Kinkade, Lea - Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not? [The Chisholms of Texas 1] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Lea Kinkade

  Jessie got up around ten. Jordan had already had breakfast, so the women headed over to the big house so that Jordan could see Jessie’s parents, Alex and Cassie Chisholm, again. This was the house where Jessie and her siblings had been born and raised and where their parents still lived. It was Sunday, and Jessie’s mother always made a big spread for her wayward children to sit down to at lunch, usually served around 11:30 a.m.

  * * * *

  Damn. He should have known Jessie would bring Jordan out to see the folks today. Both of his parents knew Jordan, of course. They had visited Jessie many times while she was in college, and since Jordan had been her roommate for all four years of college, and her best friend, they had gotten to know her really well over the years. They had even made the trip to New York with Jessie for the funeral when Jordan’s mother had died a few years back. His mother asked about Jordan at nearly every Sunday lunch, and both were supportive of Jessie’s attempts to get Jordan out of New York City and down to Deseo, Texas.

  Xander was in the kitchen with his mother filching some raw carrots from the relish tray when he heard Jessie and Jordan being welcomed into the house by his father. They were in the family room. Mom had been giving him the third degree about his love life. She wanted another daughter-in-law. As soon as his mother heard Jessie and Jordan, she ran out from the kitchen and enveloped Jordan in a motherly hug. She was telling Jordan how good it was to see her again and how beautiful she looked, when Xander slowly followed his mother into the living room. Jordan was smiling and laughing with everyone when she looked up and saw Xander standing in the doorway. Although she kept smiling and answering his mother’s questions about how she was settling in, Xander definitely saw a flicker of feminine interest in her eyes when they found him.

  Interesting. Maybe Jordan wasn’t as far off the menu as Xander had thought. He allowed his eyes to reciprocate that interest as he gave her a knowing smile. Then he felt a sharp pinch on his arm from Jessie, and he knew his sister had caught their exchange. From the look in her eyes, she did not approve. She mouthed the word later to him and looked to the front door as Ryan and Ryder walked in.

  Just as everyone was settling down to eat, Dillon showed up. Dillon smiled at Jordan and asked her how she was getting along. He was very forthright with Jordan and telegraphed his interest in her throughout lunch. Xander noticed the byplay. So his little brother was interested in Jordan, too. Xander knew that if Dillon was genuinely interested in Jordan, he should clear the field. After all, Dillon had told Xander himself that he was done sowing his wild oats and was looking to settle down. Jordan would be a whole hell of a lot better off dating Dillon, but Xander didn’t think he could let her go anymore without sampling her for himself first.

  Levi and Taylor arrived, and they all sat down to a hearty meal of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans with onion and bacon, scratch biscuits, and sweet tea. Man, his mother sure could cook!

  * * * *

  Xander and Jordan responded when spoken to but contributed little else to the conversation swirling around them during lunch. Each spent most of their time trying not to look like they were watching each other. Although everyone else seemed oblivious to the heated and furtive glances between Xander and Jordan, three people were acutely aware of the sexual tension growing between the couple. Jessie looked on with what appeared to be suspicion and worry. Dillon looked on first with dismay, then resignation. Cassie Chisholm looked on with a twinkle of mischief in her eyes. Jordan saw all of this and just tingled all over.

  After dessert of cherry cobbler, the men proceeded to clear the table and do the dishes. Ryan and Ryder offered to take Jordan in to Chaps & Spurs for her shift so that Jessie would only have to go into town once to pick her back up at the end of her shift. Jordan accepted the offer and rode back into town with the twins. Once they got there, Ryan got behind the bar and started taking inventory. The club was not yet open to the public. Ryder went back to the office area and returned shortly with a stack of papers and a pen. Leaving her to it, Ryder headed back toward the office.

  Jordan’s first night as a bartender at Chaps & Spurs was busy but enjoyable. For all their cockiness, the twins ran a tight ship. That made the work predictable but enjoyable. Jordan thought she was catching on really well. The other employees were a lot of fun and there was a lot of good-natured ribbing and jokes between the employees and the bosses. During the course of the evening, Jordan got hit on…a lot, but the cowboys all seemed to take it in stride when she declined all their requests for a date.

  By the time Jessie picked her up at 10:00 p.m., Jordan was ready for a shower and bed. Tomorrow she was moving into her own place. That night, Jordan once again had erotic dreams about Xander where they made love on her bed in the new house. Jordan didn't wonder if that dream was going to come true. She just wondered when it would. She knew it was only a matter of time. Jordan had finally met the man that she would give up her virginity for. The problem was, she didn’t think the man in question would view her virginity as a positive thing. She would just have to make sure he didn’t find out. At least until after it was too late. She was already on the pill, so pregnancy wasn't an issue for her, and she didn’t think that Xander was the type to have any diseases. The pleasure she knew she would find in Xander’s arms and bed, however, was sure to be worth the decidedly smaller risk of turning him off once he learned of her virginity.

  Chapter 5

  Monday morning dawned crisp and clear. Jordan was up, showered, and dressed by the time Jessie’s alarm even went off. Today, she officially started her new life as a resident of Deseo. Jordan made a cup of Italian roast coffee for each of them and then munched on some toast while she loaded up the back of Jessie’s Escalade with all of her worldly possessions, which had grown significantly with her shopping trip. Still, they didn’t even fill up half of the Escalade.

  Once Jessie was ready for work, Jordan dropped her off at the Ranch offices and proceeded into town where she opened up the door to her little house with the key she had gotten on Saturday. She unloaded her belongings from the SUV then sat at the bar in the kitchen and got out the grocery list she had made last night after she got home from work. She added a couple of items she hadn't thought of, grabbed her purse, and headed back out to the Escalade on her way to the grocery store. It took a little over an hour to find everything on her list because she needed a lot of the basics. Once she got back to her house, she brought all her purchases in and immediately went to the washroom and started a load of laundry. She wanted to wash her new bedding and towels before using them for the first time.

  Jordan put the rest of the grocery items away, as well as the clothes and personal items she had gotten. She took the antibiotic and her birth control pills, along with some other items like pain reliever, and put them away in the medicine cabinet over the sink. Once that was done, she headed over to the used car lot Xander had recommended.

  The owner, Hal Becket, or Junior, as he told her to call him, had three cars he felt would be good for Jordan, and he showed them to her. Hal told her that Xander had called him to make sure Jordan got a good deal and a good, reliable vehicle. All three were within her price range, but one was an SUV and was simply too big for her needs. The other two were more economical cars, and either one would work for her needs. Junior recommended the cheaper Honda Civic, telling her that Xander had told him to take good care of her and, despite being the least expensive, the Civic was just in better condition. Jordan test-drove the car and, after haggling over the price a little, signed the paperwork.

  Jordan had never owned a car before, although she had gone through driver's ed in high school and had had occasion to rent a few cars over the years. A car wasn't really necessary in New York City. Telling Junior she would be back over the noon hour to pick up her car, Jordan went back to Jessie's, calling her to arrange to pick her up at lunch so that Jessie could give her a ride back into town to pick up her new car.

  Jordan drove back out to the Ranch
at 11:30 a.m. to pick up Jessie. Jessie drove her back into town, where they stopped off at a little diner called The Pie Place for lunch. Jessie asked Jordan to join the girls Friday night after she got off work for some drinking and dancing and Jordan agreed. Promising to call her the next day, Jessie dropped Jordan off at Junior's to pick up her car and headed back to work. Jordan had just enough time to shower and change before heading off to work. Since it was only five blocks from her house to Chaps&Spurs, Jordan walked.

  * * * *

  On Wednesday, Jordan was up by 8:00 a.m., having worked until 10:00 p.m. the night before. She was pretty sure she was ready for the 7:00 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. shift, but Ryan and Ryder put the schedule out a month at a time to enable the employees to plan ahead and trade when necessary. So, she was scheduled for the “day” shift, as she called it, for the rest of the month. Already, both were leaving her alone at the downstairs bar when they needed to run errands or do paperwork. The upstairs bar opened at 5:00 p.m. Other times, they just sat at the bar and talked to her while she worked, getting up to help her when she needed it. Most days, she didn’t need it.

  So here she sat on the front porch, in the rocker she had purchased yesterday at the used-furniture store in town, drinking her Kenyan roasted coffee with a breakfast of a wheat bagel with cream cheese. She’d had yesterday off and had explored some of the shops in town. She’d cut the grass yesterday with the old lawnmower the owner had left in the garage. It took a little more than an hour and was good exercise. Jordan had never mowed a lawn before, but after getting some pointers from her neighbor, she thought she’d done a pretty good job.

  Jordan had moved inside and was throwing something together for lunch when she heard the distinctive sound of a delivery truck in front of the house. She hurried out to the front door and was pleased to see a delivery man heading her way with a clipboard. Her potter’s wheel, kiln, and other items from the online site she had ordered from had arrived. The driver asked her if she wanted them put in the garage, but the garage was attached clear around the back of the house, and Jordan knew she had a better chance of getting them through the front door. She wanted to get them into the house today. So the delivery guy unloaded the big boxes from the back of the truck—two big boxes for the wheel, three big boxes for the kiln, and several medium-size boxes with the clay and the rest of the items she had ordered.

  First, Jordan tried the medium-size boxes. She couldn't even lift three of the boxes. They had wet clay in them. The other two boxes Jordan could lift, and she carried them into the second bedroom that happened to be empty. She’d already purchased a large canvas tarp and laid it on the floor of the room. Going back out to the front porch, Jordan tried to lift each one of the bigger boxes, but couldn’t. Finally, she thought if she took the parts of the wheel and kiln out of the boxes, she might be able to carry them into the house. So she unpacked all the boxes and tried again. She was not able to lift the wheel, but she was able to carefully roll it into the house and to the bedroom where she propped it up against the wall. Next, she tried to lift the base. No go. She tried again, straining until she knew her face was red. Frustrated, she kicked the base with her right foot and then proceeded to dance around on one foot howling when the base proved to be harder than her sandal.

  Hearing laughter, Jordan turned to see Xander getting out of his sleek black Escalade with a grin on his face. Jeesh, did they all own Cadillac’s?

  “Having problems?” Xander asked, still chuckling.

  “No, whatever gave you that idea? Was it the rain dance I just performed?”

  “No, I think it was the red face when you tried to sumo wrestle that thing up into your arms.”

  “You’ve been there that long?” asked Jordan, embarrassed.

  “Yep. You have a luscious derriere, angel." Xander was clearly teasing her.

  “What are you doing here, anyway?” Jordan became even more embarrassed, not expecting his teasing flirtatiousness.

  “I was driving by on my way to a business lunch and saw this beautiful black-haired sprite on the porch trying to give herself a hernia. Thought I’d stop in and see if she wanted a little help.”

  “Oh. If you’re on your way somewhere, I don’t want to bother you.” Jordan didn't want to seem too needy.

  “No bother, angel. I’ve got some extra time. What is all this and where do you want it?”

  “They’re the parts to my potter’s wheel and my kiln and, well, my clay, too. I do pottery,” Jordan responded, looking away. She had never told any of her boyfriends about her dreams about getting her pottery noticed on a broad level. When they heard she did some pottery, most of them thought it was a “cute” hobby and didn’t understand her total fascination with this form of art. Truth was, most of them didn't get her artsy side at all. She had decided after things had ended so quickly with her first couple of boyfriends not to raise the issue at all with them. This was something that only people close to her knew about. She had studied art history in college but hadn’t gotten into pottery until after her mother had died. It had been like therapy for her.

  “Oh. Are you any good at it? Do you have any pieces you could show me?” He was intrigued to learn she had an artsy side. He did, too. In fact, before his father had his stroke, Xander had been ready to immerse himself in his art full time. He’d gotten an MBA at Harvard then gone to the Savannah College of Art and Design to study his art. It had taken nearly ten years of school, but he had gotten it all done. Once his father had his stroke, however, he’d been called home to take over the family business. He’d done his duty and gone home to take over. He hadn’t painted since. He’d done a few charcoal drawings over the years, but he never showed them to anyone but his mother. She had encouraged him to continue to pursue his dream but, in reality, Xander knew that part of his life was over. He had accepted it and moved on. Still, every once in a while, the urge hit him, and he wondered at what could have been.

  “Sorry, all my pieces died in the fire.”

  “Oh, that’s right. I remember you telling the family about it at Sunday lunch the other day. Didn’t my mother say she had a couple of your pieces displayed in the house, though?”

  “Yes, she does. I sent them to her while I still lived in New York. She has one on display in the living room and one in the study. Have you seen them?” She wondered what he thought of her work.

  “I probably have, but just never really noticed them.” Seeing the let down on her face, he rushed to assure her. “But I’ll be sure to check them out when I’m at the house next time. If Mom has them on display, they must be great.”

  They stood there looking at each other. Xander gave himself a mental shake. “Well, if you want me to help you get these inside, you better point me in the right direction.”

  “Oh, yeah. I need them in the empty bedroom on the right down the hallway. I already got the wheel in.”

  Xander picked up the base of the potter’s wheel as if it weighed next to nothing and took it into the house through the door Jordan was holding open for him. He set it down where Jordan told him to and then strode back out the door and picked up the next box, part of the kiln. He brought in the remaining boxes as if they weighed nothing. Jordan did note however, as he squatted to pick up each box, how his jeans gloved his tight ass and hard, muscular thighs and how his biceps bulged beneath his blue chambray shirt.

  After all of the boxes had been moved into the house, Xander and Jordan stood on the porch looking at each other a little uncomfortably. Xander looked like he had something to say. “Do you want to go out dancing with me this Friday night?”

  “I can’t.” Jordan was truly disappointed. “I have to work until ten, and I promised Jessie I'd join her and the girls for a while after that.”

  “Oh. Well, I could be at the club at ten and be your dance partner, if you wanted. You do like to dance, don’t you?”

  “I love to dance.” Jordan was breathless with excitement. “I’ll see you Friday."

  “Okay
, it’s a date. See you then.” Xander looked like he didn't want to leave. Finally, he strode down the steps, got into his sleek black SUV, and drove away.

  Jordan just stood there smiling and staring after him. Lord, that man made her tingle. She heard the oven timer go off and hurried back inside to save the mint-chocolate-chip brownies from burning to a crisp.

  Once she rescued her brownies from the oven, Jordan went into the small bedroom to assemble the potter’s wheel and the kiln. She couldn't seem to wipe the stupid smile off her face. It was mindless work, and her thoughts kept returning to that muscle-bound cowboy with the sexy body and jet-black hair. Both were just part of the whole package that made Xander so mouthwatering. Yummy. She had to get her some of that!

  Once she had the potter’s wheel assembled, Jordan set up the kiln in the opposite corner of the room and dug everything else out of the boxes. She decided pretty quickly that she would need some shelving units for her tools and to dry her pieces once they were thrown. She vaguely remembered there being several at the used furniture store where she had gotten the lamps. She decided she would go back to the store this afternoon and see if they could deliver them yet today. She quickly assembled a pasta salad with cheese and tuna for lunch and hurried off to see about those shelves.

  * * * *

  Xander was having a hard time concentrating on his business meeting. He hadn't really needed to take this meeting. After all, it fell within Zach's responsibilities as foreman of the cattle operation. Zach was new to the job as cattle foreman, but was doing a damn fine job, freeing up a lot of Xander’s time for other matters concerning the Ranch. So Zach looked as surprised as Xander felt when Xander told him he would take the lunch meeting with the manager of the feedlot they used in town, since he had to be in town anyway.