Austin let his hand slide along her cheek and to the back of her head, tilting her at just the right angle. When his lips captured hers, there was a moment of hesitation before she kissed him back.
A boom and bright flash caused them both to jump and break the kiss. It took him a moment to remember why he’d helped her out of the truck in the first place. He grabbed her hand and ran toward the front steps of the house. Maybe they could continue where they’d left off once they were under a roof.
But when they reached the porch, Ella’s wet hand slipped from his and she took a couple of steps away from him.
“Thanks again for your help,” she said without looking at him.
Thanks for his help? That’s what she had to say after she’d kissed him like that, however brief it might have been? He just stared at her, not having a clue what to say. First she’d told Keri she thought he was sexy, and then she’d given further evidence by kissing him back with what at least felt like enthusiasm. And now she was pretending as though neither had happened? No wonder men complained that they’d never figure out women.
It irritated him enough that he decided to just dump the new deadline on her.
“I’ve got to be back in Dallas earlier than I thought, so everything will need to be done by midday Thursday.”
That actually made her glance at him. After a moment, she nodded. “Understood.”
Before he could begin to figure out the tone of her voice, she hurried into the house.
Despite his earlier irritation with his boss, he decided it was a good thing he was headed back to Dallas early, back to things that were tidy and made sense. Away from how being near Ella Garcia short-circuited his brain.
Even though the rain hadn’t slackened, he headed down the steps and stalked through the downpour toward his grandfather’s truck. When the rain stopped, he planned to have everything he needed to start painting this house right out of his life.
Chapter Eight
Ella stood in the middle of the living room, surrounded by the accumulation of two lifetimes, dripping water on the floor. What had she just done? If she’d only held her attraction in check a few more days, Austin would have been gone. It seemed as if the heavens above had even voiced how it was a bad idea.
Now she faced the final few days of work here on the ranch being incredibly awkward. Because she couldn’t let that kiss be repeated. If she did, she suspected she was going to lose her tenuous grip on her feelings and fall for him. And then it would hurt all the more when he left.
Damn it, why had she allowed herself to get to know him, form a friendship behind which she was hiding how much she really liked Austin? If she’d only gotten that tarp on sooner instead of trying to cram a few more things into the truck.
But it was as if she heard a giant ticking clock in her head, and with his revelation on the porch just now the ticking grew louder.
She pushed her dripping hair out of her face and was suddenly overwhelmed by...everything. How much work she still had to do here, not to mention her actual work at home. The tighter deadline for completion. And feelings for Austin that were inconvenient at best. She knew all too well how much it hurt when you loved and lost, so she could not let her feelings for Austin grow anymore. She needed to be cordial, professional, pretend that the lapse in judgment that had just happened hadn’t.
If she was going to become involved with someone, it was going to be someone who’d be sticking around, a man who understood and supported her chosen profession. Not someone whose support was limited to helping her load and unload heavy objects.
That was all good in theory, but how was she supposed to forget that kiss? It might have been brief and unexpected, but it had rocked her right off her axis. She’d swear that every nerve ending in her body had sizzled, and she’d never in her life felt such a desire to melt into another human being.
She forced herself to walk into the kitchen and start packing dishes in boxes she’d found in the attic that had mercifully been empty and free for her use. She had to get her mind off Austin, and judging by the sound of an engine outside he must have had the same idea.
As the sound of his grandfather’s truck faded beyond the pounding of the rain on the roof, Ella sank onto a chair at the kitchen table. With Austin safely away from the ranch, she allowed herself a moment to admit, if only to herself, that she had loved every second of that kiss and wished it could have gone on forever.
* * *
THE WINDSHIELD WIPERS on the old pickup truck couldn’t keep up with the downpour, so Austin pulled over at the first spot he could see well enough to do so. His mind was so rattled that he might get washed away in a flash flood before he even realized it.
He turned off the engine and sat listening to the rain beating against the metal above his head. Trying to not think about Ella, he instead focused on the familiar confines of the truck cab. He might be getting rid of the ranch, but maybe he’d keep the truck. He could fix it up and take it out for drives on the weekends.
He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, letting his mind float through scenes from his past that were attached to this vehicle. Riding to town between his grandparents when he’d been barely old enough to see over the dashboard. Sitting on the tailgate eating a sandwich with his grandfather as the older man taught him about running a ranch. Going on his first date, which included dinner in Fredericksburg and then some kissing down by the lake.
That last memory brought his thoughts right back to Ella. Why had he gotten so upset when she’d pulled away? It wasn’t as if they were dating. Despite her returning the kiss, maybe he’d caught her off guard. Or misread the level of her interest, not heard her correctly the night before.
Why was he even sitting on the side of the road dissecting what had happened?
Because he liked her, more than anyone he’d dated in a long time. Sure, he didn’t really understand her drive to repurpose old stuff, but he wasn’t blind to the fact that others appreciated it. The amount of product she’d sold during the rodeo market had shown him that.
Ella was driven, hardworking, friendly—all qualities he admired and respected. He realized that he hadn’t had as much fun or been as relaxed in recent memory as he had been sitting on that quilt, eating their lunches together. And soon after she’d met him, she’d seen something he’d thought he’d left behind—the rancher he’d once been. It was as if she’d awakened parts of him that he’d thought dead and buried. As he sat staring at the water coursing down the windshield, he couldn’t decide if that was a good or bad thing.
But a voice inside him whispered that it was worth exploring.
His practical side warred with that voice. How could it make sense to start something with Ella when her life was so obviously here and his wasn’t anymore? His chance at following in his grandfather’s footsteps had long since passed him by.
Not to mention getting involved with her knowing he was leaving in a handful of days wasn’t fair to Ella. Everything pointed toward her being a good person, one who deserved more than a long-distance relationship that could never be more.
Austin was surprised by how much his chest ached at the acceptance of what he had to do—imitate Ella and pretend the kiss hadn’t happened.
When the rain slackened enough that he could see the road, he started the truck again and drove the rest of the way into town. He parked on the side of Main Street opposite the old-fashioned hardware store. As he sat staring out his window, he wondered if he should have gone somewhere else, even if it would require a drive to another town. With everything else on his mind, he hadn’t thought about the fact that he would have to walk across the spot where his grandfather had died.
Yet another reason to return to Dallas as soon as possible. There he wouldn’t constantly run into things, people and places that reminded him of what he’d lost.
&
nbsp; With a long exhale, he got out of the truck and crossed the street. He didn’t slow down until he stepped over the threshold of the hardware store. As he had the first day he’d gone into the Primrose Café after returning to Blue Falls, he received a lot of condolences from the other patrons who recognized him. He could tell from the look in some people’s eyes that they had made the connection between where he was and where his grandfather had breathed his last breath.
He made his way down one of the aisles to the paint section and started looking at color samples. How many different shades of white could there be? As he read some of the names, he wondered just whose job it was to sit around and come up with those.
“Can I help you find something?”
He glanced over to see a young man, looking eager to dispense some friendly, small-town customer service.
“I’d like some paint the color of limestone.”
As if the guy got that exact question all the time, he reached for a color card. “Will this work?”
“I guess. I can’t tell the difference in over half of these.”
The young man laughed. “It takes some getting used to.”
Austin set the guy to mixing enough paint to cover the necessary square footage. While waiting for that, Austin started tossing other supplies in a small cart.
The sound of giggling drew his attention to the opposite end of the aisle, where a man and woman were all smiles as they appeared to tease each other. Something shifted inside Austin, unveiling a feeling of being so alone that was strong enough it almost knocked him down.
Despite all the reasons he knew it was a terrible idea, he wanted more with Ella. It might not go anywhere, but damn if he didn’t want to see for sure. They could keep it casual, just some fun for two hardworking, stressed-out people. They deserved that, right? He wished he hadn’t driven away in a huff. Instead, he should have tried to talk to her. Isn’t that what women always wanted, to talk about their feelings?
He shook his head. What was wrong with him? He wasn’t looking for a long-distance relationship, no matter how casual. And in a handful of days, that’s exactly what anything with Ella would be.
He tossed a roller tray and plastic to cover the windows into the cart and headed back to the paint counter. After picking up the paint, he pointed his cart toward the cashier. A couple of people were ahead of him, and his gaze wandered to the various event posters tacked to the front of the wooden counter. Looked like the area was hosting everything from a car show and barbecue to a pie and cake auction at the Blue Falls Music Hall to benefit the local high school’s rodeo team. Something about all those posters made him smile. They felt comfortable, as if they were just different venues at which friends and neighbors could hang out because they liked each other. He went to plenty of events in Dallas, many enjoyable, but they didn’t have the “home” feeling these did.
After paying for his supplies, he stepped out the front door but stopped on the single low step between the door and the sidewalk. Where exactly had his grandfather fallen? No, he didn’t want to know.
“It was right there.”
He jerked his attention toward the voice, recognizing it even before he saw Ella standing there, still damp from the rain.
“What?”
“The day your grandfather passed, I was here. I...saw the paramedics working with him. I only heard later that he hadn’t made it.”
He looked back at the spot a bit to the left of the entryway she’d indicated.
“I really am sorry. He always seemed like a nice man.”
He nodded. “He was.” A lump grew in his throat. He’d been avoiding thinking about the loss by focusing instead on all the work that loss had caused. After a few moments, he returned his gaze to Ella. “Why are you here?”
“Can we talk?”
Not knowing how the conversation would go, he still found himself nodding. Clearing the air was a good thing, much better than tiptoeing around each other for the next few days or her disappearing and him having to find someone else to clear out the ranch buildings, most likely someone who would charge and wouldn’t be able to get to it immediately.
After he dropped off his supplies at the truck, he walked beside her as they headed down Main Street. Despite her saying she wanted to talk, she stayed quiet. And oddly he didn’t mind. When they reached the end of the connected buildings, Ella took the path that led down to the lake. When she reached the lake’s edge, she stopped.
“I’m sorry I reacted the way I did earlier,” she said. “You just caught me by surprise.”
He stood looking at her profile for a moment, surprised by her words. He’d expected that maybe she was angry, offended, something that wouldn’t end in an apology from her. One that wasn’t warranted.
“You have nothing to apologize for. I should be the one to do that. I’m sorry.”
As she turned her head toward him, there was a little smile on her face. “Or maybe neither of us has to apologize?”
He wasn’t particularly good at reading women, not that any guy he knew was. “And that means?”
Ella glanced away toward the lake stretching out in front of them, a few fishing boats and a couple of sailboats dotting the surface. “That perhaps we both enjoyed it, and maybe that’s not a bad thing.”
Austin’s pulse kicked it up a couple of notches. “I’m not staying, Ella.”
“I know.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“Would I be here if I wasn’t?”
He wasn’t totally sure he believed her, but he was damn tired of resisting the attraction between them that had started pretty much from the day they’d met.
“Okay.” He shifted to face her fully. “Tomorrow, we knock off work early and do something fun.”
“We don’t have much time left to finish the work at the ranch.”
“Then we work extra hard during the day.”
She looked up at him with those large, dark brown eyes of hers. “Okay. What will we do?”
He knew what he wanted to do, but despite her assertion that she was okay with just a few days together, he didn’t think she meant that. “I’ll think of something.”
“Either you’re a man of mystery or clueless.”
He smiled. “I’ll let you guess which one.”
She laughed at that, and the sound made the heaviness inside him lighten. Ella had that incredible ability, to make him feel like the world was somehow brighter when she was around. Damn, that was cheesy, but the truth was the truth. Yes, there were differences between them and she could be frustrating, but he was sure he wasn’t a peach to deal with at times either.
“Well, then,” she said. “I better get back to work. And you have a house to paint.”
For the briefest moment, he thought she was forcing herself to look chipper, but then whatever had made him think that was gone.
“Hopefully I’m better with painting supplies than gutters.”
She smiled again, and he thought he’d never seen a more beautiful woman. “Yeah, I’d hate to show up tomorrow to find you flat on the ground with a paint bucket on your head.”
He wanted to pull her close and kiss her before she left, but he didn’t know how she’d feel about that. Sure, she’d sought him out to basically say she liked kissing him and wouldn’t mind doing it again, but would she feel the same if he laid one on her in public, especially in Blue Falls, where it could quite possibly be front-page news?
He might not have touched her before she turned and started retracing her steps toward the street, but he certainly enjoyed the view. And anyone who happened to be watching him would know in a microsecond that he wanted nothing more than to touch Ella.
How in the world was he going to concentrate on work until tomorrow night?
* * *
And maybe today was. Somehow she had to get through a long day of work to find out what Austin had planned for their...date. It seemed weird to even think of it that way. She’d gone on a date here and there, but never with someone who caused her blood to run the Kentucky Derby through her veins.
Part of her mind kept whispering that this was a really bad idea. Why would she put herself in a situation where she might grow to like him even more when she knew he was leaving Blue Falls for good?
Because she was tired of being alone. She knew she couldn’t, but she wanted to hate him for making her realize that when she thought she was going along just fine on her own. Only she’d simply been hiding behind nonstop work without realizing it. She wondered if she’d been doing that since her father died. Then she’d buried herself in school, extracurricular activities, crafts and reading. Now it was her business and working hard to become a part of her community.
She reminded herself that it was her choice to see what they might be able to share in the next few days. Maybe it would be enough to cure the lonely feeling inside her middle and she could go back to the way life had been before sexy Austin Bryant had strolled into it.
* * *
ELLA SHOVED AN unruly curl, the one that always seemed to have a mind of its own, behind her ear as she walked to the entrance of La Cantina. As soon as she walked in, she spotted Austin. Damn, did the man ever look anything other than drop-dead gorgeous?
He noticed her and smiled as he crossed the lobby, his hat—a new cream-colored straw one—in hand.
“You look beautiful,” he said.
Warmth spread through her body, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the heat outside. Despite the kiss they’d shared, he’d never said anything so complimentary before. The time she’d taken digging through her closet for the lime-green dress and getting ready—for herself as much as Austin—had totally been worth it.
Home on the Ranch Page 10
