Chapter 26
Eli
Ava’s door stayed closed all morning. I spent extra time at the stable with Luke, so I wouldn’t be tempted to touch her again. Something told me she wanted space.
Luke and I were discussing going for a ride when I heard the high-pitched whine of one red Tacoma roll in. The thing literally sang for a tune-up. I followed Luke’s glare to August’s truck. “Hey, don’t worry. He’s just here to finish the fencing.”
The kid yanked the watering hose so hard that it broke the wall mount right off the post, and water started spewing from the spigot. He threw the hose to the ground with a curse.
I shut off the valve. “Don’t worry, I can fix it.”
“Can I just go?”
“No, we’re going for a ride later. Walk it off. Do your thing. I’ll keep August out of your hair, okay?” I frowned at Luke’s back as he stormed to the tack stall. I didn’t realize he had such a problem with the guy.
True to my word, I jogged over to August as he slid out of his truck. “Are we finishing the paddock today?”
“Yes, I hope.” He reached across his ripped bench seat to grab a dark brown cowboy hat.
“Great. I have better tools in the garage. You wanna come up and grab them?”
He nodded, getting back in his truck and motioning for me to join him. “You’re feeling better? Your ribs?”
“Yeah.”
The passenger door creaked closed when I yanked it. It took a lot of effort not to comment on the sad state of his engine as it cried up to the garage.
August parked next to Ava’s truck. “She is living here now.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah. Her ex was harassing her. I suggested she stay with us.” Ava could fill in the rest if she wanted to. I hopped out and led the way to the third bay.
August followed. “She will do anything for Nina.”
“It was a smart move. For both of them.” When August didn’t readily agree, I dumped an impact drill in his hands.
That popstar smile returned. “And you’d do anything for her, qué no?”
Of course I would, but I sure as shit wasn’t admitting it to the guy. He wasn’t her dad. I dug around in a rolling chest for dill bits, shoving a bunch in my pocket. “Hey, you want me to take a look at your truck?”
August made a sucking sound with his teeth. “Jason, he fixed trucks, also.”
“Ava’s husband?”
“And my best friend.”
I scoffed as I picked up an extra battery. “This where you tell me I don’t deserve her?”
“No.”
“But you’re gonna watch my every move?”
“Maybe.”
I grabbed a circular saw in case we needed to trim something down. “Did you love her when your best friend was married to her?”
He laughed and scratched his chin, sizing me up. I had nothing to hide. I wanted Ava for all the right, wholesome reasons. Even if some things I wanted to do with her were … less wholesome.
“I made him a promise,” August said. I assumed “he” was Ava’s husband.
“Lemme guess. I’m getting in the way?”
He squinted at the sky. “We better start working, no?”
He may not have said it, but I got the feeling I’d put a wrench in his plans.
“So, tell me about the band on your shirt,” I said about twenty minutes in on the ride with Luke. He rode Chuck, and I rode Royal. With permission, of course.
Once he started talking, he didn’t stop.
From the band, to concerts, to where he got his orange Chucks.
More words than I’d ever managed out of him before.
It made my chest tight. Not in a bad way, but like when someone loved the gift you bought them.
The sun beat on us mercilessly, and by the time we got back to the ranch, I needed a shower in the worst way.
“You hungry?” I asked as we walked back up to the house.
“Yeah.”
“Great. Let’s grab some lunch.”
We had leftover tamales. Dad and Marley came in to join us. Still no Ava or Nina. Marley didn’t surprise me, but my old man? I waited for B&B remarks, but they never came.
Marley leaned her elbows on the table, eying Luke’s second helping. “That looks like one of mine.”
For such a skinny kid, he could sure pack ‘em away. “You made these?”
“Yup.” She cut me a nervous glance, maybe thinking I’d rag on her for taking all the credit. I didn’t.
“They’re really good,” Luke said. “Like, better than the Mexican place where my parents get takeout.”
I’d never seen her smile so big. Thank you, Luke.
While I microwaved my second plate, I tested my ribs with my fingertips. Still sore. At least it didn’t hurt to breathe anymore. But Ava was right. Probably shouldn’t have been under a truck yet.
Dad came up next to me to stick his dishes in the sink. “Something bothering you?”
“No. Why?”
He eyed where my fingers still prodded, but instead of calling me out, he walked off.
Marley stuck around until Luke’s mom came to pick him up. Then she started pulling stuff out of the pantry.
I grabbed an iced tea from the fridge. “Whatcha making?”
She thumped a bag of flour on the counter. “Cookies. Why? Afraid I’m going to burn the house down?”
Was Ava right? Did Marley just want my approval? “I’m sure you won’t. Tell me when they’re done. I’ll be your taste tester.”
I snuck in a shower before going down to check on Ava. She’s doing too much. She never just relaxes. But what I found in the den were two girls curled up on the big blue couch. Nina was snoring like a piglet. Shoot! Naptime.
Ava’s eyes sliced to me.
“Sorry.” I gave her a lame wave. “I’ll come back later.”
Her gaze traveled over my t-shirt and gym shorts. “Were you going to lift weights?”
I shrugged.
“Should you be doing that with …” she glanced around, “… with your injury?”
“The doctor said I could use other muscles.”
The raking stare she dragged down my body made me wonder what muscles she thought I meant. No way in hell was I leaving now. I snagged my gloves from a box near the free weights. Biceps and triceps curls were probably all I could do. Maybe some incline presses.
Sweat matted the hair to Nina’s face. Ava picked up the kid’s hand and pinched the tips of her fingers.
“Is she sick?” I asked.
Ava nodded. “I should’ve realized last night.”
I ignored the dull ache as I grabbed some thirty-five-pounders and pushed out my first set of twelve.
It could’ve been more. Ava’s hungry attention made me lose count.
She blinked away when I caught her, but I could feel it, like one of those infrared heaters.
Look all you want. Hell, she could touch.
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about kissing her on the workout bench with her legs locked around my lap, and all that hair falling in our faces.
She switched to pinching the fingertips on Nina’s other hand, and the piggy noises stopped.
I pushed through the burn of my last rep. “How’d you do that?”
“Do what?”
“She was snorting, and now she’s not.”
“Oh.” Ava tucked her hair behind her ear. Long, wavy strands I was dying to tangle into. “The fingertips have pressure points,” she said. “For the sinuses. At least, that’s what my mother taught me. It works, so I keep doing it.”
I watched again. Not pinching. More like a micro wax job on each tiny fingertip. “That’s cool.”
“It is, I guess. It works with the feet, too. The tips of the toes.”
When I lay back on the bench to try pecs, my ribs barked, but only while I got settled.
I extended my arms overhead, tapping the sides of the weights together, then pulled back until my elbows were ninety degrees.
Pushed overhead again. I felt it in my shoulders and my chest, but no sharp stabs.
I did another rep, trying to stay focused, but if stares had flavors, Ava’s tasted like habanero.
Sweat pricked my forehead. “You okay over there?”
“What? No-yes! I mean … I was just–How long did it take to build that much muscle?”
I started another rep, since she was enjoying the show. “A year? Do you lift?”
“No. But I stretch.”
“Stretching is good.” That strip of tanned skin on her stomach came to mind.
The one that showed up when she lifted her arms. I itched to trace my fingers along it.
Press in behind her as I showed her the posture for a biceps curl.
Run my hands over her hips so they didn’t shift.
“Tell you what? I’ll show you mine if you show me yours? ”
Eyes dark as soda fountains drank me in. “I-I can’t. Nina.”
“Rain check, then.” I stood, grabbing the bottom of my shirt to wipe my sweat, knowing full well my gym shorts weren’t loose enough to hide what that carnal stare did to me. “You wanna watch TV?”
I snagged the remote from the coffee table, even as she shook her head. “You sure?” My fists sank into the couch cushions, brushing the outsides of her legs, caging her and a still sleeping Nina under me.
Ava’s breath hitched.
I left the remote next to her. “Just in case.” Then it was back to my room for a cold shower.
Monday morning, I beat everyone to the kitchen. Ava dragged herself in just after seven, slugging to the counter like a cat with a bum leg. The dark clothes seemed outta character for her.
I held out her coffee. “Are you okay?”
“It’s fine. I’ll get my own.”
“Take it. I made it for you.”
Her fingers wrapped around the cup, and she stared into it. After a whiff, she took the smallest sip known to humankind, then set it on the counter.
I frowned. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t look good.”
“That’s the stupidest saying. How else am I supposed to take it?”
I moved around the island and put the back of my hand on her forehead like Mom used to do. “Jesus, Ava, you’re really hot.”
Her pathetic swat wouldn’t have bothered a fly. “It’s seven in the morning, and you’re flirting?”
“Ava.”
“What?”
“Maybe you should go back to bed.”
“I can’t,” she groaned, hunching over and pressing her forehead into the black countertop. “I have to go to work.”
I’d seen her do this before. “Where’s Nina?”
“Probably crying downstairs because I snapped at her,” she said into the dark stone.
I hesitated. This situation was outside my wheelhouse. “Tell you what? I’ll get Nina, and we’ll make you something to eat.”
“Ugh. I don’t want food.”
“If you feel that bad, call out.”
She straightened. “I just started working there, and I’ve already taken two days off.”