Bright Eyes (18 page)

When Zeke awakened the next morning, he felt supercharged.
Natalie
. Her name was like a song in his mind. He wanted to see her face. He
needed
to know that last night hadn’t been a figment of his imagination.
Problem
. He didn’t have a single good reason to walk across the field to see her at six thirty in the morning and couldn’t have brought himself to do it anyway. She needed her rest.

Instead he grabbed a shower, then went to the kitchen to make coffee. The gallon jug of wine still sat on his kitchen counter. He picked up the juice glass she’d used and smiled. She’d actually been there, and they’d almost made love. It had been the most frustrating experience of his life—and the most fabulous.

He scowled as he measured grounds into the coffee filter.
No condoms.
Never had he felt like such a dope. Zeke Coulter, the guy who planned everything down to a gnat’s ass.

Well, he’d damned sure be ready the next time, he assured himself. Assuming, of course, that there’d be a next time. She’d been a little tipsy last night. When she woke up this morning, she might thank her lucky stars that nothing had happened.

The thought made it difficult for him to breathe. She was terrified of getting hurt again. He’d seen it in her eyes, heard it in her voice.
Just words,
she’d said. How was she to know that he’d never said them to anyone else?

Lemon-yellow sunlight played over Natalie’s face. Luxuriating in the warmth, she bunched her pillow under her cheek and listened to the birds singing outside her open window.
Wake up. Wake up!
they seemed to say.
It’s a beautiful morning!
In complete agreement, she smiled dreamily, thinking of Zeke, how the deep rumble of his voice moved through her when he whispered near her ear, how his big, work-roughened hands felt against her skin, how steely his arms felt when he locked them around her. He was so wonderful—a tall, dark, sexy cowboy who could have had any woman he wanted.

And he’d chosen
her
.

She almost laughed out loud every time she remembered the condom debacle. Bless his heart. He’d sat there on the edge of the bed,
whooshing
for air like a surfacing whale, every muscle in his body coiled with frustration. Up until that moment, she’d still had reservations. A woman couldn’t live through what she had with Robert and trust another man without questioning her sanity. What if everything Zeke said was a pack of lies? But knowing that he’d been with no one since moving into his house, discovering that the prophylactics in his old nightstand had lain in the drawer for so long that he’d thrown them away, and seeing the indignant look on his face when he’d said, “What do you take me for?” had soothed away her fears.

Well, not all her fears, she decided as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and sat up. Robert had left his mark on her, and she would always be afraid, way deep down. But the fear was no longer so overwhelming that she felt panicky. She was coming to trust Zeke in a way she hadn’t thought possible.

Natalie threw her arms wide to stretch, feeling fabulous even though she’d barely slept a wink.
Tonight
. A delightful sizzle of arousal moved through her at the thought.

A light tap at the door brought her head around. “Who is it?”

Valerie opened the door and poked her head through the crack. “Well?” she asked sleepily. “How’d it go?”

“How’d what go?”

Valerie slipped into the room and eased the door closed behind her. “When you talked to Zeke.”

“Oh, that.” Natalie smiled happily. “He changed my mind.”

“He what?”

“He changed my mind. I’m going to take a chance on him, after all.”

Valerie’s brown eyes sharpened with curiosity. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope.” Natalie briefly recounted her conversation with Zeke. “Afterward he kissed me, and the next thing I knew, we were in bed.”

Valerie plopped down on the mattress. “No shit?”

Natalie laughed at her sister’s shocked expression and told her the best part of all, that Zeke hadn’t had any protection in the house. “It was
awful
. But wonderful, too. He hasn’t been with anyone since he moved here, and no telling how long before that.”

“Wow,” Valerie said softly, her eyes going dreamy. “A guy like that is hard to find.”

So happy she could barely contain herself, Natalie hugged her knees. “I’m falling in love with him, Ree-Ree.”

“You haven’t called me that in years.”

“I haven’t, have I?” Natalie tipped her head to study her sister. “Don’t laugh. This’ll sound really sappy, but I feel as if things changed between us last night—that you all of a sudden grew up or something, and now you’re not just my baby sister anymore, but a friend.”

Valerie did laugh, but not mockingly. “I’ve been grown up for a long time, sister dear. You just never opened up to me like you did last night. I’m glad you did.
You
suddenly seem
almost
human.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“Well, it’s true. You’ve always been so nauseatingly perfect. Beautiful, talented, smart. Except for Robert, I can’t remember a single time you screwed up really bad. It hasn’t been easy following in your footsteps.”

“I never knew you felt that way.”

“For, like,
always
. When I was little, I used to practice singing in the barn where no one would hear. I wanted so much to be like you. Mom and Pop were so proud of you, and I never felt as if they were proud of me. I was so-so at everything—okay in school, okay at art, okay at singing. I didn’t shine at anything, and I still don’t.”

Natalie caught her lower lip in her teeth. Then she shifted to hug her sister with all her might. “You
do
shine,” she whispered fiercely. “You’re wonderful and funny and kind. My kids adore you, and no wonder. You can make me laugh when no one else can.”

Valerie returned her hug. “That’s nice, I guess, being good for a laugh. But it’s not exactly a great talent.”

Natalie sat back. “Look at the flip side. Besides singing, what am I good at?”

Valerie frowned thoughtfully. Then she grinned. “Nothing much.”

“Exactly. You’re proficient at a lot of things. Being really,
really
good at one thing—being obsessed with it like I am—has its drawbacks. I’m forgetful and unorganized. I lose my train of thought and screw up the simplest things because I’m hearing music in my head and not concentrating on the task. You’re a good cook. I’m not. You don’t turn the white clothes pink. I do. You remember to check the oil in your car. When daylight savings time comes, you remember to reset your watch and all the clocks. I go around subtracting or adding an hour for weeks because I never remember to set my watch.”

Valerie giggled. “You do, don’t you?”

They fell quiet for a moment, just smiling at each other. Then Valerie said, “Now that we’ve established a mutual-admiration society, let’s get back to Zeke. You’re really falling in love, huh?”

“Yes.” Natalie hugged her knees again and shivered with delicious delight. “Am I crazy, or what?”

“Not crazy.” Valerie playfully punched Natalie’s shoulder. “Right
on
. I’m so glad for you, Nattie. If anyone on earth deserves to get a really great guy, it’s you.”

Tears stung Natalie’s eyes. That seemed to happen a lot since she met Zeke. “Thank you. It’s so weird, how it happened. Isn’t it? I get a divorce, go flat broke, and move home with both my kids. My whole life seems to be falling apart. Then he buys the place next door. Chad vandalizes his house, forcing him to come over and hassle it out with me. If that hadn’t happened, I might never have met him. It’s almost as if it was meant to be. You know?”

“I believe in that, actually. Some people are just meant to be together. You can tell by the way they look at each other.”

“Who do you know like that?” Natalie asked.

“Mom and Pop.”

Natalie stared incredulously at her sister for a moment. Then she shrieked with laughter.

“Well, it’s true,” Valerie insisted. “They still love each other. They just can’t stand each other.”

Natalie fell back on the pillows, laughing so hard she felt weak. “A f-fatal attraction,” she said with a gasp, “that never r-reached the lethal stage?”

“Sort of.” Valerie sent her sister a disgruntled glance. “Name me one time in the ten years since they separated that either of them has so much as
looked
at someone else.”

Natalie sobered and suddenly felt sad. “You’re right. Mom is so pretty. She could crook her finger and have guys standing in line, but she never dates.”

“And Pop is married to the damn television and his backache. He doesn’t have a life anymore. It ended the day she walked out.”

“Oh,
God.
” Natalie sat up. “You’re so
right
. They still love each other.”

Rosie bounded into the bedroom just then. Natalie threw her arms wide. The child catapulted onto her lap, giggling and squirming. Valerie met Natalie’s gaze over the top of her niece’s head.

“Meant for each other,” she said as she pushed to her feet. “I’ve got twenty that says they get back together someday.”

“It’d take a miracle.” Natalie gobbled like a turkey as she nibbled her daughter’s neck. Between gobbles, she said, “They fight like two cats in a burlap bag.”

“My point exactly. People don’t go for the jugular every time they see each other unless some very powerful emotions are at work. They don’t just dislike each other. They
detest
each other. Gotta be a reason for that.”

Zeke was on his third mug of coffee when he saw Natalie come out the back door of the Westfield house, carrying a bag of trash. Even though she was far away, he identified her by her trademark walk—an unintentionally sexy sway that Valerie lacked. He nearly growled in frustration when she left the porch and became obscured by bushes. He glanced at his watch, saw that it wasn’t quite eight o’clock, and wondered why she’d gotten up so early. She was supposed to sleep in this morning, damn it.

As she exited the yard to reach the trash cans, she walked out into the open again. He settled back against the steps, never taking his eyes off of her as she dumped her burden in the garbage can. She wore something pink—a nightshirt of some kind, he decided, because her legs looked bare. At such a distance, he couldn’t make out any details, much to his regret. But where vision failed him, imagination took over. In his mind’s eye, he envisioned her shapely calves, the slender turn of her ankles, and the way the nightshirt would hike up in back as she bent over. He wished she were there with him. That he could run his hands over her softness and bury his face in her hair.

Soon,
he promised himself. Now that he’d made up his mind about Natalie, he wanted her in his bed every night. With two kids in the mix, that meant marriage, the sooner, the better. It was his responsibility to set a good example for her children, after all, especially for Chad, who’d be a walking, talking hormone before they knew it. Zeke wanted the boy to respect girls, and teaching that trait required more than lip service.

Not long after Natalie went back in the house, Chad emerged. As the boy cut across the field, Zeke lifted an arm and waved. Chad spotted the movement and waved back.

“Morning,” Zeke called when the kid was within earshot. “Going to be a scorcher today.”

“It’s already getting warm,” Chad shouted back.

When the boy reached the porch, Zeke pushed to his feet. “You eat breakfast?”

“Cereal and toast.”

Zeke swirled his cup and dumped the dregs. “May as well get to work then.”

“What are we gonna do today?”

Zeke led the way to the shop. “Build fences.”

“You got the lumber?”

“Yep,” Zeke said as he opened one of the shop doors. He slanted Chad a meaningful look. “Got it a couple of months ago. Would have finished some stalls and a corral by now if it hadn’t rained tomatoes and rocks on my house.”

Chad blushed. “I’m real sorry I did that now.”

Zeke laughed and ruffled the boy’s hair. “I know you are. Wouldn’t needle you about it, otherwise.”

An hour later, Zeke and Chad were digging the fourth posthole when Natalie and Rosie showed up. Wiping sweat from his brow with his shirtsleeve, Zeke turned to greet them. He meant to ask Natalie why she’d come so early, but as it happened, he never even got a chance to say hello. Chester had followed the ladies across the field. When the gander spotted Zeke, he went into instant attack mode, lifting his wings, extending his neck, and hissing.

“Chester!” Natalie cried.

“Bad boy!” Rosie screeched.

Zeke wasn’t about to be chased off his own property by a silly goose with a bad attitude. This time, instead of running, he lifted his arms, yelled, and met the gander’s charge. Accustomed to victims that fled, Chester clearly didn’t know how to react. With a panicky quack, the huge bird banked his wings sharply to the right, turned, and ran, honking with every step. Determined to teach the gander a lesson, Zeke continued the chase until Chester had crossed the field and reached his own driveway.

“That’ll show you,” Zeke yelled for good measure as he slowed his pace and turned back for home. In the distance, he could see Natalie cupping her hands to her mouth and yelling something, but he was too far away to distinguish her words. Rosie began waving her arms and jumping about. “What in blazes are they hollering about?” Zeke wondered aloud.

An instant later, Chester pinched Zeke on the ass, providing him with a startling and painful answer to that question. “Ouch!” Instinctively breaking into a run so the gander couldn’t bite him again, Zeke yelled, “You no-good, rotten, miserable excuse for a—
ouch!”

Zeke picked up speed. When he’d put a good ten feet between himself and the vengeful gander, he wheeled to press a frontal attack again, waving his arms and yelling to frighten the bird. Chester honked frantically and fled, Zeke once again right on his ass.

Looking on, Natalie started to laugh. Her children cast her appalled glances, which only made her laugh harder. Ten minutes later, she had tears streaming down her cheeks and was holding her sides. Every time Zeke gave up the chase, Chester doubled back and tried to bite him. In all her days, Natalie couldn’t recall ever having seen anything so funny. Even the kids finally started to giggle.