Shrinking Violet (Colors #2)

by Jessica Prince

  “It was. Kal’s grandfather spent his teens and most of his twenties working odd jobs here and there, never able to keep a one for longer than a year or two…”

  “Why not?” Carson asked, his curiosity coming through in the tone of his voice.

  “Well, because Albert was an alcoholic. When he was nineteen, he got his high school sweetheart pregnant and their parents forced them into marriage. He wasn’t ready for the responsibility of being a husband and a father, so he went pretty wild for a long time. Kal’s grandmother was the original Willow of Willow Ranch. After a few years of being married to a drunk and practically raising a child all by herself, she’d finally had enough. She kicked Albert out and told him she wanted a divorce.”

  “Shit. This is kind of a depressing story, Cass.”

  I grew more animated as I continued. “But it’s not, not really. You see, after Willow asked for a divorce, Albert realized what he was losing. He begged her to take him back, not wanting to lose his family, but Willow had enough. She told him that if he was serious about being a part of their family, he needed to prove it.”

  “So, he bought the land and started the ranch,” Carson spoke softly.

  “Yeah, he started the ranch. It took a while for him to prove himself, but he did it. He pulled his head out of his ass and showed Willow he was serious. She took him back and moved into the house he’d built on the land. Over the years, they expanded, buying up more land when they could, and had two more kids. Kal said his grandparents were so in love they could barely keep their hands off each other. All it took was Willow giving him a second chance.”

  Carson was silent for several seconds before glancing at me. “Okay, that’s a pretty great story.”

  I beamed over at him. “Yeah, I thought so, too.”

  “So, you named Willow after Kal’s grandmother?”

  I shook my head. “No, I named her after the ranch.”

  His brows dipped down in a furrow. “I’m not following.”

  “What I took from that story was that Willow Ranch was a place for second chances. If Albert hadn’t bought that first piece of land, there’s no telling how that story would have ended. It was his second chance. I named my daughter after the place that gave me a second chance.”

  Carson’s hand reached across the seat and took hold of mine, twining our fingers together. Warmth flooded through me at the feel of his touch. “I really love that story, Violet.”

  After what happened at Miller’s, I worried I’d never hear that nickname again. My chest squeezed for probably the hundredth time that day as I brushed my thumb across his knuckles.

  “Me, too.”

  “Boy, you stare any harder and your eyeballs are liable to fall outta your damn head.”

  I blinked back into focus to see Kal watching me, a knowing smirk rounding the corners of his mouth. Even grinning, the big man was menacing. And I’d just been caught eye-balling his niece from across the pasture. Even from so far away, my body reacted to how amazing her ass looked in her skin-tight jeans. I had no doubt Kal saw through me and knew exactly what I was thinking. It was at least the fifth time in the past month I’d been working at the ranch that he’d caught me staring at Cassidy. If I was being honest, I was a little shocked he hadn’t punched me yet.

  Pulling the baseball cap off of my head, I ran my hand through my sweat-slick hair anxiously before putting it back on. I concentrated on the section of fence we were fixing, trying to ignore the fact that Kal still had his laser-like focus on me. We worked in silence for a few more minutes before he spoke again.

  “You know, I might be a simple country boy, but I’m not a fool. I see the way you look at my niece.”

  I inhaled a deep breath through my nose, letting it out slowly, trying to formulate a response that wouldn’t get me knocked the hell out by my gigantic boss.

  “I can—”

  Kal raised his hand, effectively silencing me.

  “And I see how she looks at you, too.”

  That statement gave me pause. I knew she watched me—I caught her a few times—but I didn’t realize it was obvious to everyone else. I wanted to believe those looks she gave me meant something, that there was a heat in those gorgeous blue eyes that matched my own, but self-preservation was strong in my veins and I had trouble allowing myself to get my hopes up. Kal confirming what I so desperately wanted to be true made the hope that had sprouted a month before grow even stronger.

  “Look, I’m not blind. I know I warned ya off, but I can see it’s not just you.”

  Don’t do a happy dance, Carson. Do. Not. Do. It.

  “Just…” Kal whipped his cap off in frustration like I had moments before, using the back of his hand to wipe his brow. “Christ, just be careful with her, all right?”

  I leaned on the fence post and studied his concerned expression. “I’d never hurt her, if that’s what you’re talking about, Kal. You have to believe that.”

  “I know, I know. It’s just…that girl is her own worst enemy. She deserves happiness more than anyone I know, even if she doesn’t believe it.”

  A ball of dread began to form in the pit of my stomach. “What are you talking about?”

  “Not my story to tell, son,” he answered cryptically. “All I know is, in all the years she’s lived here, I’ve never seen her take to a man the way she has you. I just hope that counts for something.” He paused for several seconds, staring out across the pasture deep in thought. “I like you, Carson, I really do. But if you break her heart, I’ll break both your legs.”

  Well, all right, then.

  I was stowing the last of the tools away in the tack room in the back of the barn when I heard the door open.

  “Hey,” Cassidy’s sweet voice spoke from behind me.

  The breath stalled in my lungs when I turned to see her standing there, leaning against the doorframe. Jesus, she was beautiful. I didn’t know if I’d ever get used to seeing her. Those amazing blue eyes pinning me in place for several seconds every single time she looked my way. Despite the pain that lay beneath the surface, I could stare into those baby blues every day of my life and never get tired of the myriad of emotion that flickered through them.

  My lips curled up in a big smile of their own accord and I didn’t miss the way she looked down briefly, her cheeks tinged pink under my gaze.

  My shrinking violet.

  She held up a bottle of water and took a step closer. “I…uh…I thought you might be thirsty.”

  I took a few steps, needing to be as close to her as possible. I made sure to brush my fingers against hers as I reached for the water, enjoying how she shivered at my touch. Her body betrayed the words she told me that night in the parking lot of Miller’s. I knew she wanted me just as desperately as I wanted her.

  “Thank you,” I spoke in a low tone as I opened the bottle. I took a fortifying drink, nearly finishing half the bottle in two gulps. It was easy to forget how brutal the Texas heat was when you were used to working indoors. Some days, it felt like it was only a matter of time before I passed out from heat stroke. I never realized how hard ranch work was, but I had to admit, I loved it. I loved the landscape around me, loved getting my hands dirty and feeling every hour of hard work in my bones at the end of the day. Mostly, I loved getting to see the stunning, enigmatic woman who invaded my thoughts every day.

  Cassidy stood silently, twisting her fingers together nervously, and I couldn’t help but reach out and touch her. I tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, relishing the softness of her smooth skin.

  I closed the last remaining inches between our bodies, no longer able to stand being so far apart. My voice was a deep rumble. “What are you doing to me, Violet?”

  Her tongue darted out, running over her full bottom lip. It took everything I had in me not to grab hold of her and devour her mouth like it belonged to me. But every primal instinct inside of me shouted that she was…she was mine. I craved the taste of her on my lips again.

&nb
sp; Cassidy’s eyes grew wide as she looked up at me, shaded darker with passion. “I’m not…I’m not doing anything,” she stuttered.

  “You have no idea how bad I want to kiss you right now, Violet. I can’t think about anything else when you’re around.”

  The erection I’d been sporting since she walked into the tack room hardened further at the sound of her sharp inhalation. She didn’t say a word, but the glassy-eyed expression told me everything I needed to know.

  “You want it, too, don’t you?”

  “Y-yes,” she answered with a nod. I had to rein myself in from jumping and fist-pumping in the air.

  I leaned in even closer, wrapping my arm around her tiny waist to hold her firmly against my body. “Ask me to kiss you, Cassidy.” Our lips were only a breath apart. One slight move and I’d be able to taste her.

  “Carson…”

  It was coming; I could feel it in every fiber of my body. And I couldn’t fucking wait.

  “I want—”

  Then just like that, a thousand gallons of ice-cold water were dumped on top of us. “MOMMY!”

  I let out an audible groan as I dropped my forehead against Cassidy’s. Just like that, I’d been cock-blocked by an adorable three-year-old. Part of me—the part that had been pressing insistently against the zipper of my jeans—wanted to punch a hole in the wall. But I couldn’t help but smile at the sound of Cassidy’s lighthearted giggle.

  “Busted,” she whispered as the sounds of Willow’s feet against the dirt ground grew closer and closer.

  “Mommy, where is you?” Willow shouted.

  The two of us stepped apart quickly, each pulling in a long, ragged breath. “Tack room, Doodle Bug,” Cassidy called out to her daughter.

  The Texas Tornado came barreling into the room like the hounds of Hell were on her heels. The moment she saw me, her blue eyes grew wide. “Carson!” Willow ran straight for my legs, and I had to maneuver quickly to prevent being hit in that all-too-sensitive place. Her arms locked around both my thighs in a tight hug.

  In the month I’d been working at the ranch, I’d developed somewhat of a soft spot for the mini-version of Cassidy. I might not have had a clue how to act around kids, but it was damn near impossible not to fall for the little spitfire. Something else she and her mom had in common.

  Reaching down, I managed to untangle her from my legs and picked her up, resting her nearly weightless frame against my hip. “Hey there, Bug. Whatcha up to?”

  “I wanna go swimmin’!” Good God, the child needed a volume control something fierce. Wiggling my finger in my ear to try and get it to stop ringing, I set Willow back on the ground. The girl could only stay still for so many seconds before she started wriggling around.

  “Mommy, can we go swimmin’? Pleeeeeeeeeease.”

  “Okay, okay,” Cassidy relented with a laugh. “Let’s go get your stuff.”

  “I want Carson to come, too.” Willow looked back at me with wide, pleading eyes. If I didn’t have so much work left to do, I’d have jumped at the chance. The Sheffields had a pond about two miles away, toward the back of their property. It was completely surrounded by trees, creating the perfect sense of privacy. On hot, humid days like this one, the thought of stripping down and diving into the cool water was definitely tempting…almost as much as the thought of seeing Cassidy in her bikini.

  But I needed to keep my job. Between the ranch and Miller’s, I’d managed to save up a good little nest egg for Navie. I was determined to earn as much as possible. New York was expensive as hell, and I didn’t want Navie to struggle.

  “Sorry, sweetheart. I’d love to, but I have a ton of work to do.”

  Cassidy took Willow’s hand as she pouted up at me. “Come on, Bug; let’s let Carson get back to work. We need to get your bathing suit and floaties.”

  Willow let out an excited “Yay!” as she took off out of the room with Cassidy following behind. As she exited the tack room, she glanced back over her shoulder with a shy smile on her face.

  This isn’t over, I mouthed with a devilish grin of my own.

  It sure as hell wasn’t. Not by a long shot.

  “Someone’s got a crush,” Lana sing-songed. I spun around from where I’d been doing dishes at the kitchen sink…well, attempting to do dishes would have been a more accurate statement.

  “Jesus, Lana! You scared the hell out of me.”

  “My momma always said if you get scared it’s because you aren’t livin’ right.”

  “Shut up.” I laughed, flicking some soapy dishwater at her.

  Lana stood beside me on her tiptoes, peering out the window to see what I was staring at. “What had you over here drooling on the clean plates, anyway—Well hello, Mr. Ranchhand. No wonder you didn’t hear a damn word I said when I first walked in.”

  A small sigh escaped my lips as I turned back to the window. There was no doubt that Carson was one fine man, but a shirtless Carson was a thing of wonder, like the statue of David, or the Sistine Chapel, or….really, really good porn.

  His body was a work of art, and the sexually repressed part of my brain wanted to take that art and defile it in the most delicious ways, to lick those muscled ridges like a popsicle.

  The two of us stood in lustful silence as we watched Carson unloading bales of hay from the back of Kal’s pickup. His skin had a perfect golden tan to it. The muscles on his back tensed and flexed as he picked up each heavy bale. If the view from the back was beautiful then the front was what fantasies were made of. Hard pecs traveled down to chiseled abs the likes of which I’d never seen. Was that…one, two, three, four…yep, no standard issue six-pack for Carson Langford. The man was sporting an eight-pack. My fingers itched to trail down that defined V that dipped down into the waistband of his jeans.

  “He better be packing,” Lana spoke from beside me, her gaze still firmly on the window. “Dear God, I hope he’s packing. If he’s carrying anything less than six inches with that body, it’d be like a slap in the face from God.”

  An indelicate snort escaped me as I keeled over with laughter. There were a ton of reasons why I loved Lana so much, and the random things that spilled from her mouth were just one of them.

  “What? You know it’s the truth!”

  I went back to the dishes, trying my hardest to drag my mind from the gutter. It had been over a month since Carson kissed me in the parking lot of Miller’s and with every day that passed, my desire only continued to grow. Over the weeks, we’d managed to develop somewhat of a friendship, but the attraction was still there, hanging heavily between us. It was the ever-present elephant in the room whenever we were near each other. I didn’t want to be captivated by him. Truth be told, what I was feeling scared the living hell out of me. But I’d be damned if I could get it to turn off.

  From the corner of my eye, I could see Lana resting her hip against the counter. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and I had no doubt her expression was chock-full of curiosity. I knew an inquisition was coming.

  “So, what’s the deal with you two?”

  Called it.

  My head dipped down, concentrating on washing dishes as though it was the most fascinating thing on Earth. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh, what a load of bullshit!” she shouted.

  “You know, I do have a little kid running around here. You mind watching your language?”

  “She’s out in the chicken coop with Milly, gathering eggs. Her virgin ears are safe…for now.”

  I dropped the last plate in the drying rack and reached for a dishtowel to dry my hands. I turned to face Lana and mimicked her stance. “Aren’t you supposed to be training Thunder right now?”

  Thunder was a black stallion Uncle Kal had just purchased for breeding. The horse was bigger than any I’d ever seen before. He was imposing in size and had a shitty attitude. I’d been leery of allowing Willow anywhere near the stables since Uncle Kal brought him to the ranch. I didn’t like Thunder one bit, and I w
as pretty damn sure the feeling was mutual. Unfortunately for me, my Doodle Bug seemed enamored with the all-black beast from the moment he stepped from the trailer. If someone didn’t keep a constant watch on her, she’d take off in his direction in a heartbeat.

  “Eh, that ornery bastard can wait a few more minutes. It won’t kill him. Now, answer my question.”

  “We’re…friends, I guess,” I answered hesitantly. It wasn’t quite a lie, but not quite the truth either.

  “Friends,” Lana deadpanned with a dry look on her face that said are you shitting me right now?

  I walked to the kitchen table and plopped down in one of the wooden chairs with a dejected sigh. “I don’t know, Lana. Honestly, I have no idea what’s going on. I keep telling myself I just want us to be friends, but then I’m around him and I just…”

  “You just what?” she asked as she took a seat in the chair next to me.

  “Lose my mind,” I answered solemnly. “It’s like I can’t think straight when I’m around him. And when he’s not around, all I can do is wish he was. It’s this twisted cycle I can’t seem to pull myself out of.”

  “That’s called liking someone, Cass. It’s not a foreign concept, and it sure as hell isn’t a bad thing.” Lana laughed.

  “It is for me!” I argued. “I’m a mess when it comes to relationships, Lana! I’ve already told you this. You know all about the things I’ve done. How can you honestly say my feelings for Carson are a good thing?”

  Reaching over, Lana put her hands on my shoulders and looked me directly in the eyes. “Because you aren’t that girl anymore. I’m not going to lie to you, Cassidy. Yes, you did some pretty reprehensible stuff when you were younger. But the difference between now and then is that you go out of your way to make sure you never make the same mistakes you made back then. That’s why I think you and Carson are a good thing.”

  “Lana, the last relationship I was in—”

  “We aren’t talking about that asshole,” she interrupted. “You hear me?”

  “He’s not the only one at fault in this, and you know it. Hell, I don’t blame Seth for bailing on me one bit. What I did was so beyond the scope of shitty that it jumped straight into the realm of fucked-up.”