Chapter Nine #2
Oh damn, her heart picked up speed as he grinned at her. Her breath snagged for a split second. He looked maddeningly unaffected, like nothing had happened between them.
“Nick said I should help you bring in the horses. He’s gone back to Sam’s place.”
“He shouldn’t have gone alone. Why did you let him go? Why isn’t he in bed? He just had a head injury. He should not be working, or be alone,” Jenna replied as worry gripped her for Nick.
“Didn’t know you cared about him?” he chuckled.
Frustration flared, pushing aside her arousal.
“I don’t have time for this, Axel,” she snapped, not amused with him using this same line again. They needed to focus on the task at hand.
“Sorry, my bad. What do you need me to do?” Axel said as he backed down immediately.
“You’re about to get a crash course in getting horses inside in a hurry,” she said.
By the time the last horse was brought into the barn, rain was pouring down in silvery sheets, and the bright yellow raincoats she’d supplied had kept them relatively dry.
Before each horse was settled into its stall, Jenna took the time to instruct Axel on the proper care required. She showed him how to clean out the stalls and emphasized the importance of providing fresh feed and water for each animal.
While Jenna went through these instructions, she noticed how serious Axel had become and how quickly he picked up the tasks she gave him. His work was both fast and well-organized, which impressed her and she busied herself giving each horse a good brush down in the barn’s main area.
As they continued working, Jenna carefully checked the results of Axel’s work before she showed him how to lead each horse to its respective stall. Every time she did a stall inspection, she found his work met her high standards, and he consistently passed with flying colours.
“They’ll be in their stalls for the rest of the day. They’re social animals and they prefer to remain outdoors but bringing them in is the only safe choice,” Jenna explained.
“Not fair for them to be locked up for so long. But I understand,” Axel grumbled.
“You’re more than welcome to stay out here and keep them company, or we can get inside before the storm gets worse.”
She headed for the exit door, relieved when Axel decided to follow. They donned their raincoats again, and hurried to the ranch house, where Jenna noticed that Nick had returned because there came a gold splash of lights bursting from the kitchen windows.
She inhaled a deep breath and wondered how the evening would go with two hot sexy men in her home and her crazy hormone issues. At least she hoped they were her hormones.
Nick had just been looking out the kitchen window watching the flashes of lightning and the sheets of rain pour down through the grey gloom when he’d spied Jenna and Axel sprinting across the pasture toward the ranch house in yellow raingear.
Talk about good timing!
They’d be greeted by a delicious aroma of freshly baked cake. It’s scent was filling the air as he pulled the cake out of the oven. The storm had cooled things off outside as he felt a nice refreshing breeze drifting in through the slightly open kitchen window.
He loved the contrast of the storm outside and the friendly atmosphere of this country kitchen on the inside.
He was a free man now, well, kind of, and he was still trying to wrap his head around everything.
One thing he knew for sure, he was very lucky to be here, and he didn’t want to make any wrong moves to screw things up.
“Hey, just in time for supper and dessert!” he called out as he heard the two of them enter through the backdoor.
“That is one crazy storm,” Jenna called out.
“I think my shoes drowned.” He heard Axel mutter.
Jenna gave a soft curse.
“Sorry, I forgot. We’ll have to get the both of you some steel belted boots. It’s not safe to be around horses without them. One step on your toes and you’re crushed. My bad. I should have given you Tim’s boots, but I think they would be too small.”
Tim’s boots would be too small. He couldn’t help but recall that old saying about men with small feet had small cocks.
Axel didn’t offer a reply, and Nick wondered if he was thinking the same thing.
Was Jenna’s late husband not everything she’d hoped for in the bedroom department?
He caught himself before the thought could go any further shaking his head, chastising himself.
It wasn’t right to think ill of the dead.
The sound of raincoats being shed reached Nick as he placed the cake pan on a wooden cutting board on the countertop to cool.
The kitchen was soon filled with the muted sounds of water running from the bathroom down the hall, suggesting Jenna and Axel were washing up together.
The silence between them was notable and Nick wondered if Jenna was still upset about the kiss she had shared with Axel earlier this afternoon.
Moments later, Axel appeared in the kitchen. He looked refreshed, his cheeks red from the weather.
“Hey, welcome back! Did you see anything suspicious?” Axel asked, his voice echoing through the room as the storm continued to rage outside.
“Nothing out of the ordinary. Never noticed anyone following either. I kept eyes at the back of my head,” he replied.
“Good. Maybe the storm is keeping this creep away,” Axel said as he drew closer to Nick.
His friend’s face was all lit up as he spied the cake set in the pan.
In prison they rarely got a proper dessert.
So having a homemade cake was going to be awesome.
He’d found the recipe in the little box of recipes on the counter, and he’d baked a cake or two before getting sent to prison, so he knew his way around a kitchen.
“What kind of cake is that? It smells so good I swear I’m floating along the aroma waves,” Axel said with a huge smile as he moved in close, his gaze fixated on Nick’s creation.
His scent swarmed all around Nick. He smelled pretty good.
An outdoorsy freshness that reminded him of the open prairies.
The aroma was comforting as it brought memories of his ranching days.
Those were the best times he’d known. Being free, hard work, camaraderie with other ranch hands and roaming wherever he wanted to go.
But that had all been followed by heartbreak when he’d crossed paths with the wrong woman.
A woman who hadn’t stood by him when things had gotten tough.
It had been a twist of fate that had landed him in prison.
Nick snapped himself back to the present, pushing aside those memories and focused on the warmth of the kitchen and on Axel.
A shot of excitement zipped through him. He couldn’t wait until they were alone together.
“Chocolate pound cake. Figured it was best to use up all those eggs. More coming out of the coops tomorrow, I would assume.”
Axel’s tone dropped as he eyed the table. He threw Nick a sly wink.
“Are you trying to impress the lady, decking out the table all nice and neat?” he teased, circling around to take in the arrangement.
Nick let out a soft chuckle. “Maybe I was trying to impress you,” he admitted, his tone light and teasing.
Nick hadn’t gone out of his way in setting the table. It was just the plain white dishes and glasses he’d found in the cupboards.
Nothing fancy. However he had added a touch of colour by picking a handful of bright blue bachelor button flowers and pink and white cosmos flowers from Sam’s garden in front of his house.
He didn’t think Sam would mind, since the garden was brimming with blossoms and a few missing wouldn’t be noticed.
He had carefully arranged the flowers in a vase he discovered in Sam’s house. Then he’d wrapped them in a towel and brought them here in the truck.
To the kitchen.
For Jenna.
He figured she would appreciate the splash of colour. After all, you could never go wrong offering flowers to a lady.
Axel glanced around, nodding in approval. “Well, they are nice. Smell good too. Sooo, where’s the dog? Leave him behind?”
Nick gave a sharp, clear whistle, and almost instantly, the white dog appeared out of nowhere, bounding into the room as if she had been waiting for his call.
She dashed straight to Nick’s side, sitting at his feet.
Her tail with the funny looking white pom pom at the end was circling round and round like a windmill in a storm.
And damned if his heart didn’t lurch with pleasure as she gazed up at him with big eyes and an intensity and adoration that made him think that she might just think he was her hero. His heart clenched warmly for her, and he found himself reconsidering his previous opinions about dogs.
Maybe he had been wrong in thinking he didn’t like them. This one, at least, seemed intent on proving to him she liked him and damned if he didn’t like her back.
Axel let out a laugh, shaking his head in amusement.
“Wow, you sure trained him fast,” he remarked.
Nick lifted his chin and puffed out his chest on purpose, adopting a tone full of bravado.
“He is a girl and girls fly to me like flies to honey,” he boasted.
Axel, unimpressed, rolled his eyes at Nick’s over-the-top declaration.
“You mean…dog girls. No offence to you, dog,” Axel quipped, glancing down at the poodle.
The dog, however, appeared entirely uninterested in him, her attention fixated on Nick. Her wet black nose twitched as she sniffed the air, clearly more enticed by the possibility of food than in engaging with Axel’s banter.
“A bit of a rude dog, isn’t she?” Axel grumbled.
“Her name is Daisy and it looks like you are the one who is jealous that Nick has a beautifully groomed girlfriend, Axel,” Jenna’s sweet teasing voice curled into the kitchen from where she stood in the hallway, watching them.
Nick wondered how long she’d been there. How much had she heard? Hopefully not the flies to honey part.
Geez, that would be embarrassing.
Jenna, smiled.