“What?” she asked.
“You’re so beautiful.”
She raised her glass to her lips and took a drink. He could handle that, but when she ran her tongue across her lips to catch that last drop of wine, he couldn’t resist leaning forward and brushing his lips across hers.
“Sweet,” he said, stroking her neck.
She took a step back. “I’m…I’m sorry if I gave the impression that there would be more to this than…than sharing a meal and discussing the spa. Maybe we should leave our talk until tomorrow.” She hurried away before he could stop her.
“No, I’m sorry,” he muttered. Why the hell had he kissed her? But, then, he thought he knew the answer. She was young and beautiful and like no one he’d ever met.
And he’d ruined it by acting like a fool.
Or maybe not. For just a second he was almost certain she’d returned his kiss.
Chapter 18
Nikki dragged her eyelids open and stared at the clock as she waited for her eyes to adjust so she could read the numbers. It was seven. Something was different about this morning. But what?
She shoved the cover back and forced herself to sit on the side of the bed. Oh, Lord, every muscle in her body ached. Who knew riding a horse could make a person this sore. She’d only thought milking and churning butter was bad. Okay, churning butter was still a horrible memory.
It suddenly occurred to her what was different. The rooster hadn’t crowed. She came wide awake.
Oh no, what if it had died during the night? Guilt washed over her as she hobbled out of bed and stumbled to the front door, sighing with relief when she saw the bird.
Romeo strutted back and forth in front of Bessie Two’s pen. Well, as much as he could since he still listed to the side. But he was alive, and that’s what counted.
She stepped to the front porch. The fresh air was crisp and there was even a clean freshness carried on the light breeze.
Birds were singing and a squirrel jumped from tree to tree. Warmth spread through her. So maybe the country wasn’t so bad after all.
Yeah, as if she didn’t know the real reason why she felt as if she were walking on clouds: Cal. He’d brought something new and wonderful to her life.
Fantastic orgasms!
No, no it was more than that.
She closed her eyes for a moment and remembered how it felt to have him hold her close, brush his lips across hers, and make sweet love to her while skinny dipping in the pond.
Life was suddenly very, very good. More than reporting the news, more than going after the story. More than the cutthroat world. Excitement bubbled inside her and she just couldn’t keep it bottled up a second longer.
She swung her arms wide and welcomed this new day with joy. “Good morning, world!”
The rooster jumped three feet off the ground, turned and saw her, then began to squawk in his soprano crow.
“Cock! Cock! Cock!”
Wings flapping he made a beeline around the side of the barn.
“Moooooo,” Bessie Two reprimanded.
The birds grew silent and the squirrel stopped to look at her as though she’d lost her mind.
Nikki slunk back inside the house. Okay, so maybe she’d been a little too energetic in her appreciation of the start of a new day. It was all Cal’s fault that she was so giddy. He’d cast some kind of spell over her.
She wouldn’t let the way he made her feel sway her from the reason she was here. Maybe she was just discovering there was more to life than her job. She could have both. Couldn’t she-relaxation and work? Yes, of course she could.
She quickly pulled on clothes and made a fast trip to the outhouse. She was back in the cabin and just finishing off a soda and a Danish when she heard Cal’s pickup. She quickly shoved the last bite in her mouth and downed the rest of her drink before throwing her trash into a bag and hiding it in the cabinet.
She was just too damned good, although she was starting to get tired of ham sandwiches for lunch and dinner, and pastry for breakfast.
She grabbed the bucket and went to the front porch. “I was just going to start the milking,” she lied. “Isn’t it a beautiful day?” And it was, so she really wasn’t lying about that.
But she couldn’t help thinking somebody somewhere was sipping a latte in a tiny bistro watching the traffic whizz by and thinking the same thing about it being a beautiful day.
He grinned and they walked toward the barn. “Yeah, it is,” he said.
But that person in the city wasn’t with Cal. Had she ever met a man more handsome? She didn’t think so. And he was so nice to show her everything there was to know about a long-ago era. If she had wanted to know about it, this would be the ideal situation.
“I didn’t ask-how long will you be visiting your brother?”
“Who knows? Maybe longer than I thought.”
“Don’t you have to get back? Isn’t there some kind of football training you have to go to?”
Silence.
She stopped and looked at him. “You’re still on the team, aren’t you?” He stopped walking, but didn’t answer. “I mean, you didn’t quit or anything, did you?” What if Cynthia’s father had gotten him fired? Her daddy was a powerful man.
“I’ve been thinking about retiring, taking things a little easier. A person can get knocked around only so many times before the body begins to protest.”
Now that was a juicy tidbit for her article.
“Any thoughts about marriage and kids?”
He started walking again, so she was forced to keep up with his longer strides. “Are you applying for the position?”
She laughed. “No. Like I said, that’s on the bottom of my list of things to do in this lifetime.”
They walked inside the barn and toward the back.
“No, just curious.” She smiled, sure she presented the picture of innocence. But when he looked at her, for just a brief second, she felt a pinch of guilt.
“Tell you what, you get the feed and I’ll start the milking,” he said.
He didn’t have to twist her arm. Besides, she needed to put a little space between them. She couldn’t feel guilty. That emotion was not allowed in her line of work. She was here to do a job, to get a story. If she started feeling guilty about what she needed to write, her career would soon be down the tube.
She took a deep, steady breath, trying to regroup her feelings. “You’re sure you want to do the milking?”
“Yeah.” Cal scooped some water in the bucket and squatted beside Bessie and began to wash her udders.
There was something different about Nikki but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was. She was still probing for answers, but that was nothing new. There for just a brief second, she’d looked a little…guilty?
Yeah, sure, he needed his eyes checked. Jeff was right about her being good, and Cal was seeing firsthand just how good.
But when they made love, he could forget all about why she was here. He had a feeling she did, too. He knew damned well she wasn’t faking her responses to his touch.
But what the hell was he doing offering to milk the blasted cow?
As though he didn’t know the answer to that one. When she’d walked out on the porch and the sun had bathed her in morning light, it had been all he could do to breathe. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
And for that moment in time, he’d pushed away the truth. That she was only here for a story and as soon as she got it, she’d leave in a flash. All the time they’d spent with each other would mean absolutely nothing to her. He was only a means to an end. The sex was great, but bye-bye, adios, so long. Just like all the other women he’d dated.
He finished washing the cow’s udders, tossed the water, and sat on the stool.
As he started milking, he thought he should probably have his head examined for thinking for one second she’d change her mind about writing her article, and until she’d started asking her questions this morning, he’d thought exactly that. Nikki was a reporter and she was just like all the rest of the reporters with whom he’d crossed paths.