But apparently, she said something wrong, because the light disappeared from his gaze.
“I don’t like surprises,” he muttered, and turned his attention back to his food.
Her giddiness dimmed. Why didn’t he like surprises? Did it have to do with his past?
Leo wasn’t aware that she knew about what he’d gone through, and she wasn’t about to bring it up. The guy had worked hard to overcome his demons and move on. He deserved happiness. Deserved to smile. Deserved some carefree moments in his life. Andcarefreehappened to be something Kaydee was good at.
Nowthatwas in her wheelhouse.
So she vowed, then and there, to show Leo that surprises could also be fun.
Chapter Two
Monday morning, Leo was back at the ranch, helping Stone and Vince install a drip edge and an ice and water shield to Vince and Emma’s roof before they could lay down the roofing felt and shingles. He knew he needed to concentrate on the task at hand—the forecast called for rain later—but his mind kept drifting to Kaydee.
After they’d changed out of their wet clothes Friday night, he drove her to the rec center and throughout the local area to hang flyers. Not that she wasn’t capable of handling the chore. He’d just been reluctant to part company with the upbeat woman, even after he’d gone and made everything uncomfortable with the “surprises” thing. Maybe even because of it, which was stupid on his part. Seeing her sunshine dim for even a second, being the cause of that flicker, made him want to kick his own ass.
And yet he’d stuck around. Her attitude was contagious. Leo felt lighter, happier…alive around Kaydee. Hell, even the act of breathing was easier. The invisible weight that had always compressed his shoulders and chest mysteriously lifted in her presence. Hanging out with her was apositive, and God knew positives had been missing from his life for far too long.
He just needed to try a hell of a lot harder to keep his shit contained. He never wanted to cast a shadow over her happiness like that again.
His apparent inability to tear himself away from Kaydee aside, he really didn’t have anywhere else to go. He’d just left the ranch where he’d been a fifth wheel to a pair of amorous couples. He certainly hadn’t wanted to be that at his grandmother’s. In his darker days, he’d have gone to the bar, but that was a hell-fucking-no now. So it was either hole up in his room, intrude on Gram’s privacy in the living room, or help the pretty neighbor.
No-brainer. Pretty neighbor would win every time.
“What do you think put that smile on his face?”
“Has to be his grandmother’s pie.”
“Yeah. You’re right. I wonder what kind.”
Stone and Vince’s banter brought Leo’s mind back to the present. He smirked. His grandmother actuallyhadmade him a pie yesterday. Of course, that wasn’t the reason behind his smile, but those idiots didn’t need to know.
He finished applying the last of the ice and water shield around the chimney, then glanced at Stone. “Blueberry.”
A strangled sound rumbled in his buddy’s throat. “Did you bring any back?”
Leo’s lips twitched again. “No reason to. You don’t need her pies when you have Emma living here.”
“True.” Stone nodded before sending Vince a stern look. “But it’s fruitless when her fiancé scarfs most of it down without sharing.”
Vince placed a roll of roofing felt down, then frowned at Stone. “I saved you a piece the last time.”
“You left me a sliver that couldn’t even fill a damn cavity,” Stone grumbled.
Leo laughed. “You’re as bad as Dom.”
When he’d visited Dom last summer to check on Vince, who’d been there to help his brother convalesce after he was injured on active duty, Leo witnessed the pie-whore in action. He also noticed a change in Vince. For the better. Although his buddy was always ready with a smile, this was different. It was as if a switch had been flipped. Vince was happy. Content. And it was all due to his brother’s neighbor, Emma.
Maybe there was something to caring for family members and meeting their neighbors.
“I wasn’t a pie-whore until Emma started baking them.”
Vince sat next to the roll and smiled, adoration filling his gaze. “Yeah, she’s great. Isn’t it funny how I’m the ranch cook, and my fiancée is a brilliant baker? And Stone runs At-Ease and the construction company, and his wife happens to be a brilliant businesswoman?”
Leo snorted. “And Cord is a stubborn Irishman, and Haley puts theTin tenacious.”
Vince and Stone laughed as they rolled out the felt underlay.
