Cathy Thacker - The Long, Hot Texas Summer

Wondering if his quarters at the ranch were any different, she swiveled back around. “I know your heart is in the right place,” she said softly, determined to help him succeed with Lamar.

He raked his hands through his shaggy hair and stood. “You just don’t think I’m cut out for this.”

Amanda paused, her hands curving over the back of an armchair. It was difficult telling someone what they didn’t want to hear. For whatever reason, with Justin, it was ever harder. She met his eyes. “Kids like Lamar are complicated. They’re tough to reach because they play everything so close to the vest.”

His broad shoulders relaxing slightly, Justin roamed closer. She inhaled the brisk masculine scent of his skin and hair, her pulse picking up another notch.

“So how did you get through to him?”

Feeling as if the room was a little too warm and small for comfort, Amanda turned and walked into the spacious living area with its abundant couches. She sank into a big armchair, wishing she could find the right words to reassure him. “I didn’t. Not really.” Pretending she wasn’t oh-so-aware of every masculine inch of him, she looked Justin in the eye, then lamented, “All I can tell you for certain is that Lamar’s self-esteem is incredibly low.”

Justin rubbed the underside of his handsome jaw. “Which is why he’s acting out.”

Trying not to notice how good it felt to be with Justin in such an intimate setting, Amanda fought back a flush. “Right.”

Justin sat on the sofa opposite her. “Still.” Justin paused to look her over lazily, head to toe. “You connected with him a lot more than I did. He followed you around like a lost puppy.”

Tingling everywhere Justin’s gaze had touched, and everywhere it hadn’t, Amanda shrugged. She knew that what she and Lamar had shared had, for the most part, been superficial, that there was much more going on with the teenager than he was divulging. There had to be, given the fact Lamar had been abandoned by his parents before becoming a ward of the state.

Aware Justin was still studying her intently, Amanda slanted Justin a haphazard glance. “Lamar had never actually seen any carpentry work being done, so he was interested in what I was doing.”

“Plus,” Justin guessed ruefully, “Lamar was trying to get out of more desk work, assigned by yours truly.”

“Good point.” A more companionable silence fell, and they exchanged smiles. “I want this to work out for you both,” she said.

Really listening now, Justin leaned forward a bit. “Then where would you suggest I start?”

Amanda tried to keep her eyes off the sinewy lines of his shoulders and chest. She did not need to be wondering how it would feel to be held against him. And she certainly didn’t need to be wondering what it would be like to kiss him!

Amanda smiled and advised, “By doing something with Lamar tomorrow that would get you both out from behind a desk. Something that needs doing that he can feel good about at the end of the day.”

Justin took her advice to heart. “I’ll work on it,” he promised, leaning toward her. “In the meantime, I have a favor to ask.”

Chapter Three

“A favor,” Amanda repeated, wondering why she was so drawn to him. And even more important, why she was so curious. He was just a client. She shouldn’t need to understand Justin McCabe on a personal level, never mind try to figure out why he had taken on a challenge of this nature. And yet, she sensed there was something motivating him. Something he didn’t like to talk about.

“Don’t worry.” Justin rose and headed for the lodge kitchen. “It’s nothing all that drastic.”

Intrigued, Amanda followed him. “I can’t wait to hear it, then.”

Justin wandered over to the fridge and peered inside. He took out a package of New Braunfels smoked sausage links and set them on the counter. “I volunteered to host a fund-raising dinner and I’ve got no clue what I need to do to get ready for it...or even what kind of food I should serve.”

Amanda couldn’t have been more shocked had he proposed marriage. “And you’re asking me? The carpenter?”

Justin set a skillet on the stove. He opened a bottle of Shiner Boch beer and poured it into the skillet, then added the links and turned the burner on to simmer. “You’re still a woman. And you like to cook.” He went back to the fridge and brought out containers of pre-made German potato salad and green beans with almonds. “I figured you would know this stuff.”

Amanda did. Unfortunately, she had gone down this particular path before, and it wasn’t a mistake she intended to repeat. “Isn’t this the kind of thing you should be discussing with your girlfriend?” she asked.

Justin went to the fridge again and brought out two more bottles of beer and a jar of jalapeño barbecue sauce. “Don’t have one.” He opened both beers and handed her one.

Their fingers brushed, sending a thrill spiraling through her. Amanda took a small sip of the delicious golden brew and studied him over the rim. “Don’t have one as in you recently broke up with someone, or don’t have one as in you don’t want to be in a relationship?” she asked before she could stop herself.

The corner of his mouth quirked up and he took a drink. “You really want to know?”

“I do,” she murmured. Though maybe she shouldn’t...

He let out a long breath, then turned and dumped the green beans into a saucepan to heat. “A couple of years out of college, I got engaged to a woman I worked with.” The words seemed to come with difficulty. “Pilar and I were both vying for promotion. But there was only one slot available at the company where we worked, and the competition for it was intense. I’d been there longer, had an edge. So Pilar picked my brain at length about what I thought it would take to land the top job, then passed my ideas off as her own before I could present them to my boss.” He took another sip of beer. “Suffice it to say, she got the promotion.”

“That’s terrible!” Amanda blurted out, stunned by the depth of his ex’s betrayal.

“The worst of it was that Pilar didn’t think she had done anything wrong.” There was a long pause as Justin lounged against the counter. “She said that the corporate world was brutally competitive and to succeed one had to be ruthless. She was only surprised I hadn’t done the same to her, or at least tried. But—” cynicism crept into his low tone “—she felt we could still go on, forewarned and forearmed.”

Amanda couldn’t believe her ears. “Obviously, you felt otherwise.”

“I realized I didn’t want to be in a relationship where competitiveness was a factor. So I ended it.”

“Over her objections,” Amanda guessed.

“Yes.”

Amanda couldn’t blame him for brooding. Setting the bottle aside, she closed the distance between them and squeezed his hand compassionately. “I would have done the same thing in your place,” she admitted.

“What about you?” He drained the remainder of his beer. “Is there a reason you don’t want to help me out? A boyfriend waiting in the wings who might not approve?”

Hoping Justin hadn’t picked up on how attracted she was to him, because an awareness like that could propel them right into the bedroom, Amanda flushed. She moved a slight distance away and worked to contain the emotion in her voice. “I’m not attached, either. Although, like you, I was engaged once, several years ago.”

His gaze scanned her face and body, lingering thoughtfully, before returning to her eyes. “What happened?”

“Rob’s parents got wind of the fact that I had a less-than-admirable record before I went to live with my grandparents.”

His gentle expression encouraged her to go on. Amanda drew a bolstering breath. “They heard from one of their friends, who managed a department store, that I had been caught shoplifting there. As you can imagine, my potential in-laws were not pleased. They had in mind a very different type of woman as the mother of their grandchildren.”