but I will one day.”
“Maybe Julia can help you with that. If not, you know our Daisy is a whiz with technical stuff.” Kaiden took out his notebook. “I’ll get started, then.”
“Take your time, son, there’s no rush.”
Kaiden’s smile faded as he left the room. Juan looked so damn frail. He remembered coming over to see Miguel when the ranch was thriving. Juan had been a much kinder, gentler father than Jeff had ever been.
“What are you doing now?”
He turned and looked back at Julia, who had stepped out of the kitchen, her hands on her hips.
“Just casing the joint.” He retrieved his pencil from behind his ear. “How’s my breakfast coming?”
Her indrawn breath was so extreme, he was surprised she didn’t faint.
“I see that you haven’t changed a bit.”
“Oh, I have.” He flexed his muscles. “Bigger, faster, leaner, and definitely harder.” He finished with a wink, which made her press her lips together. He nodded at the door to the sitting room. “Maybe you should check in with your dad before you start making all these assumptions.”
“I will.”
She stalked past him, releasing a hint of starch and citrus perfume, and he continued on down the central hallway that led to the master bedroom. He paused at the door to appreciate the handmade quilt on the bed. Beneath the picture of the Sacred Heart sat a candle and a well-worn rosary. A collection of photos covered every other surface, military pictures of the three generations of Garcia men who had served their country, Miguel and Julia at every age smiling into the camera. Kaiden edged closer to the chest of drawers. There was even one of him when he and Miguel had played football together.
He swung around as Julia came into the bedroom.
“Okay, I understand you’re the person Dr. Tio asked to look into making the ranch more accessible for my dad’s needs.”
“That’s right.” He nodded at the bathroom. “I’m going to start in there—if that’s okay with you.” He turned to the door, his nose wrinkling. “Is something burning?”
“Crap!” She rushed out, and he followed her down to the kitchen, where the smell of burned coffee was stinking up the space.
She went to grab the coffeepot and Kaiden thrust his arm in front of her outstretched hand.
“No.”
“Don’t tell me what to—”
He picked up the dishcloth and handed it to her. “Use this, or you’ll burn your hands.”
She did as he suggested, and he helpfully opened the back door as she went outside to dump the burned coffee. When she came back in, he had already gotten the coffee tin out and turned the faucet on.
“Rinse out the pot, check it’s not leaking, and leave the coffee making to me.” He glanced up at the ceiling. “You need smoke alarms in here.”
* * *
Julia’s cheeks were so hot she knew Kaiden must have noticed, but he didn’t do anything more threatening than point out that they needed smoke alarms, which was the absolute truth. Although, not having one shrieking in her ear right now was something of a blessing.
She set the pot in the sink and cooled it down with the water. It didn’t appear to be damaged so she meekly handed it over to Kaiden.
“You probably didn’t put enough water in there. Easy to do.”
She watched his large, capable hands add the scoops of coffee to the pot and fill it up with water, before setting it on a low heat. He glanced over his shoulder at her as he worked.
“Why don’t you finish with your dad’s breakfast? I’ll keep an eye on the coffee.”
Julia’s legs were still shaking. For a moment, she wanted to sink down on one of the hard chairs and just bawl her eyes out. But doing that in front of Kaiden Miller would open her up to a lifetime of his so-called humor because he never forgot anything.
“Thank you.” She at least managed to say that.
He had the nerve to grin. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it? Next time you see me maybe you’ll just say hi instead of treating me like a criminal.”
“I doubt it.” So, she’d recovered to her sass. Good.
“So do I.” He placed the dish towel on the counter. “I’ll be back in ten minutes. I was just kidding about the breakfast.”
Like she hadn’t known that. Julia took a deep breath and tried to remember what her yoga instructor recommended for the stressful moments of a modern woman’s life when running away wasn’t an option. She’d added the last