Kiss Me (Fool's Gold #17)(22)
He kept her body at a frustrating distance from his. In fact, when she tried to move closer, he held her away even as he continued the kiss. Lips on lips. Hot and yielding. She waited for him to deepen the kiss, but he didn’t. And she couldn’t summon the courage to do it herself. Finally, he drew back and rested his forehead against hers for a long moment.
“Do me a favor,” he said. “Try to be a little more resistible. I don’t think I can take a week of this.”
Then he turned on his heel, walked to a door at the end of the long hallway, and went inside. She stood in place, her fingers pressed against her still-tingling lips. More than a minute passed before she realized she was smiling.
* * *
PHOEBE HOVERED SLIGHTLY behind Zane in front of the Nicholson Ranch house, watching a cheerfully painted bus chugging along the winding entrance road. As it got closer, the tinny music coming from the speaker mounted on top increased in volume. It sounded like an ice-cream truck. Chase stood by the goat pens, well out of his brother’s reach. She couldn’t blame him for being nervous. Zane’s annoyance with the fake cattle-drive situation seemed to be growing as the bus approached.
She tried not to notice how good Zane looked in his cowboy hat and jeans, but she couldn’t seem to help cataloging his impressive features.
Okay, day one his appeal had been interesting. Day two it had been amusing, but this was day three. She needed to get over him, already. Sexual attraction had never been a big part of her life. Sure, she enjoyed the physical perks of a romantic relationship as much as anyone, but she’d never sought them out. To her, the emotional connection was so much more important than the act. So why did she practically have a hot flash every time she was around Zane?
She had a feeling that Maya would be able to offer sound advice. The only downside was having to admit the problem in the first place. Not only was Zane Maya’s ex-stepbrother, which made things sort of weird, but Maya had been the one preaching Zane as a distraction. If Phoebe admitted to her attraction, Maya would gloat about being right and tease Phoebe unmercifully. Maybe it would be easier to allow her questions to go unanswered.
Before she could decide, the bus pulled to a stop in front of them. A mural of downtown Fool’s Gold had been painted in primary colors on the side of the bus, with “Mitchell Adventure Tours” emblazoned just above the windows. The door at the front opened with a whoosh.
A young girl rushed down the steps yelling, “It’s them. Real cowboys.”
Zane muttered under his breath to Chase, who had joined them. “You’ve got little kids involved in this mess?”
Behind her, a small boy and their parents disembarked. The parents seemed to be in their early forties, while the kids were both under twelve. Phoebe found herself playing hostess. She wasn’t surprised by Zane’s reticence, but Chase could usually be counted on to be a charmer. Maybe the reality of what he’d done was sinking in.
“Thad and C. J. Swanson,” the tall blond man introduced himself. “This is Lucy and her brother, Tommy.”
The kids didn’t look anything like their fair-haired parents. Tommy was painfully thin, with long legs and dark, shaggy hair. Lucy shared her brother’s coloring, but instead of being long legged, she was petite and delicate-looking, with a full, rosebud mouth. Both kids had skin that was the most beautiful shade of caramel.
“You two must be excited that your parents brought you on a cattle drive,” Phoebe said.
The girl, Lucy, shook her head. “They’re not our parents. We don’t have parents. Are we going to eat soon? Tommy and I didn’t have breakfast or lunch today.”
Phoebe glanced at her watch. It was after two. Involuntarily she turned to the Swansons, who looked as surprised as she felt.
“We picked them up at ten to catch the shuttle plane,” C.J. said uneasily. “They never said anything about not having breakfast. We only have them for this week. The people who were supposed to bring them on this cattle drive backed out at the last minute. Death in the family. There were pretzels on the flight...” Her voice trailed off.
Phoebe returned her attention to the children. Lucy’s matter-of-fact statement “we don’t have parents” brought back too many memories. She’d lost her folks when she’d been about Lucy’s age. With no relatives to take her in, she’d been placed in a series of foster homes. While nothing bad had happened in any of them, she’d never forgotten what it was like to be all alone in the world.
“Do you want to get something to eat?” she asked.
Lucy and Tommy looked at each other, then at her. They both nodded.
Zane said, “Chase, take them to the kitchen.”
The party of four trailed after Chase, leaving Phoebe momentarily alone with Zane. Sudden nervousness made her want to wipe her palms on her jeans. Instead she cleared her throat and tried for neutral.
“They seem nice.”
Zane raised his eyebrows. “Sure. Skinny, starving kids. I can hardly wait for the rest of the folks to turn up. Maybe we’ll have a rock star next. Or some business executive who wants to bring his laptop along so he can work while riding.”
She wasn’t sure what to say to that, so she ignored his comments. “Thanks for letting the kids go get something to eat.”
His gaze narrowed. “What has Maya told you about me?”
The only thing she could think of was her friend’s claim that Zane looked like Adam Levine. “Ah, what do you mean?”