“Look at me. I blew off the whole day. My horses need to be fed.” He took her hands. “I have responsibilities. Not to mention a sticky back.”
“I understand. Now where shall we wash your truck tomorrow?”
“Not to worry, there’s a car wash right out of town toward Gold Canyon. I’ll show you that place, too. Be ready at 2:30.” He lifted her chin. “Don’t be late when I come to pick you up.”
“I’m an on-time kind of person. If I wasn’t, the kids would be running the classroom.” She brushed the side of his face with her fingertips. “I’ll be ready.” An awful thought came mind. A car wash. They had hoses at a car wash. Oh, I’m in trouble…
Jase took her hand and they walked back down the street. He stopped in front of the ice cream shop, twisted his mouth in a lopsided grin, and shook his head. “Too bad we didn’t bring your car because you have hand sanitizer.” He snickered. “You’re always prepared.”
He had a point. Her hands were sticky and his back wet. Her hand almost stuck to his and he didn’t seem to mind, only releasing it when they got to his truck. He unlocked the passenger side door, reached into his center console, and brought out a box of wet cloths. “I have to be prepared, too. I’d say it’s a great trait, wouldn’t you?” He removed a cloth, took one of her hands and proceeded to clean it off. “I want it to be clean when I lick it.”
This was a man to be reckoned with. Brenna liked the idea a lot.
After he wiped her hands, he gave her another cloth and she finished the job. Jase handed her two more, turned his back to her and pulled his shirt over his head. “You don’t mind, do you?”
Good God! A tattoo spread across the center of his muscled back between his shoulder blades. “Nice tat.” She held her finger an inch away from his skin. Touch him, she willed herself. Brenna flexed her fingers, separating them from the stickiness left between her thumb and forefinger. He wore a silver chain around his neck. She traced with her index finger the outline of the turquoise-colored half-moon, and continued over the lines signifying the rays or beams shooting out from it. Two tiny red stars were harbored within the teal, purple, and yellow colored moonbeams. “I like this. Does it mean something?”
Jase nodded. She took the wet cloth and pressed it against his skin. His shoulders jerked. Brenna ran it over his sticky back, letting her fingers touch his tight, warm skin. Maybe she’d do this all night to make sure no chocolate lingered in his pores. He placed his hands on the top of his truck, head lowered. The fact that groans slipped out from his throat, meant nothing… Liar. When finished, she laid her palms over his back and pressed her fingers against his skin. Damp. Hot. Strong. Ooh… She was on fire.
“Thanks, Brenna. Too bad I have to put the dirty thing back on.”
She agreed. Too bad.
“Consider yourself lucky.” Jase picked up his t-shirt from the seat. “Not everyone gets to see my tattoo. It’s only for special people to see.” He pulled his t-shirt over his head and turned to face her. “I appreciate you getting that stickiness off my back.” He stuck his hat back on his head. “Are you ready?” He moved out of the way and gave her a hand up.
She caught the door. “I’d like to hear the story behind the tattoo…when you want to tell me.” With a deep audible sigh, she said, “I’m ready.” He got in and they drove toward her townhouse. She had acted very bold tonight and still couldn’t explain to herself why.
When they were almost there, Jase said in a low voice, “The two red stars in the tattoo are for my kids. My two shining stars, and I miss them very much. So much that I can barely stand it sometimes.” He pulled up to the front door at the hotel. “Do you want me to walk in with you?”
Brenna choked up, saddened by his words. She had to swallow and take a breath before speaking. “I can manage, but thanks.” She clenched his hand resting on the console. “Good night. It was a wonderful evening. I’m glad we met up at the grocery store. See you tomorrow afternoon.” She opened the door and stepped down, turned and peered at him one last time before closing the door.
Jase rolled the window down. “Hey, Brenna,” he called when she got a few steps away.
She looked back, lifting her chin to acknowledge him.
“It might suck to be you tomorrow at the carwash.” The window went back up and he drove off.
Brenna held it in all the way to her room. Once inside, she leaned against the door and gave one big smile. He was something else. A tremble rattled her shoulders. She bet if she looked in the mirror she’d be starry-eyed like a lovesick fool. He was playful. Fun. Serious. Everything about him gave her a thrill. No matter how long it lasted, she’d enjoy the ride with the cowboy.
She washed her hands and face, cracking up at the thought of him rubbing his shirt into her face. And what got into her?
Changing into her pajamas, she cuddled up on the sofa with her laptop, getting to her homework assignment. At least to learn a couple facts she could throw at him tomorrow. Between three email distractions and searching for facts about the mountain, an hour later she shut down. It was time to call Chloe, and Lacy, her best friend, before going to bed.
Chloe answered with her usual huff. “What’s up with you?”
Brenna glanced at the ceiling. “Checking in to see how everything’s going. You okay? Need anything?”
“Of course, I’m okay, Bren. As long as I’m here, I’m okay. You take me away, I won’t be.”
How could she make her understand? “Chloe, please. We’ve been through this. I already have a place lined up for us to live. My job is here.” Brenna heard Lauren talking in the background.
“Don’t make me move to Arizona. I’ll come back to Iowa City as soon as I get a chance.”
“Chloe, you’re moving to Arizona with me.” Brenna sighed. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Have a great night.” She paused. “I love you so much.” The line was dropped. Her heart felt the same way.
She got a bottle of water and sat down to call Lacy before it got any later.
***
Two-thirty the next afternoon, Jase peeked at his watch when she got in. “You’re a minute late.” Not wasting any time to check her out, he had hoped she wore a light colored t-shirt. No such luck. Black, and in this heat she’d be sorry. Maybe she’d thank him later when she was all wet and cooled off.
“By my watch, I’m a minute early.” She reached for her seatbelt. “Hello.”
“Hi there. It was a test to see if you were paying attention.”
“What do you mean, a test? I’m the teacher here. Leave the testing to me. It’s bad enough you gave me homework.”
As soon as the door opened the scent of her cologne hit his senses and the subtle aroma of a spicy flower made him want to draw her close. Those tight jeans she was wearing would stick when she got hot. He laughed to himself with a quick thought of turning the air conditioning off. “How was your night last night?” Jase pulled out of the parking lot.
“Not too bad until I talked to my sister. I need to ease up on her some, but I’ll plan that once we get here.” Brenna took a tube of lipstick out of her purse and applied a coat. “Speaking of homework—about this place you’re taking me to pan for gold. Does it have anything to do with the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine?”
“Whoa, I love a girl who follows directions. Absolutely.” Jase gave a look her way. “I’m teasing.” The lipstick brought out the sheen in her eyes, rose in her cheeks. She looked good today. “Something’s different about the way you look.”
“New makeup. Is it bad?” She stuck her lipstick back into her purse and pulled the visor mirror down to look.
“Honey, there’s a couple things you need to know about me. I don’t comment on makeup for one. And, don’t ever ask me if your ass looks big in what you’re wearing.” Oh, he’d comment all right. To himself. “But, for the record, yours looks damn good.”
She raised the visor and pulled sunglasses out of her purse. “I didn’t see that coming. But, um, thanks.”
She laid her hand over his arm as he leaned on the console. “I suppose. You did ask this time.”
“You know the name of my ranch, right?” Jase sped up so the jerk behind him would get off his ass. He’d flip him off if Brenna wasn’t in the vehicle with him.
“Of course. I plugged it into my GPS, remember? Plus it was one of the first things you said to me.”
“Yep. The car wash is up ahead, but we’re passing it.”
“Why are we going to the car wash to clean your upholstery? Do you plan on spraying the inside of your truck?”
“Girl, you’re smart.” Exactly the way he liked women. It was kind of how he liked his horses, gentle and smart. Note to self: Never tell a horse she’d been compared to a woman. “I have it all worked out. I’ll spray the truck off while you clean the inside. You did bring cleaner?”
“No! You don’t have it?”
“What will I do with you? It’s your fault the seat is sticky from ice cream because you couldn’t control yourself last night.” He loved it when she had that little question mark on her face. The way her brow lifted and the little tilt to her lip was cute. The vehicle behind him went around. He did a quick jerk to the left and back.
Brenna grabbed the hand bar when the truck lurched left. “I do believe, Jase, it was you who couldn’t control himself. As I recall, your hands were all over me with a threat of being in places they weren’t already.”
“What did you think? I wanted to get arrested on the sidewalk in small town Canyon Junction? There are rules, young lady.” He put his blinker on and made a left onto another road. “We’ll drive through Gold Canyon first to show you where it is. Then we’ll get the truck washed.”
“It looks like a great place to come for big shopping.”
“Your big shopping isn’t far, but not here.” Shopping? He better refresh his memory about where the other stores were besides leather and the western store. When he found his kids, it’d be up to him to take over the job of clothing them. His heart ached to think of them, but it hurt more not to.
“At least there’s a place to take Chloe to buy school clothes and anything else. We both need a new wardrobe suitable for this heat.”
“You’ll get used to the one-hundred degree plus temperature.” Jase drove through the parking lot, glancing at Brenna talking about shopping. “You’ll find your way around before long. One day, get in your hot rod and take off to explore. You can’t get lost.” He didn’t mean to laugh. He took hold of her hand and squeezed. “That wasn’t intentional. I’m sorry.”
She squeezed his hand back and smiled. “It’s okay. I didn’t mean to bore you. I suppose shopping might fall into the category of things not to talk about.”
“No comment, ma’am.” He pulled into a real estate parking lot. “If you want to take more time, we can drive past some million buck homes. This place is more upscale than our little town.”
“No, it’s okay. I’ve seen enough. All that matters is I know how to get here if needed.”
He turned around and headed back. “Car wash, here we come. You know, it’s awful hot out today. I should give you my pocket knife and get you into some cutoffs.”
“I’m used to wearing this in hot weather.”
“It’s over 105 degrees, darlin’.” Obviously he wasn’t getting her out of her pants today.
“Maybe you should take that knife and cut off your own.”
Damn it all to hell. There she went again. Last word. I love this woman’s wit. Jase gave a hardy laugh and got louder when she glanced at him. She wouldn’t love his cutoff jeans and cowboy boots. But, he’d love to see her that way. “When you getting boots, girl?”
“Where do I go?”
“We’ll pass a western store on the way. Should I stop?”
“No, I’ll come one day.”
“Well, get a pair before we go riding. Grab some muck, or barn boots, too. I’ll show ya how to muck out a barn. You’ll love it. Better get some for your sis, too.” He reached over and tapped her arm. “Look, the car wash.” He pulled into a stall and shut off the motor.
“Upholstery cleaner is in a bucket in the bed of the truck. Should smell real nice in here afterward.” He leaned over and took her arm. “Not as nice as you though.” He pulled her hand to his lips and planted a big kiss in the center of her palm. “Let’s get to it, pretty girl.”
They both got out and Jase went through his pockets for change. He glanced at Brenna standing just outside of the stall. “Hey, you wanna be in control of the sprayer?” He was glad she nodded yes. “Come on over here.”
That girl drove him mad. Looking at her was like tumbling down a long hill, and he was falling fast. What was he to do? That was the main question at the moment. Yeah, what was he supposed to do with her now? He already knew what he had to do with himself. He shook it off and held change over the slot. “Come on.” She made no move so he stuck the sprayer in the slot and pulled her in by the arm. “You don’t trust me, do you?”
Standing with her hands in her pockets, she shook her head.
“What if I say you can trust me? Will you?”
“Yes.” Brenna took her hands from her pockets with a rubber band in one of them, and put her hair into a ponytail.
“That means a lot to me. Next question. Can I trust you?” He took the sprayer from the holder and handed it over to her. She didn’t take it, so he waited. When she still didn’t take it, he dropped money into the box and water gushed out, so he switched the dispenser to spray soap and proceeded to wash the outside of the truck.
Brenna remained standing by the money box, but said over the spray, “Yes, you can trust me. I wouldn’t spray you.”
“Took ya long enough to decide.” He straightened out the hose and continued. “Sure is dirty, huh? I bet there’s manure under there too. Might want to step back, ma’am.” He made a pass around his truck and came back, stood close beside her and dropped more money in. He did the same thing with two more washes and two more rinses. When finished, he stuck it back in the holder and stood in front of Brenna who hadn’t moved.
“Thanks for trusting me.” He put his hands against her waist and walked her backward toward the truck. “You should know trust is important to me.” He lowered the tailgate, set his hands on her waist and lifted her onto it. “But…when I said I wouldn’t use the hose…” He lowered his face to hers, and could have kissed her luscious lips. Instead, he used the weight of his body to lay her down against the bed of the truck, water sitting between the ribs. He straddled her legs and lowered his upper body over hers. “Didn’t mean I wouldn’t still find a way to get you wet, baby.” He took her shoulders and moved them back and forth, pressing her more into the water. “Wow, I bet that’s cold.”
“You’re in trouble, Jase Carlson. I’m wetter than you were. You had two measly ice cream cones. I’m wet all over now and I have to sit in your truck this way.” She lifted her arms around his neck. “This is very uncomfortable…and wet.”
He tried to hold back, but she pulled him in for a kiss and kissed him like crazy, teasing on purpose with that tongue of hers. The bold girl inside went wild in that kiss. Brenna wouldn’t let him pull away when he tried, until she was good and ready. It was too good to stop it, and he knew once he tasted her lips it’d be hard to not do it again. He held back as much as he could. A car pulling into a stall beside them was a reminder of what was happening. She halted the kiss herself.
He didn’t get off her but put his palms on the truck bed on each side of her shoulders. “Girl, that’s dangerous on your part. I only have so much control.”
“I know. Will you help me up before the sheriff comes in here, and I get a bad reputation with the school board?”
He pushed himself up and offered his hand. Bringing her agains
t him he ran his fingers over the back of her wet clothes. “It looks like you’ll have to change. Shall I take you home?”
She squeezed water out of the end of her ponytail. “Yes, please.”
“Want help removing your wet shirt? It’s the least I can do.” He gave an awry smile.
“You’re one bold man, and lucky I have a sense of humor.” She turned back toward the truck bed. “I admit I didn’t see it coming. Good job.” Brenna grinned big and pushed her hand into his chest. “Are we even now?”
“Not until I get to dry your back.”
She crossed her arms across her chest, tapping her foot. “I have to teach in this town. Taking my t-shirt off in a car wash would get me thrown out of town, not to mention branded. All you horse ranchers probably do that, right?”
“Not to women, at least most of us don’t.” Jase held her and spoke beside her ear. “I’m teasing you, Bren. I’d never do anything to harm you or your reputation.” With this new, beginning relationship, he cherished her like he’d known her forever. Something special about this woman brought out a missing piece to an old puzzle. He’d have to take back what he said to his mom. Maybe having a woman to interfere wasn’t so bad.
“We never got to your interior. Is it still sticky?”
He opened the door for her and hurried to get in himself. “I cleaned my interior last night. All clean and dry. Wish I could say the same about you.”
“I’m clean.” Brenna chuckled. “Not too comfortable sitting here drenched.”
She was only wet in the back. “I’ll turn the air off.” He glanced over at her, her ponytail soaked on the end. It must have laid between the ribs in the bed. Well, he was bad and stubborn sometimes. Maybe because he felt like a teenager again. The same teenage boy urges coming from a grown man. “I have to get back home as soon as I drop you off at your hotel. The ranch hands are leaving early today, so I need to get to work. I’ll pick you up tomorrow to take you to the townhouse. Are you still on for the tour?”
Heartbreak's Reward (Double Dutch Ranch Series: Love at First Sight Book 2) Page 7
