Ride Rough - Tessa Layne Page 0,31

Tony. "CiCi can be... a lot." His eyes suddenly went wide at something behind him. "Holy shit, who is that?" he asked, grabbing Robbie by the arm. "Dibs on the turquoise dress, man."

Trace swiveled around to see where Tony was staring. Three women were making their way across the lawn. He recognized Jeanine Turner and Izzie, Robbie's sister. But he'd never seen the woman in turquoise walking between them.

Robbie stiffened. "That's my sister, asshole," he growled.

Tony looked confused. "Catalina?" He looked to Robbie for confirmation. "That's Catalina?"

"Wait," Trace interjected, as shocked as Tony. "Your sister with the glasses and overalls who was knee-deep in the mud hunting for frogs at Resolution Ranch the other day?" Trace hardly recognized her.

"Yes, that's her," Robbie confirmed. "She's a herpetologist," he said with a distinct note of pride before turning his attention to Tony with a glare. "Don't even think about it," Robbie spit. "Touch her and you die."

Trace snorted. "I'm sure she appreciates your overprotective streak." He turned to Tony. "Put your tongue back in your mouth and come help me get the food out." He headed back to the kitchen, not really caring if they followed or not, and still irked by the way they'd talked about Cecilia.

Cecilia shot him a grateful look when Tony and Robbie followed him into the kitchen. "Can you guys take out the pies? Basically everything on that table needs to go out, except the potato salad." She turned back to the biscuit batter, which seemed to have grown in Trace's absence.

"How many of these are you making?"

"As many as I can in the next hour," she said, wiping the back of her hand across her forehead, only managing to smear more flour there.

"Anything else I can do?"

She shook her head. "Just keep clearing space so I can put the trays down to cool."

Trace swiped a potholder from the counter and took the tray from her hands, holding it out of harm's way as he leaned in to place a kiss at her temple. "I'll collect my thank you kisses later," he murmured.

Cecilia rolled her eyes, making a noise of disbelief. "Out."

Chapter Fourteen

"I think everything's ready," Izzie said, holding out a glass of bubbles.

Cecilia accepted it and sagged against the counter. "Thanks for your help. I couldn't have finished without you and Cat."

"Really?" Izzie smirked and took a sip, giving her a knowing glance. "It looked like Trace and the guys took care of most of it before we arrived."

Cecilia flushed. Trace had been surprisingly helpful. And sweet.

"Ah-ha," Izzie exclaimed placing her empty glass on the counter. "You kissed him again, didn't you? I knew it. I could tell the second I saw the look you gave each other when he finished."

Cecilia shook her head, cheeks flaming. "It's nothing."

"You're such a shitty liar. Why don't you admit he's growing on you?"

She made a point of studying the bubbles in her flute. "Sooo... maybe some of what you said the other day sunk in. But that doesn't mean anything's going anywhere," she rushed to add. "It can't really be anything more."

"Oh, it could be alot more, Ceece. It could be whatever you want it to be."

"Coming from the girl who's been pining after Jaxon Boyd for fifteen years," she retorted, giving her best friend the stink eye."

Now it was Izzie's turn to blush. "That's different."

"How so?" Cecilia finished her glass and set it on the counter next to Izzie. "I haven't seen Jaxon dating anyone recently."

Izzie made a face. "It's... we're just friends."

"Well, if you ever want to talk about it." Izzie had always been tight-lipped about her friendship with Jaxon. It seemed like there'd been a thing between them when they were teenagers, after Jax had survived leukemia, but even then wild horses couldn't have dragged it out of Izzie. And Cecilia had been more concerned with her latest cause than with boys, so she'd respected Izzie's wishes and hadn't dug too deep.

Izzie looked over to the clock that hung by the kitchen table. "Looks like it's about time to go sit down. Let's go find Catalina. With my luck, she'll be hunting frogs in the dress I brought over."

Cecilia removed the apron she'd borrowed from Dottie and hung it on the wall. "Sister makeover? She looks beautiful."

"Thanks. It was a battle to get her to try contacts. Here, you've got a flour smudge. Trace missed a spot," Izzie teased as she wiped the flour off Cecilia's cheek then made for the back door.

Cecilia followed. "Is my