forced himself to look away…until she moaned. And then he had to see her expression.
“Oh, my God.” Delilah’s eyelids fluttered closed, and her pink tongue made a slow pass around the edge of her melting ice cream cone.
Delilah Lua turned out to be nothing like he’d expected. Then again, other than her family owning a famous Italian restaurant, Callie hadn’t told him much. Maybe he’d expected a dark-haired woman. A harried, fast-talking New Yorker?
Not a blonde beauty with exotically-shaped eyes.
Not sexy as fuck.
Everything about her was sexual. The sway of her hips when she walked, the way her teeth sank into her lush bottom lip when she turned thoughtful, and that luxurious, long hair that shook and shimmied every time she used her hands to tell a story—which was all the damn time.
Expressive, energetic…she turned a basic tour of downtown Calamity into an experience.
Her eyelids popped open, and those warm, hazel eyes trained on him. “What is it about this ice cream?”
Just when Will pried his gaze off her mouth to answer, she ran that tongue along her plump bottom lip, kicking the hum of desire in his dick to a full-blown throb. “The owner’s the president of the Slow Food Organization. He uses all natural ingredients sourced from local farmers.”
“A-ma-zing.” She’d spent so much time savoring it—to let the “flavors linger in my mouth”—that the ice cream was dripping. Grinning, she licked it off her fingers. “Best I’ve ever tasted. Do you mind if I talk to the owner real quick? I promise I won’t be long.”
Liar. He’d planned on giving her a quick lay-of-the-land. Calamity wasn’t that big. Three long streets filled with shops, restaurants, and bars, faced the town green. The historic section sat a few blocks beyond Main Street, complete with wooden boardwalks and the original, now-faded advertisements on the wood and brick buildings built in the early nineteen-hundreds.
But she’d kept ducking into restaurants to check out the décor and meet the chefs. Just before stopping for ice cream, she’d spent twenty minutes with the owner of Coco’s Chocolates discussing her “sources” and “process.”
He’d never met anyone so interested in food. And people. And…everything. “No problem.”
She watched him
with those clever eyes that didn’t miss a thing. “I don’t want to keep you. If you want to go, I can always catch an Uber back to the ranch.”
“I’m good.” He turned toward the set of picnic tables under the Ponderosa pine trees. He’d clocked the teenager watching him earlier, so he wasn’t surprised when she approached him the moment Delilah went back inside the ice cream parlor.
“Can I get your autograph?” She thrust the napkin and pen out, as if forcing herself to break through her fears. “I want to be just like you.”
Will Bowie liked the kid’s spirit. “You board?” He reached for the pen. “Or ski?”
“I grew up boarding, but I want to ski half-pipe like you. Especially after what Damien said.”
Will didn’t care what his closest competitor had to say. For five years the guy had come in second to Will’s first and bitched about it every time. Sore loser.
He scrawled a note to the kid.
Set goals, stay focused, and take home the gold.
Will Bowie
As he handed the napkin back, the girl said, “I don’t believe anything he says.”
“Good.” But the defiance in her tone got Will’s attention. “Thing is, any time you’re on top, you’re going to have people trying to yank you down. You’ve got to keep your eye on the prize. You’re Teflon, and the negativity’s water. Let it roll right off you.”
“My dad says Damien’s a jackass. Nothing but a showboater. You’re…you’re perfect. I’ve never seen anyone ride the rails the way you do.”
“Thanks.” He shook the teen’s hand. “Means a lot.”
As she read the note, her eyes widened. She gazed up at Will with a painfully earnest and hopeful expression. “You mean it?”
“You think I’m a superhero?” Will waited for the comment to sink in. “I’m just a guy. I won for two reasons. One, I work hard, and two, I never gave up. Nothing more to it. So, yeah, you can absolutely stand on that podium. You just have to want it more than anything else.”
“I do. I totally do. Thank you.” With a huge smile, the girl dashed back off to her skateboarding friends.