Keegan’s response was a conspiratorial grin and a quick nod.
Kaden chuckled. God, he loved these kids. They were so damn innocent, reminding him of a simpler time. And he felt blessed to have a chance to hang out with his cousins and their little ones on a daily basis. Plus, from time to time, he got to hang with his brother Jared, spend some quality time with his own nephew and niece.
“You do that,” Keegan told Kade. “If Miss Bristol says it’s cool, maybe we can play for a few minutes.”
On more than one occasion, Kaden had had to sit back and watch Keegan build block castles with the little kids. Sometimes he wondered if his twin wouldn’t mind spending his day here just so he could do that.
The lock disengaged, allowing them to open the interior door. The instant Kade stepped inside, he released Keegan’s hand and began jumping up and down. “Miss Bristol! Miss Bristol!” he squealed.
Bristol Newton peered up from her spot at the desk, her light blue eyes glittering, a smile tilting the corners of her full lips. Clearly Kade knew to wait until he was acknowledged.
She turned in her chair, giving Kade her full attention as she rested her elbows on her knees, leaning toward him. “Good mornin’, Kade.”
God, he loved that soft twang, the raspy sound of her voice.
Hi, Miss Bristol.” Based on the puff of his cheeks, Kade was trying to stifle his energy, but his hands couldn’t seem to remain still.
Bristol peered up at them, then back to Kade. She stood and stepped around the desk. “What has you so excited this mornin’?”
“Uncle Keegan wants to play with the cool stuff. Can he? Just for a little while? Purty please?”
While Bristol chatted it up with the kids, Kaden took a minute to admire her. From her shoulder-length brown hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail, to the pink Converse on her feet. She looked all of sixteen, although Kaden knew she’d hit the big three-one earlier in the year. He’d even been invited to the shindig. Of course, he’d come up with an excuse as to why he couldn’t go. In his defense, Bristol had been dating some jackass at the time—a temporary thing that had lasted all of two weeks—and he hadn’t been keen on subjecting himself to seeing her with another man.
In fact, ever since their incident at Alluring Indulgence last December, it seemed Bristol was attempting to keep them at a distance by flaunting other men. Didn’t matter that they never lasted much past a first date and she never shared any stories of hope for something more with the many women in her orbit. If she had, perhaps he would’ve had to intervene. Since she seemed to be doing what she could to push him and his brother away, he’d been biding his time.
But she was single now.
Very single.
When those glittering eyes lifted to meet his, a wide grin on her face, he was hard-pressed to keep from winking at her, a bad habit he’d acquired when picking up women. Fortunately, he knew better. Bristol was not the sort of woman who would be impressed by a wink and a smile. She was far too smart for that. In fact, she’d rebuked every attempt he’d made to flirt with her in the past. Except for that one alcohol-fueled night. Still, that hadn’t deterred him in the least. Of course, he’d thought for sure they’d made inroads with her last Christmas, but he should’ve known better.
“Well, all right,” she told Kade with a chuckle before peering up at Keegan. “I think it’ll be fine if Uncle Keegan hangs out for a bit.”
“Yay!” Kade squealed, jumping up and down as he grabbed Keegan’s hand and jerked him toward the door leading to the inner sanctum.
“Hold up, speedy. Your sister’s gonna wanna join us.”
Kaden remained in the front office as Keegan keyed his passcode in a secondary keypad and then motioned Avery in front of him, making the little girl giggle as Kade grabbed Avery’s hand and took off at a trot toward the back the instant the door opened.
“Sometimes I think you should charge him for bein’ here,” Kaden told Bristol as he stepped over to the wide window that overlooked the room where the kids congregated, watching his brother pass Maddox off to a waiting teacher.
“I think it’s sweet,” she said, bending over to jot something down in her notebook before standing tall once more.
The outfit she wore was more for comfort than fashion, he figured, but the woman would’ve looked damn fine wearing a potato sack. The light blue skinny jeans couldn’t have been more formfitting if they’d been painted on. The plus was how they showcased toned legs and a sinful ass while the oversized cream-colored sweatshirt hid the nice curves he knew she rocked on that petite frame.
Truth was, Kaden was usually drawn to leggy women, the ones who were closer to his six foot two inches. Bristol couldn’t have been but a few inches over five feet. Still there was something about her that did it for him.
“I’ll be sure to tell him you said that.” Kaden grinned. “He likes when women call him sweet.”
Speaking of sweet, Bristol was sweet enough to cause a toothache and sassy enough to square a man’s shoulders. Not to mention, she was as stubborn as she was beautiful. Oddly enough, he didn’t even have to wink to make Bristol blush. Despite the fact they’d spent countless hours in her presence, usually at one Walker function or another, he always detected a hint of nerves when she was around them.
“So, will you be attendin’ the fall festival?” she asked while they stood watching as a group of kids built a block fort around Keegan.
Fall festival? They’d just had the back to school festival, hadn’t they? He did a mental calculation, realized the fall festival was only a few days away. Next weekend, in fact.
“Is it just me or does Coyote Ridge have a festival for everything?”
Bristol smiled up at him, a flash of those pretty white teeth. “I think the mayor’s responsible for that.”
“It hasn’t always been that way?”
“Oh, no.” She shook her head. “Not like this, anyway. We’ve had one or two a year, but only for the past couple of years has it ramped up. It’s kinda nice.”
Nice wasn’t the word he would’ve used. Saying there was a festival for everything wasn’t an exaggeration. Just in the past year, he’d been suckered into attending a Valentine’s festival, Founder’s Day festival, Easter, Memorial Day, the Kick Off to Summer festival, July Fourth, Back to School, some kind of Ode to Pets festival, and now the town’s long-running annual fall festival.
How exactly did anyone get anything done around this place when they spent so much damn time decorating and organizing events?
“I think it’s her way of revitalizin’ the town,” Bristol continued. “Mayor Stewart is all about bringin’ the residents together.”
Kaden found himself mesmerized by Bristol’s glossy pink lips and the twinkle in her eyes. He wanted to kiss those lips again, to slide his tongue along the seam and dip inside, hear her reaction. It had been too damn long since he’d gotten a taste of her.
“Does that mean you’ll be attendin’?” he asked, breaking the hold she had over him and forcing his eyes to meet hers.
Bristol grinned. “Of course. Mayor Stewart roped me into it.”
“I find it amusin’ you refer to her as Mayor Stewart considerin’ Bianca’s your best friend.”