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“Sure.” Olivia loaded the dishwasher while Cash put away the leftovers.
Cash slid on his boots, and they walked out the front door and over to the barn, the first signs of dusk seeping into the evening.
“Did you always plan to ranch?”
“Pretty much. Dad would have been fine with me doing something else, and I went to college open-minded, but I missed it. I moved back right after to work with him. Of course, I didn’t know at the time that I’d end up doing it all myself. Except for Frank. Every day I thank God for Frank.”
“How can you talk about your parents so openly? Doesn’t it...”
“Hurt?” Cash filled in the word as his gaze swung in her direction. “Yep. But it gets a bit easier with time.” He slid open the massive barn door and flipped on the lights. The fluorescents flickered before kicking on with a buzz. An organized wall of tools lined one side of the barn and the other housed a long row of horse stalls. By the names etched into wooden signs on the gated doors, it looked as though only a few of those were occupied.
A whine sounded from another area of the barn and Olivia paused, waiting to see Cash’s reaction. Maybe it was nothing...or normal. She didn’t have a clue.
His eyebrows pulled together, and he walked in that direction. Olivia followed, thinking everything Cash did had a calculated calm to it. The way his legs covered the distance communicated his concern, but he didn’t rush, even waiting for her to catch up. Once she did, he turned and stepped through a small doorway and flipped on the lights. A desk pushed against one wall and rows of cabinets filled the squared space that Olivia could walk off in a few long strides.
“This is Frank’s space.”
When the whimper sounded again, Cash strode to the desk and dropped to his knees. “Hey, girl.” His quiet soothing continued as he reached into the foot space of the desk and gently maneuvered a beautiful black-and-brown dog out into the light.
The dog’s breathing seemed labored, and scratches marred her nose and face, including one eye that looked almost swollen shut.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure.” Cash ran his hands over the animal. “What happened, Cocoa?”
She answered with a high-pitched whine.
Olivia sank to the cement floor next to Cash, stomach churning when he swiped over the dog’s shoulder and his hands came away covered in bright red blood.
“She must have gotten into a tussle with something. She’ll be all right. I just need to clean her up and then wrap up that spot on her shoulder.”
“You’re going to do it yourself?”
When Cash grabbed a rag from one of the cupboards above them and wiped his bloodstained hands on it, Olivia pressed her lips together and looked away.
“Yep.” He looked at her, amused. “But that doesn’t mean you have to stay.”
Cocoa whimpered and scooted over, depositing her head in Olivia’s lap. Any reservations Olivia had about staying were forgotten. She took over for Cash’s soothing, running her fingers over the soft fur behind Cocoa’s ears and along her back—anyplace she didn’t seem injured. “If you’re staying, I’m staying.”
Cash disappeared into the other part of the barn, coming back with a handful of supplies. He cleaned the wound on the dog’s shoulder first.
“See? It’s not very big. I think I can wrap it up tight instead of doing stitches.”
Olivia slammed her eyelids shut when Cash attempted to show her what he was doing.
He chuckled. “Not much for blood?”
“You could say that.” Again. Olivia continued to soothe Cocoa as Cash applied topical anesthetic and then ointment to each of the scratches across the dog’s face. Cocoa didn’t flinch or move at Cash’s gentle and efficient movements. But when he moved to the open wound, she whimpered and looked up at Olivia with one good eye, pain evident.
“It’s okay, sweet girl. In no time at all you’ll be running around again. He’s almost done.” Olivia glanced at Cash. “Aren’t you?”
Cash continued his ministrations. “Yep, but if you keep up all that sweet talk, Cocoa’s going to milk this thing some more and find a few more injuries to complain about.”
Olivia ignored the warmth cascading through her at Cash’s words and his close proximity, instead focusing on the beautiful animal in her lap.
After wrapping a bandage around Cocoa’s shoulder, Cash secured it with medical tape. “There. All done. Now we just have to make sure she keeps the thing on.” Cash rubbed Cocoa behind the ears. “Do you hear me, girl? No chewing.”
The world tilted. Olivia threw a hand out to the cool cement floor, hoping to steady herself. Surely she wouldn’t faint now.
Cocoa moved her head to the floor as if she could sense Olivia’s unease.
“Olivia?” Cash knelt in front of her, studying her much like he had Cocoa only minutes before. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She forced a smile to her voice and her face. “You have two heads, but other than that, I’m good.”
She needed to get out of this barn and find some fresh air. Olivia popped up and the walls swirled and spun. She imagined shoving her feet down through the cement floor in order to steady her swaying body, but instead, two warm arms wrapped around her. She let her face rest against Cash’s soft T-shirt and rock-hard shoulder as the scent of that soap surrounded her.
How many times could she end up in this man’s arms by accident?
She was afraid the answer to that question was not nearly enough.
* * *
Cash should let go. Olivia seemed better, but his own pulse raced as though he’d just run across miles of ranch land. What was it about this woman that messed with him? He’d been attracted before, but not like this. It unnerved him the way she seemed all soft and sweet one second and then toed up to his sister in attitude the next.
Wanting to comfort, Cash allowed himself to slide a hand down her satin hair one time, releasing the scent of her mint shampoo.
“Doing better?” He ducked to look into her face.
She nodded, not meeting his gaze, then stepped away. He clenched his fists to keep from reaching for her again.
“I need to go.” Olivia walked outside and Cash followed, turning off the lights and sliding the barn doors shut behind them.
Under the newly darkened sky sprinkled with stars, Olivia paused and took a few deep breaths. The vastness of the charcoal backdrop and the quiet night left Cash feeling as though they were the only two people in the world.
Not exactly what he needed right now.
“Thanks for dinner.” Olivia’s quiet voice interrupted his off-limits thoughts.
“Thanks for helping my sister.”
“You’re welcome.”
Cash decided she looked a little less green. “Do I need to drive you home? Or follow you?”
She laughed. “I can drive myself home and no, you don’t need to follow.”
“Are you sure? Because I don’t want—”
“I’m fine.” Olivia ran a hand through her hair, sending the tips dancing across her light blue V-neck T-shirt. “It usually only takes me a few minutes to recover. I can drive. I promise.”
They walked to the house and Olivia retrieved her purse. Cash stood on the front porch and watched as she drove away, thinking the new volleyball coach had revealed something to him tonight that he’d never realized in all the years he’d lived on the ranch.
He could be jealous of his dog.
Chapter Five
Olivia knocked on the Maddoxes’ screen door the next Thursday, the sounds and smells of dinner wafting into the evening. An afternoon thunderstorm had provided a break from the stifling heat, and she welcomed the slightly cooler air whispering across her skin. Olivia had seen Cash a few times this week—at a fund-raising event, church and last night’s game. Amazingly, she’d managed to avoid falling into the man’s arms for the past seven days. The two of them had also kept any conversations at parent-teacher level and mostly centered on Rachel. Now, if Olivia could just keep up the same track record tonight.
“Come in,” Cash called from the kitchen and Olivia let herself in, finding him taking a pan out of the oven. And no sign of Rachel. Hopefully the girl was just upstairs...though now that Olivia thought about it, she hadn’t seen her Jeep outside.
Cash set the pan on the stove and threw her an apologetic look. “It seems my sister has decided she doesn’t need any help tonight. She never showed up after practice. I’m sorry. I would have called you, but I hoped she was just late.”
Olivia took a step backward. If Rachel wasn’t here, then she had no reason to stay. “No problem, I’ll just head—”
“To the table.” Cash strode across the kitchen, placed his hands on her shoulders and propelled her into a chair. “You drove out here. The least I can do is feed you.”
When Cash went back to the stove, Olivia resisted popping up from her chair. She shouldn’t stay. Not if Rachel didn’t need her help. But...what if the girl showed up and Olivia had already left? She should probably give her a few minutes.
Cash tossed a blue-and-white crocheted hot pad on the table and then moved back toward the counter. “Tell me about your day.”
Olivia shoved down the swell of sweetness that phrase caused her to feel.
“After last night’s win, I thought practice would go great. Instead, the girls were distracted messes. I’m not sure why. I made them run lines for the last fifteen minutes. Guess I should call my dad and get some advice.”
“Is he a coach?”
“Yes. At a college in Colorado Springs.”
Cash whistled. “Now it all makes sense. Were you born with a volleyball in your hand?”
“Not quite. I didn’t start until fifth grade. At that point, I was already inches taller than the boys in my class. I decided to take advantage of it.”
He set the steaming glass pan on the table along with a container of sour cream and bowl of guacamole. “You’re in for a treat. Laura Lee makes the best enchiladas.”
“If the smell is any indication, I believe you.” Yum. Cooking for herself, Olivia hardly ever took the time to make anything that looked or smelled like this.
“But I’ll have you know, I prepared the guacamole myself.”
Olivia grinned and nodded toward an empty plastic container on the counter. “Really? Looks like Wholly Guacamole made the guac to me.”
Cash filled two glasses with water and ice from the fridge door. “I didn’t say I made it. Just prepared it.” He approached the table, expression suddenly serious. “Lying is not something you’ll ever catch me doing. I am not a fan.” His voice took on an edge that Olivia had never heard before.
Interesting. Olivia wasn’t a fan of lying either, but she didn’t feel the need to say it out loud.
Cash placed the water glasses in front of their plates, his mischievous smile returning. “I took the guacamole out of the freezer, where Laura Lee put it, defrosted it and put it into a bowl.”
Olivia laughed. “Since that’s more than one step, I’ll give you two points.”
“Accepted.” Cash sat to her left and reached for Olivia’s hand. She startled, having forgotten this habit of his, then tried to catch up when he bowed his head to pray. He acted as if this hand-holding thing were no big deal, as if it shouldn’t make her heart crawl into her throat and miss the prayer completely. When he finished, Olivia picked up her fork and said a silent prayer of her own before digging into the food.
Their conversation during dinner didn’t require any effort. It just felt...easy. And wasn’t that the problem with this man? But she was here to help Rachel, not fall further into friendship with Cash. Although Rachel taking herself out of the equation made that hard to accomplish.
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