Dalton by Vivi Holt

Author:Vivi Holt [Holt, Vivi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction, Forever Love, Clean & Wholesome, Bachelor, Single Woman, Hearts Desire, Life-Changes, Second Chances, Honesty & Trust, Home & Family, Western & Frontier, Inspirational, Love Inspired, christian, Cowboys & Debutantes Series, Novella's, Short Story's, Multi-Author
Publisher: Black Lab Press
Published: 2017-07-11T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Late that evening, when Dalton and his brothers came in from an afternoon of cleaning up debris and fixing the fence destroyed by the twister, Hazel was making them dinner. She hadn’t contributed much to the cleanup, especially with her sore foot, so she felt the least she could do was to feed the men. Or try to. She pushed pieces of breaded chicken around the frying pan, smoke hovering over her like a cloud. When she added another piece, the hot oil spat, sending her stumbling backward.

Dalton pushed the kitchen door open and coughed. “What the …?”

She rubbed her nose with the back of her hand and blinked stinging eyes. “Hi.”

“Hi,” he replied. “Why is the smoke so thick in here?”

Just then, the smoke detector started keening, drowning out every other sound. Dalton rushed to open the back door and all the kitchen windows.

Hazel turned off the burner, noticing that the breading on the chicken looked a tad dark. “I don’t think anything’s burned,” she cried. “It’s just very smoky!”

Dalton grabbed a broom from behind the pantry door, stood on a kitchen chair and used the handle to press the button on the smoke detector. The beeping stopped.

Hazel wiped her forehead in relief. “Thank you.”

He glanced at her, and she thought she saw frustration and longing in his eyes. Was he remembering their kiss that morning? She hadn’t been able to think about anything else. All day long she’d been on tenterhooks, waiting for him to come in, wondering if he’d say anything about it. He’d barely made eye contact with her since his brothers’ arrival, and she wondered if maybe he regretted it all – the moment, the vulnerability, the passion.

He raised an eyebrow. “Need help?”

“Yes, please.”

He walked over to the stove, checked the fried chicken in the pan, then moved it piece by piece onto a paper-towel-covered plate to drain. Freed from that worry, she pieced together a salad, set plates on the counter and piled silverware on them, and carried all of that out to the porch to set the outdoor table. Dalton transferred the chicken to a bowl and followed, placing it at the center of the table.

She turned back for the salad dressing, and ran right into his thick chest again with a cry.

“Sorry,” he said, stepping to one side and grinning. “We have to stop doing that.”

She tried to step aside too, but went the same way and bumped into him again. His hair was still damp from the shower, and he smelled of soap and aftershave.

He chuckled, and her cheeks burned as he lifted her face toward his with a finger beneath her chin. “It looks and smells delicious. I … guess we should talk about this morning …” He trailed off.

She opened her mouth to reply – and the front door slammed open. Parker and Eamon fell laughing through the door, and Dalton frowned. “Hey, where’s the fire?” asked Eamon, pushing Parker in the back. Parker dropped his shoulder and stepped sideways to shove his brother, who stumbled and thudded into the wall.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.