Page 20 of Lost and Found Cowboy
She laughed again, and he loved that he was bringing that happiness to her face.
“What does ‘sexy’ mean?” Max asked as he worked to wrangle one of his last noodles onto his fork.
Mack glanced at Lorna, who was trying to hold back a grin. “Um, well, it just means something like nice looking and well put-together.”
The boy nodded in understanding. “Yeah, like my new pirate ship. It’s super sexy.”
“Yep. Sure is, bud.” He chuckled as Lorna’s phone buzzed on the counter behind them. “Saved by the bell,” he whispered as she stood to grab it.
“It’s one of my employees,” she said before tapping the screen to answer it. “Hello, this is Lorna.” She pressed her finger in her opposite ear and moved into the front room to be able to hear better.
Mack cleared the table as she talked, rinsing the plates and silverware in the sink before stacking them in the dishwasher. He was impressed that Max got up to help him, and he had the boy wrap the remaining bread in foil and show him where to find a dish for the leftover spaghetti.
He could tell the phone call wasn’t a good one just by the comments Lorna was making and the concerned furrow in her brow. He’d just finished washing the last pan when she came back into the kitchen.
“Everything okay?” he asked as he wrung out the washcloth to wipe off the table.
“Not really,” she said, frowning as she shoved her phone into her pocket. “One of my employees was playing hockey with her brothers this morning and broke her arm. The doctor told her she can’t work for at least the next week.”
“Oh, dang.”
“Dang is right. I could normally manage this by asking Leni to pitch in, but since she’s lounging on a beach somewhere in Hawaii right now, I’m in trouble.” She took the washcloth from him and cleaned off the table, scrubbing at a spot of dried spaghetti sauce.
“I can help.”
Her head popped up as she gaped at him. “You? That’s sweet, but have you ever worked in a coffee shop before? Do you know how to make a caramel macchiato or a java Frappuccino?”
“I don’t even know what a caramel macchiato is. But I worked in plenty of fast-food joints when I was in high school, so I know how to run a register and bus tables and serve food. I could do all that while you make the fancy coffee-java-caramel-whatever-the-heck bougie beverages you sell.”
“Mack, I appreciate the offer, but you’ve only been home for one day and you’ve already helped me out so much. Thanks for cleaning the kitchen, by the way. You didn’t have to do that.”
“It was no big deal,” he told her. “And the least I could do after you made that great meal.”
Her shoulders sank as she stared at him. “Itisa big deal. I was married for five years, and I can’t rememberonetime that my husband even carried his plate to the sink, let alone put it in the dishwasher or ever washed a pan.”
“Then he wasn’t a very good husband,” Mack mumbled, not quite under his breath.
“No, he was not,” she agreed. “So, I learned to get pretty adept at handling things on my own. And I’m not very good at asking for help.”
“You’renotasking. I’m offering. And that’s what friends do. They help each other when they’re in trouble.” Speaking of helping, he just remembered telling Ford that morning that he could count on him to help at the ranch.
He’d just have to find a way to manage both.
Because Lorna needed him, and something in him, something that was part protective, part compassionate, and partly because he was so enamored with this woman, was compelled to do whatever he could to help her.
She stared at him, holding him in the gaze of her gorgeous gray-blue eyes, which reminded him of the summer sky, then blinked her long eyelashes and let out a relenting sigh. “Fine. You can help me. But just until I find someone else. And the shop opens early, so you would have to be there by seven.”
He grinned. “Yes, chef.” Izzy raised her hands and grunted to be released from her highchair, and he unbuckled the safety belt and lifted her into his arms. “And speaking of work, we’d better get back to our pirate ship.”
Max raced ahead of them into the family room.
“Thank you,” Lorna said quietly, nudging her shoulder into his. “I already made you something to say thank you for last night. It was kind of a surprise, but now I’m going to have to think of another way to thank you for helping me at the shop.”
He narrowed his eyes, noticing how close she was still standing to him. “First of all, I love surprises. But you’ve got me more intrigued by this offer ofanother wayto thank me. Not that youhaveto thank me, but what did you have in mind?”
And by any chance did it involve her wrapping those luscious legs around his waist?
Oh no. Settle down there, stallion.
