Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
REMINGTON
L eave it to me to hire the hottest goddamn nanny on the planet. Her skin is luminous in the firelight, and those green eyes of hers… well, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like them. She’s fucking gorgeous, and my kids love her.
If she was shitty at the job I needed her to do, I could dislike her, fire her, and send her packing. But no, Erin Montgomery has a rock-solid work ethic, legs that go on for days, and an expressive face that never fails to show me exactly what she’s thinking.
And right now, she wants me to kiss her.
She’s fighting it. That unscrupulous work ethic has her arguing with herself, but she’s been watching my lips since I sat down next to her. She thinks she’s being inconspicuous about it, but she’s not.
And that’s just one of the things that I find attractive about her. There’s no guesswork. What you see is what you get with Erin, and that’s fucking sexy as hell.
“Thanks for not making me feel silly,” she says as she licks the last of the marshmallow from her thumb.
Jesus Christ, I can think of other things I’d rather that mouth was sucking.
“Sometimes,” she continues, as if she hasn’t just made me hard, “the long-time locals here in Bitterroot Valley get angry that an outsider like me would feel like this is home.”
“I’m not an asshole,” I reply and watch as she pulls a peppermint candy out of her pocket and pops it into her mouth. “I mean, I can be, but not about that. Not everyone is born in a place that feels like they belong. Sometimes, you have to find it.”
Her whole face lights up at that, and I feel like I just won the lottery.
“Yeah, that’s it exactly. It’s not that I don’t like Seattle, or even love my family there. I do love them. But I don’t want to live there.”
“Makes sense.”
“Do you have any aunts and uncles, cousins?” she asks.
“I have one aunt. My dad’s sister, Melissa. She’s married to my uncle Brian, and they live in Spokane. They only come over for holidays or special events.”
Erin nods thoughtfully. “Do they have kids?”
“Two. Their oldest, Spencer, is in the military. Last I heard, he was stationed in Germany. Shelly is a real estate agent in Portland.”
“And you don’t see them often?” she asks, as if that’s a foreign concept for her.
“About once a year.”
I glance over to see that my dad has Holly on his lap, and her eyes are drooping shut. Johnny sits next to my mom, his head leaning on her arm. No one has left yet, and that’s fine by me. I like having my neighbors here, the way we’ve done for generations, coming together to help one another and then celebrating a hard day’s work afterward.
“You love this,” Erin murmurs, and I glance down to see her watching me with those gorgeous green eyes. “Having these people here.”
“Yeah, I do.” I nod thoughtfully as I stretch my legs out in front of me. “We’ve done it this way for a hundred years or more. Times change, with technology and such, but this stays the same. I guess there’s something to be said for that.”
Surprised that I’ve said so much to her, I glance over and see that she’s smiling at me.
“What?”
“You’re not always grumpy after all.”
I can’t help the surprised laughter that slips out at that, and when I smile up at her, Erin’s eyes dilate and fall to my mouth.
Yeah, she wants me to kiss her.
“I’m going to take my kids to bed,” I say as I stand, needing to put some distance between myself and this woman before I do something stupid like kiss her silly in front of my entire family and all our friends.
My brothers would never let me live it down.
I walk over and smile as Johnny looks up at me through heavy-lidded eyes.
“I think I’m tired, Dad.”
“Looks that way to me,” I agree and share a smile with my parents. “Why don’t I take you and your sister up to bed?”
“But the party isn’t over,” Holly says without even opening her eyes. “I have to stay. I’m the hostess.”
“With the mostest,” I agree as I pick up my daughter out of my dad’s arms and kiss her on the cheek. “Everyone will understand. Come on, buddy.”
Johnny takes my hand without a fight, which tells me that my kids are both exhausted. This was the first year that Holly was old enough to really pay attention to everything going on, and she soaked it up with excited brown eyes.
She’s a Montana girl, through and through.
“You did so great today,” I say to both of my kids. “I’m really proud of you. Thank you for listening and helping out so much.”
“It’s our job,” Johnny says. “This is gonna be our ranch someday.”
“It’s your ranch now, but yeah, I understand what you mean. Are you guys happy here?”
Johnny opens the front door ahead of me and closes it behind me as I lead them up to their bedrooms.
“Where else would we go?” Holly asks with a yawn.
“Well, nowhere, but I want to know if you like the ranch.”
“I don’t,” Johnny says with a sleepy, toothless grin. “I love it. It’s really badass.”
“And you’ve been hanging out with cowboys too much. Don’t say that word at school.” I kiss the top of his head. “I’m glad you took showers before dinner. Go brush your teeth before bed.”
I set Holly on the ground, and they both trudge into their bathroom to follow my orders. They definitely don’t follow the brush-for-two-minutes rule because they’re back in about twenty seconds flat, but I don’t want to argue the point tonight.
We’re all too tired for that.
“’Night, Dad,” Johnny says as he walks to his bedroom.
“I’ll be right there,” I tell him and lead Holly to bed. She jumps in, and I tuck the covers around her before leaning in to kiss her forehead. “I love you, beautiful baby girl.”
“Love you, Daddy.”
“You did so good today.”
“I know.”
I grin, pleased that my girl has such healthy confidence, and turn off her light before closing the door behind me and walking down the hall to Johnny’s room, which happens to be my old room when I was a kid.
The light is already off when I walk inside, and he’s under the covers, breathing evenly.
“Love you, big boy,” I whisper in his ear.
“Mm,” is all he says as he rolls over the other way.
My kid is a sound sleeper, so I feel confident reaching under his pillow and finding his tooth, replacing it with a five-dollar bill.
With the tooth tucked into my pocket, I leave his room and close the door behind me.
I need to get back out to the bonfire to make sure I’m there to thank everyone for coming to help today as they leave. But when I walk out the front door, I see that Erin is walking by herself to the Suburban, obviously ready to head home for the night.
“Oh, hey,” she says with a small smile. “How are they?”
She nods to the second floor of the house, obviously meaning the kids, and I shove my hands into my pockets.
“Already dreaming. But they had fun today.”
“I know that I told you this the other day, but they’re really great kids, Rem. I like them a lot.”
“Good, because Holly asked if she could keep you after you left on Friday.”
That makes Erin laugh. “I’m glad it runs both ways. Also, just to let you know, my car is officially being fixed, so I shouldn’t need your SUV for too much longer.”
“I don’t care about the car. Use it.”
“But it’s your car. If you’re still uncomfortable with my ride after it’s fixed, we’ll discuss it.”
I rock back on my heels. “Are you always this argumentative?”
“I’m not arguing.”
“Yes, you are. I don’t give a rat’s ass about the car. The kids are comfortable in it.”
“Yeah, but the weather is only going to get better as we head into summer, so my car will be fine.” She puffs out a breath when I simply stare at her. “I’m trying to do the right thing here. You shouldn’t just hand your vehicle over to me.”
“Why not? It’s mine. If I want Mickey Mouse to drive it, I’ll hand it over to him.”
“I mean, that seems silly. He’s a mouse.”
I lick my lips, wanting to push her up against my car and kiss her until neither of us can fucking breathe. But I don’t want her to quit on me because my kids love her, and it’s been nice having her help this past week.
Just as I’m about to back away, her eyes fall to my mouth, and she presses her lips together, then licks them.
And just like that, my self-control evaporates into the cool spring air, and I rush to her, cup her face in my hands as her back flattens against the door of the SUV, and I take a ragged breath as I stare down at her. At her amazing green eyes and the way the firelight dances in them. At her kissable lips. A war wages inside of me. This is wrong. I shouldn’t kiss this woman.
Erin bites her lower lip, and that’s it. My control snaps.
“Fucking hell, those lips,” I growl before lowering my mouth to hers and sinking into her. She moans and shoves her hands into my hair, holding on as I plunder her, exploring every bit of her sweet mouth as I block out the laughter and voices around the crackle of the bonfire, and just lose myself in this woman.
She’s soft and smooth and smells like woodsmoke and peppermint.
And when I finally lift my head to look down into her eyes, she’s breathing raggedly, her eyes wide, and swallows hard.
“I shouldn’t have done that.” I nuzzle her nose with mine. “But damn it, you’d tempt a saint, and I’m not a saint. You’re so fucking beautiful.”
“I—” She swallows again and drags her hand down my cheek. “Same goes. The fucking beautiful part.”
I grin down at her, but we hear voices walking toward us, and she frowns and shakes her head, so I step back, already feeling the absence of her against me and wanting nothing more than to yank her inside and take her to my bed.
“I apologize if I overstepped.”
Erin scowls before looking down at her hands and then looks back up at me. “You didn’t. I know that I could have pushed you away, and I didn’t want to. I’ll see you tomorrow, after school.”
She hurries into the Suburban, starts the engine, and without a single glance at me, drives off toward the highway into town.
“Shit.” I shake my head and stare down at my dirty boots. “That was a fucking mistake, Wild. You’re an idiot.”
Calling myself every name in the book, I head back to the fire and my friends.
It’s time I had a goddamn beer.
“You’re almost…chipper this week.” Brady narrows his eyes at me. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing.” I shake my head and hang my saddle over the saddle rack, then turn to take the blanket off the back of my horse before grabbing a brush to brush him down. “It’s just been a decent week. The kids are good, no animals have been killed, and the weather’s finally not being an asshole. It’s as smooth as it gets around here, and it puts me in a decent mood.”
“Ryan’s coming over to ride this evening,” he says and then laughs when my smile turns into a scowl. “Whoa, there went the good mood. He’s been here for a couple of weeks now. Haven’t you kissed and made up yet?”
“I’m not mad. It’s fine. You guys have fun riding.”
“Oh, I’m not riding with him.”
“He’s going alone?” I turn and frown at my brother. “Not that it matters. He’s a grown-ass man and can ride alone if he wants to.”
“No, I think he’s bringing a date.”
I laugh and shake my head. “Of course, he is. Typical Ryan. Who’s he dating?”
“How the hell should I know? I’m not a gossip.” Brady tries to look offended, but it just makes me laugh harder. “I hear he picked up a tourist at the bar the other night and told her he could show her a good time on a horse.”
I pat my own horse down and walk him to his stall. “Don’t let him anywhere near this one.”
“He knows which horses are available. He’s not stupid, you know.”
I snort and roll my shoulders. I want a hot shower and some time with my kids. “I’m headed in.”
“Me, too. See you tomorrow.”
I wave at Brady as he heads toward the cabin, and I set off for the house. Since the weather has been better, I’ve been walking to the barn every day. And when I reach the house, I see the Suburban is parked out front, and the lights are on inside.
It’s been almost a week since the bonfire and the kiss right here in the driveway, and so far, things haven’t been at all weird between Erin and me. Neither of us has mentioned the kiss, and I’ve been careful to maintain a friendly but professional distance.
In return, Erin has been funny, calling me Grumpy in front of the kids and making them laugh, efficient, and her usual sexy-as-fuck self.
“You’ve gotta get over the sexy factor,” I whisper to myself as I climb the stairs to the back door and find all three of them in the kitchen, huddled around the island. “Hey, gang.”
“Dad!” Johnny’s eyes are bright and full of excitement as he pops his head up to greet me. “You have to come see this.”
“We all helped,” Holly is sure to assure me as I walk toward them. I crane my neck to see what’s on the counter and find…a cake.
“You baked a cake?”
“The best cake ever!” Holly holds her arms out to me, so I pick her up. “It’s blue and purple inside, and Erin let us decorate it ourselves, without any help from her.”
“That explains the blue icing on your neck.” I lean in and make a fuss about licking the frosting. “Mmm, delicious!”
Holly giggles and wiggles out of my arms, and I turn to Erin, who’s smiling at us all.
“They wanted to help,” she says simply.
“What’s the occasion?” I ask her.
“For what?”
“The cake.” I eye the tall, round cake on the counter. “Usually, it’s someone’s birthday or something.”
“Dad,” Johnny says, “it’s Erin ’s birthday.”
My eyes fly to hers, and I watch with fascination as she blushes.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I let it slip because my sister called to sing to me earlier, and the kids heard, so they insisted that I have a cake. So, together, we baked me one. Oh, I have a casserole in the oven, if that’s okay. Your mom actually made it and brought it over.”
“We love casserole,” Holly informs her. “Come on, let’s cut our cake!”
“Not until after dinner,” I reply, without looking away from Erin. “You’ll stay and eat with us. I know there’s plenty, and the kids will want to help you celebrate your birthday.”
Erin smiles and nods. “That sounds like fun, thanks. We can eat any time.”
“If you don’t mind getting things ready here, I’ll go clean up.”
“You got it,” she says and turns to the kids. “Who’s going to help me set the table?”
“Me!” both of my children volunteer in unison as I head for the stairs and up to my room to clean up. I don’t even want to think about the fact that when I ask the kids to help with dinner, they both whine and complain, as if I’m asking them to dig ditches rather than simply set the table.
They like her, and I’m happy about that. She spends a good amount of time with them, and if I can talk her into working full time through the summer, she’ll be spending even more time with them. So, it’s good that they want to help her and don’t give her a hard time about things.
Fifteen minutes later, I walk into the dining room and find that everyone has food on their plates, along with some salad and a piece of bread, and the other three are waiting for me to join them.
“This is fancy.” I sit at the head of the table and take it all in. Not only did I not have to do this myself, but it looks nice, and no one is yelling or arguing over anything.
“Erin said the polite thing to do is to wait to eat until our whole party has arrived,” Johnny says. “That means you.”
I chuckle and look at the woman at the other end of the table. She’s grinning and looks… happy.
“Well, I’m here, so let’s dig in.”
“Good, because I’m hungry ,” Holly says as she takes a bite of her bread. Holly always goes for the bread first. She’s my carb girl.
“Johnny, you should tell your dad about what happened at school today.”
I blink at my son. “Did something bad happen?”
“No, it was good ,” he says. “I got an A in math.”
I blink again and then reach over to give him a fist bump. “That’s my boy. Good job, buddy. That’s another reason for some cake.”
Dinner is actually fun, full of chatter about school and my day at work, and Erin even shares some fun stories about her customers that make us all laugh.
Finally, it’s time for cake.
“We tried to make the colors the same as the Seattle football team,” Johnny informs me. “But we got this one too purple.”
“I think it’s pretty,” Holly adds.
“Why the Seattle team?” I ask Erin, who just shrugs.
“I like them,” is all she says before taking a bite. “Oh, my goodness, this is delicious. You guys did the best job ever. I’ve never had a cake this good.”
Both kids preen under Erin’s praise, and it isn’t long before we’ve cleaned up from dinner, and the kids are ready to head up for showers. I’m relieved to have a few minutes alone with Erin.
“Thanks for dinner,” Erin says as she walks toward the door with her purse and jacket. “I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Don’t you want to take this cake with you? It’s yours.”
“I can’t eat a whole cake,” she says with a laugh. “You guys eat it. Share it with your parents or something.”
“If you’re sure. Hey, Erin?—”
I’m interrupted by Johnny yelling out, “Daaaaaaaad!”
Erin laughs. “You go. I’ll see you next week.”
I don’t want her to leave yet. I want to talk to her, the way we did by the fire last week. Jesus, I want to kiss her again more than I want my next breath. She should be living here, on the ranch. She’s here most of the time anyway.
But when Johnny yells for me again, I blow out a breath, resigned to discussing the living arrangements with her another time. “Yeah, I’ll see you next week. Drive safe.”
Erin waves, and then she’s gone, and I hurry up the stairs to the bathroom.
“What’s up?”
“I lost another tooth!” Johnny holds the small tooth in his fingers triumphantly. “Maybe I’ll get another fiver.”
I can’t help but laugh at that. My kids come up with the funniest things sometimes.
“I bet you do,” I reply and get the shower started for him. “Now, let’s get you clean.”
When both kids are clean and in their pajamas, we’re settled downstairs to watch some TV before bedtime. This has always been one of my favorite times of the day. I know that a day will come when my kids won’t want to snuggle up with me on the couch, so I’m enjoying this quiet time with them.
Suddenly, my phone rings, and Erin’s name lights up the screen. Did she forget something?
“Hello?”
“Rem?” I can hear the panic in her voice, and it has me scooting to the edge of the couch. “I’m sorry, but I’m in the ditch. I can’t get out. I need help.”
Her words come out all at once, and I glance over to see that both of my kids have heard her. Their eyes are round with worry.
“Are you hurt?” I ask immediately as I stand.
“No.” She pauses. “No, I don’t think so. But the Suburban?—”
“How far toward town did you get?” I ask, interrupting her.
“About halfway, maybe.”
“I’m on my way. Stay where you are.”
“I can’t really go anywhere,” she says with a forced laugh. “Please hurry.”
“I’m on my way,” I say once more, gentling my tone. “I’ll be right there.”
I hang up and turn to the kids, who are also standing in the middle of the room.
“We have to save her,” Holly announces.
“I’ll go get her, but you two are going to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. It’s safest.”
They don’t argue and move faster than I’ve ever seen them move before, grabbing their jackets and pushing their feet into shoes before rushing out to the Jeep.
When we pull up to the small house my parents live in now, Mom answers the door, worry on her pretty face.
“What’s going on?”
“I need a favor.”