Halloween at the Corral

by Debra St. John

  Her head snapped up.

  “But I could be persuaded to overlook your…transgression, shall we say?” His voice teased. So did the gentle brush of his fingers over hers.

  “What kind of persuasion?” Something akin to anticipation flooded her body, taking the place of the momentary burst of panic. She was tempted to say yes to anything he proposed.

  “Have dinner with me tonight.”

  Damn. The one thing she couldn’t give him. “I can’t.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Is this about my…what did you call it last night…fan club?”

  “No. It’s not that I don’t want to go to dinner with you.” God help her, she did. “I can’t. I have to be at my sister’s tonight to help my niece make goodie bags for her Halloween party next weekend.”

  “Oh. Well, that’s not a problem.” A spark danced in his eyes. “I’ll just come with you.”

  Chapter Four

  “Mom, Aunt Kelly’s here with her boyfriend,” Jenny called over her shoulder after she’d squeezed Kelly in an exuberant seven-year-old hug.

  “I warned you,” Kelly said to Dan.

  “I’ve been called worse.” He grinned.

  Kayla appeared in the kitchen doorway. “Her what? Oh.” She walked forward. “Hey, sis.” She kissed Kelly’s cheek, then held out her hand. “Hello. I’m Kayla Stonefield.”

  “Dan Jenkins. Pleased to meet you.”

  Kayla’s eyebrow rose. “The Dan Jenkins? The bull rider?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Kayla cast a worried glance at Kelly.

  “Everything’s laid out on the table. Come on.” Jenny tugged on Kelly’s arm. “Is he going to help, too?”

  “That’s why I brought him.”

  In the dining room the surface of the table was barely visible beneath a slew of candy, trinkets, ribbon, and other supplies.

  Dan’s eyes grew wide.

  “You wanted to come.”

  “What’s first, Aunt Kelly?” Jenny bounced on her toes.

  “First we’re going to wrap the water bottles in orange duct tape.” She pulled a sample from her bag and set it on the table. “Why don’t you and Dan get started on that, while I talk to your mom in the kitchen. Get the third degree over with,” she added so only Dan could hear.

  “Good luck.”

  Kayla took a pan out of the oven and turned.

  “Is that Mom’s pumpkin bread?” Kelly’s mouth watered.

  “Of course.” Kayla slipped off the oven mitts, then tested the loaf with a long toothpick. “Perfect.”

  Kelly leaned her hips against the counter. “So, what was with that look out in the foyer?”

  “I can’t believe you’re dating Dan Jenkins. He has, uh, quite the reputation.”

  Kelly couldn’t argue with that. “We’re not dating. I showed him how to carve a pumpkin today. Can you believe he’s never done it before? He asked me to dinner. As a thank you.” She didn’t bring up the whole address issue. “When I said I was coming here, he offered to come along and help.”

  “He offered to help put favors together for a child’s Halloween party?” Kayla’s skeptical tone matched her look. “What does he expect in return?” The implication was clear.

  “Nothing. It’s not like that.” Yet.

  Yet? Where had that come from? Heat crept into her cheeks. Kelly turned away so her overly perceptive big sister wouldn’t see. She filled a glass with ice and water from the door of the fridge and took a big sip. “He’s actually really nice.”

  “You sound surprised.”

  Kelly chuckled. “I am a little bit. I know all the scuttlebutt, too, but he’s not like that.” At least not around her. Not once in the time they’d hung out today had he turned into Mr. Popular with a trademark flashy smile and ego to match.

  “Okay. You’re a big girl, and you know what you’re doing.”

  “I do.” Did she? Only time would tell. She filled another glass with water for Dan and carried it to the dining room.

  “I like your jack-o-lanterns on the front porch,” he was saying.

  “Aunt Kelly made them with us.”

  “She helped me carve one today, too. And then we baked pumpkin seeds.”

  Jenny nodded. “She’s awesome at that stuff.”

  “It’s Kelly’s mission in life to carry on each and every Harper family tradition now that Mom and Dad are gone,” Kayla said.

  Dan looked up. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

  Both his teasing tone and the glimpse of sympathy in his eyes touched something in Kelly’s heart.

  “How many of these do we have to make?” He held up a duct-tape swathed bottle.

  “How many kids are coming to the party?”

  “I invited my whole class,” said Jenny. “There are twenty-four kids.”

  Dan counted. “Halfway there.” He picked up another bottle and began adhering the tape to it.

  Kelly joined them at the table. “Keep wrapping, cowboy. I’ll start drawing the faces.”

  ****

  Twenty-four water bottle jack-o-lanterns, forty-eight frosting mummified pretzels, and two-dozen candy-filled goodie bags later, Kelly laid her head against the rest on the passenger side of Dan’s truck. “Looks like you gained another fan tonight. Jenny adores you.”

  “And what about Jenny’s mom?”

  Kelly frowned. Was he interested in her sister? Eeuuw. “She’s married. My brother-in-law wasn’t home tonight.” Had Dan ever dated a married woman or did he have enough scruples to avoid such a situation?

  “That’s not what I meant.” He spared her a glance before returning his attention to the road. Lights from the oncoming traffic flashed through the cab. “I thought after today your low opinion of me would have changed.”

  Kelly sat up straight. “I don’t have a low opinion of you.”

  “Could have fooled me.”

  The words stabbed, but no more than she deserved. “Okay, I’ll be honest.” Which might ruin any chance of him fitting the label Jenny had applied earlier. “In the past, I didn’t hold you in high regard. I know your type.”

  “And that is?”

  “You want me to spell it out? Fine. You have a posse of women following you wherever you go. They flirt. You flirt. You like the attention. I’m sure many times it’s gone beyond flirting, but nothing more serious than a night or two. Maybe a week at most. But, it’s only a façade. It’s not really who you are.”

  The whir of the tires on the asphalt filled the tension-laden silence. Had she said too much? Of course. Offended him? Probably. Maybe one of these days she’d learn to hold her tongue.

  After the longest pause in the history of the world, Dan whistled. “Doesn’t a degree in psychology make you ridiculously over qualified to work at the dry cleaners?”

  She frowned. He didn’t sound angry, but she couldn’t quite read his tone. “No degree. Only one basic undergraduate psychology class. Required, not elective.”

  “Well then, you missed your calling. You got it in one.” He glanced over. “How did you figure me out so quickly?”

  “I’m not even close to figuring you out. All that stuff is just textbook.” Kelly waved a hand. “Even for an amateur.”

  “So is that why you came over today? You’re trying to figure me out?”

  “Sort of. I mean, we’ve known each other for years, but in a hi-how-are-ya here-are-your-clean-clothes kind of way. Until yesterday I bought into the whole good ol’ boy thing, but now I know there’s more to you than that.”

  “What gave me away?”

  “You don’t talk to me like you talk to those other girls.” She twisted as far as the belt would allow and crooked one leg on the seat. “When you asked me out, I was really, really tempted to say yes.”

  “You did a damn good job of hiding it.”

  “I want to be sure.”

  “Sure about what?”

  “You. Me. That I’m not getting involved with the wrong kind of guy again. I do
n’t have many fond memories of my ex-fiancé, but one thing I learned about myself from being with him is I want to be more than a trophy paraded around.”

  “Ah.”

  “Ah what?”

  “Now I’m starting to figure you out.”

  Kelly mulled this over. Dan turned onto Main Street.

  He pulled into the alley behind the dry cleaners and stopped next to the stairs beside the back door. He flipped off the headlights, plunging the cab into semi darkness, but let the engine idle.

  “Why did you come to my house today?” His voice, coming from the shadows to her left, sent a strange anticipation through her.

  “I felt bad you never carved a jack-o-lantern. And I couldn’t stop thinking about you last night.”

  Dan sucked in a breath.

  “Why did you offer to come to my sister’s house tonight?”

  “I enjoyed spending time with you today. I didn’t want it to end. You said I don’t talk to you like I talk to other girls. Well, you don’t talk to me like they talk to me.”

  The click of his seatbelt releasing was loud in the darkness. As he reached to unfasten hers, his fingers brushed her arm. Kelly gasped. Her heartbeat accelerated. The seatbelt slithered across her chest. The tension inside her squeezed tighter.

  He scooted closer across the bench seat. His breath fanned her face. “You don’t bat your eyelashes. Or flip your hair. Or smile like a beauty pageant contestant. You’re real.” His fingers brushed her cheek.

  Her body hummed and her head buzzed like a sugar rush after too much Halloween candy.

  “You got one thing wrong, though,” he whispered.

  Her scrambled brain struggled to make sense of the words. “What?”

  “Only sometimes, not many times, does it turn into more than flirting. And I wasn’t lying to you earlier. Even if it is more than flirting, I never bring women back to my house. I like my privacy.”

  Great. She’d barged in and invaded the man’s personal space. “Why didn’t you slam the door in my face?”

  He chuckled. Low and intimate. Goosebumps chased down her arms. “I already told you. You’re different.”

  His fingers wove through the hair at her nape. His mouth settled over hers, and her pulse fluttered. Caught. Raced. Firm, yet soft, lips stroked hers. Even though her limbs went all melty, like the rich caramel center of a chocolate truffle, she wrapped her arms around his neck and sank deeper into the kiss. Which got better and better the longer it went on.

  When Dan pulled away, all too soon, her breath was battered. Her heart raced. Every inch of her felt alive and aware. Wanting more.

  “Do you want to come up?”

  He kissed her again. Once. Softly. “Yes. But I’m not going to tonight.” The shadows hid his eyes, but his voice held the hint of a promise. There would be other nights. “We’ll take this slow. We’re still figuring each other out, remember?”

  “Oh, I remember. And I am going to figure out who you really are, Dan Jenkins.”

  “Good. Let me know when you do.”

  Chapter Five

  The bell over the door jangled, and the tissue paper ghosts suspended from the ceiling fluttered on the air current. Dan smiled as he walked into the dry cleaners. “Hi.”

  “Hi.” Kind of anti-climactic after the heart-stopping bone-melting kiss they’d shared last night, but Kelly hadn’t ever drooled over Dan Jenkins and she wasn’t about to start now.

  If anyone believed that, she had a bridge to sell them. Cheap.

  She swallowed so the not entirely hypothetical drool didn’t actually dribble down her chin. “With rodeo season over, I didn’t think I’d see you in here as often.” The local cowboys were all regulars. Their clothes took a beating in the ring.

  He shrugged. “I am here to drop something off, but more so because I wanted to see you.” The words were matter of fact rather than overly flirty. They made her knees go weak. He helped himself to a bite-sized chocolate bar from the pumpkin shaped bowl on the counter. “Do I need to say trick-or-treat first?”

  “That would be the proper protocol.”

  “Trick-or-treat.” He unwrapped the candy and popped it into his mouth.

  In the meantime, several more treats he could provide outside the realm of candy teased her libido. What if they melted the chocolate and caramel and poured it all over each other? Ten to one it would taste a million times better to lick it from his skin than it did straight from the wrapper.

  Whoa. Easy there. They’d decided to take it slow.

  “So, what are you dropping off?” Stick to business. Forget the image of melted chocolate drizzled over six-pack abs. Did he have six-pack abs? A girl could hope.

  “This.” He laid gray suit pants and a matching jacket on the counter. “I need them by tomorrow.”

  “For what? Are you going to a Halloween party?” As a politician?

  Dan quirked a brow. “What?”

  “It’s a suit.”

  His mouth twitched. “I know.”

  “I’m sorry. I can’t picture you in a suit.”

  He grimaced. “I don’t wear one often. Just when the occasion calls for it.”

  Oh damn. Was he going to a funeral?

  “Brunch at my parents’ house on Wednesday.”

  Relief swept through her. Then her eyebrow rose. “You wear a suit to brunch at your parents’ house?”

  “Yep. Eleven o-clock sharp.” He leaned his elbows on the counter. The subtle scent of cologne teased her senses. A slight shadow of stubble covered his chin. Without his usual cowboy hat, his hair was sexily mussed. “I want you to go with me.”

  Holy run-away-freight train. Meeting each others’ families in the space of a week didn’t exactly jive with taking things slow. “You do? Why?”

  “I think it will go a long way in helping you with that whole figuring out who I am thing you’ve got going.” The space around them seemed to dissolve. Her attention focused solely on his incredible blue eyes. “Plus having you with me just might keep me sane while I’m there.”

  How could she refuse when he put it like that? “Do I have to get all dressed up too?”

  His gaze swept her from head to toe, then back up to linger on her hips. Warmth followed in its wake as if he’d touched her. “Unfortunately, jeans are a no-no. Which is a damn shame.” He sighed and looked into her eyes again. “Dress slacks or a skirt would be more appropriate.” Verbal air quotes put ironic emphasis on the last word. “So, knowing all that, will you go with me?”

  Knowing all that? An inaccurate statement if there ever was one. Every time he opened his mouth she was left with more questions than answers, but she’d never been one to back down from a challenge. She’d get to the bottom of Dan Jenkins, who became more intriguing by the minute.

  “Yes. I’ll go.”

  ****

  Dan pulled into the long, curving driveway and brought the truck to a stop in front of the three story red brick house. He cut the engine and turned to face Kelly.

  “This is where you grew up?” Her tone gave no hint to her thoughts. Neither did her expression.

  “Yep.”

  “Do you come home a lot?”

  “Hell no. My brother is in town, so Mom thought it would be nice for everyone to get together.” Dan had second-guessed subjecting Kelly to the “nice” family gathering they were about to walk into about a million times, but in the end, he hadn’t been able to rescind his invitation. He wanted her there. More than that, he needed her there. Her level-headedness. Her tell-it-like-it is attitude. Her what-you-see-is-what-you-get lack of pretense.

  She hadn’t even blinked when he’d told her the dress code. Just donned a short, floaty kind of skirt that, paired with heels and a sweater over a collared shirt, was almost as sexy as her jeans. Now here she was, ready to walk into the proverbial lion’s den. No questions asked.

  So who knew? Maybe if she didn’t run away screaming, he’d have a genuine shot at fulfilling the label her niece had best
owed the other night. For now, he didn’t want to jinx it by even thinking the word.

  Besides, first things first. “You ready for this?”

  She grinned. “Are you kidding? Getting a peek inside the mysterious world of Dan Jenkins is better than a bag full of Halloween candy.”

  More like walking into the nightmare of a haunted house. “If you say so.”

  “I do. Come on.” She thrust open the door and stepped down. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

  Dan put his hand in the small of Kelly’s back, more from the urge to touch her than any ingrained manners; they made their way up the three wide steps onto the porch. Her heels clicked on the brick pavers. He pressed the bell next to the double oak front doors.

  “You don’t just walk in?”

  “Nope.” There was always protocol to follow in his mother’s house.

  The door swung open. Mom wore a navy blue wrap dress. A strand a pearls encircled her neck and matched the studs in her ears. “Hello, Daniel. We were wondering when you were going to get here. Robert arrived fifteen minutes ago.” She brushed an air kiss in the direction of his cheek after he stepped into the house.

  “Mom, this is Kelly Harper. Kelly, my mother, Rita Jenkins.”

  Kelly held out her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Jenkins. Thank you for having me here today.”

  “You’re welcome. We were quite surprised when Daniel mentioned he was bringing someone along.”

  “You have a beautiful home.” Kelly’s gaze whisked from the marble floor of the entryway, to the curving staircase, to the ornate crown molding.

  “Thank you.” Mom turned to Dan. “Your father and Robert are in the living room. They decided to have a drink while they waited for you.”

  Dan gritted his teeth. He was right on time. Not his fault his goody-two-shoes brother arrived early. But he nodded. “Let’s go join them.”

  Dad and Rob rose as they entered the room. After handshakes with both of them, he introduced Kelly.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Kelly,” Rob said. “Dan doesn’t usually bring his, ah, lady friends to family gatherings.”

  “Oh, I’m not one of Dan’s lady friends. I’m his dry cleaner,” Kelly said with a straight face.