“I’m sure it can be an adventure for you, as well,” he said, thinking about how difficult it had to be, raising a child with no help.
She laughed. “Well, there have been a couple of times when her adventures have turned into my disasters.”
The delightful sound of Kiley’s laughter did strange things to his insides and he didn’t think twice about reaching out to pull her into his arms. “Thank you for letting me share in Emmie’s latest adventure,” he said, hugging her close.
Her body pressed to his felt wonderful even through the many layers of their clothing. When she leaned back to look up at him with her luminous brown eyes, Josh couldn’t have stopped himself from kissing her if his life depended on it.
Slowly lowering his head, he gave her the chance to call a halt to things. To his relief, her eyes fluttered shut as his mouth covered hers. Soft and sweet, her lips clung to his, reminding him of that night in her sister’s apartment. A spark ignited in his belly and his lower body began to tighten predictably. He had suspected part of the reason that night had gone as far as it did was because of an undeniable chemistry between them. Now he knew for certain he was right. The reality of her response surpassed his memory of that night, and he knew absolutely that a force of nature was at work drawing them together.
Forcing himself to keep the kiss brief and nonthreatening, he eased away from the caress instead of deepening it as he would have liked. “I’ve been wanting to do that for the past few days,” he said, smiling down at her.
Kiley took a quick step back. “Th-that shouldn’t…have happened.”
“I’ll be damned if I’m sorry it did.”
“I… We should go,” she said, looking a little flustered. Unless he missed his guess, she felt the magnetic pull as strongly as he did and it scared her senseless.
Before either of them could say anything more, Martha and Emmie returned from the barn.
“Me petted kitties,” Emmie said excitedly.
“Tell Mr. Gordon thank you for inviting us to see the ponies and the kitties,” Kiley said, her gaze not quite meeting his.
“Tank you,” Emmie said politely.
Taking the little girl by the hand to lead her to the car, he smiled. “You’re very welcome, Emmie. We’ll go for another ride the next time you come back to my ranch. Would you like that?”
The toddler nodded until her curly pigtails bounced. “Yes.”
He opened the back door of Kiley’s car and lifted Emmie into the car seat. Stepping back, he waited until Kiley buckled the safety straps and closed the car door before he reached up to brush a strand of blond hair from her smooth cheek.
“Drive safe.”
She nodded as she hurriedly turned to get in behind the steering wheel. “I’ll see you next week at the day care center.”
“Yeah,” he said, smiling confidently as he watched her turn the car around and start back up the drive to the main road. “You’ll see me before then, too.”
He had forgotten to tell Kiley about the partial fingerprint the detectives had found when they investigated the vandalism at the day care center and that after running it through their database, they had concluded the perpetrator didn’t have a criminal record. It wasn’t anything that couldn’t wait until he saw her at the day care center, but as far as he was concerned it was reason enough to pay her a visit that evening. Besides, they still had yet to discuss their night together, and she might be more inclined to talk about what happened in the privacy of her own home.
Whistling a tune, he walked back to the barn to help his ranch foreman finish grooming the horses. Now that he had plans for the evening, he suddenly couldn’t wait to get them started.
Four
Driving across town after picking up a pizza, Josh thought about what Kiley had told him earlier that afternoon while they were riding his horses. She had never received help from her ex-husband. As chairman of the funding committee, he knew exactly what her salary was. The TCC paid her the going rate for a day care center director, but it wasn’t something she would ever get rich from. In fact, he wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if she was struggling to make ends meet.
Suddenly several things became quite clear, causing a knot to form in his gut. Kiley had called working at the day care center her dream job. But aside from being able to be with Emmie, she needed to keep her position for two very important reasons. She needed to provide for herself and Emmie, and she probably couldn’t afford the rising cost of child care if she worked any other job.
Now he felt guilty as hell for being so closed-minded about the day care center. To a certain degree he had been on the same page with Beau Hacket and Paul Windsor. His father had raised him and his twin with the misguided belief that a woman’s place was in the home, taking care of her own kids. Period.