even pucker up when we get home, so that could be your good-night kiss,” he told her when it ended.
“I don’t believe that for a minute.” She picked up a roll of blue painter’s tape from the cabinet and grabbed his hand. “If we ever expect to go home, we’d better get busy.”
“Bossy, ain’t you?” He let her lead him into the bedroom.
“Yes, I am.” She grinned.
There was no way Kayla couldn’t notice Will’s muscular thighs, not in the cramped bathroom space—not when all she had to do was turn her head slightly and they were right there. He was wearing a pair of jean shorts that already had paint stains on them and a T-shirt that was printed with a sign saying that Will was a 1989 model that was aged to perfection and still had all the original parts. A slow heat started up the back of her neck when she let her mind wander to all of his parts—especially those covered by his shirt and shorts.
She shook her head to get rid of the vision of his body without that T-shirt or shorts. Lord have mercy! She’d vowed not to trust a man again, and now Will Barton had stirred up emotions in her that she’d thought had died.
“So you’ve been teaching Sunday school since we graduated?” She did her best to keep her eyes on the taping job instead of sneaking peeks at his body.
“Yep,” he answered. “My mama and daddy both taught a class, and when I graduated, I wanted to help out like they did. I took online college courses so I could stay home and help them while I got a business degree, and I taught my class of second and third graders on Sundays.”
Kayla could tell by the tone of his voice that he dearly loved his family and his class of little kids. “Ever think of having kids of your own someday?”
“Have you?” He looked down at her.
“I’ve always been afraid I’d be a terrible mother,” she blurted out.
“Why would you feel like that? Miss Janie mothered all of us at school and you at home, too. She was tough, but there wasn’t a one of us, rich or poor, that doubted her love for us.”
“I never knew my biological father. He got my mother pregnant, then got killed. Mama married my stepdad before I was born, and they had a couple of kids, but . . .” She stopped. “This isn’t important at all.”
Will sat down beside her. “If it has to do with you, then it’s important, because you are.”
“Okay, then.” She smiled. “My stepdad and my mother constantly reminded me that I should be grateful that someone was willing to adopt an ugly mixed-race kid like me.”
“Was the man blind?” Will raised his voice a notch. “You are beautiful, Kayla Green.”
“No. His vision was fine until he got drunk,” Kayla answered. “His brother or uncle or someone in his family got him a job in California, and at the end of summer they moved. They said there wasn’t room for me in the car and they’d send money for me to come on the bus in a couple of weeks. The food ran out, and the landlord kicked me out when I couldn’t pay the rent. Social Services stepped in, and Miss Janie said she’d foster me. I was almost fifteen at the time.”
“Holy hell!” Will gasped. “If my mama had known that, she would have brought you home with us.”
“I’m glad she didn’t.” Kayla grinned.
“Why’s that?” Will stood up and began to roll paint again.
“Because we’d be kind of like brother and sister right now if she had,” Kayla answered.
“You got a point there.”
He finished painting the bathroom and then added, “Think that maybe I could talk you into dinner on Sunday after church? I’d like you to meet my folks. You’ll love them.”
“Will Barton, are you totally insane?” she asked.
“Nope, and I know because Mama had me tested when I was a little boy,” he joked. “But why would you ask?”
“Think about what I told you about my folks. I would imagine that your mama lived in Sulphur Springs her whole life. She would remember my mother and all the scandal. I’m not like my mother, and I’m comfortable in my skin these days, but are you sure about this?” She sighed.
“That’s funny as hell,” Will said. “Did you ever meet my mama or my daddy?”
Kayla’s brow wrinkled as she tried to remember if she’d seen