That evening when Blake got back to Beaumont’s she looked tired but pleased. “I won’t have to suffer Old Blue’s cantankerous moods anymore. I just paid for a brand new industrial stove. They’re going to deliver it next week.” Then she looked around at the shiny floor, the spotless tables and the shot glasses laid out on the tray on top of the counter. The evening drinkers would be arriving soon and everything was in order. She turned her gaze back to Ryder. “Thanks for handling things while I was away. I appreciate your help.”
Ryder only smiled and gave her a nod. He’d been happy to do it. This time it had nothing to do with working off a debt. He’d offered to help her out because he wanted to.
“You’ve done way more than I expected,” she was saying, “even doing the cleaning up after the breakfast and lunch crowds. You must be pretty tired.” She tilted her head to one side as she looked up at him. “Why don’t you go get some rest now? You’re going to stay the night, of course. No charge.” Then she smiled. “I’ll even have a little something for you for when you hit the road tomorrow.” Then she shoved her hands inside her pockets and shook her head. “It’s a pity I can’t hogtie you and make you stay.” She chuckled. “But after all I’ve put you through, I know you’re more than ready to hightail it out of here.”
Ryder gazed at her smiling face and for the life of him he couldn’t think of a single thing he’d like to do more than stay.
“Now’s your chance to get away from me,” she said, then jerked her chin toward the door. “Go on. Git, before I change my mind and hogtie you for real.”
Ryder didn’t answer. Then he shook his head. “No, I kind of like it here. I want to stay on a while longer…if you’ll have me.”
When he saw Blake’s eyes widen in surprise, a hint of pleasure in their depths, he smiled. It looked like he wasn’t the only one who liked the idea of him sticking around.
***
If you’ll have me? Why did Ryder have to go and ask a question like that? The question wasn’t if she wanted to have him, but how…
As Blake lay in bed that night, her arms folded behind her head as she stared blankly at the ceiling, all she could think about was Ryder, her ‘out-of-the-blue’ assistant, the man who’d walked off the street and into her life.
He might be a virtual stranger and a man might be the last thing she should have on her mind right now but from the moment she’d met Ryder she’d felt something. Immediately, she’d suppressed it. How stupid could you get, jumping out of one fire and hopping right into another? She’d known that whatever spark of attraction she’d felt was best ignored and it would pass soon enough.
But it didn’t. The more she saw of Ryder the more he grew on her. And the more she wanted to feel his lips on hers.
And from the way his lips relaxed into a smooth curve when he smiled she could tell he was an awesome kisser. He had a mobile mouth that promised both strength and tenderness. Ryder had looked like the serious kind but he also looked like he had another side to him, a softer, sensual side that she would love to know first-hand.
Blake smiled to herself then unlocked the arms she’d folded behind her head. She turned onto her side and settled her cheek into the softness of her pillow. It was all wishful thinking, she knew, just a fantasy she would enjoy in the privacy of her mind.
But by the next day Blake’s fantasy world disintegrated and she was whipped back to reality when Carl, Pequoia’s postmaster of over fifty years, came by and dropped off a telegram. It was from her mother in Dallas and it sounded urgent. “Trouble with Jerome,” it said. “Come home.”
***
Blake didn’t let the evening pass before she packed up her truck and was on her way to Dallas. “Don’t worry about the restaurant,” she’d told Ryder. “Just post a notice that we’re temporarily closed.” He’d looked skeptical. “Just like that? I can handle things till you get back.”
She shook her head. “No. Impossible. There’s no way you can handle the breakfast crowd by yourself. If the guys still want to come in for drinks in the evening you can take care of that.”
He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Whatever you say, boss.” And then he gave her a crooked grin that made him look so sinfully sexy that her heart gave an involuntary jerk.
As she drove along the highway she drew her breath in then let it out on a sigh. Ryder Kent was a seriously sexy distraction but it was one she couldn’t afford to dwell on, especially not right now. If she’d read her mother’s telegram right she would have her hands full when she got back home. And, where Jerome was concerned, it was not going to be pretty.
By the time Blake pulled into the driveway of her family home the sun had set and had thrown a shroud of darkness over the land. Still, the shadows didn’t hide the rustic charm of the little white bungalow where she’d grown up. Rosie Beaumont loved flowers and, like always, the garden was overflowing with blooms of all sizes and colors. Not even the dark veil of night could hide their stunning beauty.
She’d just switched off the engine and was reaching over to the passenger side to grab her shoulder bag when the front door burst open and a gangly teenage girl in cut-off jeans and sandals raced down the steps and toward the truck. “Blake,” she yelled. “What took you so long?”
Blake barely had time to get out of the truck and throw her arms wide before her little sister was jumping forward to throw her thin arms around her neck.
“I missed you,” the young girl whispered and buried her face in her big sister’s neck.
“I missed you, too, Becky,” Blake whispered back. “I thought about you every single day.”
Then she released Rebecca, clasped her by the upper arms and stepped back. She couldn’t help but smile as she stared down at her grinning sibling. “Hey, Squirt. When did you grow so tall? You look like you’ve put on six inches in the last six weeks.”
Becky laughed. “I’m fourteen. You didn’t expect me to stay short forever, did you? And anyway, I only grew half an inch since April. I checked.”
That made Blake laugh out loud. “You can check all you want. It’s going to take a long while before you catch up to me.”
“Grr.” Becky gave her a punch on the arm in response to the reminder.