Breathless

by Dakota Harrison

  Emma gave in, knowing that if she didn’t soon, Darby might make good on her threat.

  “I have a date.”

  Darby laid the knife back down on the table beside her plate. “This I know. Can we get to the point?”

  “Before I tell you, you have to promise me you won’t tell anyone who it is. Please.”

  A sigh of epic proportions blew out of Darby’s mouth. “Fine. I promise.”

  Emma sat back in her chair to watch the widescreen version of Darby’s reaction. “Pete.”

  Frown lines creased Darby’s forehead as she thought hard. “Pete who? Pete Duncan?”

  Emma had no idea who Pete Duncan was. She shook her head, thoroughly amused. “No, Pete Hammond.”

  “Hammond?”

  Emma could almost see the cogs turning in Darby’s head.

  “Old Pete? As in, eight-six-years-old, Old Pete?”

  Laughter spurted from Emma’s lips at the stunned expression on Darby’s face. She nodded. “Yep. Pete.”

  Darby sat back in her chair, total disbelief etched into her features. “How… Why? I-I don’t…”

  Emma lifted one shoulder, the open neckline of Gabe’s shirt sliding down her arm. She shrugged it back into place as she answered, “Because he asked me. No one else has. You know, I would’ve thought these guys would have a little more nous. They make a list to wager who dates a girl—you’d think one of them would actually ask me out.”

  Darby’s laughter joined hers, and the strain of trying to hold back sent tears rolling down her friend’s cheeks. “Oh boy. I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when you walk in with Pete. Can you imagine?”

  Emma picked up her pastry and took a bite, her eyes almost rolling back in her head with the explosion of flavors. Mary Jameson was certainly a talent when it came to baking. A flake of pastry fell from the corner of Emma’s mouth. She picked it up on the pad of one finger and popped the crumb in with the rest of her mouthful.

  “Pete said his odds are a little high—the profits should make for a very nice meal.”

  A wicked glint reflected off Darby’s eyes. “You are plain evil, you know that?”

  Emma shrugged, beaming at her. “It wasn’t my idea. Pete thought it all up. He’s on that stupid list, so why the hell not?”

  Darby sat back in the chair and wagged a finger at her. “Ryan is going to be so heartbroken. He was positive you would go out with him when he asked you.”

  Emma snorted, then laughed when Ralph jumped and bounced, twisting to the side and jigging around the table. “Sorry, buddy. I’m sure Ryan will get over it. He’s just in it for the thrill of the chase. He doesn’t want to go out with me. At least, not how I’m thinking.”

  A wistful twist tilted Darby’s full lips. That was interesting. Emma looked at her more closely. Darby glanced away, her cheeks staining a faint pink as she played with her mug.

  So. Darby has a thing for Ryan. Emma wondered if either Ryan or Gabe had picked up on that.

  “You’d be surprised. Oh sure, there is that—the whole ‘I got her, boys’ thing. But I do think he likes you, and not just for a romp in bed.”

  “It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m not interested in him. He’s nice, but not my type.”

  Ralph laid his head on Darby’s lap and was rewarded with her absently scratching his ears. “Who is your type? I know it’s not Old Pete.” At the wry look Emma sent her, Darby continued. “If it’s not Ryan, that only leaves about a dozen young guys. Gabe’s one of them.”

  Emma looked away when the silence after her statement went on too long. “Gabe’s just a friend, like we agreed.” She plucked at the loose shirt he’d lent her. “See? This proves it. He helped me today and gave me his own shirt, so I wouldn’t be embarrassed in front of all the others.”

  Darby popped the last of her pastry into her mouth and chewed, a thoughtful look gracing her pretty features.

  “Hmm. You are friends, I’ll give you that much. But do you really think he helped you and gave you the shirt only because of friendship? To save you from embarrassment? Or, did he do it so no one else could get a look at what he’d just seen, because he liked it and wanted to keep that picture for himself?”

  Emma’s mouth fell open. “Darby! Heck. I don’t need the other guys to embarrass me. I do a fine job of it by myself. Gabe was just being nice,” she affirmed. She needed to think that, because it was the only way to keep her own attraction to Gabe under wraps. An attraction she didn’t want, or need.

  She’d heard it from Gabe’s own mouth that he felt the same way. She wasn’t stupid enough to fall for a guy who didn’t want her. Or at least didn’t want to act upon any attraction he might feel. She’d been down that road before and didn’t like the scenery. As long as Emma remembered that and kept focused on being friends with Gabe, she would be fine. She wouldn’t fall for him. Didn’t want to. That’s not why she’d moved to Jefferson’s Crossing.

  “You’re forgetting he’s my twin brother, Emma. I know how his mind works. He doesn’t look at the other girls in town the way he looks at you. He tries to hide it, but it’s there.”

  Emma waved a hand at her friend. She didn’t want to listen to this. It would only make things harder, and Emma didn’t need harder. She’d moved to Colorado to get away from problems, from people who placed responsibility on her. People who laid blame and pointed fingers.

  Emma shook her head to dislodge those thoughts. It wouldn’t do any good. It wouldn’t change things. She had a new life now. One without blame, without pressure and without the hatred she’d felt increasing by the day. Losing a child was hard enough without people condemning you, people who should’ve been there to support and comfort you in your grief. Her ex-in-laws had a lot to answer for.

  Emma rubbed unconsciously at her side. Her scar ached terribly at times, more so when she thought about her ex-family.

  A new beginning had been needed, one with new friends.

  She looked down at the loving eyes of Ralph staring up at her. A new beginning with a newborn baby calf, of all things.

  “I think the looks go in both directions, don’t they?”

  Darby’s quiet question brought Emma’s gaze back to hers. Emma licked her lips and frowned, trying to find a way to answer.

  “I don’t know what to tell you. I’m attracted to him. You can see that. Who wouldn’t be? He’s sexy as sin, but that doesn’t mean a single thing. It doesn’t mean I want to start anything, and it doesn’t mean he’s attracted to me either.” She held up a hand when Darby would have interrupted. “I have to go by what he told me. His own words. I need to believe in that much, otherwise our friendship is based on nothing.”

  Emma could see Darby was itching to add her own insight, but Darby held her tongue, something that must have taken a lot of self-restraint on her part. From what Emma already knew of the girl, Darby wasn’t used to censoring her thoughts or words.

  Darby’s shoulders slumped, resignation winding across her face. “Fine. I’ll drop it. I don’t necessarily agree with you, but I really like you and I don’t want to ruin our friendship before we get started.”

  Guilt, shame, relief and not a small amount of thanks rushed through Emma at Darby’s words. She reached over the table and grabbed hold of her hands.

  “Thank you. You don’t know how much that means to me. Especially after… I like you too. Your family has been so kind to me.”

  The slight narrowing of Darby’s eyes told Emma that she had caught Emma’s slip, but Darby sent Emma a small smile and squeezed her hands. Emma still couldn’t talk about her loss. Not yet. Not until she knew Darby better.

  “So. When and where is this marvel taking place? Please tell me it’s somewhere I can see the looks on people’s faces?”

  Emma’s grin returned. “You bet. Friday night at the Spotted Cow.”

  Darby’s grin matched hers. “The whole town will be there once they know you’ve accepted a date. They’ll all want to know who the lucky guy is.
”

  Emma nodded. “Just don’t tell anyone you know who it is, especially Gabe. He might find he has to tell the others, and I want it kept quiet.”

  “Maximum impact, huh?” Humor laced Darby’s voice. She scratched at her ear, nodding. “I can’t wait to see their faces. What did we ever do for fun in this town before you showed up?”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Hey, Emma. You need some help with that?”

  At the sound of a male voice below her, Emma turned and squinted. The bright morning light brought Ryan’s face into sharp relief.

  “Hi, Ryan.”

  Perched on the top step of her ladder, she looked back at the rusted and worn iron sheeting of her porch roof, a stark contrast to the shiny new sheets lying stacked on their sides against the railing below. She’d ordered the new sheeting on Monday, and it had taken until today, Thursday, to get it. Something about a shortage of it in Pueblo.

  She’d managed to lift some of the old stuff, but the nails had rusted into the timbers beneath it, and she was having trouble pulling them out. The last one had broken off in the claw of the hammer in her hand.

  “I’ll give you a hand, if you like, and rip up that iron for you. I have the day free, so it’s no bother.”

  Emma shrugged to herself and wiped her hands on her shorts. Who was she to refuse an offer of pure-male brawn when it was needed? Ed was coming around after lunch to put the new iron sheets on for her. She’d convinced him that she could remove the old stuff herself. An overinflation of her skills, as she now knew. She’d repay Ryan with a drink and something to eat, and that would be that.

  Strong, tanned hands grasped the side of the ladder as she made her way down to the bottom.

  “Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s dangerous to climb ladders on your own?”

  Emma held in the grin that wanted to come out at such a male comment. “Why, I didn’t know you cared.” She turned around, only to find herself imprisoned in the cage of his arms, stretching from one side of the ladder to the other.

  Oops.

  Ryan tilted his head to look at her, taking his time to stare at first her eyes, then her mouth, only inches from his own.

  Emma held herself totally still, then pressed back hard against the steps of the ladder. She didn’t want to encourage him and was startled at how close he was.

  “You have no idea, kiddo. You’d tempt a saint.”

  Before she could reply, another voice sounded behind Ryan. A rather irritated voice.

  “Do you still need that roof fixed, or has it been postponed?”

  Emma bit off her gasp and shoved at Ryan’s hands, pushing her way out from between his arms. Her heart pounded at the thought of how that must have looked. She shook her head at her reaction—she was being silly. He could take it how he wanted. “Gabe. What are you doing here?”

  Gabe stared at both Ryan and Emma, his cool grey eyes shuttered. His tool belt dangled from one sexy, tanned hand. Heat flooded Emma’s face at being caught in such a compromising position.

  Why hadn’t he walked up a few minutes earlier? More importantly, why did she care? “Where’s your car? I didn’t hear you come in.”

  He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Parked it under the big oak tree down there, out of the sun.” He lifted the heavy belt onto his shoulder. “I can come back another time if—”

  “No!” Emma sidestepped Ryan and sent Gabe a placating smile. “There’s no need. Ryan was just offering to help me lift the old iron. I’m having more trouble with it than I thought I would. I wasn’t expecting your dad until after lunch.”

  Gabe shrugged the tool belt higher on one shoulder, the tools clanking together. “Dad guessed as much. He had an idea what this stuff would be like. It can be stubborn when it wants to be. He sends his apologies.” He glanced at Ryan leaning lazily against the ladder. “Dad had a call and needed to go to Pueblo. He sent me instead.”

  Ed had sent him. Disappointment drained her enthusiasm. Why this bothered her, she couldn’t understand. He was a friend, nothing more.

  She gestured to the ladder. “Why don’t I let you guys get to it? I’m afraid I won’t be much use. Just yell if there’s something I can do.”

  Gabe watched as Emma grabbed a bucketful of gardening tools and a hat from the porch steps, and wandered over to the round garden that sat proudly in the middle of the circular drive. Although garden was perhaps a misuse of the word. More weeds than plants graced its mounded interior.

  “I could think of a few uses for her,” Ryan muttered as he picked up Emma’s discarded hammer. He stared up at Gabe when there was no reply. “What?”

  Gabe’s expression must have shown how impressed he was with that statement. “Nothin’.” He slipped the tool belt from his shoulder and buckled it around his waist. “Hold the ladder for me while I get up there. She would never have pulled it all up like that.”

  Reaching the top, Gabe grasped the top step of the ladder while Ryan climbed up and past him onto the roof.

  Heck, it’s hot up here.

  Heat shimmered up off the roofing metal, intensifying. The sooner they started, the sooner he could get down.

  “I tell you what, she was prettier than you to look at climbing that ladder,” Ryan joked. “What an ass.”

  What an ass… You’re an ass.

  Gabe shook his head at the thought. He’d known Ryan since kindergarten. They’d been best friends for more years than he could remember, and here he was calling Ryan an ass.

  Mind you, he’d called him worse than that on occasion.

  Gabe grunted in reply, not wanting to commit himself. What he thought of her ass wasn’t any of Ryan Thomas’s business, wasn’t anyone’s business.

  Heck, Gabe didn’t even want to think about her ass.

  He looked down at where she fought with the overgrown jungle of weeds and vines, hauling them from the ground, wiping a hand over her sweat-drenched face and tossing the offensive things into a pile on the gravel of her driveway.

  “…are you?”

  Ryan’s voice dragged him back to reality.

  “What was that?”

  Ryan frowned a little and glanced from Emma back to Gabe. “I asked if you were interested in her. Just say so, man, and I’ll back off. I like her, but you… Well, we’re friends. If you want—”

  “No.” Gabe shook his head and lifted his hammer from his tool belt, focusing on the buckled and rusted roofing beneath his feet. “I’m not.”

  “But the way you look at her sometimes… Are you sure?”

  The tick and pop of the roof in the hot sun was the only sound around them. Gabe looked up to see Ryan staring at him, waiting for an answer. Sighing, he held his friend’s gaze and kept the image of Ryan and Emma when he’d walked up the drive firmly in his mind.

  And lied through his teeth.

  “No, I’m not interested. She’s Darby’s friend and will probably end up being mine as well. Satisfied?”

  Ryan twisted his lips into a semblance of a smile. “I’m not sure. Should I be?”

  Gabe growled in frustration. “What do you want me to say, Ryan? Don’t ask her out? Let me have a chance? What? I have no intention of going through all that again. Sami was a lesson learned the hard way. I’m not going back there ever again. You have my permission to chase her as long as she’ll let you.”

  He kept his gaze on the roof, trying to see where he’d start. He didn’t want to look up and see the compassion on Ryan’s face.

  “Sami’s lies can’t be excused, but you shouldn’t use that as an excuse to live half a life, Gabe. Everyone’s been hurt at some stage. You’re not the only one to have a girl use you.”

  Gabe raised flat eyes to stare at Ryan. “I am not going to discuss this. Not now, not ever again. It’s over, in the past. I’m done with it. Move on.”

  Ryan’s expression softened. His brown eyes turned sad. “I have, buddy. Have you?” Ryan threw his hammer in the air, letting it spin so that he caught it by t
he handle. “Don’t let something special pass you by because you’re scared of the consequences.” He pointed the hammer at Gabe. “Because the consequences of that are even worse.”

  Emma looked up and wiped her forearm over her brow. Her hat had a wide brim, but it didn’t stop the heat from getting to her.

  Mmm. Nice. Very nice indeed.

  She licked her lips, unaware of the involuntary reaction to the display of pure male yumminess gracing her new porch roof.

  Both Gabe and Ryan had shed their shirts over an hour earlier, her comments about sun care and sunburn eliciting a saucy grin from both men and a cheeky suggestion from Ryan about applying sunscreen.

  Emma had shaken her head in mock disgust and carried on pulling weeds. Letting them get burned could be their penance for being all macho. It didn’t stop her from having a good look when they were too busy to notice though.

  She could see why Millie had a thing for Gabe, right down to the hard, defined slabs of muscle that were his stomach. The way the muscles moved and flexed as he worked, twisting and hammering in the hot sun, clenched her whole body into a mass of yearning so intense it stole her breath. He had a body to die for. Sweat had lent it a sparkling sheen, which was undeniably sexy in the midafternoon heat.

  Tight, well-worn jeans molded to his lean hips, the waistband firm and low. The denim outlined the shape of his incredible butt and thighs, almost looking as if it had been painted on by one of the Masters.

  He’d give Michelangelo’s David a run for his money, in her opinion.

  Ryan was no slouch either—his firm body proudly on display up there as well—but it wasn’t his chest and stomach that had her fanning her face at regular intervals.

  It’s just this heat.

  Yes, that was it. Just the early summer heat taking its toll on her.

  Gabe held up his hand and let out a whoop of satisfaction as Ryan high-fived him. Their laughter reached her, washing over her, calming her jangled nerves and tilting her mouth in a smile. They were finished.

  Emma stood upright, pressing her hand to her back to get the kinks out and called up to them. “Hey! You guys want something to drink? I have beer in the fridge.”