“Hey, Grace.” He crossed his arms and leaned on the door frame, cocking his busted leg to take the weight off. “What can I do for you?”
The sun shone behind her, close to setting for the day, spilling fiery reds and yellows into the deep crevices of the sky. As backdrops went, it wasn’t half-bad. But it wasn’t nearly as spectacular as the woman.
“We had an appointment. Earlier.”
Kyle swore. He’d totally forgotten. Wasn’t that just dandy? Made him look like a stellar father to blow off his daughters’ caseworker.
Fix it. He needed Grace’s good favor.
“But you were off doing cowboy things,” she continued. Her voice had grown a little breathy as if she’d run to the door from her car. But the scant distance between here and there sure didn’t account for the pink spreading through her cheeks.
“Yep. Someone advised me I might want to find permanent employment if I hoped to be a daddy to my girls. Sorry I missed you.” He raised a brow. “But it’s mighty accommodating of you to reschedule, considering. ’Preciate it.”
Good thing she hadn’t wandered down to the barn so she could witness firsthand his impressive debut as the boss.
“No problem,” she allowed. “I have to do the requisite number of site visits before I make my recommendations and I do want to be thorough.”
Maybe there was room to get her mind off her recommendations and on to something a little more pleasant. Before she made any snap judgments about his ability to recall a small thing like an appointment with the person who had the most power to screw up his life. Well, actually, Grace was probably second, behind Kyle—if there was anyone who got the honor of being an A1 screwup thus far in this custody issue, it was him.
“Why don’t we sit for a minute?” He gestured to the porch rocker to the left of the front door, which had a great view of the sunset. Might as well put Liam’s revamp of the house to good use, and do some reconnaissance at the same time. Grace had to provide a report with her recommendations. He got that. But he wanted to know more about the woman providing the report than anything else at this moment.
“Oh.” She glanced at the rocker and then over his shoulder into the interior of the house. “It would probably be best if I watched you interact with the girls again. Like yesterday. That’s the quickest way for me to see what kind of environment you’ll provide.”
“That would be great. Except they aren’t here. Liam and Hadley took them for a walk before dinner.” Quickly, before she could ask why he hadn’t joined them, he held up a finger as if a brilliant idea had just occurred to him. “Why don’t you stay and eat with us? You can see how the Wade family handles meals. Meanwhile, we can hang out on the porch and wait for them to get back.”
“Um...”
He closed the front door and hustled her over to the bench seat with a palm to the small of her back. To be fair, she didn’t resist too much and willingly sank into the rocker, but as soon as he sat next to her, it became clear that he should have been the one resisting.
The essence of Grace spilled over him as they got cozy in the two-seater. It was too small for someone his size and their hips snugged up against each other. The contact burned through his jeans, sensitizing his skin, and as he tried to ease off a bit, his foot hit the porch board and set the rocker in motion. Which only knocked her against him more firmly so that her amazing breasts grazed his arm.
Actually, the rocker was exactly the right size for Kyle and Grace. Sitting in it with her might have been the best idea he’d ever had in his life.
Her fresh, spring-like scent wound through his head. They’d sat like this at her mama’s house, but in the living room while pretending to watch TV on a Saturday night. It passed for a date in a place like Royal, where teenagers could either get in trouble sneaking around the football stadium with filched beer or hang out under the watchful eye of the folks. Usually Kyle and Grace had opted for the latter, at least until her parents went to bed. Then they got down to some serious making out.
He’d never been as affected by a woman as he’d been by this one. Even just a kiss could knock him for a loop. The memories of how good it had been washed through him, blasting away some of the darkness that had taken over inside. She’d always been so eager. So pliant under his mouth.
All at once, he wondered if she still tasted the same, like innocence laced with a warm breeze.
“Grace,” he murmured. Somehow his arm had snaked across the back of the rocker, closing the small gap between them.
Grace’s brown eyes peeked out underneath her lashes as she watched him for a moment. Maybe she was wondering the same. If that spark would still be there after all this time.