Her Texas Hero (14 page)

His gaze dropped to the now empty shell of her ice-cream cone and his grin widened, despite the cold she knew had to be seeping into the back of his flannel shirt. “Darlin',” he began, sounding much more relaxed than a man who'd just had ice cream dumped down his back, “finally getting to kiss you like I'd been wanting to do for a while now was more than worth a little temporary discomfort.”

“But your shirt...”

“Can be washed,” he replied. “Stop fretting over it.”

“How can I when I'm the one whose ice cream you're wearing?” She pushed out of the swing and then turned to him. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“To change into something dry and clean,” she told him. “We're both sticky messes.”

“That we are,” he agreed with a grin. “Hold on,” he told her as he stood and turned, plucking up the remainder of the fallen blob of chocolate from the seat of the porch swing. Tossing it out into the yard, he used the sleeve of his flannel shirt to wipe the remainder of the melted mess from the seat.

“Carter, your shirt,” she blurted out with a frown.

“Is already in need of a wash,” he replied. “A little more ice cream isn't gonna make a difference. Besides, we surely wouldn't want an army of ants to commandeer our little front porch hideaway.”

“I hadn't considered that,” she replied. “But now that you mention it, I wouldn't want those pesky little insects to commandeer you, either. So let's go inside so you can get cleaned up. You can use the downstairs guest bathroom.” One the previous owners had added on just off the kitchen years before. And thankfully so. Most of the older homes, like hers, only had one upstairs bathroom. “I'll run upstairs and change,” she said, holding out her arm to show him where the back of her sleeve had a large, sticky stain. “Then I need to make sure the kids are getting ready for bed like I told them to.”

He nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

“I'll lend you a T-shirt to wear home tonight. Leave yours in the bathroom and I'll throw it into the wash before I go to bed.” It was the least she could do, seeing as how she had made a mess of his clean flannel shirt and no doubt the T-shirt he wore underneath.

He chuckled. “I doubt you're gonna have anything that'll fit me.”

“Oh ye of little faith,” she teased as they stepped inside. “Be right back,” she told him as she hurried up the stairs to get him that shirt she'd promised him. She returned, handing him the neatly folded red bundle. “Here you go,” she said with a smile.

“Appreciate it,” he drawled.

“It was either this one or a tie-dyed sleep shirt with bright yellow smiley faces all over it. They were the only shirts I had that might be large enough to fit those broad shoulders of yours.”

“Good choice,” he said, without even looking to see what she'd chosen for him instead.

She smiled, hoping that he'd feel the same way once he put on the red T-shirt. “I won't be long,” she said and then hurried back up the stairs to see to her children.

“I'll wait for you on the porch,” he called after her.

Ten minutes or so later when Audra came back down the stairs expecting Carter to be outside, she found him waiting for her in the entryway instead. Muscular arms folded in front of his wide chest, one dark brow lifting as the faintest hint of a smile played at the corners of his mouth. “A snowman?”

She bought a hand to her mouth to muffle the snicker that slipped past her lips as she took in the sight of Carter dressed in the oversize men's T-shirt she sometimes wore with leggings when lounging around the house. The bright red T-shirt, at least a size too small, molded to his broad shoulders and muscular chest in a way most women would appreciate. But it was the snowman part that made her smile. Starting just below the slight dip of the crew neck down to a mere two or three inches from the shirt's hem, two stacked snowballs were imprinted on the shirt's front. Three black buttons ran down the slightly smaller snowball on top while two spindly twigs poked out from either side of it. The makeshift arms stretched up and out across the tops of the sleeves in a curling, whimsical manner.

“I've gone from the heroic Lone Ranger to Frosty the Snowman.”

Her gaze lifted from the stacked snowballs to connect with his and her smile widened. “I have to admit you're the most adorable snowman I've ever laid eyes on.”

“I think I'd prefer to be wearing that shoe-polish mask.”

“I might have some shoe polish upstairs,” she teased. “If you'd prefer, we could put some around your eyes and make you the Lone Snowman...”

Reaching out, he drew her to him, folding his arms around her waist. “Not a chance.” Then, not by accident this time, he lowered his mouth to hers in a sweet kiss.

Audra melted against him with a sigh.

“Mommy?” Lily called out from the top of the stairs. “Are you coming to tuck us in?”

Both she and Carter parted instantly, their gazes locked. “They were hoping you would come upstairs with me to tell them good-night,” she explained in a guilty whisper. “I was going to ask you, but got sidetracked when I saw you standing here. You don't have to, though,” she quickly added, knowing her ex-husband had wanted nothing to do with their children's bedtime rituals.

“There is no ‘have to' about it,” he assured her. “I'd be happy to.” He looked toward the top of the stairs, calling out in response to Lily's sleepy plea, “Your momma and I are on our way up right now.”

“Yay!” The sound of Lily's tiny feet pattering excitedly down the upstairs hall echoed in the stairwell, making Audra smile. Her children adored Carter. She adored Carter. Looking up at him, she said, “Are you sure you don't mind doing this?”

“I don't mind at all,” he said, reaching for her hand. “In fact, I happen to be a very good ‘tucker-in-er.' Just ask my niece.”

She gave his hand a grateful squeeze as they made their way up the stairs together. Then she said a quick prayer of thanks to the good Lord for bringing Carter into their lives.

They stopped by Lily's room first. The second her daughter saw him step into the open doorway, her tiny face lit up.

“I heard someone was asking for me,” he said with a grin.

Her daughter nodded. Then her gaze dropped down to the front of the T-shirt Audra had loaned him. “My mommy has a shirt like that. But hers is a lady snowman.”

Carter glanced Audra's direction, that dark brow of his shooting upward once again.

“Honey,” Audra said, unable to keep the mirth from her voice, “it only looked like a lady snowman because Mommy was wearing it. Now it's a very manly snowman. Mr. Cooper is borrowing Mommy's shirt because I accidentally spilled some of my ice-cream cone on the one he was wearing tonight.”

“Some?” Carter muttered beside her with a grin.

“Okay,” Audra conceded. “Most.”

Lily studied Carter curiously. “You should have a carrot nose.”

He chuckled. “And have bunnies hopping after me, trying to nibble at it?”

Lily snorted. “You're too tall for a bunny to nibble on your nose. But if you were crawling on the ground—”

“All right, young lady,” Audra said, cutting off her daughter's endless chatter. “Time for you to get to sleep. You and Mr. Cooper can discuss bunnies and carrot noses tomorrow.”

“Okay,” she said with a yawn, her adoring gaze fixed on Carter. “Are you going to tuck me in?”

“We can't very well have you rolling out of bed if I don't,” he teased as he stepped up to the bed and began tucking the pink floral quilt under her from neck to toes.

Lily giggled.

“There you go,” Carter said, taking a step back to survey his handiwork. “Snug as a bug.”

“How am I supposed to hug you good-night with my arms tucked in?” her daughter asked with a pout.

Audra stood back, watching the interaction between Carter and her daughter. He was so good with Lily. But then he'd had Katie to practice on. It was clear he absolutely adored his young niece.

Carter pretended to mull over Lily's question. “I suppose I could try to sew a couple of arm holes in the quilt for you to slip your arms through. Then you'd be able to hug me.”

“You can't do that,” her daughter said with another giggle. “You just need to let my arms out.”

“That might work, too,” he said with a nod as he loosened the blanket along her sides. “Sure enough,” he acknowledged as she slipped her arms free of the quilt. “How did you become such a smart little girl?”

Her daughter soaked up his praise like a wilting flower finally receiving some much-needed rain. That thought gave Audra a moment of pause. Would her daughter wilt again once Carter was ready to move on? Because he wasn't the settling-down type. He'd been honest with her about that from the very beginning. That meant keeping her heart tucked in every bit as firmly as Lily had been beneath the covers.

After a quick bedtime prayer, Audra kissed Lily good-night. Then Carter leaned in for a hug, wishing her daughter sweet dreams. They closed the door behind them as they moved farther down the hall to Mason's room.

Mason tried not to appear overly excited about Carter's coming in to wish him good-night, but Audra knew better. “Didn't you have something you wanted to say to Mr. Cooper?”

Her son's gaze lowered to the shirt. “Why are you wearing that snowman shirt?”

“I'm wondering that same thing myself,” Carter replied with a husky chuckle.

“I wasn't referring to the shirt,” Audra told her son.

“Thank you for taking us to get ice cream,” Mason said, looking up at him from where he lay in his bed.

Carter gave a nod. “Maybe we can do it again sometime.”

“Maybe Katie could go with us.”

“She'd like that. Mighty nice of you to think of asking her to join us.” His gaze moved over the chocolate-brown comforter her son had drawn up as far as his tiny chest. “I just tucked your sister in. You need me to tuck you in, too?”

Her son shook his head. “I'm too old to be tucked in,” he said, his gaze straying in her direction, as if begging her not to tell Carter that she usually did so with him every night anyway.

“I see,” Carter replied. “Reckon I should have figured as much, seeing as how you're the man of this here house.”

“It's late,” Audra said, cutting in. “Time to say your prayers and then get to sleep. You have school tomorrow.”

When the prayer ended, Audra kissed her son's brow and then turned to walk with Carter out of the room.

“Mr. Cooper...” her son called out.

Carter paused in the doorway, turning with a warm smile. “Yes, son?”

“A hug good-night would be okay, I suppose.”

Audra's heart lurched and her eyes stung with unshed tears as Carter crossed the room without hesitation to give her son the hug that he'd asked for. Mason had been so withdrawn at the end from his own father and understandably so. A boy's affection could only be pushed away so many times before he shut off and stopped offering it. That her son trusted Carter enough to allow himself to be vulnerable to possibly more of the same rejection he'd suffered with his father touched her so very deeply. The burn of unshed tears had her slipping out into the hall as Audra tried to collect herself.

Carter stepped from the room, closing the door behind him. “Audra?”

She took a deep breath, fanning at her tear-filled eyes. “I just need a moment.”

He closed the distance between them and caught her face between his hands, tilting it upward. “Darlin',” he said with a sigh, “why the tears?”

“They aren't precisely tears yet,” she countered, embarrassed by her inability to control her emotions. “They have to fall first.”

“Well, if you're gonna cry, we'd best go fetch that bucket you were using under your leaky sink. I know how much water your pretty eyes can put out when they have a mind to.”

His teasing words, no matter how true, had her laughing. “I really am doing my best to refrain from flooding the hallway, but you sure don't make it easy.” She grew serious then. “Thank you for being so good to my children.”

There was such tenderness in his eyes as he looked down at her. “I know how hard it must be for you to trust another man not to hurt them the way your husband did. And I thank you for placing your trust in me and allowing me to be a part of their lives.” He pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose before letting his hands fall away. “Come on, darlin'. Let's go spend a few more minutes enjoying the stars. Then I'd best head home.”

Nodding, she turned and started for the stairs. “I'm still waiting to discover that you're not as perfect as you appear to be,” she said over her shoulder with a smile as she made her way downstairs.

“Ah, but maybe that is my imperfection,” he replied as he reached past her to hold the screen door open for her. “I'm too perfect.”

Laughing softly, she stepped outside, shaking her head. She loved the playful, teasing side of Carter. “So tell me more about the rec center job,” Audra said as she settled onto the swing.

He nodded with a grin. “Nathan and I figured we had a shot at the job, but normally these things have to go up for bid with several contractors. Braxton's town council decided to forgo bringing in estimates from other contractors and go with Cooper Construction because we're local and they know the quality of work we've done around town in the past.”

She smiled up at him. “I'm so happy for you and Nathan. From what I've heard, it's going to be a really big job.” The new rec center possibly having a large indoor swimming pool and a basketball court among other amenities.

“It will be, meaning it's going to take up a pretty big chunk of our time on occasion,” he said, looking uneasy about having to tell her that.