wearing?”
Laci glared. “Don’t you dare get after me for what I’m wearing because it’s none of your business.” She glanced down at the short, impossibly tight dress, but admitted snippily, “If you must know, it’s all I had with me. I left in a hurry.”
That begged more questions, but he bit his tongue. He didn’t want to know what trouble she was in. Whatever was happening in her life was her own doing. Still, he didn’t think he could focus with her traipsing around in that sparkly thing. “I’m sure Cora wouldn’t mind if you borrowed a dress or shirt or something other than that thing,” he said.
“There’s no way I’m going to fit into anything Cora can wear and you know it. You’re just going to have to deal with me in my costume until I can get to town and pick up some supplies.”
“Whoa, now. What are you talking about? You thinking of staying?” The alarm in his voice did nothing for her already prickly disposition, but he couldn’t help it. “C’mon now, what are you thinking? Don’t you have your famous life to get back to?”
“You hush your mouth before you choke on your damn foot,” she snapped with a glower. “I can see right now some things never change. Tact was never your strong suit.”
“Don’t see no point in sugarcoating shit.”
Laci drew a deep breath and started over. “I didn’t come here to fight with you. I didn’t even know you would be here, but we have ourselves a situation that we need to work together to figure out.”
He crossed his arms and waited. “This ought to be good. Tell me how we’re going to work this out? I’m all ears.”
“So the Bradfords aren’t here and you’re taking care of the ranch for them,” she surmised.
“That’s about the long and short of it, but I fail to see how that creates a situation for the two of us when it seems pretty clear to me what the solution is.”
Her gaze narrowed. “Is that so? Enlighten me.”
“You leave. I stay.”
“And why should I have to leave? The Bradfords have extended a standing invitation to me. I have every right to be here with their blessing.”
“Why would you want to?” he asked point-blank. “It’s not like we’re the best of friends. I have a purpose for being here...you don’t.” She bit her lip, her gaze acknowledging that fact, but there was something else there, something she wasn’t saying, that she held back. Kane didn’t want to care, but he couldn’t seem to help himself, saying roughly, “Listen, you’ve got your reasons for coming and it’s none of my business. All I’m saying is that I can’t leave because I made a commitment to the Bradfords. You can stay or go, your choice, but if you choose to stay, it could be awkward.”
“So you wouldn’t care if I stayed?”
Hell yes, he would care. “No,” he lied, because there was no sense in adding more fuel to the fire. The fact was, there was some truth to her accusation that he’d left her behind, but she didn’t know the whole story, nor would he tell her, either—that was his gift to her, even if she never knew the whole of it. But he supposed if his arm were twisted, he’d have to admit there was no harm in letting her hang out if she needed to. The ranch was plenty big enough. Hell, he could take the pump house and let her stay in her old bedroom. He exhaled a long breath, prepared to do the one thing he never saw himself doing. “We got off on the wrong foot...you can stay. I’ll move out to the pump house and give you the room. If we stay out of each other’s hair, everything should be fine. We’re adults, right?”
“Yeah,” she agreed and damn, if that wasn’t the right thing to remind each other at the moment because he was fairly certain she was remembering what they’d almost done this morning as adults. She cleared her throat and smiled, gesturing to the coffeepot. “So, how about we share a pot of coffee and start over? Can we do that?”
Sure. And maybe she could stop being so damn easy on the eyes? He cut his gaze away, needing a minute to school his thoughts before they gave him away. “How long you thinking of staying?” he asked, needing to know how long he’d have to suffer the constant barrage of the past in the form of the present.
“Just a few days, I suspect. That okay?”
He grunted in answer. “Sure. I can handle a few days.” He reached for the pot and poured himself a mug, then, because he was practically raised by Cora to do the right thing, he poured Laci a mug as well before moving to the oven where he pulled out the pie. “Grab some plates, will you?” he asked and Laci smiled with delight as she did so.
“Cora made peach pie before she left? That dear old thing is the living embodiment of Betty Crocker and I love her for it,” Laci said, accepting a slice from him.
“Yeah, and Warren gave her hell for it, too. She’s real sick, Laci. I don’t know if that treatment is going to do a bit of good at this point.”
“Really?” Laci’s expression dimmed as she took a bite, but a smile lifted her mouth as she appreciated Cora’s talent for the culinary arts. “I never could match her recipe, no matter how hard I tried. That woman has magic in her fingers when it comes to the kitchen.”
“You come pretty damn close,” he grudgingly admitted between bites, trying not to think too hard on how natural it felt to sit here with Laci, talking about pie, because it wasn’t natural at all. Not in the least. He’d left for a reason and he could tell by the way things had panned out for Laci that his choice had been the smart one. So don’t start romanticizing sharing a slice of pie, he warned himself. He finished up and brought his plate to the sink where he started to wash up, when Laci joined him and took the plate from him.
“I got this,” she said. “You’ve got chores to do. The least I can do is clean up.”
“Thanks,” he said, hating how the morning light glinted off the honey strands of her hair, giving her a halo. In all the years and miles he’d put between himself and Laci, he’d never found a woman who came halfway close to the way he’d felt about Laci. There was a reason she was a superstar—she had something special—and he’d known it from the start. Back away, he told himself when the urge to touch her cheek became too hard to fight. “I’ll be feeding the cattle,” he told her, stepping away, needing to put some space between them right this second before he scooped her into his arms and finished what they’d started this morning. Boy, wouldn’t that be the most epically bad decision of his life? Yeah, but if he were going to screw up his life and everything he’d built to this point, he might as well go big, right? Not really, the voice answered drily. Keep it in your pants, big boy, and remember what her daddy told you all those years ago...she ain’t for you, son. Ain’t that the truth. Kane started for the door but Laci’s voice at his back stopped him.
“I’m heading to town to pick up a few things. You need anything?”
He half turned, regarding her with a slow, deliberate gaze. You naked beneath me and all the time in the world to make up for what I lost a long time ago. But he couldn’t say that. Not in a million years would he, either. So he uttered the one thing he could, “Nope,” and then exited the house as if it were on fire.
* * *
MAYBE SHE SHOULDN’T STAY. Laci rolled the idea around in her head, weighing the pros and cons of staying
