A fire? Chloe’s heart jumped to her throat. “Where are the boys?”
Maddie tried to catch her breath. “In the kitchen,” she gasped. “They were trying to make dinner, but the pan caught on fire.”
“Is the whole kitchen on fire or just the pan?” Colt asked, his voice remarkably calm.
“I don’t know. Just the pan, I think.” Her lip trembled like she was trying not to cry. “I got scared and ran.”
“You did the right thing.” Chloe pointed to the pantry door next to Colt. “I’ve got a fire extinguisher in there.”
“Got it,” he said, opening the door and grabbing the red canister. “Let’s go.”
“Maddie, stay here. We’ll be right back,” she told the girl, then raced out the back door after Colt.
The back door opened at the side of the house in front of the garage, and they ran across the driveway and through the yard. Wet snow seeped through her socks, but Chloe ignored the cold as she raced up the porch steps and threw open the front door. “Charlie! Jake!” she called as she ran toward the orange glow in the kitchen.
The acrid smell of greasy smoke filled the air and burned her eyes as she entered the room. It was bad—but not as bad as she’d feared. A flaming frying pan had been pushed into the sink and one of the curtains around the window had caught fire.
The two boys were trying to swat the flames with towels, but they were only making the situation worse. The fire was starting to spread across the top of the window to the other curtain.
“Stand back,” Colt shouted, already pulling the pin of the extinguisher as he entered the room. He pointed the nozzle at the sink and sprayed the thick foam across the curtains and the pan.
Chloe pulled the boys toward her, holding their backs against her chest as they watched Colt douse the flames.
It took less than a minute, but the foam from the extinguisher made a mess of white powder all over the sink and countertops.
“Everybody okay?” Colt asked, turning toward them, his face flushed with the heat of the blaze.
The boys huddled against Chloe, their eyes downcast and their shoulders slumped forward.
“I’m sorry,” Charlie said, his hands gripping his elbows as he wrapped his arms around himself. “It’s my fault. I was trying to fry some eggs for dinner. I put some bacon grease in the pan and turned it on to heat up, then I started watching this show with Jake, and I forgot about it.”
“We smelled the grease burning and came in to get it, but it just caught fire,” Jake explained, taking a protective step in front of his older brother. “It happened so fast. We tried to throw water on it, but it just got bigger.”
“It usually does. But if anything like this happens again, you never want to put water on a grease fire,” Colt explained. “You either try to smother it by covering it with the lid, if it isn’t too big already, or you throw salt or baking soda on it. Waving a towel at it will just make it worse.”
Charlie nodded. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
“I know. Fire is scary. I’m a volunteer firefighter so I’ve seen lots of fires, but they still scare the crap out of me. This one wasn’t too bad. We got it out quickly, and the important thing is nobody got hurt.” He narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure you’re both okay? Did either of you get burned?”
Charlie held out his hand. “I think I burned the ends of my fingers a little when I pushed the pan into the sink. I tried to use the towel, but it burned through it.”
Colt turned on the cold water in the sink. “Hold your hand under here, and let me take a look.”
The boy obeyed, and Colt examined Charlie’s fingers as he held them under the water. “No blisters,” he told Chloe as she anxiously peered toward the sink. “Skin’s just a little red. He’ll be okay.”
She let out her breath. This could have been so much worse. She didn’t want to think about what could have happened if Maddie hadn’t come to them for help. “Everything’s okay now. Where’s your mom?” she asked Jake.
“She’s at work.”
Tina tended bar at a dive out by the highway and often kept odd hours. But Charlie and Jake were in junior high, old enough to be left alone and in charge of their sister. Chloe had been babysitting other people’s kids when she was younger than they were now. And Jesse was usually home with them at night.
“What about Jesse?”
“He’s still not home.”
Chloe looked around the sparse kitchen. There wasn’t much on the counters, but other than the powdery foam from the fire extinguisher, they were clean. No dirty dishes in the sink or trash left out. The door to the pantry stood open, and the shelves held some paper plates and a few boxes of macaroni and cheese. Tina did try—she kept the house clean—but she didn’t always remember to go to the grocery store.
“That’s okay. I was thinking of asking you all over for dinner at my place anyway.”
“What about all this?” Charlie asked, his chin tucked down to his chest, his shame-filled expression conveying his misery.
Colt clapped a hand on his shoulder. “When a man makes a mess, he cleans it up. This stuff is nasty, but I’ve got some gloves in my truck. I’ll grab ’em if you can find the vacuum, and we can get this cleaned up pretty quickly.”
Emotion welled in the back of Chloe’s throat. She was sure the fire and the fear for the children’s safety was contributing to it, but watching Colt as he treated the boys as young men and took care of this situation so simply squeezed at her heart.
Her own dad would have pitched a fit, yelling and screaming, then blistered her backside if she’d done anything like this, and she was sure the boys’ dad would have acted the same way if he were still around.
But Colt wasn’t mad at all. He was perfectly calm.
He winked at her and gave her a reassuring nod. “We’ve got this. Why don’t you head back and get warmed up? Your feet have got to be freezing.”
She’d forgotten all about her wet socks, but now a shiver ran through her. “Good idea. I’ll start dinner and check on Maddie. I’m sure she’s got to be worried.”
“No, I’m not,” Maddie said from the doorway of the kitchen. “I’m right here.”
Chloe brought her hand to her throat. “I thought I told you to stay at my house.”
The small girl shrugged. “I needed to see if my brothers were okay.” Her lip trembled, and she ran across the kitchen and flung herself into Charlie’s arms.
“It’s okay, Maddie,” Charlie told her, hugging her against him. “That was smart to get Ms. Bishop. But it’s okay now. We’re just going to clean this up, and it’ll all be fine.”
Chloe’s heart twisted with compassion for the girl. It was obvious these kids were used to taking care of each other.
Another feeling snuck in there—she couldn’t quite place it. Not jealousy exactly, but maybe a little envy at the close relationship the kids had. She couldn’t help but wonder what it would have been like if she’d had a sibling or two growing up. If she’d had someone to share the burden and the misery of being raised by Butch Bishop.
She shook off the memories. Butch was gone, and she was a grown woman. He couldn’t hurt her now. She pasted a smile on her face. “Maddie, as long as you’re here, why don’t you quick go find some dry clothes and put on some shoes and fresh socks. I’m making dinner for everyone at my house.”
“Yay,” Madison cheered, obviously putting the trauma of the fire behind her in the anticipation of a hot meal.
“Don’t get too excited,” Chloe said, mentally running through the items in her pantry. “We’re just having grilled-cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.”
Jake nodded at the foam-covered pan perched sideways in the sink. “Sounds a heck of a lot better than burnt eggs covered in fire-extinguisher spray.”
He made a valid point.
* * *
Thirty minutes later, Chloe flipped the last crispy, browned sandwiches on the griddle as Colt and Charlie came through the back door, both of them stamping the snow from their feet.
“Sorry, that took a little longer than we’d planned because we stopped to shovel the driveways and the sidewalks in front of both houses,” Colt said, clapping the boy on the shoulder. “Charlie here’s pretty good with a snow shovel. He was keeping pace with me the whole time.”
Chloe had looked out the window earlier and seen them shoveling, so she was over the initial shock of one more thoughtful thing Colt had done for her today, but she couldn’t help noticing the way Charlie’s shoulders pulled back and he stood a little taller next to the cowboy. “Wow. Great job, guys. I know I really appreciate it, and I’m sure your mom will too.”
Charlie shrugged off the compliment, but a shy smile tugged at his lips. “It was no big deal.”
“We got everything cleaned up in the kitchen as well,” Colt said. “Except for the missing curtain, you’d never know anything happened.”
“Our mom probably won’t even notice,” Jake said from his seat at the kitchen table.
“That’s what I said.” Charlie nodded his head in agreement. “One time this summer, I had a zit the size of a pizza right in the middle of my forehead. It was there for three days, and Mom never said a word. I don’t think she even saw it.”
“I’m sure she noticed. Maybe she was just trying not to hurt your feelings,” Chloe said, making an effort to stick up for Tina.
“Yeah right,” the boy mumbled. “I’m sure that’s it. She’s always worried about not hurting our feelings.”
Chloe didn’t know what to say, so she let the comment go as she glanced up at Colt. “You staying for supper? I made you a couple of sandwiches.” She’d also brought in two extra folding chairs and had already set the table for five.
He grinned. “Well, grilled cheese just happens to be my favorite sandwich, and I don’t think I’ve turned one down yet.” He and Charlie washed their hands, and the boy took a seat at the table next to his brother. “Anything I can do to help?” Colt asked, drying his hands on an aqua-colored towel.
“I can’t imagine what. You’ve already helped so much.” Chloe studied him as she ladled soup into mugs. What was Colt still doing here? He did say he liked to help people, but come on. Everything he’d done today—from giving her a ride to arranging for her car to be taken in to putting out a fire in her neighbor’s house—seemed like more than a regular guy would do.
Colt James was proving to be more than just a regular guy.
She handed him the platter of sandwiches as she picked up the mugs of soup and passed them to the kids. She carried the last two over, then slid into the empty seat he’d left between him and Maddie.
Charlie reached for the platter of sandwiches as his sister bowed her head. He glanced sheepishly at Colt but followed suit when the man also bowed his head and clasped his hands together.
Maddie’s small voice filled the kitchen. “Dear God, thank you for my family, even my brothers. Thank you for not letting our house burn down. Thank you for Miss Bishop and her friend Mr. Colt. And thank you for this good soup and these yummy sandwiches.” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “And please help Momma to get better, and bring Jesse home safe. Amen.”
“Amen,” Colt repeated, then passed the platter to Charlie.
Chloe took a sip of water to quell the burn of emotion building in her throat. She took a napkin and focused on spreading it neatly across her lap, trying not to imagine this as her family, her kids and her husband. Trying not to think about how it would feel to sit down to dinner every night with them, to listen to them laugh and say their prayers, and to tuck them in at night, then crawl into her own warm bed next to Colt.
Oh geez. Criminently. What was wrong with her tonight? She wasn’t usually this sappy. Okay, she was usually pretty sappy, but not over her own life. She got teary-eyed over sentimental commercials and could go through a whole box of tissues weeping over a great book or a heartbreaking movie, but she didn’t usually let herself get mushy over her own circumstances.
Her life was what it was. She was happy. The kids in her class brought her joy, and she had Agatha to come home to every night. And the cat did occasionally seem glad to see her.
So what if she didn’t have a man. Her dad had repeatedly reminded her she’d never be pretty enough or good enough or thin enough—or whatever “enough” he fancied at the moment—to catch a husband anyway. As if she were trying to lure one on the end of a fishing line with her wiggling around on the hook as bait.
“…and then the car exploded,” Jake said loudly, spreading his arms and drawing Chloe’s attention back to the group just as his hand hit his glass and sent it sailing across the table.
Maddie shrieked and grabbed her sandwich as water splashed onto her plate and dripped over the side of the table.
“Sorry,” Jake said, trying to sop up the water with a handful of napkins.
“It’s okay. It’s just water.” Chloe grabbed a towel. Maybe having kids and a family wasn’t all sunshine and roses. Kids were messy. She didn’t need that kind of chaos in her life.
Yeah, keep telling yourself that, sister.
The rest of the meal went off without a hitch, or a spill, or anything catching on fire. Chloe stood to clear the table. She couldn’t believe it was already past seven. “I’d better get you guys home. Give you time to take showers and finish your homework before bed.”
Colt rested a hand on her arm. “Why don’t I do this while you take the kids back and get them settled in for the night?”
“You don’t have to. You’ve already done so much.”
He squeezed her arm reassuringly, and she felt the heat of his palm through her sweater. “I want to.”
“Why? This has got to be a crazy night for you.”
“Nah. I grew up with a single mom and two older brothers. A fire and something spilling or breaking was just a normal Tuesday night for us. This is nothing—just par for the course.”
It made sense now how he was so unfazed. She didn’t realize until much later that he hadn’t answered the question of why.
* * *
It took Chloe longer than she’d planned to get the kids settled in for the night, and she fully expected to see Colt’s truck gone by the time she slipped out of her neighbor’s house and trekked across the driveway toward her own.
What she didn’t expect was to open her kitchen door to the heavenly scent of chocolate in the air and the sight of a ridiculously hot cowboy standing next to the counter licking cake batter off the side of a beater.
He offered her a sheepish grin as he held the other beater out to her. “I saved this one for you.”
She shrugged out of her coat but was so stunned she didn’t even hang it up. Instead, she just tossed it on the chair and took the offered beater. “I don’t get it.”
Although the evidence of the warm stove, the smell of chocolate, and the mixing bowl soaking in the sink were all in front of her, she couldn’t believe Colt had made the cupcakes.
“You did say you had to make two dozen cupcakes tonight for the bake sale tomorrow, right?”
“Yes, but I never dreamed you would make them for me.”
He shrugged and licked another dollop of chocolate from the side of the beater. Watching his tongue dart out and lick up the batter was doing funny things to Chloe’s insides, and she was getting tingly in spots she hadn’t felt tingles in a long time. “It was no big deal. It’s not like I made them from scratch. All the stuff was sitting on the counter, so I figured this was the one you wanted to make. And your kitchen is so well organized, it was pretty easy to find the rest of what I needed. I finished cleaning up and figured I’d get them in the oven for you. I hope that’s okay.”
She leaned back against the counter next to him, still holding the beater in her hand. “It’s more than okay. I think it’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
His eyes widened. “Lord, I hope not. All I did was toss a few eggs and some oil into a bowl and mix it up. If that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for you, old Huge needs to step up his game.”
She let out a bark of laughter, then clapped her free hand over her mouth.
He laughed too, and suddenly Chloe couldn’t hold it back, the events of the day swirling in a crazy haze around her. She’d started her morning with cat yak between her toes, then wrecked her car into a cute cowboy who had put out a fire, washed her dishes, and just made a batch of cupcakes for her. It all seemed too ridiculous, and a gush of laughter bubbled out of her.
She held her stomach and bent forward as she tried to catch her breath. “This day has been something else,” she wheezed as her laughter finally died down.
“Sometimes all you can do is laugh about it,” Colt said. “And you have a great laugh.”
She shook her head. “Stop it. My dad always told me that my laugh sounded like the bark of a seal.”
His eyes widened. “That’s crazy. And mean. And just plain wrong. You have an awesome laugh. It makes your whole face light up.” His gaze dropped to her mouth.
She caught her breath, suddenly imagining how it would feel to have his lips pressed to hers. Would she be able to taste the chocolate of the cake batter on his tongue? Would his lips be as soft as they looked?
“So, are you ever gonna lick that?” he asked, his voice huskier than it had been before.
She blinked and swallowed, moistening her lips as her mouth went dry. “What?” she managed to croak.
“The beater. You know, the one you’ve been holding in your hands for the last five minutes. Aren’t you going to lick it?”
Oh, for the love of cake. Every time he said the words lick it, flames of heat shot down her back. “Uh no,” she said, passing him back the beater.
His forehead creased as he took it. “No? Why not?”
“I don’t really eat many desserts. Too many calories.”
“In a lick of cake batter?”
She shrugged. “It all adds up. And sometimes it’s better not even to try it. Then you won’t know what you’re really missing out on. And you can just imagine it was awful and you didn’t miss something great.”
“What kind of crazy philosophy is that?”
One she’d lived for most of her life. And one she was trying to remind herself of now—and not just about the chocolate. “When you grow up as a chunky kid, you learn all sorts of crazy philosophies and tricks to keep you from eating.”
His gaze traveled over her body, and she could almost feel the heat of his inspection. “You’re not chunky now. You’ve got a great body.” Pink flooded his cheeks. “I mean, you look great to me. Like, you know, just right. You’re not chunk…er…heavy.” He slapped his hand to his forehead. “Please save me from saying anything else.”
She laughed, although she could feel the heat in her own cheeks at his compliments on her figure. Why had she just told him she used to be a chunky kid? He had to think she was a total dork. Although, maybe this was the kind of thing friends talked to each other about, so maybe he thought it was normal. So why was he blushing? And why did her skin feel like it had just been skimmed over with a light caress? “Okay, okay. I could easily argue, but I’m happy changing the subject too, so I’ll just say thank you and let’s go back to talking about the chocolate.”
“Yes, chocolate.” He grinned, then dragged his finger across the beater, scooping a dollop of batter onto the end, and held it out to her. “Come on. You’ve got to at least try it. Just one taste. Otherwise you really are missing out.”
She peered down at his chocolate-smeared finger and swallowed again. There was no way in heck that she was licking that batter off the end of his finger. It was too intimate, too personal. Too freaking sexy. Just imagining it had warm currents of heat swirling between her legs.
This was not her. She did not lick things off men, especially gorgeous men like Colt James.
Why not? her inner vixen asked. What would it hurt? He offered. His hand was held midair, his finger extended, the smear of cake batter glistening on its tip. All she had to do was lean forward and lick.
Otherwise you really are missing out, he’d said.
How many times had she missed out, just because she was afraid to try, to put even a toe out of her comfort zone? Although it wasn’t a toe. This was her tongue, and possibly her heart.
Shoving that thought aside—she certainly wasn’t letting her heart get involved with Colt—she took a deep breath, gathered every ounce of courage she could muster, then leaned forward and wrapped her lips around the end of his finger and sucked the batter into her mouth.