One Taste

by Cari Quinn

  Evelyn patted Porthos’s neck and grinned down at her. “Lon sniffing around?”

  “Like I’m in heat, for heaven’s sake.”

  “Well, as far as he’s concerned, you are. He’s persistent. Harmless but persistent.”

  Porthos snuffed at Kendall’s shoulder, nibbling on her ponytail until she tucked it up on top of her head. “I keep telling you I’m not food.”

  “You smell like apples.”

  “Is that what it is?”

  “Evidently he likes your shampoo.”

  Kendall patted his nose. “I don’t mind when you flirt with me, big guy.”

  “He’s not giving you any trouble, is he?”

  “No. Lon’s one of those guys not used to a no. I can handle him. I just don’t want Shane to catch on.”

  “Why?”

  A flash of his possessive kiss after her first day in the stables came back to her. “Things between Shane and I are a little complicated.”

  Evelyn swung her leg off the horse’s saddle and dropped to the ground. She ran a gentling hand along Porthos’s neck. “Now we’re getting interesting.”

  “No, Shane and I are less than interesting.”

  “So you keep telling me.” She clucked at Porthos and led him into the shade of the stable and uncinched his buckles.

  Kendall went around to the other side of the horse. They were getting into a routine, and every day Evelyn bugged her for details. And each day she had no idea what to say. “We’re sex and no entanglements, and we like it that way.”

  “That only works for so long.”

  “We have until we get to New York.”

  The saddle slid toward Evelyn, and she hefted it with ease. She slapped it in its holder. “Wait, what?”

  Kendall cringed. “I didn’t mean to say that.”

  “Yes, I think you did.”

  No, she really hadn’t. Crap. “It’s complicated. If I tried to explain it to you, there would be more questions.”

  “I’m good at complicated.”

  Kendall snorted. “No, you’re not. You like simple. That’s why you like horses better than people.”

  “You”—Evelyn pointed a finger at her—“are way too perceptive. But I really am good at complications. I just don’t choose to get involved most of the time.”

  “Why would you get involved with me, then?”

  “Because I like you.”

  Kendall choked out a laugh and sniffed at the same time. She tipped her head back to stop the sudden tears. She was good until Evelyn had shown honest concern. There were so few people in her life she’d allowed to get close enough to notice when she was having a bad day.

  “But if there are tears, then we don’t get to talk anymore.”

  Kendall flipped a bucket and plopped down on it. “Crying doesn’t solve anything. I’m just breaking the cardinal rule of a fling.” She sniffed again and patted her eyes with the backs of her hands. “I always sucked at rules.”

  “Ah, so this wasn’t supposed to be anything serious with Oscar?”

  Kendall couldn’t help a small smile. Everyone had taken to her nickname for Shane. He was stern with the men and didn’t try to make friends. It was his job to be the hammer, and he was good at it.

  And she ached for that smile that was imperceptible to anyone but her.

  “We’re business partners—though it doesn’t seem like it. Thanks to a ridiculous will, Shane and I are co-owners in a bed-and-breakfast. The plan was to make it across the country and figure out if we’re going to sell the house and split the profits or run the place together.”

  “That sounds very clinical for something that can’t possibly be that simple.”

  “It’s not. God, even saying it out loud sounds ludicrous.”

  Evelyn crouched in front of her. “Just tell me, honey.”

  She hadn’t told anyone, hadn’t really faced just how much change there would be when they got home. She’d been so stupid to think she could go on having a fun road trip with him when she got home and everything in her life would change.

  Maybe she really did think she could convince him to share the B and B and start a life.

  Maybe she was an idiot.

  “My father died a few weeks ago.”

  “Oh, honey.” Evelyn covered her hands. Kendall relaxed under her touch.

  “It hurt Shane more than it affected me. Lawrence hadn’t been my father since I was five. But he raised Shane like a son.”

  Evelyn stood and pushed a bucket of water in front of her. “We’ll rub down Porthos, and you can tell me everything.”

  Kendall nodded. “My father left when I was a kid. I never knew why, just that he up and left one day. And then it was just me and my mom.” She’d been young enough that adjusting hadn’t changed her life, and missing Larry had faded over time.

  Doing something so mundane helped. The smooth muscles and warmth of the horse evened her out. They hosed Porthos down and moved on to brushing his coat.

  “So I lived my life, and my father left the house to me and my mom. And eventually we made it into a bed-and-breakfast to help with bills. We had all this land right on the lake. It just made sense.”

  “If I didn’t hate people, I’d agree with you.”

  Kendall laughed and relaxed a little more. “My mother loves being around people. And I’ve learned to enjoy it. After ten years it’s all I know.”

  “I sense a but.”

  The sounds of brushing filled the silence. How did she explain that her mother had loved an undeserving man? That Lily’s heart was the reason change was coming like an uninvited guest. Was she destined to revisit the same mistakes because she was probably mistaking passion for growing feelings?

  Another Justice was changing her life.

  Every day she’d spent with Shane made her want more. The sex and the excitement were enough at first. But now she ached with missing him. She stared at the ceiling each night. She worked herself into exhaustion, hoping that she’d drop into sleep, but her body and her heart longed to curl into his reassuring warmth. The need to pull a smile out of his serious face was more tempting than thinking about the future.

  She was ignoring the facts.

  He didn’t want forever. As much as she hoped he would want to become her partner so that she could keep the Heron, he was probably going to want the money. This was his chance to start over. The fantasy of seeing him in the B and B with her was just that—a fantasy.

  The deep brown of Porthos’s coat blurred. She’d been doing her level best to hold on to the days and create a precious time separate from Winchester Falls, but the reality was leaking into the fantasy.

  “My mother loved my father too much. Even when he didn’t love her back. She never moved on. She never took Larry’s name off the deed to the house. When he died, the only thing left was my house, and everything was split between me and Shane.”

  “So wait, he’s not your brother, but he’s got rights to the house?”

  “Lawrence adopted Shane, raised him as his own.”

  “And now you have to share the house with him?”

  Kendall nodded. “I love the Heron. It’s been nice to be away and see the country, to be with Shane. Everything’s going to change when we get to Winchester Falls.”

  “So what are you afraid of?”

  “That he’ll just want to sell it and walk away.” She swiped at her wet cheeks with the heel of her hand. “I don’t want him to walk away.”

  Evelyn came around and leaned into the horse’s neck, absently patting his broad face as she gave Kendall her undivided attention. “From you or the house?”

  The concern in Evelyn’s voice killed whatever was left of her resolve. “I’m afraid it’s both. And it’s stupid to think that way. We’ve only known each other for a little over a week. I’ve got to be confusing my feelings with the afterglow of great—and I do mean great—sex.”

  “What about him?”

  “Where’s the advice jar?�
� Kendall forced herself to swallow the lump in her throat. This felt like a therapy session. No more tears. She would not let a Justice make her cry again.

  Evelyn’s steady, dark gaze bored into hers. “Don’t avoid the question, Kendall.”

  “I don’t know. I really don’t. From the moment we got near each other, it’s been like this.”

  “All sex and no talking?”

  She could feel the flush crawling up her neck and flooding her cheeks. High emotions and lust were a terrible combination. She and Shane barely knew how to talk to each other. And she was deluding herself to think they could be anything more than a fling.

  Even if being with him felt more right than anything had ever felt before.

  Porthos nudged her shoulder; his peach-fuzz-soft lips snuffed at her ear. “We’re good at the sex part, but these few days without him being around, it makes me wonder if there’s anything else between us.”

  “I can’t answer that for you, but relationships have been started on less. You’re what? Twenty-something?”

  “Twenty-seven.”

  “Huh.” Evelyn grinned at her. “I was going to say twenty-four. But that’s good. You’re not so young that you don’t know what you want. I was fucking stupid at twenty-four.”

  “I’ve been running the Heron since I was sixteen.”

  “Oh, honey. You’ve never been a kid.”

  She shrugged. “No, and that’s why I was trying to have fun with this trip. Hell, I even went to college near home. This is the first time I’ve ever been away for more than a weekend.”

  “Maybe selling the Heron wouldn’t be a bad thing. Set your mom up in a cute little house, and go travel. In fact, I’d take you here in a heartbeat. You’re a natural with the horses.”

  Kendall straightened. “You would?”

  “I would. I love having you around.”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Just know that you have options.”

  Kendall nodded slowly. “Thanks.”

  “I have to put this big baby back in his stall. I’ll see you up at the house?”

  “Yes. I need to get cleaned up.”

  “A bunch of us are going to Starrla’s. You should come.”

  “Wow, there are people actually going? I thought that was just a line that Lon was feeding me.”

  Evelyn laughed. “It’s the only place to go, really. I feel like dancing tonight.”

  “Maybe I will.” She stroked Porthos’s neck one last time, then headed toward the new stables. The whir of a skill saw and the echoing snap of the nail gun almost made her turn around. Her head was already slamming from being out in the sun too long.

  A coating of hay dust made her itchy, and all she wanted to do was pop a few ibuprofens and stand under the shower spray for an hour, but she hadn’t seen Shane all day.

  She liked seeing how much the space transformed from the morning through the afternoon. The crew worked hard, and despite Shane’s growly nature, she spotted him smiling at the top of a set of scaffolding outside the stables. With a blowtorch in his hand?

  “You’re not going to burn down this almost perfect establishment, are you, Oscar?”

  He smiled down at her, his teeth a slash of white against the grime on his face. A sweat-soaked black tank hugged his chest and tight abs. Battered jeans hung low on his hips with a heavy leather belt keeping everything in check. Too bad. She liked the dimples just above his truly spectacular ass.

  He dragged his leather-clad hand across the toasted wood. “Just accenting some carving.”

  “Is it safe to come up?”

  He nodded toward the ladder that made up the end of the scaffolding. She climbed, reaching for Shane’s outstretched hand. God, he was even more breathtaking up close. What was it about a sweaty man doing manual labor?

  He tapped the brim of her hat. “What have you been up to? I missed you this morning.”

  “I was at the stables. Needed to clear my head.”

  He raised a brow.

  “Your things made it to the B and B. I’m going to have to tell my mom what’s going on.” She really didn’t want to do that until she was home.

  “You should have told her a while ago, Kendall.”

  The skin between her shoulders tightened. She hated when he called her by her name. Lately he only did it when he was perturbed. “I know. I just know how she’s going to react, and I don’t want to deal with it.”

  “How’s she going to react?”

  Possible tantrum, definitely with a million questions, and quite probably with tears. “It’s going to be a long phone call.”

  He fired up the torch and put his protective glasses on. “Is there anything I can do?” Already his attention was on the large wood plaque under Doyle’s iron brand. The WD was an exact replica of the one on the center of the gates on the front of his house as well as the logo used on everything at the farm.

  “I’ll take care of it,” she said.

  “Are you sure?”

  She leaned on the railing of the small cage they were in. With each pass of his torch, the grain in the wood bloomed to life. The engraved portion stayed in the stark-white pine. “It’s beautiful.”

  His lips kicked up at the corner as he continued his gentle sweeps.

  He cared. There was love in the work he did. The men inside the stables scurried around with intent. He didn’t micromanage them; he just made sure they knew that each job was important. Stern Shane was someone she would listen to as well.

  She had listened. And she’d definitely obeyed a few orders. Her nipples tightened at that thought. She turned back to Shane and waited until he turned off the torch.

  He pushed the glasses on top of his head. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  She flashed him her carefree smile and hoped to God it met her eyes. “How could I be anything but okay? I’m watching a hot guy play with fire. Can’t get much better than that.”

  He frowned. Before he could question her further, she went on her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Am I going to see you tonight?”

  He looked over the chaos below, then swiped away the sweat on his forehead. “I’m not sure. If I want to keep to this five-day deal, then I have a lot more work to do.”

  She crossed her arms. “Then I think I’m going to go into town with Evelyn. A bunch of people are going.”

  “Good. I don’t want you sitting around up at the house.”

  “It’s getting a little old.”

  He mirrored her stance. “I’m doing the best I can, Kendall.”

  She touched his arm. “I know you are. I’m just restless. You know, anxious to get back.”

  “Right.”

  All that mattered was getting through the next few days. Not her ridiculous epiphany, not the sexy way he stood there all confused and unsure of how to handle her, and definitely not her stupid mood this afternoon.

  She gave him another smile and monkeyed her way under the bars to find the ladder. He gave her a quizzical look as she scrambled to the ground and headed for the main house.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Shane kneaded the tight muscles along his neck and shoulders. All he wanted was his bed and five hours down. Three days of fourteen-hour shifts were getting to him. He didn’t mind pitching in, especially with the bonus Doyle was offering to get this job done ahead of schedule.

  But the moment Kendall had left him that afternoon, he’d been preoccupied. He couldn’t put his finger on what was wrong, but he knew something was up. Maybe she was just worried about the end of the trip or explaining things to her mother, but his gut said it was more.

  He swung open the heavy front door to the retro kitsch bar. STARRLA’S in a garish pink-and-blue neon that reminded him of Cocktail, the movie, filled the wall as soon as he walked in. And with the neon came hair metal that matched it.

  Skid Row played at top volume, and a crush of women dominated the dance floor with a few straggler males on the outskirts trying t
o get into the action. He recognized a handful of the men from his crew.

  The sharp tang of mixing perfumes and colognes exacerbated his headache. Instead of turning around and heading to his truck, he pushed his way to the bar. At least he could get a beer while he checked in on Kendall.

  He’d lost track of the days since they’d started this trip. Every day felt like the same with a new backdrop. The Friday crowd was dense with people looking for a good time with a few troublemakers with short tempers sprinkled in. When he got elbowed in the chest a third time, he decided he was going to be one of the short tempers.

  Christ, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been in a bar on a Friday night. He wasn’t sure how he was going to find her in this place. It wasn’t a large place, but it was packed with people.

  The sharp stomp of boots made him turn around. Blondie’s sultry and yet strangely crazy voice carried on a wave of girls who decided it was time for a sing-along. A whip of blonde hair drew his attention.

  A howl of bawdy laughter sharpened his focus. A group of men surrounded a table along the edge of the dance floor. Two blondes and a brunette were on the table singing their hearts out.

  With arms stretched to the rafters, one of the blondes spun around. A filmy white shirt with far too few buttons snapped hugged Kendall’s lean body. A bright pink bra peeked through the material, and a denim skirt skimmed low on her smooth belly and high on her muscled thighs.

  Arousal, jealousy, and anger crashed through him in equal parts. She laughed and flung her hair back as the music switched to another stomp-along song that advertised all she wanted to do was dance. She bumped hips with the brunette he finally recognized as Evelyn.

  At least she was with people she knew. He downed a large swallow of beer and reined in the anger. Until he saw Lon and his two lackeys egging her on. When Lon reached for Kendall and she waggled a finger at him with a teasing smile, Shane saw red.