Loving Cara Read online

He’s going to be a knockout someday.

  And right now he’s scowling at me.

  “Hi, Seth. I’m Cara.”

  “What is it, Cara or Ms. Donovan?” he asks defiantly.

  “Seth!” Josh begins, but I interrupt him. Seth isn’t the first difficult child I’ve come across.

  “Since it’s summer, and I’m in your home, it’s Cara. But if you see me at school, it’s Ms. Donovan. Sound fair?”

  Seth shrugs his slim shoulders and twists his lips as if he wants to say something smart but doesn’t dare in his uncle’s company.

  Smart kid.

  “Where do you want us?” I ask Josh, who is still glaring at Seth. They’re clearly frustrated with each other.

  “You can sit at the kitchen table. The house is empty during the day since I’m out working, so you shouldn’t be interrupted.” Josh motions for us to go in ahead of him, and as I walk past, he reaches out to pull my hair. “What happened to your curls?”

  “I voted them off the island,” I reply dryly, then almost trip as he laughs, sending shivers down my spine.

  He leans in and whispers, “I liked them.”

  I shrug and follow Seth to the kitchen. “I didn’t.”

  Josh’s home is spacious; the floor plan is open from the living area right inside the front door through to the eat-in kitchen with its maple cabinets the color of honey and smooth, light granite countertops. The windows are wide and I can see all over the property from inside the main room.

  I immediately feel at home here, despite the obvious bachelor-pad feel to it. Large, brown leather couches face a floor-to-ceiling river-rock fireplace with a flat-screen TV mounted above it. Fishing, hunting, and men’s-health magazines are scattered on the coffee table, along with an empty coffee mug. Not a throw pillow or knickknack to be found anywhere.

  Typical guy.

  Seth pulls a chair away from the table and plops down in it, resting his head on his folded arms.

  “Seth, sit up.” Josh is exasperated and Seth just sinks deeper into his slouch.

  “I think we’re good to go.” I grin at Josh but he scowls.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yep, we’re good. You get to work and leave us be so we can too.”

  I turn my back on him, dismissing him, and begin pulling worksheets, pens, and a book out of my bag.

  “I’ll be working nearby today, so just call my cell if you need me.”

  “Fine.” I wave him off, not looking over at him. I sense him still standing behind me. Finally I turn and raise an eyebrow. “You’re still here.”

  He’s watching me carefully, leaning against the countertop, his rough hands tucked in his pockets. My eyes are drawn to his biceps, straining against the sleeves of his tee. “You got really pushy.”

  “I’m a teacher. It’s either be pushy or die a long, slow death. Now go. We have work to do today.”

  “You’ll have lunch with us before you go.” Josh pushes himself away from the counter and saunters to the front door, grabs an old, faded-green baseball cap, and settles it backward on his head. “I’m pushy too.”

  He grins and that dimple winks at me before he leaves the house, shutting the door behind him.

  Good God, I will not be able to focus if he doesn’t leave us be while I’m here.

  “You ready to get to work?” I ask Seth, thumbing through my writing worksheets until I find the one I want.

  “This is a waste of time,” he grumbles.

  “Why do you say that?”

  He shrugs again and buries his face in his arms.

  “Well, I don’t consider it a waste of time. What’s your favorite subject?”

  No answer.

  “Least favorite?”

  No answer.

  “I personally like math, but I always sucked at it.”

  Seth shifts his head slightly and one eye peeks at me.

  “Are you good at math?” I ask him.

  “It’s easy.”

  “Not for me.” I sigh.

  “But you’re a teacher.” Seth finally sits up and frowns at me.

  “That doesn’t mean I’m good at everything. Teachers aren’t superhuman or anything.”

  “I can do math.”

  “Okay, let’s start there.”

  Seth eyes me for a minute and then shrugs. It seems shrugging is his favorite form of communication.

  “Are you really going to stay and have lunch?”

  “Does that make you uncomfortable?” I pass him the math worksheet.

  “No, I don’t care.” He picks up a pencil and starts marking the sheet, digging right in, and I grin.

  “Does the food suck?”

  “No, Gram packs us a lunch every day.”

  “Well then, I’ll stay.”

  His lips twitch, but he doesn’t smile—yet somehow I think I just won a big battle.

  * * *

  “So, looks like fried chicken and potato salad, homemade rolls, and fruit.” Josh pulls the last of the food out of the ice chest and passes Seth a Coke.

  “Your mom goes all out.”

  “She’s been making lunch for ranch hands for almost forty years. It’s habit.”

  We’re sitting on Josh’s back patio. It’s partially covered, with a hanging swing on one side and a picnic table on the other and looks out over a large meadow where cattle are grazing.

  “Do you get a lot of deer back here?” I ask.

  He nods and swallows. “Usually in the evening and very early mornings. A moose walked through last week.”

  “That was cool,” Seth murmurs, and Josh looks up in surprise.

  Does Seth never talk to him?

  “Yeah, it was,” Josh agrees softly.

  “Do you fish?” Seth asks me as he takes a big bite out of a chicken breast, sending golden pieces of fried batter down the front of his shirt. His dark hair is a bit too long and falls over one eye. I grin at him. He’s adorable.

  “No. I hate fishing.”

  “How can you hate to fish?!” Seth exclaims, as if I’d just admitted to hating ice cream.

  “It’s dirty.” I wrinkle my nose and Josh bursts out laughing.

  “Everything here is dirty, sweetheart.” Josh shakes his head and nudges me lightly with his elbow.

  He’s such a flirt!

  “But you live in Montana!” Seth exclaims, examining me as if I were a science project, his chicken momentarily forgotten.

  “I live in town, Seth. Always have. My dad loves to fish. I just never really got into it.” I shrug and take a bite of delicious homemade potato salad.

  “But you like horses, right?” He shovels a heaping forkful of potato salad into his mouth.

  “I’ve never ridden one.” I chuckle and shake my head as I watch him eat. “Are they starving you here, Seth? The way you’re eating, you’d think you haven’t seen food in days.”

  Seth just blinks at me. He slowly smiles, but I cut him off before he can voice the idea I can see forming in that sharp brain of his.

  “I’m not getting on a horse.”

  “Why not?” Josh asks with a broad smile.

  “Well . . .” I look back and forth between the two guys and then sigh when I can’t come up with a good reason not to. “I’m not dressed for riding.”

  Josh’s gaze falls to my red sundress before his brown eyes find mine again. “Wear jeans tomorrow.”

  “I’m not here to learn how to ride a horse, I’m here to teach Seth.”

  “No reason that you can’t do both,” Josh replies with a grin, and winks at me, his dimple creasing his cheek, waking those butterflies in my stomach.

  “Am I keeping you from work?” I change the subject and pop a piece of watermelon in my mouth, doing my best not to squirm in my chair.

  “I have to go paint the fence,” Seth mutters, and swigs down the last of his Coke, making me laugh.

  “What?” he asks.

  “When I drove up to the house and saw the white fence, I thought to mysel
f, ‘I don’t envy the person who has to paint this every couple of years.’ ”

  “It was either paint the fence or shovel the horse shit,” Seth replies matter-of-factly.

  “Mouth!” Josh scowls, pinning Seth with a look, and Seth rolls his eyes.

  “Horse crap.”

  “I think I’d take the fence too,” I agree, but Seth just shrugs his thin shoulders and frowns. “You look so much like your dad.” I shake my head and reach for another piece of watermelon before I realize that both Seth and Josh have gone still.

  “I do not,” Seth whispers.

  “Well, you look just like your uncle Josh, and Josh and Zack are twins, so . . .” I tilt my head to one side and watch Seth’s face tighten.

  “I’m nothing like my dad,” he insists.

  “Okay, I’m sorry.”

  Seth pins me with a scowl, then grabs his trash and lets himself into the house to dump it, stalks through the house, and slams the front door behind him.

  “I’m sorry,” I whisper again.

  “It’s okay. He’s pissed at my brother. Won’t talk about it, just won’t have anything at all to do with him.” Josh purses his lips and sighs, still watching the path Seth took through the house. My eyes are glued to his lips and I’m mortified to realize that I want him to kiss me.

  And not just a sweet thank-you-for-teaching-my-nephew kiss, but a long, slow kiss that lasts forever and makes me forget how to breathe. I want to sink my fingers into his thick, dark hair and feel his large, callused hands glide down my back as he pulls me against him.

  I want him to touch me.

  Josh begins to pack up the remains of our lunch and I take a deep breath and join him.

  “When he smiled at you earlier? That’s the first time I’ve seen him smile since he’s been here.”

  “Josh, I’m so sorry. He’s a great kid, and he’s really smart. I think we’ll have him back on track with his grades without a problem.”

  “Thank you.” Josh replaces the lid on the fruit and throws it in the cooler. “You know, Kyle didn’t tell me who he was sending out here. I was surprised when I saw it was you.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m glad you’re here. I wasn’t kidding before—you look fantastic.”

  I blush and concentrate on rewrapping the chicken and placing it in the cooler.

  “I’m not a hermit, Josh. Like I said before, you’ve seen me around.”

  “In passing. Not like this. I like it.”

  I stand up and cross my arms over my chest, then frown when he stands too and is more than a foot taller than me.

  I’ve always been so damn short.

  “Are you flirting with me?” I ask.

  “Maybe.” He pushes the lid down on the ice chest, then moves around the table to stand right next to me, and I have to tilt my head way back to see his eyes. “You always were a little thing.”

  “Little?! Oh my God.” I giggle and throw a hand over my mouth. “I’m just short. Hell, in high school I was f—”

  “If you say fat, I will take you over my knee, Carolina. You were not fat then, you’re not fat now, and next to me, you are tiny.” He sets his mouth in a disapproving line and pulls on a lock of my hair. “Your pretty blond hair is soft.”

  “Don’t f-flirt with me,” I stutter halfheartedly. Instead of moving away, I sway toward him, my heart racing.

  “Why not?” He grins and continues to gently pull my hair between his thumb and forefinger, watching the strands as they fall out of his grasp.

  “Because I’m your employee for the summer, and I like my job. It’s not like there are dozens of middle schools here in town that I can work at if I get fired.” I step away, pulling myself together, doing my best to remind myself of the blonde I saw leaving his house this morning and how I do not want to be another notch in Josh King’s bedpost. I open his sliding screen door and gather my tote bag and purse and turn to find him standing right behind me again. “I have to go.”

  He sighs, props his hands on his hips, and looks as if he wants to say more, so I turn on my heel and walk briskly to the door.

  “I’ll walk you out,” he mutters, and walks quickly to keep up with me. He holds his front door open for me, and I feel his hand on my lower back as he guides me to my little blue car.

  He opens the door for me and settles my bags into the passenger seat.

  “You’re very chivalrous,” I inform him dryly.

  As I move to sit in the driver’s seat, he runs his hand down my bare arm, very much as he did with Blondie this morning, and smiles.

  “Thanks for doing this, Cara. Don’t forget to wear jeans tomorrow.” With that he winks and shuts my door, stepping back to watch me drive away.

  Looks like I’ll be wearing shorts tomorrow.

  CHAPTER

  Two

  “Where are your jeans?” Josh asks as he meets me at my car the following morning.

  “These are jeans.” I pull my tote bag out of the car and walk toward the front door of his house. “Is Seth here yet?”

  “No, he’ll be a few minutes. I have him feeding the dogs at the big house.”

  “Okay.”

  “Those are not jeans.” Josh is scowling down at my denim shorts as if they were the devil incarnate.

  “They’re denim.”

  He narrows his chocolate eyes at me, but I see the humor there, and my stomach clenches.

  I love riling this guy up.

  “Fine, they’ll have to do. Go ahead and get settled, Seth will be here in a minute. I have to ride out with a few of the guys to repair a fence, so I’ll see you at lunchtime.” He pulls on some gloves and settles his green baseball cap on his head.

  “You don’t wear cowboy hats?” I ask without thinking.

  “Not usually. I have one, if you’d rather I wear it.” He smirks.

  “No, just curious,” I mumble, and head toward the house.

  “Don’t leave before I get back. I have plans for you.”

  He grins wide, winks, and saunters off toward the massive barn that sits between his house and the big house.

  Well, isn’t that view nice? His Levi’s hug his ass perfectly and sit low on his hips, and as he walks, I can see his buttocks and thighs flex.

  Dear God, I’m lusting after a rancher.

  Pulling myself together, I go inside and begin pulling out materials for today’s lesson.

  Do I even want to get on a horse?

  Not really.

  But I have a feeling these two guys are going to talk me into it.

  The front door bursts open and Seth strolls in. “I’d rather be helping the guys with the fences today.”

  “I’d rather be lying on a beach in Hawaii today, but neither of us is going to get our wish.” I sigh and gesture for him to sit, pulling the book he’ll be reading this summer out of my tote bag. “This is going to be your homework.”

  “I’m going to have homework?” he asks, shocked. “But it’s summer!”

  “I’ll make sure you finish all of the worksheets while I’m here each day, but I also want you to read this book, and we’ll talk about it every day so I know you’re reading it.”

  “I hate the books the school makes us read,” he grumbles. I smirk and mentally agree. Some of the mandatory reading material is dry, and I understand why the kids don’t go crazy about it.

  “This isn’t a book the school would make you read. It’s a book for fun, and I’m going to read it with you.”

  “Really?” This piques his interest and he takes the book from me. It’s Exiled by M. R. Merrick.

  “Really. This book is science fiction, and it’s about a boy who has to deal with demons and hunters and all kinds of stuff. I think it’s going to be fun.”

  “It’ll probably suck,” he states defiantly, but he flips the book over and immediately begins reading the blurb on the back.

  Adolescent boys are fun.

  “You’re right, it probably will suck,
but we can talk about all of its suckiness together.” I smile sweetly and push a math worksheet under his nose, hand him a pencil, and we get started with today’s lesson.

  Halfway through fractions, my phone chirps with an incoming text. Seth is hard at work and not paying any attention to me, so I quickly check it and smile when I see Jilly’s name.

  What are you doing?

  Typical Jill, just get right to the point.

  Good morning. I’m working. What are you doing?

  I set the phone aside and check Seth’s work. All of the answers are correct, and he’s worked through them quickly.

  “Impressive,” I murmur with a grin. “You were right, you are good at math, Seth.”

  His lips twitch, as though he wants to smile, but he keeps his eyes on the paper, working diligently, and mutters, “Thanks.”

  I give him another worksheet with more of the same type of problems just as my phone chirps.

  Just closed on a house & on my way to show another. Miss u. Talk soon?

  I smile and respond. Miss u too. Call me.

  Glancing up while tucking my phone back in my pocket, I see Josh riding to the back fence of his house with two other guys. The horses are beautiful, two black and one white with red patches. The guys are dripping in sweat, dirt clinging to their clothes and skin. They stop to talk, pointing to various parts of the ranch and even laughing once in a while.

  While still in the saddle, Josh pulls his cap off, pushes his hand through his sweaty hair, then pulls his T-shirt over his head to wipe his face with it.

  Holy Mary, mother of God.

  Wow.

  He’s more than built. His muscles are toned and defined, thanks to all the work he does on the ranch. He has an amazing abdomen, and I can see the top of a sexy V rising out of the waist of his jeans, but it’s his arms and shoulders that have me mesmerized and my panties suddenly soaked.

  His biceps have to be the size of my thighs, and not in a gross he’s-gotta-be-on-steroids way. I wonder what it would be like to have those arms wrapped around me, to feel the muscles flex beneath my hands.

  His shoulders are broad and tanned, and he has just a light sprinkle of dark hair over his chest.

  I could eat him with a spoon.

  Josh pulls a bottle of water out of a saddlebag, takes a drink, and then laughs at one of the other guys. He swings his leg over the horse, dismounting easily, ties the rein to the fence, and waves as his companions ride off toward the barn.