Chapter 18 – Sunshine/Kaitlyn
EIGHTEEN
SUNSHINE/KAITLYN
The first thing I realized when I woke up was that I wasn’t on the leather couch.
Instead, I was in a queen size bed with fresh sheets and a window that looked out over the south paddock.
Which meant I was back in the guest room.
From here I could see all the way to the bunkhouse, and beyond that, to the small cabin Tag shared with his dad.
The thought of him had me immediately sitting up in bed. I’d left him downstairs after I’d finished my sandwich, with directions to wake me if the numbers went too high or too low. The fact that I’d slept long enough that the sun was up, meant I’d left him alone for hours.
The man had his own full time job to do!
I scrambled into a robe that was hanging in the closet, something Harmony would think of, and bolted downstairs to the study. When I opened the door, there he was. Leaning back in the office chair, hands clasped behind his head. He looked tired, but he hadn’t fallen asleep or left his post.
“Mornin’, darlin,” he said, with a tired smile.
The words did something to me. My chest clenched and I looked at him and knew that no one ever in my life had taken care of me as well as he had.
And the woman who got to hear those words out of his beautiful mouth every morning was the luckiest woman on the planet.
Immediately, I hated this imaginary woman.
“You stayed awake the whole time,” I said, clutching the lapels of my robe together like he hadn’t seen everything beneath it.
He nodded. “That was the assignment.”
“But, what about the ranch?”
“Not the first time I’ve had to pull an all-nighter.
A gallon of coffee will do the trick.” He stood and stretched, the bare skin of his belly peeking out between his belt and his shirt.
I thought about what he’d done to me on that desk, just a few hours ago, and found myself blushing.
Blushing, because all I wanted was to climb into his lap and do it again.
But work came first. His work, this time.
“I’ll make you breakfast!” I said, a little too loud. Like I was offering him gold bars or something.
“You don’t-”
“Fair’s fair. You took care of me. Let me take care of you.”
He laughed, tired but good natured, and I softened towards him even more. “You think you can handle a cowboy breakfast?”
I huffed indignantly. “I can scramble eggs.”
“Oh, honey, that’s just the start. I’m going to need some sausage.”
“Fine.”
“Bacon.”
“Sausage and bacon?” I asked. “Am I making you breakfast or giving you a heart attack? ”
He walked over to me and slung his arm over my shoulders.
The weight felt good as he steered us out of the study.
As we walked through the hallway, to the living room, into the open concept kitchen, we didn’t see a single other soul.
It was the middle of the day/morning? and we had the house to ourselves.
Part of me wanted to take him back up to that queen size bed and tuck him in so he could get a few hours of sleep.
Of course, the other part of me wanted to defile him on that bed.
But the man had work to do, and so did I.
“Add to that two bagels. Some cream cheese. Maybe some fresh fruit if we’ve got any in the house. ”
“How are you not five hundred pounds?”
“I burn a lot of calories during the day, baby.” His head dipped toward me. “And a few more last night.”
I was blushing again, but as I pulled out all the food I could find and he made himself a cup of coffee, I had this thought that feeding him all that food, watching him eat what I’d made for him, was going to be disgustingly satisfying.
An hour later, three cups of coffee, six scrambled eggs, three pieces of sausage and three pieces of bacon, plus one and a half bagels covered in cream cheese, Tag finally declared himself done.
“You’re a marvel of human digestion,” I said, in real awe. While he ate, I set up notifications on my phone and checked the markets on my laptop.
“It was your cooking, darlin. I was inspired,” he said, taking his dishes from the island, where he’d eaten enough for three men, to the sink .
I shrugged off the compliment. “Anyone can do breakfast.”
“Not like that. Mrs. Walker retires and that firm doesn’t treat you right, you have a job waiting here for you as a cook,” he said. I noted that he rinsed his dishes before he put them in the dishwasher. He was a bachelor who was well trained.
When he was done, he turned and crossed his arms over his chest. His expression dark.
“What’s the matter?”
Hadn’t I fed him enough? Had something gone wrong with the markets overnight and he was just waiting until now to tell me?
“I find myself torn,” he said.
“Between what?”
“Between wanting to give you a proper kiss goodbye, or respecting your no kissing rule.”
It had been hard to keep that rule for myself last night.
When he’d been buried so deep inside me, I’d felt so connected to him that the thought of not kissing him seemed strange to me.
But he didn’t try to kiss me, so I didn’t ask.
And in the cold light of day I counted myself lucky.
We were making things difficult for ourselves all over the place.
Or, at least, I was. Maybe he was fine? He seemed fine.
Like filthy sex and breakfast in the morning and taking care of each other was easy peasy.
I shrugged again. “If it’s just a peck or something, that’s fine. That’s just a thanks for breakfast, friend, thing.”
“Oh,” he said, a smile stretching across his face. “I can give you a thanks for breakfast friend kiss? I didn’t know those were in the rules.”
He prowled over to me and got up close to where I was still sitting on a stool, wrapped up in my robe. He caught both my cheeks in his big, calloused hands.
“Just a peck,” I reminded him.
“Pecking is for birds, darlin,” he said, as he dropped his mouth on top of mine.
His lips were warm and firm. He didn’t try to overwhelm me, just made sure our lips lined up. I could taste the last sip of coffee on his breath. Helpless, I opened my mouth and welcomed him inside.
But he pulled away and placed another kiss on the tip of my nose. “Thanks for breakfast, friend.”
I was back in the office, fully dressed, regretting that kiss and checking the Asian markets. They were behaving predictably, which was best case scenario for us, so there wasn’t a lot there to hold my attention.
Which meant my thoughts kept going back to Tag. And last night. And the past few days. And that kiss this morning.
And a turkey sandwich with extra mayonnaise.
Looking at my phone, I considered my options. I didn’t have “girlfriends” back in New York I could confide in. My life was work, and that’s how I liked it. Harmony checked in on me from time to time and that was enough.
Only now, I had some serious questions, and I considered that the best people to provide those answers were my family, who all lived in Last Hope.
Did they know if Tag had been dating anyone recently?
He said he was clean, and he wouldn’t lie, so I had to believe that was a no.
Obviously, he’d never married anyone, but in a town this size, how was it that every eligible woman wasn’t showing up at his doorstep to make him breakfast every morning?
Maybe there was more to it than his momma abandonment issues. Something he didn’t want to talk about.
Had someone broken his heart? And, if that was the case, where did I find that bitch so I could break a few things of hers?
As if that wasn’t enough, I was having an affair with my half-brothers’ ranch foreman. Would the half-brothers care? Doubtful as long as it didn’t compromise his work. Or mine.
Which I might have by making him stay up all night watching my markets so I could sleep.
I pulled up my family group chat and thought about what kind of Pandora’s box I’d be opening by asking these questions. But, they were the only ones who knew the answers, and I needed answers.
Me: Does anyone know if Tag has dated anyone recently? It seems crazy to me that he’s still single.
Amity: Why is Sunshine asking about Tag?
Bliss: Because she likes him, stupid. Didn’t you see them go off to make out the night of her homecoming party? Also, we need to do more homecoming parties. The bar raked in the money that night.
Me: We didn’t go off to make out. We were just getting some fresh air.
Mom: Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
Me: Mom! Please. I’m sorry I even brought up the subject.
Harmony: Ooohhhh, you like Tag? Wait. Didn’t you have a major crush on him back in high school?
Mom: She did. She used to turn beet red any time she saw him in town.
Bliss: Let’s get some clarity here. Do you like him? Or do you just want to get some “fresh air”?
Amity: Long distance relationships can be complicated, Sunshine. Are you sure you want to do this?
Me: OMG! I didn’t say anything about a relationship! I was just curious about his last girlfriend.
Harmony: I can’t remember anyone he’s dated seriously since high school.
Mom: There was that skier, but that was just a winter fling. Tag really should start looking to settle down. He’s at that age.
Bliss: There is no age for men. They can settle down whenever they want to.
Mom: Not true. You don’t want to be sixty running after brand new babies.
Harmony: Ethan and I have been talking about that.
Mom: ARE YOU PREGNANT ALREADY????
Bliss: Wow. That was fast. Ethan must be packing some heat.
Harmony: A) No talking about Ethan’s heat. B) No, I’m not pregnant. We were just thinking about when we might want to start a family. And we’re both open to adoption.
Bliss: That makes sense. You adopt animals. Why not humans?
Me: I feel like we’ve gotten off topic.
Amity: Maybe the reason Tag hasn’t found someone is because he was waiting for the right person to show up in his life. And maybe that person is you.
Me: That can’t be true.
Harmony: Why not?
Me: For like 8 million reasons.