Page 9 of Wounded Cowboy
He passed Abby and April perched on the couch like two bright-eyed birds enthralled by the Disney movie on the TV. They didn’t glance his way.
“What’s wrong?” he snapped as he jerked his front door open.
And came face to face with Kelsey Armstrong, looking pretty as a picture in a long, ruffled white skirt and a lacy crop-top that left her midriff temptingly bare.
She recoiled. Instant guilt flooded through him at startling her.
“Oh, it’syou.” He was relieved to see Kelsey on his porch rather than Rory or one of the ranch guests. Maybe he’d get to enjoy his dinner in peace, after all.
“Oh, um, hi,” she said hesitantly.“Is this a bad time?”
“Kind of,” he said.“I’m busy making dinner. What’s up?”
Her face fell.“I’m sorry to bother you.” Then she straightened up and squared her shoulders.“I just wanted to see how your daughters were doing after yesterday’s accident. Can I come in?”
Spring hesitated. His gaze landed on the smooth skin between the waist of her skirt and her crop-top. He had a brief, intense fantasy of falling to his knees and licking her.
Startled and a little disgusted with himself, he forced his eyes up to her face. And saw she was craning her neck to look past him and into his living room.“April? Abby?”
“Ms. Kelsey?” they squealed in unison.
The movie abruptly went silent as someone hit the Pause button. Then his daughters were crowding on either side of him, filling the doorway.
To his surprise, they boldly elbowed through the narrow gap between him and the doorframe, and rushed Kelsey.
Kelsey grinned at their enthusiasm as the girls threw their arms around her waist.
She bent down, returning their hugs.
“How’s your knee doing, April?” she asked.
April stepped back and obligingly stuck out her leg.“I still have Princess Ariel on.”
Kelsey gravely examined the Disney Princess Band-Aid that adorned his daughter’s skinned knee.“Looks like it’s healing nicely.”
“It doesn’t hurt anymore,” April told her.“Daddy said he’ll give me an Elsa Band-Aid after our bath tonight.”
“Ms. Kelsey, guess what?” Abby piped up, her eyes shining with excitement as she waved her new purple wrist brace in Kelsey’s face.“The doctor showed me the X-ray of my hand and wrist, and you could see all the bones! Just like a dinosaur fossil! It was so cool!”
“Wow, thatiscool!” Kelsey replied, sounding genuinely impressed.
Smiling, she glanced up at Spring. He nodded back at her, his bad mood lifting a bit as he watched her interact with his girls. He could see April and Abby had really taken a shine to her.
“You were right about Abby’s injury, by the way,” he told her.“The doctor said it’s just a minor sprain and that she’ll be fine in a week or two.”
“Glad to hear it wasn’t broken,” Kelsey said with a warm smile before turning back to the girls.“Hey, you two, I need to talk to your dad for a minute, but I promise I’ll be back soon, okay?”
“Okay!” Abby and April chorused.
Then, without protesting, they scampered back inside the house to continue watching their movie. It was like a miracle.
Spring wondered how Kelsey had done it. With him, the girls negotiated every request like it was a used car deal.
“We can talk in the kitchen,” Spring said, wondering what she wanted to talk about. He decided that as long as it didn’t involve goats or selfies with bison, he was cool with it.
Without waiting to see whether she was following, he turned and headed back there. The lingering odor of pizza reminded him he still had to figure out what to do about replacing the dinner he’d just ruined.
As they entered the kitchen, Kelsey beat him to the fallen pizza. As she bent to scoop up the mess from the tiled floor, Spring couldn’t help but notice her temptingly rounded backside as the skirt’s fabric pulled taut.
