Tyler had noticed that family trait last summer and remarked on it. Sarah had told her they all took after their father, who was the best dancer she’d ever known. “Maybe I should let you help me with the entertainment for tomorrow, Jack.”
“No can do. I’ll have my hands full working with the horses. But you sounded great just now. I happened to hear you when I went to fetch myself a beer in the kitchen, and I was curious enough to stick my head out the door. Was that ‘Oklahoma’?”
“Yes.”
“Unfortunately the Last Chance is located in Wyoming. You know any songs about Wyoming?”
“No.”
“Guess I’ll have to teach you some, then. Alex, you might want to think about bringing your talent inside before she catches her death out there.”
“We were heading in when Tyler decided she needed to audition for me,” Alex said.
“Uh-huh. Well, Tyler, you’ve got a helluva voice.”
“Thank you.”
“Wrong tune, but helluva voice. Can we afford her, Alex?”
Alex’s voice sounded choked. “I… Yeah, we should be able to meet her terms.”
“Good to know. See you two inside.”
The screen door banged shut and Alex lost it, doubling over and shaking with silent laughter. “Good God,” he said, gasping. “If Jack only knew…what you named as your fee…” He gazed at her, still chuckling.
She smiled at him. “This way I won’t have to claim it on my taxes.”
“Yeah, I doubt there’s a line item for being served up like an ice-cream sundae.” He looked at her as if he’d like to start immediately. “Have you had sex with whipped cream before?”
“No, but I’ve always wanted to try it. Assuming you can smuggle stuff out of the kitchen.”
“Don’t worry about that. All you have to be concerned with is keeping the noise level down while I drive you crazy.”
“Do you have whipped cream experience, then?”
“No.” He winked at her. “But I’ve always wanted to try it. Shall we go in?”
“Okay. How do I look?”
“Beautiful.”
“Liar.”
“It’s not a lie. You look like a woman who’s been having fun, and that’s always sexy to me.”
“I have been having fun.” She gave him a quick kiss. “And I intend to have even more fun later on tonight.” Then she started for the stairs leading to the back door.
“Damn, but you’re hot, Tyler O’Connelli.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “You’re no icicle yourself, Alex Keller.”
SPEAKING OF ICICLES, Alex could have used one to shove down his pants before he followed Tyler and her tight little tush into the house. The woman turned him inside out. She was right that they could never have managed four more days without falling into bed with each other.
Now that the dam had broken and they were committed to squeezing all the pleasure they could out of this time, he would ignore the ticking clock and make the most of every second he had with her. Of course, he wanted her all to himself 24/7, but that wouldn’t be happening.
They were both committed to making the open house a success, and that would take up a chunk of time. Besides that, Tyler had come here to see Morgan, so whenever Morgan was around, Alex would back off.
And he could start now. Morgan met them at the door and ushered them into the room containing two large-capacity washers and a matching pair of dryers.
“Jack said you two got caught in the rain.” Morgan’s smile was merry, but her gaze was assessing. “I see he wasn’t kidding.”
“We’re soaked and we’re muddy,” Tyler said. “We didn’t want to track all through the house like this, so—”
“Stay right there, both of you,” Morgan said. “I’ll ask Sarah for a couple of bathrobes.”
Alex pulled off his boots and his wet socks. “She has an idea something’s going on,” he said in an undertone.
“It’s fine. I’ll talk with her. She knows this cruise job doesn’t give me much opportunity to date. She’ll understand.”
“Probably.” But he noticed Tyler didn’t sound quite as confident as she had out there in the rain. Neither was he. He wasn’t looking forward to dealing with Josie’s questions.
Last summer he’d tried to protect his sister from Jack, who had previously dumped her. Obviously Jack had learned the error of his ways and now spent all his time proving to Josie how much he loved her, but Alex hadn’t known it would turn out that way.
Josie wouldn’t approve of Alex having a temporary fling with Tyler any more than Alex had liked Josie hooking up with Jack. She’d see it as a heartache waiting to happen, and he couldn’t promise her it wasn’t. He couldn’t very well claim to know what he was doing, either, considering that his marriage had failed miserably.
Maybe he’d steer clear of Josie for the next four days. That wouldn’t be easy, but it wouldn’t be impossible, either. He’d be involved in the open house tomorrow and the cleanup on Sunday. Josie liked to spend most of her weekend at the Spirits and Spurs because that’s when the employees needed her the most.
But Friday nights were reserved for the Chance family to gather at the ranch house, and the hum of conversation and occasional bursts of laughter coming from the dining room told him the meal was in full swing. Josie would be sitting next to Jack and no doubt she’d already pumped her husband for information. She might try to corner Alex before the evening was over.
“Morgan said we need a couple of robes in here.” Sarah walked into the utility room with two white terry bathrobes over her arm. Her eyes widened. “Good Lord, what happened to you two? Did you fall in the mud or what?”
“Something like that,” Alex said.
“It was my fault.” Tyler scrubbed her hair back from her face. “I made a run for it and slipped in the mud. Then Alex tried to help me up and I caused him to lose his balance. I’m sure we looked like Laurel and Hardy out there.”
“Well, here’s a robe for each of you.” She handed one to Tyler before giving Alex his. “You should just leave your wet stuff here. Alex, turn your back while Tyler gets out of her clothes.”
He couldn’t very well say that he’d already seen Tyler nak*d quite recently, so he turned around and began unfastening the snaps down the front of his denim shirt. He could hear Tyler and Sarah murmuring behind him and the rustle of clothing.
“All clear,” Sarah said in a louder voice. “You can turn around now, Alex.”
He turned. Tyler’s clothes were piled on the top of one of the washers and she stood there wrapped up tight in the terry robe.
The robe was bulky and too big, so it completely disguised her figure. Alex shouldn’t have found a single thing to be turned on about, except that her feet were bare, and the polish on her sexy toes gleamed in the overhead light. His fevered brain kicked into fantasy mode again.
“There’s a door in the kitchen to the right of the stove, Tyler.” Sarah pointed in that direction. “Behind it is a stairway that will take you to the second floor. The boys used that route all the time when they’d come in from the corral. You have towels up there, right?”
Tyler nodded. “Alex brought me some.”
“You don’t have a private bath, I’m afraid. You’ll have to share the hall bath with Alex, so you might as well take off and get a head start.”
“I will, and thank you. Sorry to be so much trouble.”
“It’s no trouble, sweetie. Jack says you’re going to pair up with Watkins to provide the entertainment for the open house tomorrow, which is a huge help. I feel guilty making you work on your vacation. I hope Alex is paying you well for that.”
“Don’t worry. He is.”
Alex covered his reaction with a coughing fit as Tyler, cheeks pink, quickly left the room.
“Oh, dear.” Sarah peered at him. “I hope you’re not getting sick.”
“I’m fine. Just swallowed wrong.”
“Listen, it’s not my place to interfere, but I think that girl is extremely focused on getting her promotion. And I don’t blame her. That’s impressive, being named a cruise director at her age.”
Alex gazed into Sarah’s blue eyes, so much like Gabe’s. Although Sarah was a devoted mother to all three men, Gabe was her only biological child. Jack had been four when she’d married his father, and then baby Nick had appeared on the doorstep, the unexpected result of Jonathan’s affair in the period between his divorce from Jack’s mother and meeting Sarah. Sarah had accepted all three boys as hers to raise. In fact, she was fast becoming a second mother to him, as well.
“I know Tyler’s dedicated to her career,” Alex said. “And I think that’s great.”
“It is great. People should have jobs they love.” Sarah laid a hand on his damp sleeve. “But it means she won’t be sticking around here.”
“No, she won’t. I understand that, too.”
Sarah squeezed his arm and let go. “I hope you do, because I’ve seen the way you look at each other.”
“It’ll be okay.” He was touched by the gentle nature of her concern. No doubt Josie’s warnings would come across like air-raid sirens.
“I probably shouldn’t have put her right across the hall from you, but I didn’t realize there was something going on between you two. Did it start last August?”
“Yeah.”
“I wondered after I thought about your reaction when she showed up here today. She’s a nice girl, and if I thought she’d consider staying, I’d be matchmaking like crazy. But she won’t, so I want you to be careful.”
“Thanks, Sarah.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “I will.” Which was a damn lie, because it was too late to be careful. And he had a problem.
He could have dealt with the loss of great sex when Tyler left next week. He might not have been happy about it, but he could have managed.
Unfortunately for him, she’d chosen to sing “Oklahoma” in the middle of a rainstorm, and then she’d finished off her performance with a few dance steps. Watching her take that little bow, he’d felt his heart slip-sliding away. Halting that slide would be a real trick, but he’d have to try for both their sakes.
Chapter 6
TYLER THOUGHT ABOUT waiting for Alex before going down to dinner and decided against it. They were liable to catch enough flak for their flimsy caught-in-the-rain story, so she’d demonstrate to the family that she and Alex weren’t joined at the hip. She hoped they’d be joining different body parts later in the evening, but she’d like the next hour or so to be strictly PG-13.
She’d put on a clean pair of jeans and a black V-neck shirt. Then she added her turquoise necklace and earrings because…because she liked looking good. At times she wondered if she was too hung up on that.