Hard to Resist - By Kara Lennox Page 0,36
the remnants of his citrus aftershave and… Spices. Rosemary, garlic, marjoram. He’d been cooking. She’d never known a guy who cooked, other than the occasional steak or burger.
“I could split the cost of the puppy’s…”
“Don’t even think about it.”
She sighed. “I’m doing it again.”
“So am I. We’re a pair, huh?” He stroked her hair, seeming perfectly content to sit there, enjoying the evening breeze, listening to the chimney swifts as they darted and swooped overhead.
After several minutes, with a gentle hand on her chin, Ethan tipped her face up toward his, and she knew he was going to kiss her—and she knew she was going to let him. She felt more connected to Ethan at this moment than she had to any other man, ever. A warm glow descended on her, on them, and she eagerly met his mouth with hers.
Kat pulled away a few seconds later. “We have to stop.”
“I know,” he said.
“We need to take this slow, anyway,” she said apologetically.
“I know that, too. I don’t want to make any more false moves.”
“When Samantha goes to stay with her father, maybe we can go on a date—a real date.”
* * *
ETHAN’S HOUSE was dark and quiet, now that the puppy had finally gone to sleep in her crate with the aid of an old alarm clock and a hot water bottle. But Ethan was too wound up to sleep.
He still couldn’t believe how well things had ended up today, given how badly they’d gone earlier.
He’d learned an important lesson. Kat really, really didn’t like him to make decisions for her. She wasn’t just protesting about the gifts because she was polite or because she didn’t believe she deserved them.
He actually offended her by giving her things she could acquire for herself and diminished her by giving her things she couldn’t otherwise have—like a dog for her child. He made her feel as if he thought she was weak and incompetent to manage her life.
He was only coming to realize just exactly how strong—and strong-willed—she was. He had to learn to respect Kat’s castle walls. He’d never met a woman so determined to stand alone, to take care of herself and her child with no help or interference. But that was her right, and he had to respect it.
He considered it a minor miracle that she was willing to let him get this close, this fast. And a real gift that Samantha was coming to accept him in her life, too. But he was going to blow it if he didn’t back off trying to “fix” her life, a life she obviously believed did not need fixing.
Strange how things happened for a reason. He would never in a million years have wished illness on a child, but at least Samantha’s asthma attack had defused his and Kat’s tempers and forced them to see how unreasonable their behavior was.
Ethan managed to catch a few hours’ sleep before his shift. He showered, shaved and changed into his uniform, then tucked the pup under his arm and walked the two blocks to the station.
He arrived early, hoping to slip Winnie back into the dog run with Daisy before anyone saw him. The pup couldn’t stay by herself for twenty-four hours until she was older, and he didn’t think asking Kat to care for her would go over well.
That would come in time.
Jim Peterson had brought a dozen tomato plants to put in the garden out back and after breakfast, when Captain Campeon was handing out tasks for the day, Ethan offered to transplant them.
“Then who’s going to scrub the toilets?” the captain asked with a straight face, before he actually smiled. “Nah, go ahead.”
“I was gonna do the garden,” Peterson objected. “No one’s touched it since Dave Latier…”
Ethan hadn’t realized he would be stepping on anyone’s toes or disrespecting one of the fallen firefighters. But that was exactly what Jim Peterson thought. A couple of the others agreed, if the resentful glances shooting his way meant anything.
“I’m sure there’s no shortage of gardening to be done,” the captain said mildly, refusing to involve himself.
Ethan would have gladly given the garden task to Peterson, if it would keep the peace, but the other man stomped out of the dining hall.
Ethan was stuck with the chore now.
Actually, he loved digging in the dirt. He loved the scent of freshly mown grass and the satisfaction of growing fat beefsteak tomatoes and bell peppers. As he worked to clear debris from last year’s garden, he shook