by Erica Penrod
He shifted the truck into park and looked over at her. “Now you’re the funny one.”
She managed to keep a straight face while he searched her eyes for any hint of a smile. “I’m serious. The information was right there on my application. Why do you think I freaked out about the meat and eggs?”
Lucas killed the engine and pulled the stocking cap from his head. A thick lock of ebony-colored hair feathered over his forehead like the wing of a blackbird. He pushed the curl back and ran his hands along the razor-short sides. “I think I would’ve noticed something.”
Lexi enjoyed the uncertainty furrowed across his forehead and the way his eyes appeared to dart from the present to somewhere in the past, no doubt reviewing their correspondence.
“I’m sorry,” she said, playing on his doubt. “If you don’t think you and your boys can get used to the diet, maybe I’m not the chef you want.”
His black brows went askew as he studied her. He exhaled. “It’s a little late for that now.” He unbuckled his seat belt and took the keys from the ignition. “I don’t have time to find someone else.”
Now he looked like a little boy who lost his balloon, deflating her fun from their banter.
Lexi smiled softly and touched his shoulder. “I’m just kidding.”
“What?”
“I’m not into vegan cooking. And even if I was, I’m a professional and I can prepare anything you want me to.”
Lucas chuckled while he shook his head. “I guess I deserved that.”
“Yes, you did.” She pulled her belongings into her lap.
“So …” He grinned. “I guess that means you can skin a squirrel?”
* * *
Lucas cussed himself as he punched in the security code and opened the door for Lexi. He hadn’t bothered to see what she looked like before he hired her. Not that physical features pertained to any part of the job, but at least he would’ve been prepared for the bombshell he found stranded on the road. Lexi Evans came highly recommended by a friend of his mother’s, and after he reviewed her résumé, he hired her. He hated to admit his ill-conceived notions, but she was the last woman he envisioned as his new chef. Lucas could only imagine how a house full of teenage boys would react to the beautiful woman with shiny blonde hair and big hazel eyes. They might think Christmas came early this year.
Chapter 3
“Come on in.” Lucas held the door.
“Thanks.” Lexi passed by him into the house with her purse and a tote in her arms.
“You’re welcome.” He pressed his back against the door as he remembered the inexplicable current that jolted through his body when he caught her in his arms earlier tonight. He tried not to touch her, but as her scent lingered in the air, little pulses rippled up and down his skin.
Get a grip. Ghe’s your employee, he chided himself as he rubbed his arms. He picked up her luggage and stepped into the room, thinking about the past couple years. The process of opening the boys’ home was all-consuming. There wasn’t time to think of women in general, and he was man enough to admit that his heart racing around Lexi reminded him he should make time to go out and date.
Lucas closed the door behind him. “Just drop your bag here.” He unloaded her suitcases onto the slate tiled floor. “And I’ll have a couple of the boys bring them to your room later.”
“Okay,” she said, freeing her hands. She unzipped her coat and peeled away the layer.
Lucas blinked, trying not to stare at her like she was a present being unwrapped.
With her jacket over one arm, she reached up and pulled her hair down around her shoulder. The honey-colored tendrils tapered into a punctuation mark well below her shoulders, and what a statement she made. Her eyes were like a spring morning in the mountains, shades of new blue and growing green, splattered with a heavy dew of possibility.
“You can hang your coat here.” He averted his gaze and pointed to the custom-made wood shelf attached to the wall with welded horseshoes for hangers. Lucas unzipped his own insulation and hung the coat on the first available hook, then unlaced his boots and tugged them off.
“I’ll just take it with me.” She looked down the length of the wall. Just under a dozen coats hung haphazardly like a flannel-and-plaid banner. “How many boys are here?”
Lucas didn’t miss the way her eyes flickered from one article of clothing to another. Maybe she was mentally tallying the number of mouths she had to feed. He couldn’t read her expression, but he considered barricading the door in case she decided to bolt. “I’ve got room for eight boys, but there’s seven here now. A new boy will arrive in a couple of days.”
She bobbed her head up and down. “How many staff members are there?”
“Three full-time, including you. Mrs. Dubois was over the kitchen, but she needed a knee replacement and decided retire.”
“Oh.” She surveyed the area around her.
He brought her through the rear entrance, into the mudroom. Tongue and groove pine paneled the walls with a bench cozied up to the corner. Snow boots and other winter paraphernalia were stacked in wire crates and placed in a massive built-in cupboard with open shelving. Each boy had his own crate and was responsible for the contents.
“This way.” He led her down the hallway. “Your room is on this floor as well as the kitchen and great room. The boys are on the second floor and there’s a loft on the third floor with games and a pool table.”
At the end of the hall, he paused, waiting for her to stand beside him. When he felt her close, he let his gaze wander to her face. Her eyes widened as she took in the open space before her. Lucas had spared no expense when he built the home and the kitchen layout was designed by an expert.
To their left, floor-to-ceiling cabinets of rich walnut ran the length of the south wall of the kitchen for plenty of storage. The dark wood was offset by the creamy distressed cupboards along the other walls, above the soapstone countertops. Professional-grade stainless steel appliances had been carefully positioned for accessibility. A subway-tiled backsplash wrapped around the middle of the kitchen. In the center of the room, industrial lights hung over the island made from shiplap. An L-shaped counter stood on the outskirts with barnwood barstools, made by a friend in Texas, tucked beneath the overhang.
“Wow.” Lexi smiled at him. “This is amazing.” She ran her fingers along the smooth surface.
He didn’t notice the pristine gloss of the polished floors or the perfection of the pantry cozied in the corner. All he saw was her. “Yeah, amazing.” Lucas swallowed back his hunger. He hadn’t tasted her cooking, but one thing was for sure: things were going to be hotter in the kitchen.
* * *
Now this she could handle. Lexi laid her purse and jacket on a barstool and thought of her father as she took in the room. The way his eyes lit up when they walked through one of his completed projects. “It’s the little things that matter,” he would tell her, pointing out the details.
She couldn’t agree more as she opened doors and inspected the contents of her new work space. She pulled on drawers and took inventory. From what she could see, Lucas hadn’t spared any expense, and her stomach filled with anticipation. Where was her apron? She couldn’t wait to get her hands dirty.
“Let me show you the rest of the house.” Lucas interrupted her daydream.
“Yeah, sure.” She peeled her eyes away from the oasis. Turning slowly, she paused when she saw the great room adjacent to the kitchen.
Heavily textured walls in a creamy buttermilk color were glazed over with a dark stain and gave off a marbled appearance. A fire burned in the river-rock fireplace, and a chunk of wood with the bark still scarred along the edge served as a mantel. An old glass jar with small, twisted branches erupting from the top sat on one side. Two candleholders made from horseshoes, with ornate candles, sat on the other. Above the mantel there was a sizeable painting of a man on a horse and a herd of cattle. The piece of art was center stage beneath a small spotlight.
&nbs
p; “That’s a painting of my father on his cutting horse,” Lucas said. “I’m sure you don’t know—"
“Believe it or not, I actually know what cutting is,” Lexi interrupted him as she focused on the painting, looking for any trace of Lucas in his father’s face. “He’s handsome,” she said. “You don’t look anything like him.”
Lucas winced. “Ouch.”
Lexi laughed at her bold-faced lie. Lucas and his father shared the same square jawline and chiseled cheekbones. She stepped closer to the fireplace and warmed her hands in the heat as she stared more closely at the canvas. The minute details were hard to determine, but Lucas’s father had the same full lips and tawny-colored skin as the man standing next to her.
“What do you know about cutting?” he asked. “Most people don’t know anything about the sport, unless you’re from Texas.”
“Well, I’m not from Texas,” she said. “But my uncle has a ranch in Acampo, and every summer as a kid I got to spend some time on the ranch there with my cousins.” She smiled like the memories were pleasant. “My uncle is a cutter and I’ve seen him practice and compete a few times.”
“So you can ride?” Lucas asked.
“Depends on what your definition of riding is,” she said. “If you mean sit in the saddle and not fall off, I guess I can.”
His mouth curved into a smile. “Good. Horse riding is a major part of my program …” He paused, and there was a flicker of hesitation in his eyes and in his words. “Not that you have to, but if you want to.”
He looked at her face and then his gaze darted to the floor. Before she could answer, he continued. “I believe giving these troubled kids responsibilities and the opportunity to work with horses is a great way to teach them respect and discipline.”
“You can ride here in the winter?” Lexi asked, raising an eyebrow as she considered the amount of snow she’d just seen and made the assumption that the equestrian therapy was only seasonal.
“I’ve got an indoor barn with an arena just up the hill, where we ride during the winter months, and I’ve got an outdoor arena buried beneath several feet of snow for the summer.”
“I can’t wait to see it.” Lexi turned from the fireplace and took in the furnishings. A deep brown leather sectional took up most of the room, while a rectangular ottoman offered a place to rest your feet or additional seating if needed. There was a television mounted on the wall, the same size as her father’s back home in his game room. “I think you need a bigger TV,” she said.
“You can’t go wrong with a big screen.” He grinned. “Especially with a house full of teenage boys.”
Lexi gazed around. “It’s awfully quiet in here. Where are the boys?”
“They’re on their way. They’ve been night skiing.” Lucas pulled his phone from his pocket and checked the time. “And we better hurry up with the rest of the tour before they get back.”
She followed him from room to room and up the stairs to check out the other floors, impressed by the functionality in the design. On their way back down, a ruckus rumbled down the hall. Lexi’s heart jumped when she heard the commotion of male voices. She was raised with one younger sister and wasn’t accustomed to noise. Intimidation beaded her forehead. She wiped at her brow.
Get a grip. It’s a bunch of boys; how bad could it be? Her stomach rolled as visions of her years in junior high school passed before her. Her mother’s voice echoed from deep inside her head: “I told you this was a bad idea. Boys are hard enough to raise when they’re good kids. These boys are the ones their parents can’t handle. What makes you think you can handle them?”
Maybe she hadn’t thought that part through entirely, but she knew she was supposed to be here. When a friend mentioned the job opportunity, something grabbed her by the heartstrings and she desperately needed her heart pulled in a different direction after her breakup with Brian. Here was a chance to use her cooking skills that didn’t involve the stress of catering to the ultra-wealthy or maintaining the standards her parents and their friends demanded.
“Here comes the herd,” Lucas said with a lopsided grin. He looked down at her. “Brace yourself.”
Lucas and Lexi stepped into the kitchen as the sound of boots dropping and plummeting zippers tunneled through the hall like a whirlwind of winter gear. A minute later, one boy emerged from the fray. He wasn’t any taller than Lexi, with a nest of mud-gutter-blond hair and robin’s-egg-blue eyes. His cheeks were full and round, the kind her grandmother would cross a room to pinch. He wore a gray thermal shirt and ski pants. He stopped when he saw Lexi.
“Owen,” Lucas said, “this is Lexi. She’s our new chef.”
“Hi.” Owen lifted his hand in the air.
“H-Hi,” Lexi stuttered. She hadn’t expected the baritone voice from such a baby-faced kid.
By that time two more boys came skating up, bumping Owen farther into the room. The adolescents reminded Lexi of a pack of baby lion cubs, all legs and limbs and tumbling over one another.
“Adam, Bo.” Lucas pointed out each boy. “This is Lexi.”
The boys straightened up. Adam, the dark-haired kid with a cowlick steering his bangs into opposite directions, gave her a toothy smile. He was a head taller than Owen and thicker in the middle, or maybe it was just the Red Sox hoodie he had on. A thin line of mustache, like pencil marks, ran across his upper lip. He shoved his hands in his sweatshirt pocket and then looked down at the hole in his sock.
Bo’s head hung slightly while his body shifted from side to side, and he wouldn’t look Lexi in the face. Wispy caramel-colored hair, deep brown eyes, and a pallid complexion reminded her of the fawn she’d seen along the roadside on her way here. Lexi had the urge to wrap her arms around him, but he kept his jaw set and she couldn’t tell if he was annoyed or just quiet.
“Hi, Bo.” Lexi offered him an olive branch.
Bo raised his head and nodded.
“I’m starving!” someone hollered from the hallway as thick hands with sausage fingers clasped onto Owen’s shoulders, launching him forward. She followed the meaty hands up plaid-covered arms to a kid twice as wide as two of the other boys put together.
“I figured you would be, Derek,” Lucas said to the boy with freckles rolled over his round face, mashing into one another. His moss-green eyes glowed over his plump nose and mischief appeared to leave a permanent smirk across mouth.
“What are we having?” he asked Lucas with a mouth of metal braces. His eyes quickly darted to Lexi.
Lucas laughed, folded his arms across his broad chest, and gave Lexi a wink. “What’s for dinner, Chef?”
Lexi’s chest tightened as four more boys appeared. She hadn’t planned any sort of menu, assuming she’d meet with Lucas to get the details sorted out. “I … I … wasn’t planning—”
“I don’t care what it is,” a voice boomed from the hallway. “There just better be a lot of it.”
Behind the band of misfits, a mass of man parted the sea of youth. Lexi took a step back as her eyes widened, trying to make room for one of the biggest males she had ever seen. Instantly, her mind began calculating how much food she would need to feed the giant man and the hustle of boys, but she got distracted by the needy hunger spreading across their faces like a zombie virus. If she didn’t hurry up, she might become the main course.
Chapter 4
I can do this, she thought as she finished tying the apron on her waist. Fourteen eyes watched her in eager anticipation across the island, seated at the counter.
Of course she could. She could reheat a pot of soup with the best of them. Taking a deep breath, she reminded herself that some of the intimidation originated from the titanic hands cutting through the wake of the running faucet. She’d never been this close to a man of his size, not even on her family vacations in Hawaii. As discreetly as avoiding an elephant in a room, Lexi took in Lucas’s “favorite Polynesian,” Atiu.
Three folds of creamy cocoa skin rippled down the back of his bald head, while his lim
e-colored shirt stretched across the expansive plains of his shoulders. She had no doubt he could touch the ceiling with his long, thick arms, and she couldn’t imagine how many bowls of chili he would need to fill up his stomach.
Atiu turned the faucet off and reached for a hand towel. He caught Lexi staring and gave her a warm smile with two dimples in both cheeks. “I’ll get some grilled cheese sandwiches going,” he said as he hung the towel over the oven handle. The singsong melody of his voice lowered the temperature heating up her face.
“Thanks,” she said, and began to randomly pull on drawers.
“The drawer on your right,” Atiu said.
Lexi grinned a thank you as she followed his direction and found the giant spoons she was looking for.
Just then, Lucas came in, holding a large pot. “Here we go.” He set the dish on the stove. “Mrs. Dubois made us a few freezer meals before she left.” He wiped his hands on his jeans. “So we wouldn’t starve before you got here.”
“How long till we eat?” Owen asked.
“Yeah, how long?” another blond-haired boy, whose name Lexi couldn’t remember, asked.
“Not long,” Atiu said as he made his way to a cupboard. He opened the door and pulled out two boxes of crackers. “Munch on these until we’re ready.” He put a box on either end of the counter.
Something resembling a shark frenzy commenced. Boxes tore and wrappers ripped; snapping teeth appeared, while appendages risked amputation.
“Hey,” Lucas called.
Lexi stopped and watched as savages quieted.
“Show some respect and use your manners,” he instructed. “Unless you want cold cereal for the next month, because that’s how long it’s going to take for me to hire someone else if Lexi decides to run.”
Heads hung while sorrys were mumbled, and soon Lexi stirred the soup to the steady rhythm of crunching crackers. As the chili began to simmer, she thought about the way Lucas handled the boys and the way his voice was a smooth blend of authority and caring. To look at the man, with his movie-star looks and millionaire money, she would never have imagined him as the owner of a boys’ home, but she’d been impressed. From the corner of her eye, she stole another peek at her employer and decided that for her dessert, she wanted to know more about Lucas Royal.