Page 14 of Crossed Lines

Then he turns back to Jade. “Don’t worry, I’ll be home with plenty of time to read you that story.”

“Ok, Daddy. I love you.”

“Love you too, princess.”

“Come on, Jade,” I say, reaching my hand out to her. “Let’s go see what trouble we can get into before Daddy gets home.”

She happily takes my hand and skips next to me as we leave the stables. Before we’re out of the barn doors, I glance over my shoulder to wave goodbye to Beck and find his eyes glued to my ass.

He glances up and sees that he’s been caught. He can’t even pretend that he wasn’t doing it because it was glaringly obvious. Instead of calling him out on it, I wink at him. Yes, I, Willow Banks, wink at Beck Sullivan, a man twelve years older than me and also my brother’s best friend. Why did I do it? Because I liked that he was checking me out.

I’m just not sure what to make of that yet.

CHAPTER 6

Beck

It’s been a long day. One of the longest we’ve had in awhile. Luckily, I love my job. I love being around the horses. I love meeting new people and teaching them how to ride or showing off our beautiful ranch. This is my dream job. But days like today wear me down quick.

I pull up to my house a little after six. There was one more trail ride left for the evening, and I left one of my guys to do it. Brooks let me hire even more summer staff this year, which takes the burden off me a little bit. I trained every single one of these kids, too, so I trust that they’re going to do a good job for our guests. It makes leaving and truly turning my mind off work a little easier at the end of the day.

I walk inside, fully expecting to see Jade wolfing down some chicken nuggets. I know my girl, and if left to her choices, we’d have chicken nuggets every single day. But when I walk in, it’s to a scene I wasn’t expecting at all. Willow and Jade are both in the kitchen. Jade is wearing one of my aprons that my mom got me one year for Christmas. Willow has tied it up so that it fits Jade a little better. Jade is standing on a chair at the counter, stirring something on the stove.

“Wow, what’s going on in here?” I ask, kicking my boots off by the door and hanging my hat on the hook.

“I’m cooking, Daddy!”

“I see that. What are you making?”

“So, we thought we could do something nice for you tonight,” Willow explains. “Since you had a long day, we’re making you dinner. That way, the two of you can sit down for a daddy-daughter dinner.”

I truly wasn’t expecting that. I can’t remember the last time anyone cooked me dinner, except maybe Brooks when he and Aspen invite me over.

“Wow. That’s… thank you, ladies.” I try to play it cool, but I’m not sure I succeed. This is actually very sweet of them, and I don’t know how to handle it. “So, what are we having?”

“Spaghetti!” Jade yells, making me laugh.

“It’s nothing special, but we made the sauce from scratch, and we did garlic bread and a salad. Jade promised me she would try the salad, right?” Willow asks her.

Jade winces a little bit, and I imagine she’s regretting that promise right about now. She reluctantly says, “Yes.”

“I don’t know. It looks pretty special to me,” I say, eyeing the spread on the counter. Willow looks up at me, and when her green eyes meet mine, I can feel her excitement. My eyes dip to her lips for the second time today. It’s honestly pissing me off that her mouth looks so damn perfect.

I know she caught me staring at her ass today. I didn’t mean to do it, but I couldn’t stop myself. Those cut-off jean shorts look amazing on her. I thought she was going to yell at me when her gaze met mine. Hell, I wish she would’ve. Maybe that would teach my brain to not want things I can’t have. But no. Not Willow. She fucking winked at me, encouraging me. I was glad they left after that because I needed a minute to collect myself.

“Willow, do the bubbles mean boiling?” Jade asks, cutting the connection between Willow and me.

Willow looks down at the pot. “Good job, Jade. Yep, that means it’s boiling. We need the noodles now.”

I clear my throat and take a step away. “Do I have time for a quick shower?”

“Yeah. We’ve still got to boil the pasta and put the garlic bread in the oven,” Willow says.

“Got it. I’ll just be a few minutes.” I turn from them and pull off my T-shirt as I start to walk toward my room. Since I’m apparently a glutton for punishment, I look back to see if Willow is staring. She is. I stop in my tracks. When she notices I’ve stopped walking, her eyes slowly move up my bare torso to my face, and I take a page out of her book and give her a wink.

Her eyes widen slightly before she turns away. I chuckle to myself and head into my bedroom. I don’t know what is going on between us, but it’s confusing as hell.

I quickly shower and change into some clean clothes. When I walk back into the kitchen, the girls are putting the plates on the table. There’s a large salad bowl in the middle and a plate with a few pieces of garlic bread.