6. Beck
Beck
It’s been a long day. One of the longest we’ve had in awhile. Luckily, I love my job. I love being around the horses. I love meeting new people and teaching them how to ride or showing off our beautiful ranch. This is my dream job. But days like today wear me down quick.
I pull up to my house a little after six.
There was one more trail ride left for the evening, and I left one of my guys to do it.
Brooks let me hire even more summer staff this year, which takes the burden off me a little bit.
I trained every single one of these kids, too, so I trust that they’re going to do a good job for our guests.
It makes leaving and truly turning my mind off work a little easier at the end of the day.
I walk inside, fully expecting to see Jade wolfing down some chicken nuggets.
I know my girl, and if left to her choices, we’d have chicken nuggets every single day.
But when I walk in, it’s to a scene I wasn’t expecting at all.
Willow and Jade are both in the kitchen.
Jade is wearing one of my aprons that my mom got me one year for Christmas.
Willow has tied it up so that it fits Jade a little better.
Jade is standing on a chair at the counter, stirring something on the stove.
“Wow, what’s going on in here?” I ask, kicking my boots off by the door and hanging my hat on the hook.
“I’m cooking, Daddy!”
“I see that. What are you making?”
“So, we thought we could do something nice for you tonight,” Willow explains. “Since you had a long day, we’re making you dinner. That way, the two of you can sit down for a daddy-daughter dinner.”
I truly wasn’t expecting that. I can’t remember the last time anyone cooked me dinner, except maybe Brooks when he and Aspen invite me over.
“Wow. That’s… thank you, ladies.” I try to play it cool, but I’m not sure I succeed. This is actually very sweet of them, and I don’t know how to handle it. “So, what are we having?”
“Spaghetti!” Jade yells, making me laugh.
“It’s nothing special, but we made the sauce from scratch, and we did garlic bread and a salad. Jade promised me she would try the salad, right?” Willow asks her.
Jade winces a little bit, and I imagine she’s regretting that promise right about now. She reluctantly says, “Yes.”
“I don’t know. It looks pretty special to me,” I say, eyeing the spread on the counter. Willow looks up at me, and when her green eyes meet mine, I can feel her excitement. My eyes dip to her lips for the second time today. It’s honestly pissing me off that her mouth looks so damn perfect.
I know she caught me staring at her ass today.
I didn’t mean to do it, but I couldn’t stop myself.
Those cut-off jean shorts look amazing on her.
I thought she was going to yell at me when her gaze met mine.
Hell, I wish she would’ve. Maybe that would teach my brain to not want things I can’t have.
But no. Not Willow. She fucking winked at me, encouraging me.
I was glad they left after that because I needed a minute to collect myself.
“Willow, do the bubbles mean boiling?” Jade asks, cutting the connection between Willow and me.
Willow looks down at the pot. “Good job, Jade. Yep, that means it’s boiling. We need the noodles now.”
I clear my throat and take a step away. “Do I have time for a quick shower?”
“Yeah. We’ve still got to boil the pasta and put the garlic bread in the oven,” Willow says.
“Got it. I’ll just be a few minutes.” I turn from them and pull off my T-shirt as I start to walk toward my room.
Since I’m apparently a glutton for punishment, I look back to see if Willow is staring.
She is. I stop in my tracks. When she notices I’ve stopped walking, her eyes slowly move up my bare torso to my face, and I take a page out of her book and give her a wink.
Her eyes widen slightly before she turns away. I chuckle to myself and head into my bedroom. I don’t know what is going on between us, but it’s confusing as hell.
I quickly shower and change into some clean clothes. When I walk back into the kitchen, the girls are putting the plates on the table. There’s a large salad bowl in the middle and a plate with a few pieces of garlic bread.
My stomach growls when I smell the pasta sauce. Lunch feels like it was forever ago.
“This looks amazing, ladies,” I tell them.
“Thanks, Daddy!”
Willow helps Jade untie the apron. “Ok, I’m gonna get going. I hope you two enjoy dinner.”
She turns to walk back into the kitchen, but I stop her, grabbing her wrist. “You should stay. Eat dinner with us.”
Her eyes look to where my hand is wrapped around her wrist before she slowly shakes her head. “No. I can’t. This was meant to be for the two of you.”
“Come on, Wills. You’re basically family.” I smile at her to encourage her to stay, but she shakes her head again.
“Sawyer is expecting me home.”
I nod and drop my hand. She quickly moves away, and I wonder if I made her uncomfortable. Just because I’m attracted to her doesn’t mean she’s attracted to me. Hell, I’m basically an older brother to her. Maybe I’m misreading everything.
“What time should I be here tomorrow?” she asks.
I clear my throat, pulling myself out of my thoughts. “I’m off tomorrow. But I’ll need you at six on Thursday.”
“Got it. I’ll see you both then!”
Jade gives Willow a hug, and Willow runs out before I have a chance to say anything else. Not that I know what I would say. I’ve already made enough of an idiot of myself for one day.
“Alright, Jadey. Let’s dig in!”
She climbs onto her chair, and I notice that Willow has cut the long noodles on Jade’s plate into a more manageable size for her. I love that she thought to do that. It took me several months of pasta dishes before I realized cutting it would make it easier for Jade to eat.
“Daddy?”
“Yes, honey?”
“Do I really have to try the salad?”
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. “Didn’t you promise Willow you would try it?”
“Yeah, but…”
“One bite won’t hurt you, Jadey. And then you won’t have to break your promise.”
Her little shoulders slump.
“Hey, you might like it. Looks like there’s ranch dressing on it. You like to dip your carrots in that.”
“Ok,” she mumbles.
She reaches over and grabs a piece of garlic bread, which looks to be just sandwich bread with butter and garlic powder on it, but it tastes amazing, especially since Jade and Willow made it for me.
This might be one of the top five dinners I’ve ever had and not even because of the food.
The only thing that would have made it better was if Willow had stayed to eat with us.
I’d like to get to know this version of her now.
What’s she into? What’s her life like at college?
But I imagine if we start talking, it will only feed my attraction to her.
I shake my head to get the thought out of there. Sawyer would kill me if he knew what I was thinking about his sister.
“You ok, Daddy?” Jade asks.
“Never better, honey,” I lie.