12-Alarm Cowboys (174 page)

Though it nearly killed him, he forced a grin. “All in a day’s work, ma’am.”

She nearly flinched and he could have kicked himself for being flippant. He didn’t want to be flippant. Not with her.

He turned toward the motel, which was a smoking hulk. It occurred to him that everything she had, everything she’d brought with her, was gone. Burned to a crisp. “You can come stay at the ranch,” he said, though he didn’t know where the words came from. Had no idea where he dredged up the courage to offer. It was silly, really. Ridiculous. She probably had lots of friends who could put her up. If nothing else, she could go stay at her grandmother’s house. But when she glanced at him with that hopeful look in her eyes, he couldn’t help adding, “Claire would love it.”

Her lips worked. “I…I couldn’t intrude.”

Cade forced a laugh. “It’s no intrusion. The house has ten bedrooms.” And staff quarters. And a bunkhouse. And a fully furnished gatehouse. Lots of private places—

It took great effort to keep his fantasies at bay.

A smile ghosted her lips. “And what about the parties?”

Cade winced. “None this weekend, ma’am.”

“I was teasing. I’d love to stay there. I mean, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind.”

Hell no. He didn’t mind at all.

It took a
while to finish up at the scene and get all the equipment put away. When they were done, they all headed back to the firehouse; Lisa rode with Taggert while Cade rode on the engine. Once back at the station, he found a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt for her to wear—though she fairly swam in them—and then, after he’d cleaned up a bit and she was dressed, he tucked her into his truck and headed for the ranch.

Normally he would stay at the firehouse for the training on Saturday, but Sandy had canceled it in light of the call; in his estimation, they’d gotten a better refresher managing a real incident than they could have gotten in a hundred simulations. This suited Cade just fine. Because he had a chance to be with Lisa.

The night was dark and still, the streets empty as he drove out of town. When they passed into the countryside, silence swallowed them up. He loved the peace of driving at night, with the stars glimmering overhead and the indistinguishable lumps of houses and barns and hills flicking by. He didn’t mind, however, when she broke the silence.

“Thank you again for this,” she said.

He glanced at her. Her features were illuminated by the lights of the dash and it struck him again how damn beautiful she was.

“No problem.” Nope. None indeed. “Claire will be glad to have you stay.” He was sure he imagined the flash of disappointment on her face.

“Well.” She threaded her fingers together. “I appreciate it.”

“We’re glad to have you.” And then, because he needed to say it, “
I’m
glad to have you.”

She smiled at that. “Are you?”

“Yes.” It was nearly a whisper, but she heard. Her smile broadened and she turned to gaze out the window.

When they arrived at the ranch, he woke up Claire—who was indeed thrilled to have company—and let his sister take over Lisa’s keeping. Fortunately the two were of a similar size, so Lisa would have some clothes to wear.

It was late by the time Cade dropped into bed, but even so, as he lay there and stared up at the ceiling, he couldn’t sleep.

Because she was here.

Under his roof.

‡

S
omething smelled delicious.
Still half-asleep, Cade followed his nose into the kitchen and was surprised to see Lisa at the counter wearing Molly’s apron and dusted in flour. He was gratified to see the bandages on her hands were gone, replaced by a few Band-Aids. She glanced up and smiled as he entered the room.

It was a smile of such complete and absolute delight, dimples and everything, that it was like a punch to the gut. He’d like to wake up every morning to a smile like that.

Oh, and smells like this.

“What-what are you making?” A stupid question, and he hated that he prefaced it with a stutter. He’d vanquished that demon long ago.

“Right now?” She tapped her lips with a spoon and his gaze fixated on that. “Muffins. But those are done.” She waved at a tray on the counter. “Cream puffs. Not very breakfasty, but I was in the mood to bake.”

He prowled over to the tray and examined the bite-sized puffs. They looked perfectly formed, tantalizingly browned and utterly exquisite. He picked one up and popped it into his mouth and…

God.

A mouth orgasm.

It was a flaky pastry filled with a dollop of vanilla crème that exploded on his tongue when he bit into it. It was freaking awesome. Heaven. He stared at her.

Her smile faltered. She blinked. “I hope you don’t mind. I mean, I invade your home in the middle of the night and then take over the kitchen… And oh. I’ve made quite a mess.”

He hated the way her expression deflated. Wished he could think of something, say something to salvage the conversation, but his brain was absolutely vapor locked. So he grabbed another cream puff. It was so good, he took another. And another.

As she watched him devour half the tray, her eyes started to sparkle again. Her lips quirked. His heart lifted and then soared. If he could make her happy by eating, he’d snarf down each and every one.

They were as close to perfection as he’d ever tasted.

She laughed, a light tinkling sound that sent shivers skittering up his spine. “Are you going to eat them all?”

“Mmm hmm,” he responded, though his mouth was full.

“Well, at least have some coffee with them.” She turned to pour him a cup and his attention stalled on her ass.

He didn’t mean for his attention to stall on her ass, but it was facing him and it was spectacular, cupped in a pair of jeans. His attention zeroed in on that shadowed spot between her legs and his cock jerked as thoughts totally inappropriate to the kitchen of his family home wound through his head.

When she turned, with a steaming cup of joe in her hands, he forced his eyes to her face and attempted to look as innocent as he could. But judging by the way she stalled, the way her lips parted, the way a light-pink blush tinted her cheeks, she knew what he’d been thinking.

Her lashes fluttered as she handed him the mug. When their fingers brushed, she jerked back.

It was unfortunate that she jerked back. It made him think she really didn’t care for his touch, for one thing. That, and the coffee was hot. His recoil sent more of the steaming liquid sloshing from the mug.

“Oh my God,” she said as she stared at his hands. She grabbed a towel and mopped at the coffee. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s okay, Lisa,” he said, though where the words came from, he had no idea. They certainly hadn’t been in his head. Nothing was in his head. Nothing but the realization that she was
touching
him again. He set down his cup and took the towel from her and finished wiping up the spill. Because she appeared somewhat distressed, he smiled at her.

Their gazes clung. Cade measured the moment in the beat of his pulse. Her attention flicked to the scar on his left cheek. A tiny tightening around her mouth. A flicker of lashes. He hated that he knew what she was thinking.

She stepped back to the counter and forced a laugh. “Well, I should probably finish these. Cody and Claire will be up soon.”

Right.

The mention of Cody was like a dash of cold water.

He should have thought of that before he brought her here. He should have remembered.

“He will love these,” Cade said, snagging another of the cream puffs. Might as well.

She chuckled. “Well, don’t feel like you have to leave any for him.” Oh, he liked that idea. He liked it a lot. But then she went and added, “I can always make more.”

Right.

His first inclination was probably an artifact of his youth. He wanted to retreat, to hide, to remove himself from her presence, from the possible pain seeing her and Cody together again might cause, but he fought it. It cost him a lot, but he piled the remaining cream puffs on a plate, picked up his mug and sat at the beat-up kitchen table. “Do you bake a lot?” he asked. It was a stupid question, but a safe one. And the fact of the matter was, he was here, alone with her right now. And Cody wasn’t.

He should take what he could get.

She went back to stirring her batter, but a smile teased her lips. “Not as often as I’d like.”

“Really?” Because she was damn good at it. “No time in Dallas?” A lame probe into her life with Mr. Wonderful, but there you have it. He really wanted to know.

But she bent her head and only murmured, “Hmm.”

“Well, you can bake for me anytime,” he said, popping another cream puff into his mouth. She rewarded him with a grin.

He loved watching her work. The way her face crumpled up as she focused on her measurements, the way she huffed when her hair came untucked from behind her ear and flopped onto her cheek. The streak of flour she left when she tugged it back. It was nice, sitting in the scented kitchen, being silent. Being together.

Lisa blew out
a sigh. It wasn’t awkward, not chatting with Cade. Somehow silence fit him like a comfortable old suit. But she wanted to talk to him. To get to know him better.

She remembered him from high school, though he’d been two years ahead of her. He’d been the tall, silent type even then. Although he was even taller now. And he was no longer a boy. Service in the military had filled him out and where he’d been slender before, he was now all bulk and hard muscle. His eyes were harder too, but filled with fascinating depths. The scar on his cheek, speaking to a wealth of experience, was fascinating as well.

Though he wasn’t “pretty” like his brother, or charming or playful, he had a certain…something. He was definitely the more attractive of the two. Not that Cody wasn’t drop-dead gorgeous. He was. But Cade had a quiet resonance about him that appealed to her.

When Cody had asked her out, she’d gone, but somewhere, deep in her heart, she’d known he wasn’t the man for her and they’d only dated a couple of times. If only she’d had the same sense of self-awareness when it came to Guy.

Marrying him had been the biggest mistake of her life.

But then, there were so many mistakes to choose from.

“What are you thinking about?” The low rumble startled her. She glanced up to find Cade staring at her with his head cocked to the side. His eyes, a clear and sharp bluish-gray, seemed to see through to her soul. That they were framed with long lashes didn’t help the skittering of her pulse.

“I…ah…” Hell. Should she ruin the conversation, such as it was, by telling him the truth? But Cade seemed to be the kind of guy who valued the truth over pointless chatter, so she gave it to him. “My husband.”

He flinched as though she had slapped him. His friendly expression closed down a bit, which made her sad.

“He’s a…lawyer, right?”

Lisa tried not to grimace.
Shark
was a better description.

“Are you…missing him?”

She couldn’t stop the bark of laughter that escaped.

Cade blinked. “Well, aren’t you?”

“Not hardly.” Bitterness threaded the words, though she swore she would not be bitter. “And I doubt he’s missing me.”

His throat worked. His ears went pink. She had no idea how to interpret that. “Well… He’s probably missing your baking.”

Hah!
“He never eats my goodies.”

Oh. Holy. God. She loved his expression, the bald and blatant disbelief. “What is
wrong
with him?”

Yeah, she loved his squawk too.

She cupped her hands around her coffee mug and leaned forward to confide, “He’s vegan.”

“What?”

“Apparently butter is the root of all evil. Aside from that, he rarely eats carbs.”

Cade shook his head as though he was having trouble taking that tidbit in. “He doesn’t eat carbs?”

“No sugar, white flour, grains, breads, chocolate, cookies…” She attempted to tick them off on her fingers, but ran out of fingers. “He also avoids red meat and fat.”

“What the hell does he eat?”

She shrugged. “He likes tofu.”

“He sounds…fascinating.” His lips quirked up and she found herself staring at his smile. Then found herself smiling as well. And then—surprise, surprise—chuckling.

She’d sworn she wouldn’t think about Guy, or talk about Guy, but in this circumstance, she was willing to make an exception. And it felt good to have someone validate her outrage over his disdain for her baking.

When she’d met Guy, she’s been in training to be a pastry chef; their whirlwind romance and subsequent marriage had put a stop to all those plans. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember why she’d been willing to give up her dreams…for him. But it happened that way sometimes, she supposed.

Cade sobered. He peered into his mug for a while and then, without glancing back up, asked, “Why did you marry him?”

Why indeed? She shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Most things do.”

“I was young and stupid. He seemed like everything I thought a husband should be.” Hell, he’d even been charming, back then. “My mother liked him.”