“I live in town, Seth. Always have. My dad loves to fish. I just never really got into it.” I shrug and take a bite of delicious homemade potato salad.
“But you like horses, right?” He shovels a heaping forkful of potato salad into his mouth.
“I’ve never ridden one.” I chuckle and shake my head as I watch him eat. “Are they starving you here, Seth? The way you’re eating, you’d think you haven’t seen food in days.”
Seth just blinks at me. He slowly smiles, but I cut him off before he can voice the idea I can see forming in that sharp brain of his.
“I’m not getting on a horse.”
“Why not?” Josh asks with a broad smile.
“Well . . .” I look back and forth between the two guys and then sigh when I can’t come up with a good reason not to. “I’m not dressed for riding.”
Josh’s gaze falls to my red sundress before his brown eyes find mine again. “Wear jeans tomorrow.”
“I’m not here to learn how to ride a horse, I’m here to teach Seth.”
“No reason that you can’t do both,” Josh replies with a grin, and winks at me, his dimple creasing his cheek, waking those butterflies in my stomach.
“Am I keeping you from work?” I change the subject and pop a piece of watermelon in my mouth, doing my best not to squirm in my chair.
“I have to go paint the fence,” Seth mutters, and swigs down the last of his Coke, making me laugh.
“What?” he asks.
“When I drove up to the house and saw the white fence, I thought to myself, ‘I don’t envy the person who has to paint this every couple of years.’ ”
“It was either paint the fence or shovel the horse shit,” Seth replies matter-of-factly.
“Mouth!” Josh scowls, pinning Seth with a look, and Seth rolls his eyes.
“Horse crap.”
“I think I’d take the fence too,” I agree, but Seth just shrugs his thin shoulders and frowns. “You look so much like your dad.” I shake my head and reach for another piece of watermelon before I realize that both Seth and Josh have gone still.
“I do not,” Seth whispers.
“Well, you look just like your uncle Josh, and Josh and Zack are twins, so . . .” I tilt my head to one side and watch Seth’s face tighten.
“I’m nothing like my dad,” he insists.
“Okay, I’m sorry.”
Seth pins me with a scowl, then grabs his trash and lets himself into the house to dump it, stalks through the house, and slams the front door behind him.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper again.
“It’s okay. He’s pissed at my brother. Won’t talk about it, just won’t have anything at all to do with him.” Josh purses his lips and sighs, still watching the path Seth took through the house. My eyes are glued to his lips and I’m mortified to realize that I want him to kiss me.
And not just a sweet thank-you-for-teaching-my-nephew kiss, but a long, slow kiss that lasts forever and makes me forget how to breathe. I want to sink my fingers into his thick, dark hair and feel his large, callused hands glide down my back as he pulls me against him.
I want him to touch me.
Josh begins to pack up the remains of our lunch and I take a deep breath and join him.
“When he smiled at you earlier? That’s the first time I’ve seen him smile since he’s been here.”
“Josh, I’m so sorry. He’s a great kid, and he’s really smart. I think we’ll have him back on track with his grades without a problem.”
“Thank you.” Josh replaces the lid on the fruit and throws it in the cooler. “You know, Kyle didn’t tell me who he was sending out here. I was surprised when I saw it was you.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, but I’m glad you’re here. I wasn’t kidding before—you look fantastic.”
I blush and concentrate on rewrapping the chicken and placing it in the cooler.
“I’m not a hermit, Josh. Like I said before, you’ve seen me around.”
“In passing. Not like this. I like it.”
I stand up and cross my arms over my chest, then frown when he stands too and is more than a foot taller than me.
I’ve always been so damn short.
“Are you flirting with me?” I ask.
“Maybe.” He pushes the lid down on the ice chest, then moves around the table to stand right next to me, and I have to tilt my head way back to see his eyes. “You always were a little thing.”
“Little?! Oh my God.” I giggle and throw a hand over my mouth. “I’m just short. Hell, in high school I was f—”
“If you say fat, I will take you over my knee, Carolina. You were not fat then, you’re not fat now, and next to me, you are tiny.” He sets his mouth in a disapproving line and pulls on a lock of my hair. “Your pretty blond hair is soft.”
“Don’t f-flirt with me,” I stutter halfheartedly. Instead of moving away, I sway toward him, my heart racing.
“Why not?” He grins and continues to gently pull my hair between his thumb and forefinger, watching the strands as they fall out of his grasp.
“Because I’m your employee for the summer, and I like my job. It’s not like there are dozens of middle schools here in town that I can work at if I get fired.” I step away, pulling myself together, doing my best to remind myself of the blonde I saw leaving his house this morning and how I do not want to be another notch in Josh King’s bedpost. I open his sliding screen door and gather my tote bag and purse and turn to find him standing right behind me again. “I have to go.”