Authors: Michelle Major
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” he asked. He propped one hip against the counter and took a long drink of beer.
Kendall rolled the stem of the wine glass between her fingers. “I had a date tonight.”
Something flashed in Ty’s eyes. “Shouldn’t you be having this conversation with one of your girlfriends?”
“Probably.”
“So how was it?”
“Awful. It was for the dating show and a complete disaster. The guy threw out every bad line in the book. It’s a wonder he didn’t ask my sign. I didn’t take one bite of the food. It was all I could do not to gag every time he opened his mouth.”
“That bad?”
She nodded. “Do you know the worst part?”
“What?”
She took a long sip of wine and met his brooding gaze. “The entire date, all I thought about was you. Even before I met the guy tonight. I was waiting at one of my favorite restaurants and I sat there wanting you to be walking toward me.” She laughed. “I have two more dates for the show, and I want you on each one.”
“I like the sound of that.” He took another swallow of beer. “Why do I think there’s a
but
in my future?”
“There are a number of
buts
,” she agreed. “I’ve told you most of them.
But
you’re not my type,
but
I don’t have time for a relationship,
but
my career takes too much time and attention. If things go as planned I’m going to be moving to New York in a matter of months.” She shook her head. “I should not be here, but when I got in my car after tonight’s fiasco, I wanted to be with you
. I like the way I feel when you’re around. You make me feel so . . . real. Anyway, I dug out your resume to find your address and here I am.”
She looked away from the intensity in his expression, embarrassed that she’d revealed so much. “How pathetic is that?” she asked weakly.
Ty ate up the distance between them in three long steps. He cradled her face between hands that were cool and slightly damp from the beer bottle. He tilted her head until she was forced to meet his gaze. “It doesn’t sound pathetic at all,” he murmured. “It sounds like the nicest thing I’ve ever heard.”
He brought his mouth down to meet hers. The kiss was slow and gentle and tasted faintly of beer. This is what she’d imagined all night. The thought of Ty’s lips against hers had kept her sane through the dreadful dinner.
But reality was so much better than any fantasy she’d created in her mind.
Her head spun, her knees went weak, and her stomach growled like an irate lion. “Oops,” she said against his lips.
She felt his mouth curve into a smile. “I seem to have that effect on your stomach,” he said, drawing back his head.
She flashed a grin. “What can I say, you make me hungry.” It had been a long time since she’d flirted so openly, and she felt the heat rise to her cheeks again.
Ty’s eyes darkened before he tucked her hair behind her ears and dropped a quick kiss on the tip of her nose. “First, let’s get you fed,” he told her, his tone gentle. “Then we’ll do something about your hunger.”
“Ok,” she squeaked in response.
He smiled. “How do you feel about s’mores?”
“Those things you make over a campfire?”
He nodded.
“I’ve never had one.”
He gave her an incredulous look. “You’re kidding, right?”
She shrugged. “I’ve never been camping. It’s not really my style.”
Ty began opening cabinets, pulling out ingredients. “But you live in Colorado. It’s an unofficial state law that you must like to camp to move here.”
“What can I say? Maybe I’m the only person who ever moved here who’s not into the outdoors. I don’t like dirt and bugs.” She thought about how he spent his days and cringed. “No offense.”
“None taken.” He turned to her, holding a box of graham crackers, a bag of marshmallows, and a large chocolate bar. “We’re going to broaden your horizons, darlin’.” He grinned. “When I’m through with you, you’ll be begging me to backpack with you through the Rocky Mountain wilderness.”
She thought about reminding him that when they were through, she’d be getting on a plane bound for New York City, but decided against it. There was plenty of time for reality to rear its inevitable head. Tonight she wanted to forget about the rest of her life. “Why do you have all that stuff?” she asked. “Are you some kind of Boy Scout troop leader?”
“Hardly.” He laughed. “Jenny’s son, Cooper, spends the night every so often. Making s’mores is part of our ritual.” He balanced the boxes and bag in one hand and opened the French doors that led off the kitchen toward the back of the house.
“What’s the deal with you and Jenny?” she asked, as she followed him onto a large deck attached to the house.
“Why, Ms. Clark, are you the jealous type?”
“Of course not,” she answered too quickly. “You two seem close. I was simply wondering if there’s a history there. She’s very pretty.”
The only light in the backyard came from the kitchen window so Kendall couldn’t see much past the wooden rail of the deck. Ty set the packages on a wrought iron table and disappeared into a darkened corner of the deck. As her eyes adjusted to the night, Kendall could make out his silhouette bending over a large stone fireplace built into one side of the patio.
“Jenny’s pretty,” he agreed. “But she’s like a little sister to me. Her mom worked as my family’s housekeeper so we’ve been friends since we were little. Her dad was a gardener so she knows a lot about planting. I worked summers for Mr. Castelli in high school. Jenny was the first person I hired when I started my business. She’s been with me ever since.”
Her eyes widened. “Your family had a housekeeper?”
His shoulders stiffened. “Let’s not go there. Please.”
The please got her. “For now,” she agreed. “What about Cooper’s father?”
“Jenny was barely eighteen when Cooper was born. The jerk wasn’t interested in being a dad. That’s part of the reason she came to work for me. I could be flexible with her hours and it didn’t bother me if she brought the baby into the office. It’s worked out for both of us.” He stood and turned. “I need to get some kindling from the garage. Do you want a jacket? Even with the fire, it’ll be cool out here.”
“That would be great.”
He walked past her into the house. Alone on the deck, Kendall sank into one of the chairs that surrounded the oval table. She folded her arms across her chest to ward off the chill in the evening air.
She didn’t know what to think about his family having a housekeeper. The kids she’d gone to school with had had housekeepers and gardeners, but they had come from families with money—old money and new money alike, but lots of money all the same. Ty didn’t strike her as having had a privileged youth, but what she’d discovered online about his background focused on his work with the landscaping company and mentioned nothing about his personal life.
Ty didn’t seem like the type to have grown up with paid help in the house. But as curious as she was to know the story behind that, she didn’t want to encourage him to ask questions about her childhood. She knew from the time she’d spent with him hiking the burn area that he was smart. She assumed he’d put himself through graduate school with landscaping jobs and the money had been too lucrative to stop.
More compelling was the fact that he’d hired a young, single woman with a baby as his company’s first employee, displaying a streak of protectiveness and loyalty that warmed both her heart and other parts of her anatomy. A heated body she could handle, her heart was another matter.
“Here you go.”
Kendall jumped slightly at the sound of Ty’s voice so close to her ear. He wrapped a thick fleece jacket around her shoulders and dropped a cotton blanket and a pair of wool socks into her lap.
“Those shoes look uncomfortable,” he explained, pointing at her feet. “Plus, the socks will keep your feet warmer.”
Kendall looked down at the three-inch heels she’d been wearing since her date with Scott. Now that she thought about it, her toes did feel cramped. “Thank you.”
He walked past her to the fireplace. “I’ll have this thing blazing in a minute and we can roast up those marshmallows. I can’t believe you’ve never made s’mores.”
“I’ve had a sheltered life.” She slipped her arms into the oversized sleeves of the fleece. The weight of the soft fabric added a layer of warmth over her silk suit. The faint smell of laundry detergent mixed with the woodsy scent of male cologne drifted up to her. Ty smelled the same way when he was close to her. Little butterflies zipped around her stomach as she snuggled deeper into the bulk of the jacket.
Ty turned to look at her. Flames were just beginning to glow behind his back. “Has your life been sheltered?”
“It’s a figure of speech,” she said casually.
He gave her a wry smile. “I realize that. But I don’t know much about you.”
She kicked off her pumps and bent forward to slip on the socks. “There’s not much to tell,” she answered, not meeting his gaze. “I was raised in a small town outside of Kansas City. My parents still live there. I went to St. Louis University and took a job in Ohio right out of school. I came to Denver three years ago. You know the rest.” She stood and picked up the bag of marshmallows, opening the plastic and popping one into her mouth.
“Brothers and sisters?” he asked, moving two chairs from the table to face the fireplace.
She shook her head. “I wish. I wasn’t exactly the daughter my parents bargained for. It would be nice if they had a kid who was more like them.”
“What are they like?”
Kendall inwardly grimaced at how much her comment had revealed. She never discussed her family. She waved dismissively. “You know, they have a small-town mentality. They got married the summer after high school graduation. My mom had a scholarship to the local community college, but then she got pregnant. I don’t think they quite knew what to do with me. I spent most of my childhood wanting to leave behind the life they’d chosen.”
“I know what you mean.” Ty reached for two long sticks that lay next to the fireplace. “I doubt Cooper will mind if you use his,” he said, handing one to Kendall. “So they aren’t supportive?”
Kendall took the stick and poked the flat end of the marshmallow carefully with the blackened tip. “Oh, no. They were encouraging, as much as they could be while dealing with their own lives. They still are. But they didn’t understand some of my choices.”
“You’re lucky to have their support,” Ty said. He smiled at the marshmallow dangling off the tip of her stick. “You may want to push that down a little. Otherwise, you’re going to lose it in the fire.”
She watched him jam a marshmallow several inches down onto his stick and copied the action. “What about you? Do you have brothers and sisters?”
“One of each,” he replied and held his stick toward the flames.
“That’s right,” she said, “you and Steve were discussing your brother’s college football career. You grew up in Boulder. Do your parents still live there?”
He nodded.
She studied his hooded expression and waited for him to say more. When he didn’t, she asked, “Are you close with your family?”
He gave a bark of laughter. “This feels like an interview. I see them regularly, if that counts. It’s time to move your stick.”
Kendall refocused her attention on the fire. The end of her stick was engulfed in hot flames, the marshmallow on its tip glowed as bright as the Olympic torch. “It’s on fire.” She yanked the burning end away from the fire. A tongue-like blue and gold flame shimmered from the top.
Ty cupped his hand around hers on the end of the stick she held and leaned it toward his face. He blew on the marshmallow until the fiery glow subsided. The charred confection left in its wake was as black as the burned-out tree trunks near the heart of the wildfire area.
“You really don’t know how to do this.” He laughed, plucking the stick from her fingers and replacing it with his own. He put her marshmallow back in the heart of the fire, scraping it against one of the logs until it dislodged from the stick and was consumed by the flames.
Kendall studied his marshmallow. It was evenly toasted to a lovely golden brown on all sides. “I didn’t know roasting marshmallows was such an art.”
Ty reached for the box of graham crackers. “You’ll get the hang of it after a couple more.” He arranged a piece of the chocolate on a graham cracker square, then surrounded the marshmallow with two sections of cracker and eased the gooey paste off the stick. “Some people like it burned to a crisp, but I think it’s better when the marshmallow melts but doesn’t char.” He held the makeshift sandwich toward Kendall. “Here you go.”
She shook her head. “That’s yours. I can try another one.”
“We’ll share.”
Unable to resist the sugary smell, she placed her fingers over Ty’s on each end of the s’more and bit down. “Oh, wow,” she groaned around a mouthful of food. “This is so good.”
Ty slid his fingers out from under hers. “Finish it. I’ll toast another one.”
“Do you want a bite?”
He shook his head. “It’s all yours.”
She sank back in her chair and savored each bite. “I should have been a Girl Scout,” she moaned. “This is like heaven.”
Ty skewered two more marshmallows on the stick and held them toward the fire. “What are you doing for Easter?”
“Hmmm?”
“Easter is this coming Sunday. Do you have plans?”
Kendall finished the s’more and licked her fingers. “Nothing special.”
He slid her a sideways glance. “The best way to explain my family is for you to meet them. Why don’t you come to dinner at my parents’ house?”
She opened and closed her mouth several times before replying. “I don’t think your mother would want a stranger over for a family holiday.”
“Sure she would,” he argued. “My mom loves entertaining. She doesn’t actually cook, but the more people to fawn over her flower arrangements and tablescapes the better.”
A whole slew of objections darted across Kendall’s mind. She hadn’t wanted to get close to this man, but suddenly she was going to meet his parents? Then she thought about spending one more holiday alone in her empty condo. “That would be nice,” she answered.