“Sweetheart, there’s only one lady we’d be interested in.”
“Who’s that?” She couldn’t help it if her voice came out in a strangled whisper.
Kaden didn’t respond, but his wicked smirk told her everything she needed to know.
Before she had to come up with an excuse as to why that would never happen, he broke eye contact and whistled for his brother. Bristol remembered where she was, shaking off the lust that had infused her blood. She managed a smile as Kaden made his way to the front doors.
“So is that a yes?” she blurted.
“I’ll think about it,” he said softly. “Get back to you.”
She was so busy watching Kaden that she didn’t prepare for the big, hard body that slipped past her, purposely brushing up against her. She told herself Keegan did it because she was standing in the path to the door, but the look he shot back at her said she was so very wrong.
Keegan tipped his hat and winked. “Thanks for lettin’ me hang, darlin’.”
“Anytime.” The word came out breathless, that very brief moment when the heat of his body had pressed against her back having made her head spin.
Heat flashed inside her as the two men headed for the door.
And when Kaden grinned back at her over his shoulder, she rolled her eyes, remembering her pledge to herself.
No way was she going to get caught up in that mess. No way, no how.
“Miss Bristol! Jessica threw a block at me!”
She jerked her attention back to the task at hand and turned toward the kids just as one of her teachers was making her way over to address the situation.
Bristol took a deep breath, added a smile, then forced her feet to move.
By the time nap time rolled around, Bristol was exhausted.
Jennifer, one of her afternoon teachers, had called in sick, so they’d all been juggling to distribute the kids without overburdening anyone in the process. When they were at full capacity, it was a tight squeeze, but she always managed to make do. Of course, it required her to get into the thick of things and help out, putting aside her daily duties.
Bristol knew she should probably hire one more teacher since this seemed to be a recurring problem, but she’d been putting it off. She employed four full-time teachers and two part-timers in order to maintain a low student-teacher ratio. Plus Renee, their full-time cook/nurse/bus driver.
During the school year, it wasn’t too bad since a good portion of her students were in elementary school. Summers usually required her to flip the two part-time teachers to full so they could manage. But it was never enough when she had one or more teachers calling in.
Truth was, she’d been hoping for the reprieve the holidays would bring. A lot of her full-time kids were known to take two weeks off around Christmas, the parents keeping them home for whatever reason. She’d been hoping to keep her overhead low until the new year. If she had any hopes of fixing up her house, she had to save some money, and that started with managing her business wisely.
As she sat at her desk in the front office, writing up an incident report for the bruise caused by Jessica’s flying block, her cell phone rang. She glanced at the screen, grinned, then answered the call. “Hey, girlie. I was meanin’ to call you.”
“I just bet you were,” Bianca Stewart, the town’s beloved mayor and Bristol’s best girlfriend, said with a chuckle. “Everyone’s first order of business is to call the mayor. Did you have a complaint, too?”
Bristol grinned. “No, ma’am.”
“Well, you’re the first for the day.”
“I doubt that’s true.”
“Oh, it’s definitely true. I knew this position wouldn’t be a walk in the park, but seriously. People bitch about the most mundane shit.” Bianca sighed. “But I didn’t call you to complain.”
“No?”
“I’ll save that for our next margarita night. Now I’ve got to tell you about a very interesting phone call I received.”
“From?”
“Kaden Walker.”
Bristol’s insides clenched painfully tight, a weird shock of jealousy jolting her.
“Kaden?” She leaned back in her chair, tried to sound casual. “What—” She had to clear her throat. “What did he want?”
“He’s volunteered himself for the auction.”
She swallowed hard. “He did?”
“Yep. Him and his brother. One entry. I hear I’ve got you to thank for that.”
“I … uh … yeah. I talked to Kaden this mornin’, asked him about the auction.”
“Do you have any idea how hot a commodity those two’ll be?”
Oh, she had some idea.
“The two of them alone’ll probably bring in enough to cover the cost of all the meals. Which means we’d have money left over for more meals, more hungry mouths fed. Oh, sweet Jesus, Bristol. This is amazing.”
Yes. Amazing.
“And you couldn’t ask for a better opening than this,” Bianca said.
“Opening?” She was totally lost.
“You and two smokin’-hot cowboys?”
Bristol choked on a laugh. “What are you talkin’ about?”
“You can’t fool me, honey. I know the thought of them up on the auction block is more than you can stand.”
“Not true,” she lied easily. “I think it’s great. For the town.”
“And for you.”
“No. Not for me.” Bristol lowered her voice, glanced around to make sure there were no teachers nearby. “We talked about this. You’re supposed to take that secret to your grave.”
“And I will. You, on the other hand, have a very rare opportunity to get what you want without anyone bein’ the wiser.”
Bristol felt her face flame and she was grateful her friend wasn’t there to see it. Yes, she had fantasized about being with Kaden and Keegan, but it wasn’t something she dwelled on because seriously. She wasn’t dumb enough to ever act on those desires. She’d learned her lesson the night she’d kissed them in her hotel room. It had gotten her exactly nowhere.
“So, how many entrants does that give you?” Bristol asked, needing to change the subject.
“Adding Kaden and Keegan, that gives me…” There was a lengthy pause. “Nine total. I’m hopin’ for ten. I think ten’s a good number but I’m running out of time. Can you think of anyone else?”
“Who do you have so far?”
“Hold on. Let me find my list of names.” There was a rustle of paper. “Ah, yes. Here it is. Aside from Kaden and Keegan, we’ve got Jaxson Briggs. Plus, his younger brother. Carson agreed last night. Then there’s Chase Jameson a.k.a. CJ. We’ve got Luca Switzer, Ryan Brehm, plus Leif and Lance Walker.”
“Leif and Lance? They’re twins. Are they doing the solo entry?”
Bianca laughed. “No. They don’t share like Kaden and Keegan.”
Bristol fought the blush. “Oh.”
“I need one more. Can you think of anyone else?”
Glancing at the list of names she had jotted down, Bristol frowned. “That’s nine names, but only eight entries. You need two more. Kaden and Keegan only count as one.”