by Aria Ford
“That smells good.”
I nodded. “It does. I’m starving.”
I set the lunch out on the table. Grandpa eyed it suspiciously.
“I’ll never be able to finish it,” he muttered, looking at the large helping. I bit back a grin. I hadn’t reckoned on how much he could put away in one sitting. I mentally doubled my list for the next cart of groceries.
“You’ll manage, Grandpa.”
We added the pepper to our breakfast. Grandpa’s eyes went cloudy when he grinded the pepper onto the stew.
“I haven’t seen that grinder since your Grandma passed,” he said reverently. I swallowed hard. The way he looked so wistful, a smile playing over his mouth, moved me.
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” I said shyly. “I just found it now.”
He laughed. “It didn’t upset me, Kell. I just miss her.” His throat worked and I felt my own eyes get damp. Grandma had passed when I was five. I was twenty-eight now. He still missed her.
“I understand,” I said gently. He gave me a faraway grin.
“I miss Jess every day.”
I looked off over the landscape, not wanting to intrude on his grief. The sun was shining high in the sky already, the mountains a pale white under the haze of early morning. Somewhere, farm equipment made a lazy chug across a field. I heard a sparrow chatter.
When I looked back at Grandpa, he was focusing on the food again. I hoped his sadness had passed. He and granny were an example of everlasting love. It gave me hope that such a thing existed.
My own experience of love hadn’t been great, I reflected as I finished my porridge. My mom and dad had fought my whole life, ending in a divorce when I was five. I rarely saw my dad nowadays. He was a difficult man—raging and dissatisfied with everything in general.
I think I dated men like my dad because he was my only reference.
Most of my boyfriends had been, well…not exactly shining examples of humanity. I had felt rejected in favor of more “acceptable” girls—city girls with straight hair and fashionable clothes, who talked with an LA accent and knew how to make up their faces. I had never fitted in. Most of my male partners had reinforced that.
“What’s up, Kell?”
I blinked, my mind brought back to the present by my grandpa. He was looking shrewdly at me. I laughed.
“It’s okay. Nothing bad.”
He nodded. “You looked sad.”
“I wasn’t,” I contradicted. I looked at the breakfast. “You want some more?”
He chuckled. “I think I’m full enough for one afternoon.”
“Great.” As I suspected he would, he’d finished it. I felt relief. He was already looking better. But I would only be satisfied after we’d seen the doctor.
“What do we do now?” Grandpa asked, setting aside the bowl.
I frowned. I wasn’t used to being consulted like that. “Well,” I scratched the side of my head, wincing at how dry my hair had gotten. Darn wind! I paused. “We need to get to the doctor by four. Which means we have about an hour to get ready. Would you like to go to the store or something before we go in?”
He frowned. “Do we need something?”
I shrugged. “Depends.”
“I’ll walk down to the pump and check it’s working. Then we should go.”
“Okay.”
I cleaned away the breakfast and felt my heart soar. I was off to a good start with Grandpa, and I was feeling great. I caught myself humming a tune under my breath as I washed dishes. It was “Moon River,” an old song my grandma had taught me. I found my eyes were damp with tears.
I felt, somehow, like she would be glad I was here. As I finished tidying up and went through to the guest bedroom to freshen up I felt a deep peace settle on my soul.
I waited for Grandpa to return from checking the pump. I was smartly dressed in my office suit, and we headed into town.
As I drove past the ranch next door, I wondered how Reese was.
I went into the clinic with Grandpa and then left while the doctor examined him. When he called me aside after, I held my breath.
“What is it?” I asked.
“We need to send him to the hospital. He needs an ECG and some other tests,” Doctor Marsden, explained. I nodded.
“Is it something bad?” I asked.
He grinned. A handsome man in his late thirties, I would have been attracted to him had I not already met Reese. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll only know how serious until we’ve done the tests. Right?”
I nodded. It was difficult not to worry. I felt a bit impatient with him. How was I supposed to feel when I was considering my grandpa’s health?
“Okay,” I said. “When?”
“If you could take him through in a bit? I called through to the desk and they said they can fit him in at six.”
“Okay.” I nodded again. “We’ll come back in after a snack.”
“Good.”
I paid the account and headed off home again.
I managed to persuade Grandpa we needed to have the garage guys come and look at his van. He decided it was an ideal time to clean the garage. I went in to help, knowing he wasn’t as able as he thought.
Dressed in old clothes, I was busy cleaning nameless stuff off the workbench when Grandpa yelled. I ran to him. He was trying to lift a heavy wooden box. He had suddenly gone stiff and shaking and I was terrified as I saw his face change to dark mauve, his chest heaving.
“Grandpa!” I panicked, reaching for my phone. I called the ambulance and then, on impulse, I called Reese. When he answered at once, I felt my spirits brighten.
“Yeah?”
“Reese,” I murmured. “I’m sorry—I know I’m being a nuisance. But it’s Grandpa.”
He didn’t break stride. “I’ll be there now.”
When I hung up I felt my heart lift with relief. I settled Grandpa down in the sun outside the garage and paced, waiting for someone to arrive.
I heard Reese arrive and then, in the distance, the sound of the ambulance. When he got out and strode over I felt myself smile. It was so nice to see someone who was so capable, so ready to take charge.
“Reese,” I murmured. “I called the ambulance. Here they come…but I’m so glad you’re here.”
He smiled. “Of course I am. What can I do?”
I shook my head. Now that he was here, I felt so much calmer. My voice trembled, and I was suddenly really tired. “Not much,” I said with a smile. “I just needed someone here.”
“I’m glad you called,” he said.
The ambulance had pulled into the drive now and Reese took charge. I had never seen anyone direct people with such cool expertise. He sent them off to fetch Grandpa and guided the driver up the long drive so they could carry him in on the stretcher.
“What happened?” One of them asked. He turned to me.
“Kelly?”
“Uh…we were cleaning the garage together and he suddenly had this attack,” I explained.
“What sort of attack?” the man asked quickly.
I went blank. “Um, well, he was straining to lift something and…”
“You let him lift something?” The man looked at me like I was the most despicable person ever. I felt my self-control dissolve.
I broke down. Reese wrapped his arms around me and held me close.
“She’s his granddaughter, not his keeper,” he growled. “She was helping him. She didn’t want to insult him. He’s a capable man. How would you have treated him?”
The man went white. I wanted to laugh. I squeezed Reese against me, sniffing.
“Thanks,” I whispered when the ambulance guy had left.
He smiled down at me. “Don’t mention it.”
We went together into the house.
CHAPTER TEN
Reese
I couldn’t have said I wasn’t glad when Kelly called me. The sound of her voice, distressed and all, set me aflame. I recalled every minute with her—the way her bo
dy felt on mine, the smell of her, the way she laughed.
When she said she needed my help, I have to admit I felt a stab of panic. The last time I’d been needed by someone, I’d let them down so badly they’d died. I couldn’t forget that.
Now, as I sat in the old man’s seat on the terrace, listening to Kelly in the kitchen, I felt a strange relief.
I helped someone and nobody died.
It was a strange feeling. I listened to her working. She was humming under her breath.
I can’t believe how she makes me feel.
“Reese?” she called out through the door. I looked up. She was dressed in filthy torn jeans, a big brown T-shirt over the top. She was stunning in a way that set my body aching.
The shirt emphasized those small, high breasts, her narrow waist and those curvy thighs looked amazing in the torn pants. I wanted to hold her against the wall and plow her.
“Mm?”
“Two sugars?”
“Yeah,” I called. “How’d you know?”
“Same as me,” she called back. I laughed.
“You don’t need extra sweeteners,” I shouted through to the kitchen. When she emerged, she was scowling.
“Reese, you’re the worst flatterer I ever heard.” She laughed.
I raised a brow. “Maybe.”
We both laughed and the chair scraped back as she drew it out and sat down. The landscape opposite us was rich and tranquil. I felt at ease here in ways I never had in the city. I reached for the coffee and drank some.
“Reese?”
“Mm?”
“I really mean it. It was kind of you to come out to help me. Thanks.”
I snorted. “What else could I do?”
She smiled, a gentle smile that made my heart thud. “Well, it’s not like you owe me help.”
I frowned. “Not about owing, is it?” I countered.
She let out a long sigh. “You’re one of the only guys I know who’d have done that for me.”
I stared. “What guys are these?”
She laughed. “Well, I never really had that feeling that…that someone’d help me just because they wanted to. All my exes—especially the last one—would have been so grudging about it.”
I shook my head. “Unbelievable.” How could someone begrudge help to anyone? Particularly their woman? It was unheard of.
She grinned. “You know what?”
“What?”
“You’re nice.”
I felt her words rocket through me. If she’d shot me, it wouldn’t have gone so straight to my heart, to all the sore places. “I’m not nice.”
She frowned. “It’s a compliment, Reese.”
“Yeah,” I growled, feeling uncomfortable. I didn’t want her getting close. Didn’t want to feel the way I felt right now. If she got to know me, she would soon find out I wasn’t…what she thought. I was full of rage and pain. I wasn’t a safe person. I stood abruptly. She frowned.
“Hell, Reese! What’d I…”
“Nothing,” I said abruptly. “You did nothing.” I walked to the edge of the terrace, feet scuffing the flagstones. Looked out over the landscape and breathed. “Have you heard from the hospital?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Not yet,” she said. “He was supposed to go in for tests this afternoon. Ironically.”
Her voice wept and I felt bad. “I’m sorry,” I muttered.
“Don’t be.” Her voice was harsh. I sighed.
As much as I want to keep her away, it still hurts.
“When you hear back, I can drive you down,” I offered. She frowned.
“You don’t have to do that.” All the same, her voice sounded as if she would appreciate the help. I sighed.
“I’d like to.”
She looked up at me and our eyes met. I felt my body fire up with longing. I came around the table, and she stood as I bent down.
Her lips parted under my tongue, and I held her close.
We drew apart and I looked down at her face. Her eyes were big and shiny and I wanted to kiss her again. She walked to the table.
“I should get dressed,” she whispered.
“I guess.”
She went in and changed into something smarter and I took the tray to the kitchen. I could see already how she had made little improvements to the place. I looked around, thinking how I could make myself useful in here. The window, the light, the new bulb…there were so many tiny things wrong with it, but they were all simple fixes.
“Reese,” she called from the sitting room as I lost myself in the plans for the house and in washing the dishes in the old-fashioned basin.
“Mm?”
“I just heard from them. He’s stable. They want me to fill out forms.”
“Sure,” I said without thinking about it. “I’ll take you.”
She held me close and I stroked her back.
We went out to the car together.
I waited while Kelly talked with the doctors. From her expression I guessed that the news wasn’t good. My heart went out to her. She looked so sad and frightened.
When she had finished, she came over. “He’s still sleeping,” she said. “They have him on a drip…he was going into heart failure, they said.”
“Hell.” I blinked. “That’s bad.”
“Yeah.” She nodded. Her eyes were wet, though, and yet she wasn’t crying. I didn’t have any idea of what to say, so I said nothing. I had no experience of losing a grandparent—not any I remembered anyway. She sniffed and blinked.
“You want to stay until he’s awake?” I asked gently. She shook her head.
“I want to go home.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
It was only as I walked with her to the car that I realized I had assumed that she meant the farm. My home. I opened the door.
“Kelly?”
She didn’t reply. I shrugged and sat down inside. She reached for me and her lips pressed against mine, a sweet, slow kiss that sent fire into my loins, throbbing up to my brain.
When she drew back, her lips moist and shiny, I sighed. “What was that for?”
She laughed. “Take me home.”
I didn’t have to ask, then, whose home she meant. I put my foot on the gas and we headed off. Heading back again.
In my room, we undressed with a slowness we hadn’t experienced yesterday. Kelly seemed subdued, but, as I lifted her shirt over her head and kissed down her skin toward her lacy underwear, I realized it wasn’t a bad thing. It was nice to go slow, to savor her body.
And, I thought as I pushed her backward, it was worth waiting.
I sat beside her on the bed, gently easing the straps down her shoulders. She gasped. Her eyes were closed as I unclasped her underwear and stared at her. The nipples brown and full, her breasts white and hard like snowcapped hills, I could have stared forever.
As it was, my body had other ideas. I took one of those breasts into my mouth and sucked and she moaned, twitching as I increased the suction. My other hand cupped her right breast, then started taking down her pants. I was shivering by the time I had worked them off. I looked down at her. She was so beautiful.
“You’re beautiful,” I whispered. She looked at me. Her expression was solemn.
“I’m not.”
I could smell the scent of her and I bent lower, wanting to give her pleasure. She tensed and then relaxed as I gently took her clit between my teeth.
As she gasped and moaned as I drank in her juices, I felt myself start to shiver and I knew I was so ready.
She screamed when she came, and then I was undressing faster than I would have imagined, my cock thrusting into her.
I came faster than I ever had and we lay in the bed.
Later, she stirred next to me.
“Reese?”
“Mm?”
“What did you do, before you lived here?”
I tensed. I didn’t want to get into it. “Not much.” I laughed. “Yourself?”
“Well, I don
’t live here,” she grinned. “But at home I’m a secretary.”
“You?”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
I laughed. My fingers gripped her shoulder gently. “I mean, you’re not secretarial.”
She snorted. Looked at me. “What’s that mean?”
I shrugged. “Dunno. Like, you’re…not like that.” I didn’t know how to explain it.
She went tense. “Not ladylike, huh?”
“No,” I said roughly. “You’re…wild. Bighearted. Adventurous. When I think of secretarial stuff, I don’t think of those things. Not really.”
She was very quiet. I thought she’d fallen asleep. When I rolled over again, I was surprised to see her blinking rapidly.
“Kells?” I asked. I had upset her. Why did I have to go saying such dumbass things? I cleared my throat. “What’s wrong?”
She sniffed. “It’s silly, really.” She paused, and I waited for whatever came next. “I just…no one has ever got me the way you just did.”
“I do get you,” I said impulsively. “I think somehow that you and I aren’t that different.”
She rolled onto her side. “You’re right,” she said with a sniff.
Luckily it was getting dark in there, the sun just starting to set. Or she would have seen how much those words affected me. It had been a long time since I’d thought of myself as anything but an ass.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Not at all.”
I laughed and we lay there together while the room filled with shadows and somewhere the birds started to call as they headed back to their roosts for nightfall.
She sat up. “I should go,” she said sleepily. “I want to be in town for when Grandpa needs me.”
“You’re taking a room in the hotel?” I asked. I didn’t like the thought of her being anywhere beside next door, which was silly of me. She nodded.
“I’m booked in all week.”
“Oh.” I nodded. “Let me drive you there.”
“I’ll drive,” she said softly. “I need to take my car back.”
We had our shower and then we went out to her grandpa’s farm. It felt weird, sitting down next to her. I had the idea that I maybe wouldn’t see her again and the thought made me feel sad. I wanted to see her again, I realized. She had touched me in a way no one had managed since my return here.
