Chapter Eight
Emily found herself unable to really move a muscle after her grandmother had just brought out into the light that she had known this whole time about John having a strong attraction to her, and that she had been waiting for him to finally come out with his true feelings for her.
She knew? My granny knew this whole time that he has been wanting me, and that she was holding out in silence to see how long it would take him to come clean with her about it?
The fact alone made her feel more confused than shocked like she was at that second. She tried to not show it as much, but found the attempt to be a complete and utter failure.
After regaining control of her muscles shortly after her hand at erasing the confusion and shock from her face didn’t happen, Emily made her way up the front steps of the porch with the bag containing her dress for the party remaining in the grip of her right hand.
“I will make sure not to keep him busy for a long stretch of time so he can get ready for the dance, and look as sharp as he can for you, Emily.”
Her body nearly stopped from the suggestion that she had made to her, and cause her to stumble once she reached the area of the porch where it was in front of the screen door. She didn’t dare turn around to face Belle and John out of fear of them seeing the faint red color that had washed across her face that was brought on out of embarrassment.
Emily struggled to keep on going at the pace she was moving at, but managed to make her way inside. With the walls of her grandmother’s home giving her much needed privacy, she moved over towards the stairs, and leaned her back against the wall that ran up alongside the stairs.
That was a close call…John nearly saw the red pigment dancing cross your fair complexion, Emily.
She silently cursed at her conscience teasing her about the current situation she was in at the moment. The last thing she needed right now was to deal with her inner voice poking fun at her for blushing and wanting to get inside as fast as she could.
Who knows…Maybe John would like to see you all bashful at what Belle said, and look at your light red skin with enjoyment and a growing state of arousal-
Why don’t you just be quiet, and leave me be for once instead of berating me about feeling embarrassed?
I’m impressed…You actually admitted it for once. Normally, you would have just dismissed what I say, and do whatever you want.
Emily let out a soft growl of frustration at how her conscience was continuously pestering her. She wanted a moment to calm the rapid beating of her heart, and have time to herself so that she could calm her hormones down and think more clearly.
“Let’s go ahead, and take the crates around back, John, and then you can get going.”
Emily moved her eyes towards the direction of a window that was to her side, facing the direction of the front of the house.
Through the glass pane, John’s muscular physique could be clearly seen to her gaze moving behind Belle’s frame carrying one of the crates while he held the other two. He turned his head at the last moment, and looked at the window while he moved out of her line of vision.
Those eyes…Those eyes of his are so piercing that they could stop my heart in a moment’s notice.
Emily gazed out the window for a few seconds out of a longing for John’s eyes to look upon her before she managed to turn away, and head on up the stairs towards her bedroom.
* * *
Moving down the side of Belle’s home with some of the crates in his embrace, John’s thoughts lingered less on the task at hand, and more on the southern beauty that was nestled inside of the building that was just inches away from his own frame. There was nothing he wanted more than to be inside with the woman who had brought life to a side of him that he assumed didn’t exist anymore after the last lady he dated turned into a horrible mistake.
“We will take this over to the refreshment stand, and hand them off to the caterers.” Belle said, keeping the conversation between them going, in her gentle, southern accent. “That way you can get going, and be on your way back home with plenty of time to get ready for the party tonight.”
“That sounds like a good idea to me, Ms. Withers.” John replied, keeping up the pace with her movements fairly easily enough. “This way I will be able to leave at a decent time, get home, and clean myself up.”
“And I expect you to look especially nice for tonight, John.”
“I intend to make sure that I am dressed as nice as I do when I attend Sunday morning church services.”
“Good…Because I want you to be at your best tonight at the party.”
“You want me to impress the people coming here tonight?”
“No…I want you to impress my grandchild.”
He gazed upon her in awe that she would want him to be at his top shape and looking his best for Emily when most grandmothers would be hesitant about letting there grand-daughters date someone they know so well or someone who works for them.
Walking around a corner of the house, John made his way in the same direction that Belle was going in amongst the servers setting up various decorations, tables, and the electronic equipment for the DJ she had hired for the event. He did his best to maneuver around the people hurrying about to get things together for the dance. His tall body made its way to where the caterers were setting up the refreshment table before he managed to ease his crates down beside hers on a section of the table.
“Okay, John…this looks fine to me. The caterers and me will work on putting them on ice and fixing them up in a way so that way they will look good and presentable to the guests.” Belle looked on at the workers already bringing a tub of ice to where she was standing with him as she had spoken to him. She turned her eyes away from them and focused in his direction as she continued to speak. “You can go ahead, and get going back to your place.”
“Are you sure that you don’t need help with anything else, Belle? I can help with-“
“John, don’t you worry about it. I have everything planned out here, and can handle anything last minute that comes up.”
“Are you sure?”
“You just need to focus on getting ready, and making damn sure to be here on time for the party.”
“Very well, ma’am.”
A smile washed across his face at the notion of hurrying off to his nearby house just so he could clean up, dress up in his best clothes, and make it back here on time to steal Emily’s breath away…all of which was being condoned by his boss and her grandmother. John gave a nod of his head towards her, and started in the direction he had come from with her.
Chapter Nine
How is this possible? How can Belle possibly know beforehand about my feelings and intentions towards her grand-daughter when I have done a wonderful job at keeping those feelings boxed and closed up?
As he moved towards the direction of the side to the house, John’s mind couldn’t focus on anything else other than that of the confusion brought on by his boss having informed him about being aware this whole time about his feelings towards Emily.
There is no way in hell that Belle could have figured this out so quickly, and pieced together how strong I am attracted to her grandchild with no one else to help her-
Are you really that dense, John? His conscience interrupted his train of thought, abruptly, and spoke up with a curious tone in its voice. It’s not hard at all to figure out how she found it all out.
I guess you have your own theory about how she discovered this out without any help, right?
As a matter of fact, I do have one that is the correct one.
What would that be then?
Do you remember when Emily and you were upstairs in the loft of the barn when Belle walked inside it, looking for her?
Yes…but I don’t see how-
The realization of how Belle discovered his intentions with her grand-daughter hit him so hard that it caused ever muscle in his body to tighten up, and bring him to an abrupt stop after she had just started wa
lking the side of the house towards the front porch.
She knew about his feelings because of Emily and him being alone in the loft of the horse barn with one another, and away from her gaze. The answer was plain as day, and she didn’t have look hard for it at all.
John moved his back to lean against a side of the house before he brought his hands up from his sides, and had them to run their palms across his face, muffling a soft embarrassed groan coming out of the open space his mouth had made.
Oh…my…god! How could I be so stupid?! If I didn’t take Emily up there…She would never have figured this all out, and realized how my emotions burn for her grand-daughter!
Do you regret having taken your boss’s grandchild up into the loft of the barn then?
The sudden mention of him wishing that he had never took the southern belle inside of the house upstairs and spent some time alone with her snapped him out of his feeling of doubt in a flash, and caused his voice to snap back at his conscience at the mere suggestion.
Of course not! There is nothing that is going to make me have doubts or even regret about having taken Emily up into the loft of the barn above the stalls that the horses are kept in!
You were letting on that you made a mistake in being alone with her and-
The only mistake that I made about it was doing it when Belle was close by, and could easily walk in on us both. If I had done it when she was out doing errands in town…She would have never found out, and there would be no reason for her to be pestering Emily and I about it now.
What are you going to do now?
Get ready to sweep my date off of her feet, and show her how a real country boy treats a woman.
Reaffirming his beliefs in the choice he had made and the feelings deep inside of him for Belle’s beautiful grandchild, John removed his body from the outer wall of the house it had been against, and headed towards the front of it with a confident grin moving across the strong features of his face.
* * *
Walking inside of her bedroom, Emily closed the door behind her, and placed the bag containing her dress on top of the quilt that had been handmade by her grandmother. She reached inside, pulled it out, and lied the gown across the fabric of it.
Let me get a good look at it so I can see about what kind of shoes I need to wear with it.
She took a step from her queen sized bed made from some of the oak trees behind her temporary home in her granny’s woods. Her eyes danced across the pattern work of it, as well as the style, soaking it all in.
Hmm…Looking at this dress…I believe that my dark brown boots would look perfect with it, and really pull the whole outfit together.
Emily moved her body down onto its knees, and bent her head down to look underneath her bed.
Stretching from left to right, was a row of shoes and boots that varied in size, shape and color. Some of them were small with little heels, big with big heels, or a combination of the two.
Her eyes moved down the line of footwear she had brought with her there to wear during the summer. She stopped on her pair of dark brown boots that were made of leather and a pair of her shoes that she wore on special occasions similar to that of the one she was going to that night.
There you are.
Smiling, Emily reached underneath the bed, and pulled out into the light the very boots that she intended to wear that night. Her eyes soaked them all in while the creative part of her started to linger on them, and form a visual of them inside of her mind.
Instead of sticking on the boots, her mind started to daydream more, and showed her to be in the very outfit she intended to wear, and the party she was heading into. Emily looked herself over for a moment before she turned her head, and found John to be rushing up to her, and pulling her out onto the dance floor. She caught the sound of the song ‘T-R-O-U-B-L-E’ playing loud and proudly just moments into her dance with her grandmother’s helper and the man who had done so much for her in a short amount of time.
The daydream would have went on further but found itself abruptly ended by the sound of a truck door closing, loudly, outside of the house, giving Emily the ability to snap herself back to reality.
What was that noise?
She stood up from the hardwood floor, and placed the boots down onto the bed beside where she had placed her dress. Her curvaceous frame moved over in the direction of the window, and brought up one of her hands to pull the white lace curtain back from it.
Through the glass pane of the window, the sight and sound she had heard was that of John climbing inside of his truck, and pulling the driver side door behind him closed, firmly. The next noise that shortly followed that was of him revving up the loud and powerful engine of the truck before he spun the vehicle around in a circle and heading in the direction of the very country road that they had traveled on together to get her back to her grandmother’s home.
Looks like he is in a hurry to get ready for tonight…and I am feeling the same way.
A smile washed across her face as she watched his truck move on down the beaten path to where his home was nearby before she removed herself from the window, and headed in the direction of where her personal shower was built on to that room.
Chapter Ten
Wasting a very little amount of time, John pulled up in front of his small but decent sized home that was just the road from his boss’s home, and parked it. He shut the vehicle off, and pulled the keys for it out in a series of fluid motions that would cause very little effort to be used on his part.
There is no time for me to play around with. I need to haul my ass inside, and get started on fixing myself up if I am to get to the party on time.
He literally jumped out of the pick-up and rushed towards the concrete porch. John pulled open the front door, and moved across the threshold with his right hand pulling it shut behind him.
No sooner had he walked inside, Fang, his solid white, blue-eyed, Siberian husky came running from the kitchen, and up to him with his tail wagging from left to right, repeatedly.
He took the time to kneel down, and give his furry companion a warm hug to thank him for the kind welcome home.
“It is good to see you too, my old friend.” John said. He spoke to Fang in a calm yet friendly fashion, giving him only the positive parts of him. Leaning back, his face flashed a gentle smile in the dog’s direction as he continued to talk to him. “I am sorry, but I have to get upstairs, and start work on getting myself cleaned up for a very special night tonight.”
John eased his body back to a standing position, and moved up the small set of wooden stairs to the second story of the house. Reaching the top, his heart nearly broke at the sound of his companion downstairs softly whining and howling for him at the bottom of the very steps he had just climbed up.
Fang, you are making this really hard on me…I want to play with you, but I just don’t have enough time to do it right now. I promise that we will spend plenty of time together once the dance is done over with, and make it up to you.
He forced his body down the small hallway, and inside of his bedroom. Moving past by his king size bed made from cherry wood, John walked right up to where a set of white, double doors were standing, and used his hands to pull them open.
On the other side, a rod stretching from one side to the other on the inside of the closet, there was a plentiful amount of shirts and pants hanging down from it on hangers with a rack of his hats nestled overhead of it.
All right…Let’s see about finding something to wear that will knock Emily off her feet, and have her wondering why she ever dated that city boy in the first place.
A faint smirk danced across his face at the thought of taking her breath away in another while he had managed to do that on the first day that they met in a more…personal way.
His hands rummaged through the shirt that hung on the left side of the closet with one another before he pulled out a blue and white patterned top with sleeves that would go down to his elbows. He took only a few
moments to look it over before he tossed it towards the direction of his bed, and watched it fall down onto it in a neat way.
Well, there is my top. Now…I need to find the right pants for it.
John redirected his attention back to the closet, and focused it on where his pants were neatly hanging on the opposite side with the shelf above them that held all of his cowboy hats. As he did with his shirts, his hands moved over the pans, looking for the right pair of denim jeans to wear.
Looks like you don’t need my help with this since you are doing a fine job with getting the right clothes together at the moment.
He pulled down a nice pair of denim jeans, and retrieved his denim, wide brimmed hat like the one he had on at the moment from the top shelf while he listened to the sound of his conscience’s voice whispering to him.
You would be right.
John placed the pants and hat alongside the top he had placed out before he reached down to where his nice pair of black boots were standing at the foot of the bed, and brought them up onto the dark brown comforter as well.
Today, I don’t need your opinion on what to wear. I have this all figured out, and what I want to wear for the party.
Good…Now, you just need to work on bathing yourself, and making sure that you are smelling very nice before you leave here today.
Shaking his head, he chuckled at his conscience still finding a way to speak to him in a condescending manner. John took only a moment to toss his current hat onto a nearby rocking chair in a corner of the room while he headed out of the room, and moved towards where the upstairs bathroom was located.
* * *
Turning the light on in her personal bathroom, Emily walked over to where a glass shower stood. She slid the door opened, and reached over to the nozzle for the hot water. Her right hand gave the knob a few turns until the hot water started to pour from it without mercy or hesitation. She pulled her hand away from it, and placed it upon the silver handle in the middle of it and the one for the cold water only to lift it up, allowing the flood of hot water to pour down from the shower head that hung overhead.
Texas Size Passion (A Cowboy's Heart Book 2) Page 4
