he was wearing as he walked out of the store. A hat he had not been wearing as he went in. I hadn’t looked at his cart when he paid for my groceries. I had softly thanked him and walked out briskly. However, here I stood leaning against his truck wondering if he saw me waiting out here and was playing some type of cat and mouse game and was making me wait. “I wanted to say thanks.”
“My pleasure. You didn’t have to wait out here to say it. I heard you in the store. I thought you wanted to walk home. Hometown stores can take a little longer when you’re trying to get out of there." Then he cleared his voice and sounded off. "Look. I hate to admit this, but my mouth may have started up a few unnecessary rumors last night at the cafe. I was just trying to set a few of the gossipers that were in the store straight." He smiled down at me and looked apologetic.
"I can handle it. Not that I like my business spread across the local paper for everyone to read, but I have handled worse. Believe me." I looked down and pushed off his truck. I heard him say I'm sorry again and that helped, but I had a feeling, he was the type of man who truly meant it, and that was more dangerous as his sex appeal already had me thinking.
“Oh. I guess maybe I could use that ride after all. That is so I can repay you.” I leaned up straighter and felt that air of electricity between us. As if we could make mad passionate love, right there, or we could don on a pair of boxing gloves and knock each other out. Whatever was building between us seemed dangerously intense. I had to get back to my frame of mind that only friendly help was all I was looking for.
“My pleasure then. Hop in.” Colton opened the driver-side door, and I hopped in. He pulled the cowboy hat from his head and ran his fingers through his hair for a second. This got me to think how my fingers would feel running through his hair. I quickly dismissed my feelings and looked straight ahead at the grocery store.
As he started up the truck, a country station was talking about the unusually warm weather due in this week. I wondered how Julie cooled the house. I hadn't seen air conditioning, and I hadn't ventured out to the shed to see if there were fans or a swamp cooler. I wanted to ask Colton, but I knew I was a big girl and could handle this type of situation on my own. Besides, as soon as my car was fixed, I could drive the next town over to the supermart and get me something to help stay cool.
“Nice truck.” I looked down at the cowboy hat and thought that with the gardening I was planning on doing, and the expected heat, maybe I should have gotten a hat and some sunscreen.
“Thanks. It’s not mine. It’s my dad's. My mom and I didn’t want him driving anymore so I told him my car had to go back to the dealer in Texas, and he won’t drive mom’s car" He stopped talking suddenly like he just told me more information than he wanted to. I got the jest that his dad's health was failing but nobody informed me as to what or why.
“I’m sorry. To hear about your dad. Mrs. Walker mentioned you were a high-priced property lawyer who came home to take care of your dad.” I felt a bit awkward. Maybe he had his own dilemma to deal with like I had mine. Perhaps that was the explanation for the cattiness last night. Although Cindy was sure to take the time and explain to me this morning why she thought it was. The thought that Colton Charpel might be attracted to me as I am to him held a dangerous tone.
The silence let me know that what I said was a very sensitive subject and Mrs. Walker hadn’t elaborated, and I had not asked. Now, sitting in his truck I could only imagine what type of sickness was taking hold of his dad that a grown man had to come home to help take care of him, and not let him drive his truck. Looking down at the cowboy hat, I decided to change the subject with a bit of glee.
“Perhaps I need to get me one of those hats for the heat that is expected this week. Does the town have a local pool or does everyone do the sprinkler thing?”
“Alzheimer’s.” He blurted it out with a bit of pain, but as soon as he said it, I saw the pain. Then he took a deep breath, and he seemed to feel tremendously better. Something about me made him want to talk to me, to bare his soul and troubles. Something told him; I would gladly share those feelings with him. It would give me something to take my mind off things, my troubles in particular.
With a hard swallow in my throat, I searched desperately for the right words. The typical I’m sorry sounded so insincere, when really my heart just expanded tenfold. “This is a tough time?”
He shook his head yes, yet he looked ahead as he drove. He seemed lost in thought, and I wanted so badly to reach out and touch him. To tell him he could tell me anything, and I would understand. Instead, I noticed we drove right passed where the rental was. “Uh… Colton. We missed the turn.”
“That we did. I guess I was lost in thought.” He turned the truck and circled back to the street the rental was located on.
Thinking how I knew that lost in thought feeling all too well lately. I felt the truck stop in front of the rental while I was staring down with my hands in my lap with the straps of the grocery bag putting pressure in my palm as they were resting on the truck floor board, and I had half lifted them up to take out. I stopped mid action to relay an offer of friendship, something that I knew I needed all too well right now. “Listen, why don’t you come on in for some coffee, and we can talk.”
He seemed hesitant in answering. “No that’s alright. I’ve got to run into Cheyenne and grab a few supplies for the ranch. Julie has a repair list for this place, and I told her that I would help her with it. Seeing as she spends all her time in L.A. That, and she didn’t want to spend a fortune paying someone else to fix it up. So, I will catch you around. I have a key, so if I am inside fixing something don’t be scared. Besides this town is pretty safe. Everyone still leaves the back doors unlocked.”
Looking into his eyes, I cocked my head with a flirtatious smile and asked. “Not the front doors?” I had to fun with him a little. He really looked like he could use a smile or some comfort.
“Nope. Not the front doors.” Stopping short of a full-blown wicked smile, his eyes focused on my lips. I knew they were full and pink from the jog in the sun, and I really wanted to kiss him as well. I wasn't misreading his sign of attraction, but I got the feeling he had his own internal struggles going on. The last thing a man like him needed right now was a trouble loaded woman like myself and vice versus.
Sensing what was about to take place, I really had no reason to refuse a man who cared for his parents, rescued me in the store and fixed up houses for friends. On the other hand, were they more than friends? Shoving that thought aside I turned just right and felt I had to say something. “Well.” In a voice that was short of breath as I felt. “See you around later than.”
The next thing I felt were his lips covering mine in a gentle kiss while his hand smoothly wrapped itself up in my hair on the back of my neck, pulling me in closer. It was a sensual soft kiss from a man who smelled of sunshine.
To Read More - Please Buy The Book.
hhtp://www.cjhawk.com