Texas Size Passion (A Cowboy's Heart Book 2) (6 page)

             
Those eyes…Those eyes of his are so piercing that they could stop my heart in a moment’s notice.

             
Emily gazed out the window for a few seconds out of a longing for John’s eyes to look upon her before she managed to turn away, and head on up the stairs towards her bedroom.

*                            *                            *

              Moving down the side of Belle’s home with some of the crates in his embrace, John’s thoughts lingered less on the task at hand, and more on the southern beauty that was nestled inside of the building that was just inches away from his own frame. There was nothing he wanted more than to be inside with the woman who had brought life to a side of him that he assumed didn’t exist anymore after the last lady he dated turned into a horrible mistake.

             
“We will take this over to the refreshment stand, and hand them off to the caterers.” Belle said, keeping the conversation between them going, in her gentle, southern accent. “That way you can get going, and be on your way back home with plenty of time to get ready for the party tonight.”

             
“That sounds like a good idea to me, Ms. Withers.” John replied, keeping up the pace with her movements fairly easily enough. “This way I will be able to leave at a decent time, get home, and clean myself up.”

             
“And I expect you to look especially nice for tonight, John.”

             
“I intend to make sure that I am dressed as nice as I do when I attend Sunday morning church services.”

             
“Good…Because I want you to be at your best tonight at the party.”

             
“You want me to impress the people coming here tonight?”

             
“No…I want you to impress my grandchild.”

             
He gazed upon her in awe that she would want him to be at his top shape and looking his best for Emily when most grandmothers would be hesitant about letting there grand-daughters date someone they know so well or someone who works for them.

             
Walking around a corner of the house, John made his way in the same direction that Belle was going in amongst the servers setting up various decorations, tables, and the electronic equipment for the DJ she had hired for the event. He did his best to maneuver around the people hurrying about to get things together for the dance. His tall body made its way to where the caterers were setting up the refreshment table before he managed to ease his crates down beside hers on a section of the table.

             
“Okay, John…this looks fine to me. The caterers and me will work on putting them on ice and fixing them up in a way so that way they will look good and presentable to the guests.” Belle looked on at the workers already bringing a tub of ice to where she was standing with him as she had spoken to him. She turned her eyes away from them and focused in his direction as she continued to speak. “You can go ahead, and get going back to your place.”

             
“Are you sure that you don’t need help with anything else, Belle? I can help with-“

             
“John, don’t you worry about it. I have everything planned out here, and can handle anything last minute that comes up.”

             
“Are you sure?”

             
“You just need to focus on getting ready, and making damn sure to be here on time for the party.”

             
“Very well, ma’am.”

             
A smile washed across his face at the notion of hurrying off to his nearby house just so he could clean up, dress up in his best clothes, and make it back here on time to steal Emily’s breath away…all of which was being condoned by his boss and her grandmother. John gave a nod of his head towards her, and started in the direction he had come from with her.

Chapter Nine

             
How is this possible? How can Belle possibly know beforehand about my feelings and intentions towards her grand-daughter when I have done a wonderful job at keeping those feelings boxed and closed up?

             
As he moved towards the direction of the side to the house, John’s mind couldn’t focus on anything else other than that of the confusion brought on by his boss having informed him about being aware this whole time about his feelings towards Emily.

             
There is no way in hell that Belle could have figured this out so quickly, and pieced together how strong I am attracted to her grandchild with no one else to help her-

             
Are you really that dense, John?
His conscience interrupted his train of thought, abruptly, and spoke up with a curious tone in its voice.
It’s not hard at all to figure out how she found it all out.

             
I guess you have your own theory about how she discovered this out without any help, right?

             
As a matter of fact, I do have one that is the correct one.

             
What would that be then?

             
Do you remember when Emily and you were upstairs in the loft of the barn when Belle walked inside it, looking for her?

             
Yes…but I don’t see how-

             
The realization of how Belle discovered his intentions with her grand-daughter hit him so hard that it caused ever muscle in his body to tighten up, and bring him to an abrupt stop after she had just started walking the side of the house towards the front porch.

             
She knew about his feelings because of Emily and him being alone in the loft of the horse barn with one another, and away from her gaze. The answer was plain as day, and she didn’t have look hard for it at all.

             
John moved his back to lean against a side of the house before he brought his hands up from his sides, and had them to run their palms across his face, muffling a soft embarrassed groan coming out of the open space his mouth had made.

             
Oh…my…god! How could I be so stupid?! If I didn’t take Emily up there…She would never have figured this all out, and realized how my emotions burn for her grand-daughter!

             
Do you regret having taken your boss’s grandchild up into the loft of the barn then?

             
The sudden mention of him wishing that he had never took the southern belle inside of the house upstairs and spent some time alone with her snapped him out of his feeling of doubt in a flash, and caused his voice to snap back at his conscience at the mere suggestion.

             
Of course not! There is nothing that is going to make me have doubts or even regret about having taken Emily up into the loft of the barn above the stalls that the horses are kept in!

             
You were letting on that you made a mistake in being alone with her and-

             
The only mistake that I made about it was doing it when Belle was close by, and could easily walk in on us both. If I had done it when she was out doing errands in town…She would have never found out, and there would be no reason for her to be pestering Emily and I about it now.

             
What are you going to do now?

             
Get ready to sweep my date off of her feet, and show her how a real country boy treats a woman.

             
Reaffirming his beliefs in the choice he had made and the feelings deep inside of him for Belle’s beautiful grandchild, John removed his body from the outer wall of the house it had been against, and headed towards the front of it with a confident grin moving across the strong features of his face.

*                            *                            *

              Walking inside of her bedroom, Emily closed the door behind her, and placed the bag containing her dress on top of the quilt that had been handmade by her grandmother. She reached inside, pulled it out, and lied the gown across the fabric of it.

             
Let me get a good look at it so I can see about what kind of shoes I need to wear with it.

             
She took a step from her queen sized bed made from some of the oak trees behind her temporary home in her granny’s woods. Her eyes danced across the pattern work of it, as well as the style, soaking it all in.

             
Hmm…Looking at this dress…I believe that my dark brown boots would look perfect with it, and really pull the whole outfit together.

             
Emily moved her body down onto its knees, and bent her head down to look underneath her bed.

             
Stretching from left to right, was a row of shoes and boots that varied in size, shape and color. Some of them were small with little heels, big with big heels, or a combination of the two.

             
Her eyes moved down the line of footwear she had brought with her there to wear during the summer. She stopped on her pair of dark brown boots that were made of leather and a pair of her shoes that she wore on special occasions similar to that of the one she was going to that night.

             
There you are.

             
Smiling, Emily reached underneath the bed, and pulled out into the light the very boots that she intended to wear that night. Her eyes soaked them all in while the creative part of her started to linger on them, and form a visual of them inside of her mind.

             
Instead of sticking on the boots, her mind started to daydream more, and showed her to be in the very outfit she intended to wear, and the party she was heading into. Emily looked herself over for a moment before she turned her head, and found John to be rushing up to her, and pulling her out onto the dance floor. She caught the sound of the song ‘T-R-O-U-B-L-E’ playing loud and proudly just moments into her dance with her grandmother’s helper and the man who had done so much for her in a short amount of time.

             
The daydream would have went on further but found itself abruptly ended by the sound of a truck door closing, loudly, outside of the house, giving Emily the ability to snap herself back to reality.

             
What was that noise?

             
She stood up from the hardwood floor, and placed the boots down onto the bed beside where she had placed her dress. Her curvaceous frame moved over in the direction of the window, and brought up one of her hands to pull the white lace curtain back from it.

             
Through the glass pane of the window, the sight and sound she had heard was that of John climbing inside of his truck, and pulling the driver side door behind him closed, firmly. The next noise that shortly followed that was of him revving up the loud and powerful engine of the truck before he spun the vehicle around in a circle and heading in the direction of the very country road that they had traveled on together to get her back to her grandmother’s home.

             
Looks like he is in a hurry to get ready for tonight…and I am feeling the same way.

             
A smile washed across her face as she watched his truck move on down the beaten path to where his home was nearby before she removed herself from the window, and headed in the direction of where her personal shower was built on to that room.

Chapter Ten

             
Wasting a very little amount of time, John pulled up in front of his small but decent sized home that was just the road from his boss’s home, and parked it. He shut the vehicle off, and pulled the keys for it out in a series of fluid motions that would cause very little effort to be used on his part.

             
There is no time for me to play around with. I need to haul my ass inside, and get started on fixing myself up if I am to get to the party on time.

             
He literally jumped out of the pick-up and rushed towards the concrete porch. John pulled open the front door, and moved across the threshold with his right hand pulling it shut behind him.

             
No sooner had he walked inside, Fang, his solid white, blue-eyed, Siberian husky came running from the kitchen, and up to him with his tail wagging from left to right, repeatedly.