and I snapped my focus back to the lens just a few feet from me.
“Sorry.” I shoved my hands in my pocket and gave her my best innocent look.
“That’s better,” she admitted, still not sounding pleased with me. “Just tell me what, or who, is on your mind so maybe we can get this done today.”
“Nothing to talk about,” I growled at her, my eyes dark and clearly communicating that I had nothing to say.
“Fine. We’re done then.” Annoyed, Janey slipped the cover on her camera lens and turned away from me. It didn’t take a genius to see she was genuinely pissed off and I was the reason. “We need to come back to finish some other day.”
“Yeah, okay. We’ll have to work around my schedule, but—”
“No!” She whirled on me, aiming that heavy camera in my direction with a scowl on her face. “You were distracted all day. Everyone else managed to get all their photos done in one damn day, but not you, because you’re so special.” Another disgust-filled head shake and Janey was shoving items into her bags with more force than was necessary for such delicate equipment. “I’ll let you know when I have time to finish your photos.”
I watched Janey stalk down the incline that would, in a couple miles, lead to the Orley exit parking lot. “Janey, ah hell, I’m sorry. You’re right, I am distracted.” She turned with a surprised glare and I held my hands up. “I don’t want to talk about it, but you were right, my mind wasn’t on the task at hand today.”
“Who was it on, Callahan?”
“No one,” I answered quickly. Too quickly, it turned out.
Janey laughed and smacked a hand to her thigh. “Damn, I’d love to meet the woman who’s bringing the great Nate Callahan to his knees.”
“Not possible.” I wasn’t on my knees or anywhere close to them, except when I had those creamy thighs wrapped tight around my shoulders, but that was physical. Not emotional, because there were no emotions involved.
“So said every Hometown Hero who came before you, yet look at them all. Married or engaged, and most with a baby on the way.” Her smug smile said she knew more than I thought she did, but that was impossible, so I shook it off.
“That’s ‘cause they were all whipped. No chance of that happening with me.”
Janey didn’t respond, and we spent the next fifteen minutes working to pack up her equipment in silence before heading down to the parking lot.
“Maybe a little bit of whipping is what you need to get out of this funk you’re in. You’re even more of a grouch than you usually are.”
I ignored the amusement in her eyes and jumped in my truck, heading into Tulip proper for dinner. Of course, the moment I turned onto the main strip in town, I spotted her.
Mikki. Today, she wore a pinkish-orange dress with no straps, and the dress hugged her curves tight and those damn impractical wedge shoes gave her hips just enough swing that I had to stay in my car for a few minutes before stepping into Big Mama’s diner.
Mikki
“Hey sis, how are things deep in the heart of Texas?” My sister Rocky’s voice sounded down the line as I walked from my shop—Pretty Feathers, located on Main Street in the tiny town of Tulip—towards the three bedroom bungalow I rented.
My heart swelled at the sound of her voice. “Things are just peachy, Rocky. How’s summer treatin’ you, baby sis?”
Rocky groaned at the question and I could just imagine her sitting on that big bay window in her bedroom overlooking Mama’s precious flower garden, one leg crossed while she twirled one thick curl around her finger. “Summer? What’s that?” She was being vague on purpose and I knew part of it was my fault for leaving. “Enough about my boring life—tell me all about your new life, starting with the smoking hot Texas men.”
That pulled a laugh out of me and I shook my head at my irreverent younger sister, even though she could’t see me. “There is definitely plenty of eye candy around these parts, most of’em come in uniforms or well-worn denim—and I have to say, my eyes have never been hungrier.”
“I knew it!” She laughed down the line and the sound had the desired effect, making me home sick. Just the slightest, but still. “Any of them worth mentioning?”
My mind instantly conjured up an image of Nate, big and gruff with that thick shock