Stealing The Cowboy's Heart

True to his word, Landon stayed in the kitchen. Though he didn’t understand why she wanted him to hang back. Maybe she thought he’d butt in, which he wouldn’t have done since he knew very little about carpentry.

He liked the other possibility better...that he was too big a distraction. Fair was fair. Thinking about her had given him a broken leg.

In the long run it didn’t matter that he’d stayed in the kitchen. He could hear every bit of the conversation thanks to Joe’s loud voice. The counter and cabinet didn’t seem to be very complicated, and Landon was pleased that she asked about his idea for the bench seats. But after Joe quoted her a price for the whole job, Kylie was quick to ask him to give her a separate number for just the counter and cabinet. It took the guy a few minutes to revise his price, but even then, Kylie didn’t commit to anything.

The fact that she wanted to keep the same rustic feel as most of the shops in town, but still give it an urban twist made it impossible for Landon to judge whether either quote was reasonable or not. All he knew for sure was that it had given Kylie pause.

Leaning his shoulder against the doorframe, he checked out the stout, middle-aged man as Kylie walked him to the door. Joe eyed him back and Landon gave him a friendly nod.

As soon as the man was gone, Landon stepped out of the kitchen. “You think he’s charging too much?”

Kylie glanced at him, her brow furrowed in thought. “I honestly don’t know,” she said, then turned back to studying the wall as he moved over next to her. “You know,” she said, without looking at him, “the bench seats really are a good idea.”

“Joe seemed to think so, too.”

“Yeah,” she said, angling her hands in front of her as if she were visualizing the booths. “They’ll still have to wait. I won’t know for a while if this coffee bar idea will even work.”

“What if you didn’t have to pay for anything but the material?”

She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “I have my hands pretty full ruining cupcakes.”

“I’ve got nothing but time for the next couple of weeks. I could probably handle it.”

Her brow furrowed again. “With a busted leg.”

“I’m not completely helpless. And there’s got to be a local kid who could use a few bucks for helping me with the lifting. Right?”

“I think what you’re supposed to be doing is recuperating.”

“Right, but I still have to keep myself busy enough that I won’t go insane. Seriously, Kylie, it can’t be all that difficult.” He hoped.

“What do you know about carpentry, anyway?”

“I grew up on a ranch. You think I didn’t have to do my share of repairs?”

“That’s not the same as building something from scratch.”

She had a point there, but when she folded her arms across her chest, he couldn’t seem to make heads or tails of what that point was.

But he didn’t let his gaze linger. He needed to get a tight grip on his control or he was going to blow his best shot at getting close enough to Kylie to see if they could have something.

She studied him for a long time, but before she could speak, a couple of women walked in and while they clearly knew Kylie, they seemed to be a lot more interested in looking him over.

He needed to make himself scarce. It was easy to slip back into the kitchen and listen to the women chatting up a storm, while using the opportunity to call his brother. Chad was the handy one in the family.

“Hey, you got a minute?”

Chad snorted. “Yeah, I’m fine. And you?”

“Listen, I don’t have much time. You can give me shit later.” Landon kept one eye on Kylie while he described the work she wanted done, and named the price Joe had given her before Landon mentioned the tables and bench seats. “What do you think? That sound about right?”

“Hell, I can’t answer that. I’d have to see the place. Why not buy tables and chairs? It’d be cheaper and faster.”

“The place is small and kind of rustic. Bringing in furniture won’t fit with her plans. Which is why I thought of setting up a couple of bench seats against the wall, with two small tables in front, and a chair or two.”

“Good thinking. But that wasn’t part of the quote.”

“Yeah, I know. She wants the counter done first. Mostly I want to make sure the guy isn’t ripping her off. It’ll probably end up that he just builds the counter. As for the rest...you know, since I have some downtime...”

“Wait, wait. What are you saying?”

“I figured I’d take a stab at the benches and tables.”

Chad’s laugh didn’t make Landon feel any better, but there was no time to argue. Kylie was boxing up some cupcakes. “Come on. Help me out here. There’s gotta be a way I can pull this off.”

“What kind of wood?”

“She mentioned oak, so I guess I’d go with that.”

Chad hesitated. “Dude, really? You’re thinking of doing this yourself?”

Landon had no idea what he was thinking. Although what he was considering didn’t seem too complicated. All he cared about was not seeing Kylie disappointed.

“Who did you say this is for?”

“Okay, gotta change the subject,” Landon said when he saw Kylie ring up the order. Chad grunted, prompting Landon to add, “No joke.”

“Ah, this woman isn’t just a friend.”

When he didn’t answer, Chad started laughing. Landon met Kylie’s eyes and stepped back so she could enter the kitchen. “Mom isn’t back yet, huh?”

“Nope. The end of next week.”

“I’ll come for a few days once she’s settled.”

“Figures. We’ve been haying. Could’ve used your help now.”

“With a broken leg?”

Chad barked out a laugh. “You’re looking for sympathy from me?”

“Good point,” Landon said, glad they could finally laugh like this. After his brother’s accident, there hadn’t been much to laugh about for a long time.

“Anyway, hotshot, you could’ve run the baler. Just like I do,” Chad said. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask, you’re not still sending checks, are you?”

Damn. Landon had hoped the topic would never come up. “I’ve been laid up. I don’t have money coming in.” It wasn’t a lie, even if it didn’t really answer the question.

“If you’re sending some to Mom so she can go on her trips, that’s something else. But the ranch is doing fine. In fact, we made more money this past year than we have since we lost Dad.”