The Cowboy and the Girl Next Door: (A Clean, Enemies to Lovers Romance) Wyle Away Ranch Book 1

by Janette Rallison

  Kate slipped the shirt on and rolled up the sleeves. She was still mostly naked. Would it be weird to put on a pair of the boxers?

  Yeah, she decided with a sigh, it would be weird. However, it would also be weird to stroll around the Wyles’ house without underwear. She slipped on a pair of blue plaid boxers. With any luck, her clothes would be done before Jaxon returned, but if he showed up sooner, well, he’d just have to understand. Normal rules about the privacy of one’s boxers didn’t apply when vomit was involved.

  She padded back toward Audrey’s room to retrieve her phone. Before she reached the door, a noise came from downstairs: the unwelcome sound of the front door opening and closing.

  Great. Jaxon had decided to come home after all. She’d told him she was a capable babysitter, and he was about to find her wet and in borrowed boxers.

  She headed down the stairs to face him. What other choice did she have? It could be worse, she told herself. He could’ve come home while she was in the shower or wrapped in a towel. At least now she was mostly decent.

  Best to explain everything and laugh it off. As she went down the last few steps, she called, “Before you get a look at me, I want to remind you that you told me to make myself at home.”

  She rounded the corner to the foyer and stopped short. Because Jaxon hadn’t come inside. Landon had, and he was with Angelina.

  Chapter Ten

  Kate stopped in her tracks and stared at them. Angelina. The mean-girl vet was Landon’s date? Well, this just kept getting better.

  Landon wore a suit, a tie, and a shocked expression. He grasped his keys like he was about to put them somewhere but had forgotten about them. His gaze went over Kate from head to toe and back again.

  Angelina’s eyes narrowed into indignant little slits. “What are you doing here?”

  Kate wasn’t supposed to tell Landon where Jaxon was. In the press of the moment, she couldn’t remember what she was supposed to say. “I’m a neighbor,” she stalled. Vagueness was all she could muster.

  “Yes,” Angelina said coldly. “I know who you are.” She wore a strapless black dress and her hair was pulled into a bun that made her features all the more imperious looking. Imperious and completely disapproving.

  Landon’s gaze kept going over Kate. His lips pressed into a hard line. “Where’s Jaxon?”

  The tone of voice was identical to the one he’d used when he’d found her and Jaxon together at the cattle drive—a calm that wasn’t really calm. He thought she was here fooling around with his brother.

  “He’s not home,” Kate said quickly. “I’m not sure where he is.” She was about to look like the worst babysitter ever. Yeah, he left me in charge of his child, and I never bothered asking where he was going.

  Angelina didn’t give her the time to explain. “So, you’re just here late at night, wet, and half-naked while you wait for Landon to return home? How nice.”

  Granted, Kate hadn’t said she was babysitting, but how come whenever people found her in a questionable circumstance, they immediately jumped to the conclusion that she was loose? She hadn’t done anything wrong, and yet Angelina was spitting venom at her. Well, Kate didn’t owe her any sort of explanation. Let the woman choke on her own hysteria.

  Kate smiled sweetly and shrugged. “You know how we ranch folks stick together.”

  “Sticking together?” Angelina turned her daggered look at Landon. “Is that the new euphemism for what you’re doing?”

  “What?” Landon’s eyes went wide. “Kitty and I aren’t doing anything euphemistic.”

  “Right.” Angelina planted her hands on her hips. Her bright-red polished nails seemed like an impractical choice for a livestock vet. “This is what you wanted to talk to me about, wasn’t it—her?”

  Landon raised his hands. “I don’t know why Kitty is here, but I’m sure there’s a legitimate reason.”

  “Of course,” Angelina countered. “And I’m sure there’s a perfectly legitimate reason—the one time I insist on coming to your house—she’s here, showered and wearing…” Her eyes fixed on Kate and her breath hitched. “I gave you that shirt last Christmas.”

  Kate smoothed out a wrinkle on the front. “I figured someone else must have picked it out. Landon usually wears plaid. You’ve got nice taste.”

  Angelina spun on Landon, nostrils flaring. “Are those your boxers too?”

  “Uh…” he said, which wasn’t exactly an answer but seemed to confirm that yes, yes they were.

  Angelina humphed, told Kate to go to one of the few places hotter than Arizona, and snatched Landon’s keys from his hand. “I’ll drive myself home. You can pick up your truck any time you like. The keys will be in the glove box.” She sent Kate one last slicing glare and marched to the door.

  “Angelina,” Landon called, but he didn’t stop her from leaving. “This really isn’t—”

  The door slammed shut, drowning out the rest of the sentence.

  Landon stared at the door and sighed.

  Kate tapped a finger against her lips. “I think Angelina has trust issues. You’re probably better off without her.”

  Landon spun back to Kate, frustration in his eyes. “Or, maybe—this could be an equally effective fix—maybe beautiful, scantily-dressed women shouldn’t show up unexpectedly in my house wearing my shirt and boxers.”

  He’d called her beautiful. Jaxon wasn’t the only one who knew how to compliment a a woman and reprimand her at the same time.

  Kate nodded. “It’s so aggravating when you’ve done nothing wrong and no one believes you.”

  “Okay, fine.” Landon stepped closer to her, his gaze coming down hard on hers. “I’ve learned my lesson from the cattle drive. This time, I believe you’re completely innocent. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good reason for you to be at my house, wet and naked, so that you needed to rifle through my room for something to wear.”

  Kate was probably wrong to enjoy his apology as much as she did. She took a step, closing the distance between them. “Don’t be ridiculous. I was wearing a bath towel, and I went through the clothes in the dryer.”

  “You’re going to tell me what happened eventually, right?”

  She opened her mouth to do that, but the door swung open again. Jaxon came in, peering over his shoulder. “How come Angelina is driving like a bat out of hell in Landon’s truck?” He turned and caught sight of them. As his gaze went over Kate, she realized how close she stood to Landon and what it must look like.

  Jaxon burst out laughing. “This is priceless.”

  Landon lifted his hands as though to halt his brother’s thought process. “This isn’t what it looks like.”

  “I’m sure it’s not,” Jaxon said. “That’s why it’s priceless.” He pulled his phone from his back pocket. “You don’t mind if I have photographic proof of this moment, do you?”

  “Yes,” Kate and Landon said together.

  Jaxon chuckled again. “The straight arrow goes astray. Ethan and Dillon have gotta see this.”

  Landon stepped in front of Kate to prevent Jaxon’s shot. “Do it and I will break your phone.”

  “All right.” Jaxon gave up his photographic attempts and put his phone away. He still seemed much too entertained by the situation. “I take it Audrey threw up a lot?”

  Kate pushed still wet strands of hair behind her ear. “Her comforter is in the wash with my clothes.”

  “I’ll go check on her.” Jaxon strolled past them to the stairs.

  “She’s asleep,” Kate said. “Or at least she was before all the commotion down here.”

  Jaxon disappeared up the stairs. Landon’s head tilted backward, and he let out a relieved breath. “You were babysitting, and Audrey threw up on you?”

  “Yes, although I think it says something about you that you immediately thought I’d been sleeping with Jaxon, and your girlfriend immediately assumed I’d been sleeping with you.”

  “Angelina is just a friend.”

  Kate rolled he
r eyes. “If she was just a friend, she wouldn’t have gotten so furious when she saw me here.”

  Landon unbuttoned his suit coat. “We’ve been friends since high school, but lately she’s gotten it into her mind that we should be more.”

  Well, Angelina did have good taste. “You were out on a date with her tonight. That’s not really a friend activity, so I can see how she would be confused.”

  “She asked me to her sister’s art show because she needed a date. I was willing to go, but as you heard, I told her we needed to talk. I wanted to let her down gently. This…” he motioned in Kate’s direction, “…was not so gentle.”

  Oh. That changed things considerably. Kate ought to feel bad for the way she’d egged Angelina on. Instead she found herself fighting back a smile. Landon wasn’t a player. He hadn’t been flirting with her when he had a girlfriend, which meant that his flirting a few days ago meant something. He might be interested in her, or at least might have been until she’d made herself look catty by pushing Angelina over the edge. That, in retrospect, hadn’t been Kate’s best moment.

  “Sorry,” she murmured. She mostly meant it. Pitying Angelina was much easier now that she knew Landon wasn’t dating her. “I’ll call her and explain that I was babysitting.”

  “Don’t bother. I’ll text her.” He took his phone from his pocket. “And I’d better do it now. Otherwise, she’ll start telling people her theories about why you were here in my underwear.” He shook his head as he wrote the message. “Considering how mad you got at me for making folks think the worst of you, I’m surprised you didn’t set her straight right off.”

  Kate wasn’t about to admit to jealousy. “I don’t know what came over me. I guess once people know you’re plotting to build a cowboy caddy golf course, no redemption is left. You might as well embrace a fallen reputation.”

  “Uh huh,” he said, still texting.

  She raised her hand to make a pledge. “But next time I show up somewhere unexpectedly in your underwear, I’ll let people know why right away.”

  That earned her a smile. “Planning a repeat performance?”

  “Everyone needs a hobby.”

  He slid his phone into his pocket and gestured toward the family room, an invitation to go there.

  She followed beside him, fiddling with the hem of the shirt. “At least Angelina will have the comfort of knowing I was babysitting on a Friday night and got thrown up on. She hates me because she thinks I’m ruining your life.”

  Landon took off his suit coat, draped it over the back of an armchair, and sunk onto the couch. Kate sat next to him, suddenly feeling awkward about wearing his boxers. It seemed such an intimate thing to do. He’d probably never be able to look at them again without remembering this night.

  Landon loosened his tie. He had a way of making even small motions seem sultry. “Angelina doesn’t hate you because you’re ruining my life. She hates you because she thinks I like you. And she thought that even before tonight.”

  “Oh.” Kate tried to make her voice sound normal and not hopeful. “What made her think that?”

  He loosened his tie further. The man ought to be in tie ads. Watching him was mesmerizing. “Something about the way I looked at you during church services.”

  Kate hadn’t noticed Angelina in the congregation. “Miss Vet thought you were checking me out at church?”

  “I wasn’t. I was just naturally concerned about how you were coping, so my eyes may have drifted your way a time or two.”

  “Oh.”

  “I’m the unneighborly sort. You know that.”

  Kate considered him for a moment. “What did I wear last Sunday?”

  He shrugged. “A black dress. The same one you wore to the funeral.”

  Correct. “What did Angelina wear?”

  He frowned. “Umm…probably a dress…”

  “Angelina may have a point.” And that thought sent a warm surge of pleasure through Kate.

  “I wasn’t checking you out at church.” Landon paused for a moment. “I may have checked you out a little when I came over to see if you needed help, but you can’t blame me for that. You look good in a pair of faded jeans. I have a thing for those.”

  “Do you?” She bit her lip and pondered buying a few more pairs of jeans. “Too bad there weren’t any of those in the laundry room.”

  His gaze went over her appraisingly. “You look pretty good right now. I could easily have a thing for women who wear my shirts.”

  Earlier she’d told herself there were a dozen reasons why things wouldn’t work out between her and Landon. Right now she couldn’t think of any of them. His eyes seemed to have that effect on her. Or maybe it was his broad shoulders. Or the curve of his jaw. Reason just fizzled away. “So why exactly are you friend-zoning Angelina?” Maybe he was the type who liked a challenge and was done with his last conquest and ready to move on to another.

  He didn’t answer for a moment. “It’s more than one thing. She’s a mite too high strung. At best, we’d last three months before we drove each other crazy.” He took off his tie completely and laid it on the coffee table. He started in on the top button of his shirt.

  Kate found herself entranced by the task. Even in a dress shirt, she could see the outlines of his biceps. Was she staring? Could he tell she was gaping at him?

  “And,” he said, “there’s also the problem with you.”

  “What would that problem be?”

  His eyes held hers. They were such a pretty color, as bright and blue as the Arizona sky. “I find myself thinking about you a lot.”

  Kate’s heart rate picked up, beating out an eager rhythm. “I don’t see that as a problem. Unless you’re not thinking nice things.”

  “I’m thinking very nice things.” His gaze slid to her lips. “Like how nice it would be to kiss you.” He said the words with a low timbre, a confession he didn’t seem upset about confessing.

  Zero reasons. There were zero reasons why she and Landon couldn’t be together. At least not good reasons. Almost unconsciously, her hand moved across the couch toward his. “Ah yes, I remember your offer to help me work through my kissing trauma.”

  “Seems like the type of charitable work I can get behind, or in front of, so to speak.”

  He leaned toward her and lowered his head, his eyes still on hers, questioning. He was waiting for some indication from her, permission to kiss her. She was not going to let herself think about whether this was a good idea or not. She wanted to kiss him. She moved closer and shut her eyes.

  One of his hands wound into the tangle of her wet hair, tugging her neck to tilt her face up to his. The other slid around her waist and pulled her to him. His mouth came down on hers, soft and gentle. His lips teased hers, tasted them. She’d only been in Arizona for two-and-a-half weeks, but she felt like she’d waited so long for this kiss.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck. His white shirt was smooth and warm, crisp underneath her fingertips. His cologne smelled rich and seductive. She could easily get lost in this sort of kiss. It was all coming very fast.

  She pulled away. “Well,” she said, catching her breath. “I seem to be making progress through my kissing trauma. I usually don’t kiss a guy until we’re dating.”

  Landon was still close, his eyes caressing her where his lips had stopped. “In that case, do you want to go out on a date?”

  “When?”

  “Let’s plan two. One for dinner tomorrow night, and one for tonight, right now in my family room.”

  Sounded reasonable.

  He leaned forward and kissed her again. She melted into him. After all, this was officially a date. And he was gorgeous, helpful, and proving to be a really good kisser.

  Jaxon’s voice came from the edge of the room. “I suppose this isn’t what it looks like either?”

  Kate jerked away from Landon. She’d forgotten Jaxon was in the house. In fact, she’d forgotten that the rest of the world existed.

  Landon glare
d in Jaxon’s direction. “If it looks like you’re barging in where you’re not wanted, then yes. This is what it looks like.”

  Kate shrank into the couch and put her hand to her eyes. She shouldn’t be embarrassed to be caught kissing Landon. She was far from fifteen, but she blushed anyway.

  “Didn’t mean to interrupt,” Jaxon said. “I just wanted to give Kitty her phone.” Until then, she hadn’t noticed he held it. “Here.” He stepped over to the coffee table and laid it down. “I’ll let you get back to…whatever.”

  Whatever. Her cheeks were on fire.

  “Because,” Jaxon continued, backing up, “that’s what a good brother would do, as opposed to getting everyone in trouble. Just saying.” He turned and walked back toward the stairs, humming.

  Landon stared at Jaxon’s retreating back, his expression still dark.

  Kate grabbed her phone from the table. “I just had flashbacks to the cattle drive.” She laughed nervously. “Really, is it even possible to kiss one of you without an audience and commentary?”

  And why had she been so quick to let Landon kiss her anyway? The guy had been out with another woman minutes before, but he’d looked at her with those baby blues, and she’d lost all ability of rational thought. She hadn’t been joking when she told him she didn’t kiss a guy unless she was dating him. She had no idea what Landon’s commitment level to her was, and she’d just made out with him.

  “Kitty.” Landon reached for her hand, keeping her from leaving the couch. “I’m sorry.”

  Did he mean he was sorry he’d kissed her or sorry Jaxon interrupted them? “About what?”

  “The cattle drive.”

  She blinked at him. “You’re sorry you got Jaxon and I into trouble?” The apology was sweet and several years too late.

  “Yes.” He immediately amended himself, “No. I mean, I’m glad I stopped Jaxon. It’s just…” He let go of her hand and shifted on the couch. “I always thought I did it for the right reasons—you were too young and naive to be out with Jaxon. I was so angry he’d taken advantage of you. But the thing is, when I came home tonight and found you here, half-dressed, I was even more angry at him, and you’re both adults now.”