Chapter 4
4
Mateo
M ateo drank her in. Nikki wore a lightweight sweater and a pair of jeans that hugged every curve of her body. Her hair was pulled back into a haphazard bun atop her head. He knew enough about that style to know it took a lot of work to make it look effortless.
She didn’t wear much makeup. Rather, she leaned into her natural beauty—something that he had a tendency to be drawn to, especially after dating Caroline.
And that laugh!
He could listen to that laugh every day for the rest of his life.
Based on the way she’d pulled back from him so both the kitchen island and the space around it stayed between them, he could tell she was keeping her distance. There were a multitude of reasons that would make sense. The fact that they weren’t exactly close and her friendship with his ex were just a couple of them.
Mateo cocked his head, eyeing her from where he stood. It was funny, really. He’d thought seeing someone from his past would send him into a downward spiral, but that didn’t happen. Either so much time had passed that he’d scarred over and couldn’t feel the pain anymore, or it was Nikki.
She flushed and a smile spread across her face. “What?”
Right. He’d been staring. He probably shouldn’t be doing that. “How do you like your room? I know it’s not much, but?—”
“It’s perfect,” she blurted. “It’s exactly what I needed.” Her blush deepened as she moved closer to him. “But I did need to ask you for something.”
“Anything,” he uttered the word before he realized how it might sound.
Nikki paused only briefly before she nodded. “Great. I want to get a menu planned. I’m sure you have some basic ingredients in the kitchen ready for meals, and I’d like to take stock. Then I can place some orders for specific meals I’d like to put on the menu. I’ll need a notebook?—”
“Notebook? Old-school, huh?” He chuckled.
She didn’t respond with the same lighthearted sound. Instead, her brows pulled together. “Do you… recommend something else?”
He shrugged. “I figured you’d use a computer or something.”
“Oh…” Her voice trailed off, and she pursed her lips together for a moment. “I don’t have a computer. Do you have a system in place already?”
Mateo shook his head. “But if you’d like one, I’m sure we could get something worked out. Do you need a computer?”
She blinked at him like his suggestion was absurd. “I would never ask you to?—”
“It’s part of the job, right? I can’t exactly ask you to cook a meal without an oven.”
“But a computer is different,” she said. “I could just use a regular old notebook?—”
“I’ll get you one from the house. But I’ll also order you a laptop that you can use to keep track of what we have. It’ll be easier to keep things digital.”
The way her face lit up with excitement did something to him that he hadn’t experienced in a long time. Maybe it was the fact that they had a familiarity with one another. Or perhaps it was the fact that he’d harbored a secret attraction to her all those years ago. Either way, he wasn’t going to question it too much.
Everything would stay professional. It didn’t matter that she stirred emotions in him that he’d long since thought were dormant. She was his employee, and he knew better than to allow himself to get wrapped up in something that wasn’t appropriate.
“So, Nikki, you want to catch me up on… stuff?”
She snickered. “What kind of stuff?”
Mateo shrugged. “You know. Stuff. You still see a lot of people from high school?”
“If you mean Caro?—”
He snapped up straighter. “No. I mean people from the football team. Classes.” It was painstakingly obvious that he didn’t want her to even mention the woman who had broken his heart. And that was proof enough that he wasn’t completely over the heartache.
Did he miss Caroline? No way. If he never saw her again, it would be too soon. In fact, he’d blocked her from every social media account he had, as well as his phone. Caroline West was dead to him.
Nikki definitely noticed his change in posture, and she took a startled step back when he’d straightened. She pulled her lower lip into her mouth and chewed on it as her eyes sought out anything else in the room other than him. She cleared her throat and shook her head. “Not really. I moved away from Montana about six years ago. I told you I got a job at that bakery…” Her eyes darted away from him, never staying on him long enough for him to get a read on her.
“Yes, you mentioned that. Then you were married to a guy who didn’t want you working. Anything else happen? Any life-shattering experiences?” He grinned at her, letting his voice charm her. He was good at this side of things. Most women loved to open up to him because he was a good listener.
She shifted and her focus darted to the doorway. He glanced over his shoulder and frowned. Was she wanting to escape him already? He hadn’t thought he was making her uncomfortable.
Slowly, he dragged his gaze back to meet hers. “So, no life-altering changes that you want to share?” He leaned against the countertop again and smiled. “Okay, I’ll go then.” He tapped his finger on his chin. “After I made the biggest mistake of my life in loving the wrong woman, I got left at the altar. So I moved out here—with my brothers and sisters. We wanted to start a business that was all our own.”
Nikki seemed to be drawn into his story—which was strange because if she was connected with him through social media, she would already know all of this. It was part of their story.
“All of us have always loved dogs. We got a good taste of them back home, where my parents work on a ranch for a really good family, the Millers. We figured we’d make a life out of it. So, we pooled our resources together and bought this piece of land.”
“But some of your siblings are so young.”
He nodded, grinning wider. “When they turned sixteen, they begged my folks to let them come down here to finish their schooling and run this place with me. Sophia and I started the whole thing, and the rest of them followed.”
“And you never…” Her voice trailed off again.
Mateo waited for her to finish her thought, but when she wouldn’t, he didn’t push the issue. “It’s worked out pretty well so far. We’ve made a name for ourselves in Copper Creek and some of the surrounding areas. People don’t just buy the dogs we breed for herding their animals. They use them for protection. We run things very humanely. Our dogs aren’t allowed to have more than two to three litters. Their health is the most important thing to us. Last year, Sophia and I decided that we wanted to do something more with our land, so now we’re expanding. We have some cattle, and we’re going to be training more horses along with the dogs. We have a lot in the works, and ultimately, I’d like to be the top provider for cattle dogs and horses that work with them. The folks around here have said a handful of times how they like the idea of their horses being trained alongside their dogs.”
“That’s an interesting idea for sure,” she said, eyes still alight with fascination. “I can’t wait to see what you make of it.”
They shifted from that conversation to a couple other topics before Nikki asked, “How many men have you hired? And will I be cooking for more than them?”
“More than them?” he asked.
She nodded. “You mentioned you’d be interested in trying my cuisine.”
His smile returned. “Oh, right. I’m not sure, actually. I haven’t asked my family if they’re going to take advantage of us having our own cook on the property. But I would expect they’ll be stopping by. We’ve never had someone to cook for us in a professional capacity.”
“Well, I hope that I meet your expectations.” She laughed. “It’s been a while since I cooked for more than a couple people. My skills might be a little rusty.”
Mateo wasn’t sure when it happened. All he knew was one moment they were on opposite sides of the island, and now they were leaning against it, side by side, as they chatted like they’d always been friends. The side of his arm brushed up against the side of hers as they spoke.
Nikki started into a story about what it was like learning at a real culinary school and how different it had been to find work at a bakery. “The one thing that remained a constant was having to rise early. In order to have fresh bread, you have to start on it hours before the sun comes up.”
“Makes sense. But I’m not going to ask you for fresh bread daily. That just sounds cruel.”
She laughed. “It’s no bother. It’s actually one of my favorite things to do when I can’t sleep.”
“And why wouldn’t you be able to sleep?” he asked, genuinely concerned. If she was dealing with her own sort of heartache like he had, he wouldn’t hesitate to track down this ex of hers and show him just what kind of man disposes of a woman as wonderful as he remembered Nikki being.
Nikki didn’t look up at him as her features scrunched with something that almost looked like guilt. He turned to face her, itching to lift her chin to have her tell him everything. He wanted to take away that ache deep inside her and replace it with thoughts of confidence and joy.
Mateo refrained from touching her, but he didn’t ease up on his question. “Nikki,” he said. “Is everything okay?”
Before she could lift her eyes to meet his, the sound of light, quick footsteps shuffled down the hallway and headed right for them. Strange. They didn’t sound like any animal he’d ever heard. Nor did it sound like an adult man—so it wasn’t going to be Daniel.
Nikki’s eyes widened larger than he’d ever seen just moments before a kid burst into the kitchen.
“Mom. Guess what?”
A little kid!
Mateo only vaguely noticed the way Nikki tensed beside him as he stared at the young boy in question. Where had he come from? What was he doing here?
Wait a minute.
Mom ?
With slow movements, Mateo turned his head to face Nikki, finding her as pale as the fresh eggshell-colored paint on the walls in the kitchen.
Mom .
This kid belonged to her. Nikki was a mother. And she hadn’t told him.
He swiveled his attention from Nikki to the boy and back again. “Did you forget to tell me somethin’?”
The boy seemed to have suddenly realized he’d done something he wasn’t supposed to. Of course, he did. The way his mother looked, like she might pass out at any given moment.
Mateo frowned. “Nikki,” he whispered in warning. One thing he wouldn’t put up with was lying. Caroline had lied. She’d cheated, and she’d left. Mateo refused to spend time with people who couldn’t be honest with him, and yet here he was, standing next to a woman who hadn’t told him she had a kid.
“He can’t stay here.”