his head lower. “Don’t I get a kiss for being so helpful?”
“I thought we weren’t doing that anymore,” Julia said tartly.
“Whatever gave you that idea?” he murmured as he kissed his way up her throat.
“You did.”
He grazed his teeth against her jaw, making her shiver. “I don’t remember saying that.”
Julia sighed, gave up the fight, and kissed him back. “You are so annoying.”
“True.” He carefully set her away from him. “Mike’s just about to arrive, so unless you want to give him a show, let’s save this for later, okay?”
“How do you know—?” She turned as a huge truck turned in through the gate. “Oh.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t hear him coming,” Kaiden said. “But, I guess you were so excited to be kissing me that everything else faded into the background.”
She kicked him in the shin. He might be right, but she certainly wasn’t going to admit it.
Mike was a big, redheaded guy with a long beard. He listened intently to all of them talking at once and somehow managed to understand everything they wanted in one go. Julia had no doubts he would be able to complete the job, and, as Juan knew his father, she was fairly certain he’d get it done as soon as possible.
While they were walking Mike through the house, Bernie, the electrician, arrived and joined the tour. He was also a good guy whom Kaiden said he’d worked with on several projects for the Morgantown Historical Society. When they reached the kitchen, Mike put his hand on one of the cabinets.
“I assume you’re going to change these out too?”
“Yeah,” Kaiden spoke up. “That part is on me.”
Juan clapped his hands. “That’s wonderful news. I can’t wait to see what you do, Kaiden.”
Julia met Kaiden’s gaze over her father’s head. “Are you sure you have time?”
He shrugged. “I’ll make time. This project is important.”
Thank you, she mouthed, and he winked at her.
Mike turned to Juan. “I can make a start this afternoon if you like, Mr. Garcia? You won’t be able to use your bathroom tonight, but I promise I won’t start on the other one until the master is fully functioning.”
* * *
Kaiden was still smiling as he drove home. He’d stayed and had coffee with the Garcias, made sure Mike and Bernie were happy with the plans, and kissed Julia good-bye for at least five minutes before he’d finally let her go. While he’d talked to Bernie, he’d started thinking about how he wanted the kitchen to look, and what kind of wood he would use for the best finish.
It wasn’t as huge a space as the kitchen at home, but he wanted to make it right for Julia and her dad. Hand building cabinets and countertops was his favorite part of the job, and what he’d trained for. The rest of the everyday stuff was useful and definitely paid the bills, but it wasn’t the same.
He parked up near the barn because everyone was home, and there were trucks everywhere. He spotted a rental and guessed his mom had driven herself from the airport. Going in through the mudroom, he took off his boots, jacket, and hat, and put everything away before padding into the kitchen in his socks.
“Kaiden!”
He blinked as his auntie Rae and his mother zeroed in on him from either side of the room. They were both on the short side, but their coloring was different as were their personalities. Rae sparkled more whereas Leanne was a quiet presence. If he hadn’t known them, Kaiden would never have guessed the lively Rae was actually Jeff ’s sister. They were as different as chalk and cheese.
“Wow!” He wrapped an arm around each of them and hugged them tight. “Double trouble. I didn’t know you were coming as well, Rae.”
“Leanne met me at the airport, and we drove over here together.”
Kaiden was glad about that because his aunt’s bad driving was notorious in Morgan Valley.
“Dad’s going to hate this,” Kaiden said in reverential tones.
“We know.” Leanne and Rae fist-bumped each other. “But we figure that if we double-team him for a while he might finally get the message and do what Dr. Tio’s been telling him for months.”
“Good luck with that,” Danny chimed in from where he was sitting at the table. “By the way. I just had a text from Adam. They’ve landed at the Morgan Ranch airstrip so they should be with us in half an hour or so.”
Kaiden went over to get himself some coffee while Rae