Only You (8 page)

She looked away from him. “It bothers me.”

His racing heart ground to a halt. This conversation was going from bad to worse. “Why?”

“Because I can’t afford the distraction right now.”

Oh, yeah. She was clearly conflicted on the issue. The way she chewed on her thumbnail was telling. The way she reacted to him was also telling. Cole felt his smile return. “So, I’m a distraction?”

Josie rolled her eyes. “Yes,” she admitted. “I should be paying attention to what’s on my calendar and working out the kinks in my computer program instead of letting you ply me with Dixie’s cooking.”

He squeezed the back of her neck. “Stop worrying about that program.”

She pushed the damp hair back off her forehead. “How can I? The system has to be operational in less than two weeks. The way things are looking now, I’ll be unemployed by then.”

“It’ll be working like a charm by tomorrow.”

“I wish I had your confidence.” She looked at her watch. “I really have to go.”

When Cole reached over to open the door for her, his chest pressed up against hers. She inhaled sharply. He enjoyed the contact, too. After he leaned back, she slowly slid across the seat, but turned back before getting out. “Oh, my jacket. I almost forgot.”

They both looked at the soaked blanket lying in a wad behind the seat. He imagined it smeared with chicken salad and sticky fruit. “Why don’t you keep mine. I’ll drop yours off at the cleaners.”

She smiled then, some of her good humor returning. “Thank you for lunch.”

He smiled, too. “You’re welcome.”

On impulse, he leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. It wasn’t anywhere near the kind of kiss he wanted to give her. The kind he’d dreamed of giving her while he’d lain awake most of the night, but it seemed the safest thing to do at the moment. He comforted himself in knowing there’d be other opportunities. He’d see to that.

She smiled a smile that women had used to ensnare men since the beginning of time. Cole had to admit as he watched her run up the brick sidewalk to her front door, she had him good and trapped.

*

As soon as the meeting of the Historical Society ended, Josie escaped to her office and closed the door. The looks she’d gotten from Mrs. Church and Mrs. McKay during the long meeting could have wounded.

She had just sat down at her desk when the door to her office opened and Mrs. McKay swept into the room. “Here you are.”

Like mother, like son.
“Mrs. McKay.”

“I need to speak with you, Josephine.” If the woman pursed her lips any tighter, they’d shatter.

Though it grated, she would play at being contrite. It was expected. “I’m sorry I was late to the meeting, Mrs. McKay. It won’t happen again.” No need making excuses.

“See that it doesn’t. Now about the matter I wished to discuss with you…” The painfully thin, elderly matron lowered herself to perch on the edge of the leather wing chair positioned in front of Josie’s desk.

“Yes?”

“Josephine, I know you have been away from Angel Ridge for some time. You’ve lived in larger cities these last years where a young lady’s conduct is not so closely scrutinized.”

She paused. Josie couldn’t imagine where this was going, but she had a sinking feeling it would end somewhere in the vicinity of Cole Craig.

“Here in Angel Ridge, there is a certain code of conduct that a lady of your station is expected to follow.”

“A lady of my station?”

“Certainly. A young lady of breeding and education who is an esteemed member of the community should conduct herself accordingly. She should consort with gentlemen of similar status and experience, attend the proper social functions, become involved in philanthropic pursuits by joining the right clubs, serving on the right committees.”

Josie must have appeared completely baffled, because Mrs. McKay continued, “The Garden Club, the Association of University Women, the Junior League, to name of few.”

“I see.”

“Good. Then I need not state that associating with young men from the wrong side of the ridge would be frowned upon by the members of The McKay Foundation board. The Foundation that funded your education and provides the salary for your position here.”

Josie seethed, but said, “I understand.” She got it loud and clear. They owned her, just like this town had owned her all her life.

“Good. I’m glad we had this little chat. Now, how is the new cataloging program working? Are we on schedule for the Memorial Day debut?”

“Everything is going as planned,” she lied. It would be a cold day before she admitted that anything was amiss to this insufferable woman.

“Splendid. I’ll let you return to your work, then. I expect you’ll stay late to compensate for the time you lost today. Good day.”

Josie’s first impulse after the door clicked shut behind the witch was to hurl a crystal paperweight at it. She held back only because it was the one her parents had given her when she’d won her first regional spelling bee.

How dare she? How dare that woman lecture her on appropriate conduct? Social status indeed. She made it sound as if this was England or something, and she a titled lady. Obviously Mrs. McKay was still living in another decade. Another century even.

Josie stabbed at the power button on her computer and waited an eternity for it to boot.

“Dr. Allen?” Teresa had opened Josie’s door only far enough to look inside.

“Come in, Teresa. And call me Josie.”

“Oh. I couldn’t possibly. Mrs. McKay—”

“Look, Teresa, Mrs. McKay may sign the checks, but I’ll not be her protégé, regardless of what she dictates.”

“O—kay…” Teresa said slowly.

“I’m sorry, Teresa. I’ve had nothing but a string of bad days and my mood is not the best. What did you need?”

“
Um
, I hate to tell you this, but the network’s crashed again.”

Josie rubbed her forehead. “Not again. This is the last thing I need.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve tried all the usual things, but nothing’s working.”

“You’ve checked all the cables?”

“Yes.”

Josie sighed. “Have everyone log off the network, and I’ll see what I can do.”

Teresa wrung her hands. “How will we check out books?”

“We’ll have to go back to doing it the old-fashioned way. Have the clerks log every book with their locater numbers so that they can input them when I get the system back up.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Teresa?”

“I’m sorry. Sure thing, Jo—Josie.”

“Thanks, Teresa.”

*

“You’re burnin’ the midnight oil, Dixie.” Cole settled himself on a stool at the counter of Ferguson’s and helped himself to a doughnut from the covered cake plate sitting too close to resist.

“Those pies and cakes you people consume don’t bake themselves magically.” She gave him a sweeping look. “Well, you look slightly better than you did earlier. I take it the picnic went well.”

Cole bit into his doughnut. “Depends on your definition of
well
.”

“Okay. You had fabulous food, a picture perfect day, and the woman of your dreams sitting with you on a picnic blanket. Surely even you couldn’t screw that up.”

“It rained, ending the picnic abruptly.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin and added, “How ’bout a cup of coffee?”

“Did it rain?”

The false innocent look on Dixie’s face said it all. He pointed a finger at her. “You knew!” He slapped the counter. The television in the diner was always set to the Weather Channel or CNN.

She leaned in. “Gettin’ all wet and havin’ to take the woman to her house to change can’t have been all that bad.”

“Well now, that did happen, but there was a snag. A couple of them.”

“Such as.”

“Such as, first, we had to run for cover under the awning of the bank. I’m sure someone scurried straight to Mrs. McKay about it. Then there was Old Maid Church, who just happened by on her way to the Historical Society Meeting at the library and saw us. A meeting Josie was supposed to attend. Needless to say, she was late.”

“I’ll just bet Mrs. McKay gave poor Josie
you know what
over it, too.”

“I’d say that’s a safe assumption. I’d also say it’s likely she never wants to see me again.”

Dixie looked at her watch. “Closin’ time. I bet Josie’s still holed up over at the library like she is most nights.”

“Yep.”

“Did you call her earlier?”

“No.”

She propped a hand on her narrow hip. “Well, why not?”

“I been busy.” He wiped his hands on his napkin. “I had to go home and change after that farce of a picnic—”

“It can’t have been all bad.”

Well, there had been moments . . . He frowned and continued. “Then Mr. DeFoe had a mess of shelves I spent all afternoon rightin’. Then I had to go back home—”

Dixie snapped him with a rolled up dishtowel. “I didn’t miss that cow-eyed look on your face when you got sidetracked a minute ago. Get your be-hind over to the library right now, Cole Craig.”

“She ain’t gonna want to see me again today.”

“Really, men can be so dense. Let me spell it out for you. You’d better get on over there and do some damage control, or you may never see her again. Give her too much time to think, and I guarantee, she’ll be thinkin’ things that won’t be good for your buddin’ relationship.”

“What do you care, Dix?”

She wiped the counter with her towel. “Well, you know, it’s springtime, young love and all.”

Cole didn’t miss the sadness that clouded her eyes. “How’s Susan?” Dixie’s best friend since childhood and the mayor’s wife had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. The whole town had been upset by the grave prognosis.

“As well as can be expected. She’s tough. She’ll fight this, just like you oughta be fightin’ for what you want.” It was her turn to point at him now. “Life’s too short.”

She was right. As usual.

“You got any coconut cream pie back there?”

“Does your dog have fleas? What do you need pie for?”

“If all else fails, I thought I’d ply her with sweets.”

“Good thinkin’.”

Dixie dished the pie into a styrofoam container and handed it to him. “There. Now get goin’.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

As Cole walked the short distance to the library, he hoped Josie wouldn’t shut and lock the window in his face. Maybe if he helped her with her program, she’d be grateful enough to go out with him on a real date. He smiled and quickened his pace.

*

Josie sat back and kneaded the aching muscles in her neck. It had taken hours to get the network operational again this afternoon. She’d been testing the catalog portion of the program, but every time she thought they might be ready to test it with the Internet portion of the program, the system crashed. The problem was that these computers just couldn’t handle the amount of information they’d been inputting. She didn’t even want to think about what would happen when they tried to process the graphics in the website. If she could only get the two portions to connect. For the last couple of hours, she’d been back to doing what she should have been doing all day—trying to figure out was wrong with the programming.

This time the tapping on the window didn’t even surprise her. She turned to see Cole standing outside with a big grin on his face. She rolled over and unlocked the window. After she opened it, he swung himself up onto the sill.

“Hey, Josie Lee. Working late again, I see.” He leaned back against the window casing and gave her a look that had probably just melted her hard drive.

With her elbow on her desk, she propped her head in her hand and stared at him. Mrs. McKay would have a fit if she could see this. The knowledge gave Josie perverse pleasure. Didn’t every good girl have a secret longing to be bad? Looking at Cole, all the naughty possibilities that could fill a girl’s fantasies seemed limitless.

Refocusing, she said, “Yes, I’m always working. What do you have there?”

He held a white container aloft. “Coconut cream pie.”

“How is it you know all my favorites?”

He shrugged and kept smiling. “Just lucky, I guess.” He handed her the container. “Still havin’ trouble with your program?”

“
Yes
,” she nodded. “I was just about to throw in the towel for tonight.”

“Aw, don’t do that.”

“I’ve never been so frustrated with anything in all my life.” She set the pie aside and rubbed the back of her neck. “I’m so tired.”

“Sounds like you need a helping hand. First things first.”

Cole shifted and stood, then approached her in measured steps. He moved with the natural rolling gate of an athlete, filling the room with his presence. Disquieted by his nearness, Josie dragged in a deep breath. Her nostrils filled with the enticing scent of his cologne, and her heart jumped and hammered against her rib cage. He was a full-blown, living, breathing fantasy.

“Oh my,” she whispered, then swallowed hard.

He’d changed into clean blue jeans and a red polo style shirt. His blond hair, damp from the shower, was tied back with a thin piece of leather. He’d shaved, too. She had to admit, as good as he looked, she’d liked the more elemental Cole she’d had in her office earlier. Hair down, stubble shadowing his jaw, the smell of the outdoors and his own natural musky scent clinging to his skin.

He pivoted her chair to face the computer screen, then rested his warm hands on her shoulders. When he began massaging the kinks, Josie flinched. The muscles were so tight, just touching them was painful.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “Just give it a minute.”

After that moment passed, she moaned her pleasure. He possessed magical fingers.

“How’s that feel?” he said softly, his lips brushing her ear.

“Heavenly.”

With one hand on the arm of her chair and the other running lightly from her shoulder to her wrist, Cole kept his head on the same level as hers. She was more aware of him than any man she’d ever known. His face was so close to hers, she’d only have to turn her head slightly to run her lips up the column of his throat.

“You know, I’m pretty good at fixing things, and I did promise you yesterday we’d tackle this. So, why don’t you tell me about the problems you’re having?”