Her Unbridled Cowboy (Harland County Series) (13 page)

“Yes, please.” Kerri removed her
hand and followed the grinning realtor out the back door.

She loved her parents and what
they’d done to the old homestead, but…an apartment? The thought of having her
own place, regaining her independence brought such a rush of joy, she knew it
showed on her face.

Marcy smiled at her as they
ascended a set of outside stairs. “As I understand it, the new appliances are
included, too.”

“They are,” Duke confirmed, unlocking
the door and standing aside so they could all enter a hallway that ran the
length of the whole side of building. “The first door is to the storage area
and the other is for the apartment.”

“Cole and I will check out the
storage area while you show Kerri the apartment,” Jordan said.

Duke nodded. “Sure thing. Let me
just get the door for you, then.”

While he unlocked the first door
for her sister and Cole, Kerri walked down to the other, excitement upping her
pulse. Behind this door could be her new place. Never had she imaged when she
woke up this morning that checking out a location for their restaurant could
possibly lead to a new home.

“I think you’re going to like
this,” he said, with a grin.

Smiling, she nodded as he unlocked
the door, then sucked in a breath when she walked in. He was right. The
apartment was huge. It ran the whole length of the building. Much bigger than
her New York apartment. Heck, she could fit two and a half of them in this
space.

“The storage area is the same
square footage, but it’s all open,” Duke informed.

Nodding, Kerri walked through the modern
kitchen into the opened living room and looked out the window over-looking the front
of the property. She had a gulf view.

“And how much square feet is it
exactly?”

“Eighteen hundred. Each,” Duke
replied.

Kerri didn’t know if that was good.
Didn’t really care as she continued to walk through the apartment. She was too
busy falling in love, already seeing the place as her own, adding colorful
touches to the functional smaller bedroom, picturing purple bedding in the
master bedroom that had,
alleluia,
its own bathroom. And boy, what a
bathroom, complete with a huge walk in shower. It had a corner.
A corner
.
She had to walk around a tiled corner to find the showerhead, which was in the
ceiling. The
ceiling.

“Oh, that is too cool,” Jordan said, walking in behind her.

Kerri turned to her and grinned. “I
know, right?”

Smiling, her sister dropped an arm
around her shoulder and guided her back to the bedroom. “So, what do you
think?”

“I love it,” Kerri gushed. “The
kitchen is a little on the small side, but I’d be right above the restaurant
and could always go down there to create…”

Jordan chuckled. “I meant about the
place in general, but I think I get the picture. It’s great to see you happy
and excited again.”

Her cheeks heated as she nodded. “I
liked the feel of the place, even before I heard about this apartment.”

“Me, too.” Jordan turned to Cole as he entered the bedroom, leaving the two realtors in the kitchen.
“What do you think, hun?”

“Well, this building is certainly
big enough for what you want, and I like that most of the downstairs is
unconstructed. Keeps the renovation costs down.”

“Yeah, it’s like a blank canvas,” Kerri
spoke her earlier thoughts.

Jordan nodded. “Exactly. We can
hire a designer straight away and work on a plan.”

Cole turned to Kerri and smiled. “I
guess I don’t have to ask you if you like the apartment, or what you girls are
going to do with it.”

“I’m going to help my sister regain
her independence and have fun in the process.” Jordan winked at her.

Independence and fun. Both had been
scarce for far too long. Kerri could hardly wait to change that.

“Well now, Kerri,” Cole said,
leading them out of the room with a hand on their backs. “It looks like you are
no longer homeless or unemployed.”

R
e-shoeing to some was
a chore, but not to Connor. He found the job relaxing and sometimes
therapeutic. Like now. Lord knew he needed the therapy. A double session twice
a week and he still wouldn’t be right.

What the hell was wrong with him,
kissing Kerri like that last month?  

On his final hoof, he rasped the
last stub of nail, filing it down before he used a pair of clenchers to seat
the nail in the groove to keep the shoe from slipping. Done. Connor released
the horse’s foot and straightened.

He knew Kerri was trouble. He knew
she made him forget reality when they touched, and still he’d followed her into
that damn laundry room and kissed her.

Idiot.

After putting away his tools, he
washed his hands at the utility sink and grimaced. Had that kiss been any
different than the mind altering mistletoe kiss? No, well, yes, damn it. It had
been worse. Better. All-consuming. The very reason he’d avoided Kerri for the
last month.

A wuss move.

The intoxicating city girl was
turning him into a coward. Connor McCall never turned tail and ran in his life,
until she stepped her pretty little foot back on Wild Creek soil last spring. Twice
now, he ran from her. And each time after a kiss. The only reason he hadn’t run
after the mistletoe incident was because she’d been sitting on him.

Yeah, a wuss move.

He was ticked off.

It had to stop.

It was going to stop.

Tonight. At Kade’s welcome home
dinner here at the ranch. Kerri was cooking. No way could he get out of this
one. And why should he? His best friend’s homecoming was a long time coming,
and Connor had to admit, at times he’d wondered if it would take place at all.

He’d kept up with the news feeds
and events most television stations didn’t air, and knew this deployment was
tougher than Kade’s last one. But it was officially over. His best friend was
officially home. Kevin and Jen had gone to the armory and brought their cousin
back to Shadow Rock this morning. Though Connor had already talked to Kade on
the phone, it would be great to see his buddy in person.

Leaving the stable, Connor was
walking toward the ranch just as Kerri pulled up. She got out and popped the
back of the SUV, and his gut tightened at the sight of her in a light purple
ribbed turtleneck, black leather jacket and jeans—
jeans
—hugging a
drool-worthy bottom.

His mouth dutifully watered.
Damn
it.

It was early February, but the sun
was out and glinting off of her long dark hair that formed a curtain around her
face as she reached into the back and pulled a long covered tin toward her.

 “Need any help?” He asked as he
came around to stand next to her, noticing the back was full of tins identical
to the one she almost dropped just now.

 “Connor!  You startled me.” Kerri stared
up at him through rounded eyes.

 “Sorry, didn’t mean to.” He sent
her a slight grin.

She was so beautiful. And he was
such a wuss. But he didn’t care. No. Right now, his mind was full of all the
indecent things he wanted to do to her.

“Yes.”

He blinked. “Yes?”
Good Lord
.
It was his turn to be startled as his heart hammered out of his chest.

She frowned at him like he’d lost
his senses. “Yes, I could use the help.”

“Oh, sure,” he stammered. She was
right, he’d lost his senses. They were stolen, and she was the damn thief.

“Emma asked me to bring these over
to put in the refrigerator so we can get an early start on them tonight,” Kerri
graciously informed while he managed to juggle the trays and open the front door.
“Jordan will be by shortly with the rest.”

“You mean there’s more?”

“Of course.” Her tone indicated she
now thought he was crazy.

Again, she was right again.

Connor lifted the tins he carried
and inhaled as he followed her into his kitchen. Barbeque. “Mmm…smells good.”

“Thanks.”

A blush colored her beautiful face.
The woman really was making a habit of stealing his breath.

Damn thief
.

“Some of these Jordan and I are
thinking about putting on the menu of our restaurant.”

“Well, if it tastes half as good as
it smells, I’d say you have a winner.” Connor smiled down at her as he placed
his trays on the counter.

Her blush deepened, adding a
sparkle to her eyes. Like he needed that. Cripes. He had to hold back to keep from
touching her.

He failed.

When the tray wobbled in her arms,
he had every intention of just grabbing the damn thing and placing it near the
others on the counter. But no. His knuckles had to brush the soft inner side of
her arm. And her lips had to part in a soft gasp.

One he could maybe
—
maybe
—
fight, but both? Hell no. He was sunk. Connor set the food
down as planned, but then reached out and wrapped his fingers around her wrist,
rubbing his thumb over her pulse point. It leapt.

His pulse jumped in response.

And then her eyes, God, those big,
beautiful chocolate brown eyes stared up at him, brimming with uncertainty and,
heaven help him, blatant need.

She swayed toward him.

“Connor.” Emma smiled as she walked
into the room. “I was just going to call to ask you to help Kerri, but I see
you’ve already started.”

Kerri jumped and would’ve backed
up, but Connor held tight, grin tugging his lips.

“No problem. I’m all over it,” he
informed, never taking his eyes off the beauty, and he stood fascinated as her
blush deepened.

“I’m sure you are, big guy.” The
older cook chuckled as she slapped his back and pushed him toward the door.
“Now, go get the rest.”

A few more trips and they were
done. Emma already had most of it neatly stored in the industrial size freezer
by the time Jordan arrived with the rest.

“Hi, everyone,” she greeted with a
cheerful smile and her hands full of trays.

“Let me help you with that.” Connor
quickly took them from her and placed them on the counter where Emma and Kerri
were standing.

“Thanks, big guy,” Jordan said. “You sure are handy to have around.”

“You bet I am, sweetheart. I’m the
master of many talents.” He winked, and then grinned when the three ladies
smirked. “Where’s my brother? Shouldn’t he be helping you?”

Jordan shook her head. “No. He’s at
work finishing up his codes.” Her smile turned wicked. “I want his undivided
attention on our two week honeymoon.”  

He chuckled. “Jordan, believe me. With you in a
negligee, my brother is
not
going to be thinking about codes!”

“Negligee? Do you know something I
don’t, Connor?” His soon to be sister-in-law studied him with a curious gaze.

He held in his grin. “Could be.”

“I guess I’ll have to wait and see.”

Connor kept his expression neutral
as he went out to grab the final two trays. He had no idea if his brother had
gotten Jordan any type of negligee, but she didn’t need to know that, and he
loved that he had the clever woman guessing.  

“That’s the last of them,” he
informed Emma and Kerri as he placed the final tray down.

“Thanks again, Connor. You can go
now. We don’t need you anymore,” Kerri told him.

As he watched her place the last tin
in the refrigerator, he couldn’t fight the urge to tease. She might reward him
with another blush.

Dropping his shoulders and pulling
his brows together, he hoped to come across dejected. “What? That’s it?  No
kiss? Just wham bam thank you ma’am? You use me for manual labor, and once you
got what you want, you just discard me without giving thought to what I want, or
my needs?”

“Your
needs
? Oh Lordy,
Connor. It would take all of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders to satisfy
your
needs,” Kerri stated, then promptly turned a deep shade of red.

God, she’s adorable
. He
wanted to eat her up, and well, maybe just start with the eat part. Yeah, he
liked that part.

“Now, darlin’, you are seriously underestimating
your powers.”

Connor watched as a flash of
sadness skittered through her brown eyes. What the hell? He stared at her, but
the puzzle remained. She gave nothing away. Just what the hell went on between
her and her ex-husband? Surely the guy knew what a beautiful, vibrant and
passionate women he had there. Cripes. If she were his woman, he’d never let
her doubt that, and he would show…

“He’s right, Kerri,” Jordan agreed,
and he felt some of the tension ease from his body. “Oh, I almost forgot to
tell you, Duke Carver called just before I left the house. He said he’d call
you back later.”

Connor sucked in a sharp breath,
and his head snapped in Kerri’s direction. To his horror, he watched her blush
as if pleased with this news.
Hell no
. She was not going to have
anything to do with that man.

“Kerri, you can’t go out with him,”
Connor told her. The man was the biggest jackass in Harland County. No way was he going to let him anywhere near Kerri.

“Excuse me?” Her gaze narrowed, and
a shaft of anger flittered through her eyes.

“I said you can’t go out with him.”

“Oh, well then, that’s different.
Since Connor said not to go out with him, I won’t go out with him.” As she
spoke, she tossed her hands in the air and turned around to look at her sister
and Emma who remained silently smiling.

Not sure where Kerri was heading
with that statement, he waited for her to face him. “Good.”

“Good?” She blinked.

Okay, maybe not good.

“I’m sorry, I must have missed
something, Connor. Since when did you own me?” she asked while walking toward
him finger pointed. “I can go out with
whomever
I want.”