by Kate Pearce
“This is just sour grapes because you didn’t get the job,” Blaine whined.
“Everything you need to know is in those files. If you take the time to read through all my notes and make your own, you will be fine.”
“I don’t agree. Your work is shoddy.”
Julia took a deep breath. “My work is fine. Ask anyone.”
“That isn’t good enough, Julie. I’m going to call you back in an hour, and you’d better be ready to help me, or I’ll be taking my complaint to the senior partners.”
He was definitely panicking. It would be the first time he’d be presenting a case without her and everyone on her team knew he wasn’t up to it.
“I won’t be here in an hour.” She put a tea bag in her mug and made sure the coffee on the stove was still hot and plentiful for her father. “If you really are stuck, ask Miley to help you. She compiled the information, and she has a very good understanding of the case.”
“Miley hates me.”
That was true, but Julia wasn’t going to confirm it, and get the paralegal into any kind of trouble.
“She’s a professional, and she wants to advance in the firm. Give her a call.” Julia poured her father’s coffee into his favorite cup. “It was nice talking to you, Blaine. Good luck on Monday.”
After four days at the ranch, the office seemed very far away and Blaine’s hysterics ridiculous. Would she get some satisfaction at seeing him fail at the meeting on Monday? Sure she would, but she also knew he’d find a way to blame it on her, and the rest of the team, and that wasn’t okay.
She scrolled through, found Miley’s number, and called her.
Miley answered immediately. “Hey, boss. Aren’t you supposed to be on vacation? How’s your dad doing?”
It occurred to Julia that Blaine hadn’t asked about her father once, but she wasn’t surprised. He only cared about making himself look good.
“He’s doing okay, thanks. How are you?”
Miley’s sigh was long and loud. “Still dealing with that dickhead Purvis who is currently terrified because he has to present on Monday, and you’re not there to hold his hand, and make him look good.”
“So I gathered. He just called me.”
“What an asshole.” Miley snorted. “I told him to leave you alone. I even offered to go through the case with him, but he said he didn’t need advice from the hired help.”
Julia winced. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I’m doing my law degree the slow and cheap way, and that’s just how it’s going to be. At least I didn’t get Mommy to pay my way through college like Blaine did.”
“I’m worried that if he panics in the meeting he’s going to start throwing blame around like confetti. I don’t want you, Li Chang, or Smithy losing your jobs because of his incompetence.” Julia stirred sugar into her dad’s coffee.
“Damn, I was hoping he’d be the one leaving, but knowing how he operates, I’m fairly sure the door would be hitting my ass on the way out, and not his,” Miley said.
“I told him to call you so that you could go through the file with him again.” Julia braced herself for Miley’s reply. “I think that’s the only way the team is going to get through this intact.”
There was a long silence.
“Unfortunately, I think you’re right, even though I hate his guts,” Miley reluctantly said. “I’ll call him right now.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. You’ve stood up for me many times, and it’s cool to be able to return the favor even if it helps that moron.”
“I totally agree. When I get back, we’ll think of a plan to get rid of him once and for all.” Julia poured the boiling water into her mug.
“You promise?”
“Pinky swear.”
“Cool. I’ll bring the shovel.”
Julia was still smiling as she took the coffee to her father. He had his new phone out, which was unusual, and was squinting at the screen.
“I had one of those texting things.”
Julia took the phone and blinked at the all caps as she read the message.
WOULD YOU AND JULIA LIKE TO COME UP TO THE RANCH FOR LUNCH? ADAM’S COOKING A WHOLE PIG. J.
“Is this from Jeff Miller?” Julia asked. “Would you like to go?”
“If you’re willing to drive, it would be nice. I haven’t seen Jeff for quite a while.”
“Then we’ll go.” It also meant she’d be out of the house where the cell reception was patchy if Blaine decided to call back in another panic. “Do you want to text Jeff back and say yes?”
Her father took the phone and frowned at the screen. “How do I make it all big like that?”
“You don’t.” Julia showed him how to use the keyboard. “Ask him what time he’s expecting us, and I’ll go and get ready.”
She went into her old bedroom and thought about what to wear. She’d need pants and boots because it was another ranch, but they didn’t have to be jeans. She opened her closet, appreciating the order she’d brought to it the previous day, and considered her options.
Her gaze caught on a box of old school stuff she’d sorted through the previous day and she took it off the shelf. Sitting on the side of the narrow bed, she sifted through the contents until she reached the diaries at the bottom. She extracted the one from her junior year and flipped through the pages until she reached February. Tucked into the crease of the page was a much-folded piece of pink paper cut in the shape of a heart.
She carefully opened the Valentine and tried to decipher the faded handwriting. She’d snatched it back out of Kaiden’s hand after he’d mockingly read it out loud, and everyone had laughed. She’d read it several times later that same evening, wondering who had written it, never guessing that it had been her tormentor. Had he really thought she would make fun of it? She stared at the words.
Would she have laughed if she’d known it was from Kaiden? She hoped not, but she certainly would’ve been shocked he’d written it. No one had taken Valentine’s Day very seriously at their small school. They’d all been friends and hung out together most of the time, and everyone had enjoyed guessing who’d written what to whom.
She replaced the Valentine in the page and shut the book. How strange that something she’d held against Kaiden had turned out to be so wrong. Who would ever have imagined that underneath his teasing exterior, Kaiden Miller had a sweet side?
But there was also the rift with Miguel, which had never properly been explained to her. . . . Suddenly aware of time slipping away in more ways than one, Julia shot to her feet. She’d put the box away, get changed as quickly as possible, and try and compose herself to meet her annoying friend again for lunch. The friend who had kissed her and she’d kissed back.
* * *
“You did what?” Kaiden stared at his father, who was sitting at the table drinking coffee. He’d stabled his horse, taken a quick shower, and come into the kitchen to find Adam cooking up a storm.
“I invited the Garcias to lunch,” Jeff repeated. “What about it?”
“You never ask anyone over. You hate guests.” Kaiden went to help himself to coffee.
“I don’t hate guests. I just prefer to feed my own family and not hangers-on.” Jeff shrugged. “But seeing as you’re spending so much time over there, I guess I need to step in and make sure Juan doesn’t get any funny ideas about poaching you to run his place, or anything. Look what happened with Ben!”
Danny, who was helping Adam in the kitchen, laughed. “I don’t think it’s Juan Kaiden is keen to see at the Garcia place.”
Kaiden shot him a glare. “Thanks for nothing.”
Danny just grinned and held up his hands.
“Are you after Julia again?” Jeff demanded.
“Again? What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Kaiden faced his dad.
“You always had a thing for her.” Jeff studied him intently. “I think that’s the only reason you continued to hang out with Miguel.”
“That’s not true.” Kaiden had to defend herself. “And I’d hardly have been successful with Julia if I was hanging around with her brother, would I? He wouldn’t have appreciated that at all.”
“I bet he didn’t.”
Kaiden sipped his coffee. Sometimes his dad saw way too much. He’d hung around with Miguel to stop him even thinking of Julia as anything other than his best friend’s sister. He found a smile somewhere. “If you’d told me you intended to invite them over, I could’ve asked them myself this morning.”
“I didn’t think about it until you’d left me in the lurch again.” Jeff stood up. “Now, go help your brother.”
“Will do.” Kaiden sauntered over to Adam as if he didn’t have a care in the world that Julia Garcia, whom he’d just kissed, would shortly be joining them for lunch. “What can I help you with?”
He was kept busy enough to stop him jumping every time the door opened, which seemed to be about every five seconds. Daisy and Ben were home with their partners, and Lizzie, Adam’s girlfriend, turned up with her son, Roman, which meant they had almost a full house apart from their mother. Kaiden didn’t have a problem with it. Seeing his siblings happy meant the world to him.
In the years when it had just been them and their father, life had been hard. They hadn’t been encouraged to do much more than go to school, play sports, and work on the ranch. Jeff had mellowed slightly since Leanne had returned on her own terms and, in his own gruff way, occasionally tried to make amends for his past behavior.
“Kaiden, did you see my calf?” Roman skipped up to him. “He’s got such long eyelashes and when he drinks his milk I almost fall over he sucks so hard.”
Kaiden lifted the hot pan deftly over Roman’s head and set it on the table. “He certainly is cool.”
“I wanted to take him home, but Mom says he can’t live in our apartment.”
“She’s right, buddy. He wouldn’t feel happy cooped up like that,” Kaiden said.
Roman leaned in closer. “Mr. Jeff said something about clearing up all that cow shit, and Mom told him not to use that language in front of me, but I thought it was funny.”
“I’d listen to your mom,” Kaiden advised.
“And, then later, Adam said if we moved up here, I could take care of the calf all the time, and then Mom got all funny with him, and they made me go to bed.” Roman sighed. “I hate it when that happens.”
Kaiden put his hand on Roman’s shoulder. “First thing to remember is that it’s a good thing that Adam and your mom talk things out. Secondly, while I’m working in town, you can always hitch a ride up here after school to see your calf. What are you calling him?”
“Mr. Jeff says giving him a name will make him harder to kill and eat, but as I’m never ever doing that I’ve called him Buddy the Elf.”
Kaiden took a moment to process that slice of harsh reality from the ever-tactful Jeff, and then nodded approvingly. “It’s a great name.”
“Thank you.” Roman smiled up at him. “Now, I’d better go and help Mom, or she’ll be after me.”
As Kaiden straightened up he looked right into the eyes of Julia, who had just arrived with her dad. She wore a red fluffy sweater, black leggings, and her hair was down around her shoulders. His throat went dry at the luscious picture she presented and he hoped his tongue wasn’t actually hanging out.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey, yourself.” She came over to him. “Whose little boy is that?”
“That’s Roman, Lizzie Taylor’s son. Lizzie’s engaged to Adam.”
“She works at the coffee shop, right?”
“Yeah, she manages the everyday business while Yvonne concentrates on the baking.”
Wow, look at him, putting words together into inane sentences while his gaze was fixed on her red lips—the lips he’d recently kissed. He hadn’t meant to kiss her, but the devil inside him, that couldn’t resist teasing her, hadn’t wanted to stop.
“Are you okay?” Julia asked.
“I’m good.” Kaiden looked over toward the kitchen. “I’ve got to help Adam.”
Yeah, so he’d run away like an awestruck teenager with his first crush and leave her standing there. He was so smooth.
“I can help as well.”
Jeez. She was right behind him, her body warming, the citrus tones of her perfume driving him to distraction. She put her hand on his arm, and he resisted the impulse to purr like a cat.
“It’s okay. We don’t expect our guests to work.”
“That’s not what your father said when we came in.” She smiled and he returned the gesture.
Behind him someone coughed.
“Could you either help, or get out of the way, Bro? You’re blocking the exit.”
He half turned to see Danny with two pans of roasted potatoes in his well-protected hands and a patient expression on his face.
“Sorry.” Kaiden moved out of the way, inadvertently colliding with Julia, who gasped as he trod on her foot. “Sorry.”
She grabbed hold of his arm, and he helped her hobble over to the table and pulled out a chair. Wow, now he’d broken her foot. He crouched down beside her as she eased her boot off.
“I’m a clumsy ass,” Kaiden said, frowning.
“It’s okay, I should’ve moved quicker.”
Julia felt down from her ankle to her foot. Trouble was she’d been too busy smiling at Kaiden to notice anything else in the entire universe. What was going on? Who was she? “I think it’s okay. I’m glad I still had my boots on.”
“Me too.”
Kaiden wrapped his large, callused hand around her ankle and leaned in so close that his breath feathered against her skin. She looked down at his dark head and for a crazy second wanted to bury her hand in his thick hair and drag him even closer.
“I can’t see any damage, but feel free to kick me if it makes you feel better.”
“Wherever I want?” Julia rallied.
He winced. “If you must, but please think of my future children.” He released her ankle and stood in one fluid motion. “Do you want to put some ice on that? I can get you some.”
“I think I’m good.” She put her boot back on and gingerly put some weight on her foot. “It’s fine.”
“Lunch should be ready soon. Do you want to come and meet everyone before it starts?” Kaiden glanced at her inquiringly.
Good, he’d gone back to being the perfect host and backed off a few feet. For some reason when he got close, he fried her brain, which she didn’t appreciate.
“That would be nice.” She glanced over at her father who was chatting with Jeff. “My dad seems to be having a great time without me.”
Kaiden held out his hand and she took it, gently setting her foot on the floor and easing her weight onto it.
“See? I’m fine.”
He nodded, and keeping hold of her hand, moved toward the tallest guy in the kitchen, Ben Miller, who stood with his arm around a diminutive blonde who even from the rear was instantly recognizable.
“Hey, Ben!” Kaiden called out. “Do you remember Julia?”
“Sure! Best-looking girl at our school and the smartest.” Ben made a space for them and grinned across at his sister. “Apart from you, of course, Daisy.”
He bent his head to the woman beside him. “Honey, this is Julia Garcia.”
“Hey!” Silver Meadows, one of the most famous film stars in the universe, grinned at Julia. “Nice to meet you! The Garcia Ranch shares boundaries with our place, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s right.” Julia couldn’t believe Silver knew that.
“Are you managing it now?”
“No, I’ve just come back to see my father for a couple of weeks. I have a full-time job in San Francisco.”
“Really? What do you do?”
“I’m a lawyer.”
“Gah.” Silver pulled a funny face. “Not my favorite kind of people, but I bet you’re one of the good ones.”
“I t
ry to be.” Julia couldn’t take offense at Silver’s remarks. She knew her profession was a tough sell.
“Shame you’re not into land management, we could do with some more female ranchers out here.” Silver winked at Ben. “Way too many Miller and Morgan men strutting around like they own the place.”
“Technically, the Morgans do own half the valley,” Daisy mentioned. “But I take your point.”
“Can’t argue with Silver,” Kaiden said. “Although Ruth Morgan is a badass.”
“The original and best.” Silver nodded. “I’m currently stealing all her recipes so I can impress Ben.”
“You do that every day.” Ben looked down at her so tenderly that Julia wanted to sigh. “Just by being here with me.”
Kaiden made a gagging sound. “Dude. Stop that. You’re in public.” He punched his brother on the arm. “You two are way too happy together.”
Silver went on tiptoe and planted a kiss on Ben’s bearded cheek.
“Jealous, Bro?” Ben grinned at his brother.
“Damn straight, I am.”
As he turned away, only Julia saw Kaiden’s wistful expression. Didn’t everyone want someone to love them like that? She knew she did, but in her world, it was as rare as hens’ teeth. How Ben had managed to meet and fall in love with Silver was obviously a story for another day.
“Everyone take a seat!” Jeff Miller shouted. “Now!”
Kaiden again reached for her hand as if it was the most natural thing to do, and guided her to a seat between him and her father. She smoothed her fingers over the elaborate beveled edge of the table.
“Did you make this as well as the cabinets, Kaiden?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“You really are very talented.” Julia looked up at him. “If you lived in the Bay Area you could sell these handmade items for a fortune.”
“But then I’d have to live in the city.” Kaiden made a face.
“Don’t knock it if you’ve never tried it.”
“You can’t really say that you like it, can you?” Kaiden gestured at the window. “Compared to this?”
“I appreciate the energy there and the opportunities,” Julia countered. “And I couldn’t do what I love if I didn’t live there.”