Kissed by a Cowboy Read Online Free

turned to see he'd paused
on the opposite side. He faced her like she was the opposing team.
His broad shoulders—football shoulders—filled out the plain blue
t-shirt, and his hair clung to his head after being under his
cowboy hat all day.
    But it was the shadows in
his coffee-colored eyes that had her breath catching in her chest.
This wasn't the confident all of life ahead
of him Maddox that she remembered so
vividly from that summer.
    "Where's Matilda?" he asked with a glance
toward the living room.
    Tears rose in the back of her throat, but she
coughed them away. "Napping," she said.
    His eyes questioned her, and she shook her
head. "She's been diagnosed with...cancer." The word was a knife in
her throat. "The doctors say..." She took a breath. And still
couldn't say it. "So I'm here."
    She'd tried to keep the tears back, but the
diagnosis and her aunt's impending decline were too close. She
wrapped her arms around her waist and squeezed her eyes tightly
closed.
    Aunt Matilda's diagnosis had given Haley
focus. Her aunt had been there when Haley had moved to Redbud
Trails during senior year. She'd offered her niece a home when
Haley's footloose father had been ready to move on. They'd talked
on the phone every week since Haley had gone off to college. And
she'd offered Haley emotional support when Haley's serious
boyfriend Paul had broken things off.
    Until now, the breakup and the distance in
her relationship with her father had been the biggest problems in
Haley's life. But they were minor compared to what Matilda was
facing now. Haley was done wallowing in self-pity. When she got
back to her life in Oklahoma City, she was moving on.
    She held her breath until the impulse to cry
passed.
    "I'm real sorry to hear that," he said, and
his voice was a little gruff. "Your aunt's a classy lady."
    She half-laughed, half-hiccuped. "Yes, she
is. Anyway"—she waved off the grief—"that's not what I want to talk
to you about. Have you seen this?" She tapped the three-ring binder
that Livy had been carrying in her backpack.
    He came closer, caddy-corner to her at the
edge of the table, and looked down at the computer-printed pages.
He flipped one, then another, reading over the information
slowly.
    "What is this?" he asked.
    "It's a business plan. It's Livy's."
    He looked up sharply. Haley flushed a little,
but wouldn't take the nickname back. Katie's daughter had wanted to
be called Livy after they'd bonded over their love of cooking.
    He looked toward the kitchen, where they
could hear Livy humming a little tune.
    "For what?" he asked, still looking toward
his niece.
    "Ice cream."
    "She makes a lot of ice cream at home,
different flavors, but... She wants to start a business?"
    He looked at her with those unfathomable
eyes. For a brief moment, an awareness swelled between them. A
memory, a connection. Then he blinked, and it dissolved, leaving
nothing in its place.
    Haley shook away a tic of sadness. "She was
trying to get to the bank to ask for a loan. She made up this
business plan—it's actually very detailed. I'm surprised at how
much work she's put into it. It's impressive for someone her
age."
    He furrowed his brow. "Shouldn't she want to
be a cheerleader or play basketball? You know, do normal kid
things?"
    Haley winced but tried to cover it with a
smile. "She is a normal little girl," she said softly, glancing
over her shoulder to make sure Livy wasn't listening. How many
times in her own childhood had Haley wanted to fit in with the
other kids? And she hardly ever had.
    "Some kids want those things," Haley said. "I
think some kids know what they want to do with their lives. What
did you want to do when you were Livy's age?"
    "Play football." By the clenched jaw, she
figured he regretted that statement. "I just don't get why she
wants to make ice cream. There's already a chain in town."
    "Not just ice cream. Gourmet ice
cream."
    He shook his head. "I don't get it."
    "It's a different market than fast food,"