Page 22 of The Fugitive Cowboy's Baby
“Yes, it is. Stop doubting me already. It’s getting old. Now, let’s get going on the first coat.”
He drove with her to the cabin that was only primed, parked, and took out the tools he’d gotten to paint. At the hardware store, Kat hadn’t even really been able to identify all of them, but Cole seemed to know what he wanted, so Kat had gone along with it. Now he offered her two options. “You want to handle the brush or the sprayer?”
“Uh…” She hesitated to take either. “Which one’s easier for a beginner?”
“That depends,” he said. “The sprayer is easier because it gets more done in a shorter amount of time.” Kat reached for it, but then Cole finished his thought. “But you can also do more damage in a shorter amount of time.”
She abandoned her grab for the sprayer and snatched the paintbrush instead. “I’ll handle the trim then.”
He chuckled, set down the sprayer, and started prying open one of the paint cans. “It’s already primed,” he said, “so we can start the fun part right away.” When he had the tray and sprayer prepped for painting, he turned to Kat and asked, “Are you wearing clothes you don’t care about?”
Kat looked down at her outfit. The truth was, she didn’t have any clothes she didn’t care about. She wasn’t the type of person to save an old shirt because she might need to get messy in it someday. “I… don’t…”
“Do you need to change, or is this what you’re painting in?” he asked.
She nodded. It wasn’t her favorite outfit after all. It was just something she put on to go to the hardware store. “I mean, I guess I can paint in this,” she concluded. “No big deal. This can be my painting outfit.”
He narrowed his eyes at her after giving her a thorough up and down. “It’s missing something, though.”
The mischief in his eyes should have told her exactly what he was thinking, but she wasn’t really paying attention, so she asked, “What?” Quicker than she could react, he pointed the nozzle of the paint sprayer at her legs and shot a mist of ruby red at her off-white pants. “Hey!” she shouted. “What was that for?”
“It was for you, obviously,” he said with a smile. “Now your outfit is complete, and you can paint without worrying about potentially ruining it.”
It took her about thirty seconds to get over her shock. “Excuse me? And what about you?” She gave him the same up-and-down look he had given her. That twinkle in his eye got brighter when he saw her pick up her paintbrush and load it with cherry red paint. She didn’t hesitate. She approached him with the brush and drew a long red line down his shirt, from his collar to his belt.
Far from looking angry, Cole burst out laughing. He was more playful than Kat’s first impression led her to believe. He patted his chest with one hand. “Good one,” he said. Then he came closer, so close that Kat actually took a step back. Her heart was pounding by the time he reached up and cradled her face.
The closer they came to each other, the more Kat became convinced they were on a path they couldn’t deviate from. A magnetism between them grew more and more powerful with every inch, every centimeter. She was certain he felt what she did, and then she realized that the hand he had against her face was the same one he had dipped into the paint on his shirt. He wasn’t falling in love; he was getting even.
She immediately pulled back, feeling like an idiot and a terrible person to boot. Of course he wasn’t about to kiss her. He was her employee, and she was his boss. It was not appropriate at all, and he had probably realized that well before she did. To cover her embarrassing misunderstanding, she brushed more paint onto his shirt and arms, laughing.
“Got you!” she said.
“I guess you did.” He chuckled and turned away toward the cabin. “Now, let’s get this project done. Can’t waste all the paint before the building’s covered.”
He was covering for her. He had to be. Kat was grateful, but she couldn’t stop blushing like crazy. How had she honestly misread the situation so thoroughly? She got to work painting the trim to avoid any further conversation about what had just happened, but she couldn’t stop thinking about how close he was, the way his breath felt on her skin, the heat of his body reaching across the space between them to find her.
The first coat on the red building was finished by sundown, and Kat went to bed that night still agonizing over what she had almost done. There was, of course, the embarrassment, but also a little regret. If he had gone in for a kiss, she wouldn’t have hesitated to kiss him back. It would have been his choice, so she would have felt a bit better about their positions.
She tossed and turned so much that night that she wondered whether she would be able to fall asleep at all. Even when she finally awoke the next morning, she dreaded seeing his face. But when she finally did leave the trailer to work on something other than the budget, he treated her exactly the way he had before. It was as though nothing had happened between them. Kat had no idea whether what she was feeling was relief or disappointment.
CHAPTER 11
COLE
For several years now, Cole had avoided spending more than a month or two in one place. He moved around about as much as he could without running out of cash. As long as he’d been living like this, he’d actually started to get used to it, never really missing a place once he’d moved on from it. This time, though, he got the very real impression he would miss this place. Or he’d miss its owner, more accurately.
He pushed it out of his mind for the time being. In the distance, he saw evidence that the weather was about to turn ugly. The only thing he wanted to worry about right now was getting back to the hotel before dark. Of course, though, his engine wouldn’t start. It struggled a few times, and then it wouldn’t even try.
“Perfect,” he said, rolling his eyes. This could have happened in town, and he would have someone nearby to call. But it had to happen out in the middle of nowhere. Correction. There was someone nearby to call, but that person was the one he’d been trying to avoid talking to for the last twenty-four hours. After the first coat was on the red cabin, he suggested they work on the other two separately. Splitting up would improve theirefficiency, he’d said, which was a complete lie. It would have been better if he’d stayed with her to supervise and answer questions. But he was worried they would come together again, and he’d be tempted like he was before.
As prickly as his exterior was, Cole Bartow had a marshmallow center. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt this woman when he knew any kind of relationship between them was impossible. He hated to see a woman cry. He hated to see a broken heart. And one of the best ways to avoid that very thing was to discourage anyone from getting attached to him. This had been the unavoidable truth since he started his nomadic life, and it was one he never tried to ignore or fool himself about. It was too risky.
He climbed out of his truck and popped the hood. Luckily, he wasn’t completely ignorant about vehicles, but he also wasn’t any kind of professional mechanic. Thinking it could possibly be his battery, he brought out the portable jump starter and gave it a whirl. Nothing happened. So it wasn’t the battery. “It must be the starter,” he mumbled. And then, as though the universe was well aware of his situation and shooting for the best comedic timing, the downpour began.
In seconds, he was drenched. And that was when Kat came outside to check on him. “Hey, what’s going on?” she asked because, of course, he was supposed to be gone already. “Are you OK?”
“I’m fine,” Cole answered, pushing his dripping hair out of his face. “Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for my truck here.”
