by Candis Terry
To top it off, the man had put on an apron.
An apron.
Like she really needed anything else to make her fall more in love?
There were hardly enough words to express how she felt about seeing his six-foot-four muscular frame wrapped in the cute little scrap of printed bluebonnets and smiling suns. What didn’t surprise her was that while he helped her make the German chocolate cake and triple-toffee truffles, several of them went missing. The smear of chocolate at the corners of his smooth, masculine mouth was a telltale sign of where the candy had disappeared. For her, it had taken startling control not to lift to her toes and lick the chocolate from those lips.
After he’d called his mother and explained that she was running behind because she’d burned her hand, they’d worked late into the night, boxing up the confections. Jana had been concerned about the burn but was infinitely more intrigued that Jake was lending her a hand in the kitchen. She’d told Annie not to hurry and to keep Jake for as long as she wanted. According to Jana, Max was as happy as a kitten under a leaky cow, and for her not to worry. She could pick him up in the morning.
Jana was a godsend.
Jake—a curiosity.
Annie couldn’t figure out what had possessed him to walk through her door other than maybe boredom. But for a woman with a wishful heart, there was that one hurrah moment when he’d told her he’d noticed she was a woman and no longer a girl. Something had been different in his tone and the way he’d swept those deep blue eyes down and back up her body. But again, wishful thinking on her part did not equal reality.
There was nothing really different about her now other than she was a little smarter and a bit more rounded than she’d been prebaby. Nothing remotely interesting about a woman who served up burgers and fries to the community, then spent hours alone in her kitchen sticking her hands in chocolate to tempt the sweet tooth in the residents of Sweet, Texas, or wiping baby barf off her newest blouse.
In essence, she was still just regular old Annie Morgan.
And he was still smoking-hot, sexy, mouthwatering Jake Wilder.
Jake didn’t see her that way.
He never would.
He viewed her as a friend.
That’s all.
Still, a girl with a wishful heart had a right to capitalize on keeping the fantasy alive. And when Annie slipped into bed that night, there was only one man who stepped into her dreams.
Chapter 5
After an exhausting week of work and dealing with Max’s teething-induced crankiness, Annie knocked on the door of her sister’s house with her irritable son perched on her hip. She smiled when she heard Izzy’s little feet run to the door with the slap-slap of Abby’s sandals close behind. A delicious dinner provided by your sister who could put Rachael Ray to shame was always a welcome invite. After pushing burgers and fries all day, Annie hoped Abby had made one of her delicious roasts or even a roasted chicken. Anything that was roasted, baked, or grilled, as opposed to breaded and deep-fried sounded heavenly.
When the door opened, Max flashed a gummy grin to his cousin, then held out his chubby arms. Izzy might be just a kid herself, but she loved Max. He was someone to play with until her new cousin Adeline grew up and her new baby sister cooked in her stepmama’s oven a little longer. If Annie was honest, she was giddy with the relief that for a few hours, Max would have someone to entertain him and, hopefully, divert his attention away from his aching gums.
“Come ’ere, you cute little booger.”
“Izzy.” Abby’s tone was admonishing. But the grin on her face told a whole different story. She adored her stepdaughter, and while Annie thought divorce was an awful end to a promising life, she also recognized that Izzy was a lucky little girl to have two sets of parents who thought she walked on water.
Watching Izzy struggle with hauling Max into the living room made Annie laugh.
“She’s going to be a handful when she grows up,” Abby said, still grinning.
“Just like her father.” Annie leaned in and gave her sister a hug over her baby belly, then handed over the loaf of zucchini bread she’d made from the vegetables she’d been given from Reno and Charli’s garden.
“Very true.” Abby gave her rounded stomach a rub. “And with the level of activity in this little one, I’m pretty sure she’ll follow in the Wilder footsteps too.”
“Better take out good insurance for all those bumps and bruises. I seem to remember Jackson always being bandaged up or having something in a sling.”
As they entered the kitchen, Jackson, caught sneaking a handful of black olives, looked up. “What?”
“Nothing.” Abby gave him a kiss on the cheek, and he pulled her into his arms for a liplock.
“Oh, you guys.” Annie rolled her eyes and laughed. “Stop.”
“You’re just jealous.” Jackson gave his wife another quick peck on the lips.
“So true.”
The conspiring look her sister and brother-in-law gave each other piqued her interest. They were up to something.
“Oh my God. You guys didn’t invite Bo to dinner, did you?”
They said nothing. Just gave each other that look again.
“Aww, come on. Y’all don’t need to be trying to fix me up with someone. I told you I’m not interested in him.”
“Little sister.” Jackson clamped his big hand over her shoulder. “How can you not be interested in someone who is clearly fascinated by you?”
“Seriously?” Annie folded her arms across her chest and tried to ignore the aroma of the pot roast that floated through the air when Abby opened the oven door. “I suggest you don’t go down that road. None of you Wilder boys has ever gone about things the easy way. Even when the right thing was right in your face. For years!”
Surprisingly, he didn’t flinch at the reference she’d just dropped like the gauntlet of all gauntlets. Abby had been in love with him for most of her life. But Jackson, stubborn man that he was, refused to acknowledge that he’d been in love with her too. Which had resulted in Abby’s leaving Sweet and Jackson behind. With a divorce for each of them later, Jackson finally owned up that he couldn’t live without Abby.
Talk about taking the long way around something.
“So some of us are slow learners,” he said.
“Some?” Abby jacked up an eyebrow.
“Point taken.” Now he flinched. But then that big Wilder smile was back on his handsome face as he winked at Annie. “But your sister and the trouble she caused me was well worth the wait.”
“Hey.” Abby laughed as she lifted the delicious-smelling roasting pan from the oven. “You want to reexamine who caused who more trouble?”
“We just want the best for you, Annie.” Jackson gave his wife an apologetic look, then snagged an arm around Annie’s shoulder. “That’s all.”
From the living room, Izzy’s and Max’s laughter rang out.
“Right now,” she said, “I’ve got my hands full just trying to provide for my son.”
Jackson pulled her in closer for a buddy hug. “We just want you to keep your eyes—”
“And your heart open,” Abby added.
“I’ll get right on that,” Annie said. “Between wiping down tables at the diner and wiping Max’s messy butt.”
The doorbell rang, and Izzy shouted, “Got it.”
For a moment, there was a low murmur, then a round of girly giggles and the gleeful shout of a male child who’d yet to learn his volume control. Annie braced herself for an evening of being gracious to Bo while feeling a bit uneasy about the whole setup thing Abby and Jackson had tossed them into.
An uneven sound of boots thudded across the stone entry floor until those size thirteen and a half scuffed-up shitkickers appeared in the kitchen.
They did not, however, belong to Bo Jennings.
“Jake.” Annie took a breath to calm her racing heart. “What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Sugar?” Jackson shot Abby a look of panic. “Was that Izzy calling us?”
“We’d better check.” Abby tossed the potholders onto the counter. Like two mice who’d spied the trap, they scurried out of the kitchen.
“Weird.” Jake watched the two until they disappeared, then he turned his attention back to her. “How’s the hand?”
“Good as new.” She held it up and wiggled her fingers. “Thanks again.”
“Glad I could help.”
Annie did her best not to sigh at the smile he gave her as she leaned back against the kitchen island for support. Jake Wilder all messed up and looking like a rugged cowboy was one thing. Jake Wilder all cleaned up and looking like a cover boy had the ability to noodle a girl’s knees. “What are you doing here?”
“Paying a visit to my brother and sister-in-law.”
“Bad timing.” Annie shook her head. “Your brother and my sister invited me to dinner. And they invited Bo Jennings too. I know you’re not fond of him so . . . you might want to make this a quick visit.”
“Wait a minute, Miss Bossypants.” His blue gaze took a slow ride down her body. When it came back up to her face, he was smiling. Sort of. It could have been a grimace. Or maybe gas pains. “Why are you always assuming the worst of me? I never said I wasn’t fond of Bo.”
“You called him that guy.”
“Well, he is a guy.” His hands dropped to his hips. “So what would you prefer I call him?”
“I prefer you call him nothing. And you won’t have to if you leave before he gets here.”
“I don’t think my brother intended his kitchen to be a drive-thru.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Jackson invited me for dinner. And when that dinner smells as delicious as whatever is in that pot, I’m not going anywhere.”
Crap. How could this have happened? Dinner was really going to be awkward now. Apparently, Abby and Jackson hadn’t conferred with each other on the guest list.
Or had they?
“Great. Just try to be nice when he arrives.”
“I’m always nice.”
She snorted.
“What?” His brows lifted. “You don’t think I’m nice?”
Oh, she thought he was nice all right.
She ran her gaze up and down his body as he’d done hers earlier.
He was very nice.
“It depends on the situation,” she said. “Like the other night, when you came by and helped me with the chocolates and bandaged my hand? That was very nice. Or the time when you found me and my busted-up Nissan broken down on Highway 46 and you not only offered me a ride home but you got my car towed to the auto repair? That was really nice. But—”
“Now, Annabelle . . .” He turned that charming Wilder grin up to high voltage. “Don’t go ruining all those pretty words with a but.”
“But . . . that summer we were all camped out by the creek, and you put a tarantula in my sleeping bag?” She shook her head. “Not nice. And the time I finally wore a dress to school, and you and your football buddies followed me around all day calling me legs? Not nice.”
“Darlin’, we were kids then. I’m a man now.”
Yes, he was. In every way and more.
“And by the way . . .” He leaned forward, bringing with him the subtle scent of citrusy, woodsy, warm male. “We weren’t making fun of your legs. That was simple male appreciation.”
“Bull.” She’d been made fun of too many times to buy into that. Still, that he’d noticed her at all sent a sweet little shiver down her spine.
“I swear.” His hand came up in the three-finger Boy Scout pledge.
Annie couldn’t help but laugh. “You might be many things, Jake. But an innocent Boy Scout isn’t one of them.”
“Should I be offended?” The playful grin on his face said he was anything but offended.
“Probably.”
He chuckled, then that smile slipped, and his expression grew grim. “Bo Jennings isn’t the one for you, Annie.”
That he didn’t seem to care for Bo wasn’t a shocker, but his honest declaration took her back. “How do you know who is or isn’t the one for me?”
Before he could respond, Abby and Jackson reappeared in the kitchen, chatting away like they’d never left the room. Annie and Jake looked at each other, knowing the discussion was tabled but far from over.
“I made tiramisu ice cream and peach cobbler for dessert so you’ll have a choice,” Abby said, moving them all toward the long, dining-room table Jackson and his fireman buddy Mike Halsey—now Izzy’s new stepdaddy—had built from an old oak tree that had once grown on Wilder Ranch.
Jake’s eyebrows lifted. “I have to make a choice?”
“That’s what I asked,” Jackson agreed.
“You can have both,” Abby said. “I just wonder about the taste factor putting them together.”
“It’s ice cream and pie, sugar.” Jackson grabbed a large platter from the kitchen cupboard and poured the contents of the roasting pan onto the sleek white surface. “What’s to wonder?”
As Abby called out to Izzy to wash her hands, Annie headed to the living room to grab Max. “Shouldn’t we wait for Bo?”
Abby poked a fork in the moist whole red potatoes to check for doneness. “Bo?”
“Yes.” Annie’s brows pulled together. There was more than pot roast cooking around here. “You know, Bo Jennings. ER doctor. Guy you’re trying to fix me up with and invited for dinner?”
Her sister finally looked up. “I never said we invited Bo to dinner. You just assumed.”
“Yeah, Annie.” Jackson lifted the platter and carried it to the table.
Annie shot Jake a look, but he was too busy sitting down at the table and taking a large gulp from his glass of sweet tea to look up. Or maybe that was intentional. She swung her gaze back to her sister, and whispered, “Abby? What are you up to?”
“Putting dinner on the table.” She scrunched her nose and flashed a smile. “Time to eat.”
While Annie headed to the living room to get Max, she glanced at the well-meaning couple and Lieutenant Clueless.
Yes, Annie had always had a thing for Jake Wilder, and she appreciated her sister and brother-in-law’s sneaky efforts. But there wasn’t a snowball’s chance on the Sweet Pickens Bar-B-Q grill that he’d ever return that interest in her direction. So she might as well just enjoy the dinner and conversation. Afterward, she could go home to the superhot and sexy romance novel she’d picked up during her last trip to the grocery store. The hero on the cover was a dead ringer for Jake Wilder, and Annie figured that was about as close as she’d get to getting naked with the real thing.
Dessert had been served, and Jake’s stomach was deliriously full and happy as he settled into the bright red Adirondack on his brother’s back patio with a cold bottle of Shiner in his hand. Across from him sat Annie, looking extra tasty in a tight pair of jeans, red halter, and red boots. Beside her were his brother and sister-in-law, looking like contented cats on a warm day. On the lawn, little Max was doing his toddling best to chase down Izzy, but his unsteady little baby steps could hardly keep up with his long-legged and quick-footed cousin.
While the nearby creek meandered by, spilling over rocks and the roots of oak and cypress trees, and the buzz of cicadas hummed from those same trees, Jake briefly closed his eyes.
For months at war, then months stuck in a hospital bed, he’d dreamed of this. Being home with his family. Enjoying their company. Feeling the warmth of the Texas sun as it rode off into the west for the night. Hearing the sound of children at play, dogs barking, and the general peace he’d only ever felt at home.
Home was where the
heart was.
But Jake’s heart was still shattered.
And his future remained in limbo.
He took a long sip of ale and glanced across the flickering fire-pit flames at Annie, who laughed every time little Max squealed with delight. Liberty—Jackson and Abby’s mutt-of-questionable-breed—slurped the little boy up the side of his face, and a hearty chortle bubbled through his tiny lips. The sound of a child’s laughter had always filled Jake with joy. Now, Jake couldn’t laugh. Couldn’t find the joy. Because now, that delightful sound served only as a reminder of his poor decisions. His inability to lead. His failures.
“Jesse says I need a dog,” he said, breaking the silence and, hopefully, the tension in his chest.
“Are you looking for a puppy?” Abby asked. “Or one that’s already outgrown the chewing-everything-to-shreds stage?”
The animal rescue center Abby had created along with the secondhand store to support it was often crowded with abandoned or lost pets. Abby worked hard to find them all homes. She never gave up until she was able to place each animal with the right family.
During his last visit home, Jake had visited her center and found it to be more like a day care than a shelter. No animal went into an enclosure unless it had a behavioral issue. If it did, Abby brought in experts to help the animal work it out. A pretty amazing and admirable feat, Jake thought, as pride filled an empty spot in his soul. His brother had married a remarkable woman.
“I’m not looking for either,” he said.
“You’d make a perfect parent,” Annie argued.
Jake knew she meant a parent of the four-legged kind of kid, but a suggestion of the two-legged type still dangled between them. Jake appreciated her vote of confidence, but uncertainty ruled.
Having grown up in a big family, Jake had always wanted children of his own. He loved the noise, the chaos, the love, and the sense of togetherness. But the troubling conversation he’d once had with his best friend—of hearing Eli’s regret of being abandoned by his own father and the deep abiding fear that he’d leave his own child fatherless because of the career he’d chosen—would stay with Jake forever. That he hadn’t even been able to face Eli’s widow since the ambush said a lot about his character. Right now, it was shakier than hell. And right now, he felt that since he’d stripped the opportunity to be a father away from Eli, he didn’t deserve that privilege. An eye for an eye might not make sense to anyone else, but it did to Jake.
