A Miracle for the Confident Cowboy (Love in Sweet Bloom)

Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

Crazy. Dumb. A bad decision.

That was what this plan was.

Duke could have declined Pippa’s offer. He could have told her he was busy or that he didn’t feel well and would prefer not sharing what he might be catching. He could have come up with a number of excuses that would get him out of dinner with Rob and Pippa.

But if he’d done that, he wouldn’t be sitting beside Sophie at this very moment.

The house was really nice. It had four bedrooms with plenty of acreage. He could see Rob wanting to put some additions on the building if they chose to live here long-term. The more his thoughts dwelled on what it would be like to settle down, the more he could see Sophie being that person in his life.

More than once, he caught himself looking at her—or rather staring at her—while she chatted with her brother and sister-in-law. She recounted her experiences with the animal shelter and her begrudging relationship with Duke the dog as she called him.

He might have been able to handle the dinner if it was just with Pippa, Rob, and Sophie, but as it stood, Luke and Brent were here with their families, too. This was a family -family dinner. Everyone seemed thrilled to be in attendance, chatting and laughing with each other.

Duke, on the other hand, couldn’t stop squirming in his seat. He shouldn’t be here. He was an employee, not part of the family. Up until Sophie had started recounting her experiences at the shelter, he’d successfully stayed out of the limelight. But then Sophie had to drag him into it.

“It’s been great for me at the shelter. I get to spend time with the pups,” Sophie shot Duke a smirk, “even Duke seems to be able to tolerate them.”

Pippa’s eyes shifted to Duke. “You volunteer too?”

Rob was next. “Why wouldn’t he be able to tolerate them?”

Duke nearly choked on his water. “Yeah,” he cleared his throat, “I volunteer.”

“It’s because he’s a cat person,” Sophie supplied.

All eyes were on Duke again.

The men gave him strange looks and the women offered knowing smiles he couldn’t decipher.

Then Pippa spoke up again. “I totally love it when a guy goes out and volunteers at places like that.”

Rob shot her a wounded look. “I’d… volunteer if you wanted me to.” His gaze darted to Duke again but before he could say something Sophie made matters ten times worse.

“It’s more than that. He donated a bunch of supplies to the woman’s shelter, too.”

Duke could feel the heat rising along the back of his neck. He didn’t do any of that for attention, and that was exactly what he was getting.

“Sheesh, man, leave some of the hero work for the rest of us,” Luke joked.

Duke ducked his head and stared at his mostly empty plate then forced a chuckle. “There’s always shifts available at the animal shelter.” That earned some more chuckles and jokes about imagining the men taking care of Duke the dog.

At some point, Sophie had inched closer to him, her leg brushed up against his and he glanced over to her, but she wasn’t looking in his direction. He got the distinct feeling something was brewing—much like he’d felt at the wishing well. The temptation to touch her reared its ugly head and he shifted so he could place his hand on her knee.

“So, Duke,” Rob yanked him back to the present, putting an end to that temptation. “I’m guessing Christmas is different where you come from.”

Duke peered at Rob then glanced around the table, unsure of what to say.

“Yeah, like the food,” Brent offered. “What do you eat for the holidays?”

He swallowed hard and forced thoughts of Sophie from his mind which grew increasingly harder as her perfume wafted toward him. He tightened his hand into a fist, resting it on his knee as he listed out some of his favorites. “It isn’t really much different than here. We have turkey and cornbread stuffing. Cranberry sauce, roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding?—”

“Yorkshire pudding?” Luke asked. “What’s in that?”

“It’s like a popover,” Sophie offered, drawing Duke’s curious gaze. She offered him a smile, and he couldn’t help the one that spread over his face in return.

“Yeah, pretty much. Then you have the traditional mince pies?—”

Rob chuckled. “Yeah, I don’t think we eat that, here either. If you’re going to be joining us for Christmas dinner, we’re going to have to strike some of those off the menu.”

Pippa nudged him. “Come on, you can’t say you wouldn’t try it if I cooked it for you.”

He made a face at his wife. “I’m not eating cornbread stuffing.”

Several of those at the table laughed at his statement, but Duke’s distraction was short-lived when he felt Sophie’s hand pry his fist open so she could lace her fingers within his. He stared at the gesture with shock. Then his eyes bounced to meet hers.

For a moment everything slowed down to a crawl. But then her focus darted down to what she had done and she immediately withdrew. Then she pushed her chair out from the table and her voice trembled slightly as she started gathering dishes. “I’ll start cleaning up.”

“Sophie, you don’t have to—” Pippa started, but Sophie waved her off with a flick of her wrist.

Duke watched her leave then slowly got to his feet. “I’ll help her.” He stacked a few plates and took them through the door that divided the dining area from the kitchen. Sophie was already at the sink, scrubbing a dish vigorously.

He placed his stack of dishes to the side, his eyes flickering to what she was doing before lifting to her face. “You might want to slow down or there won’t be any plate left to scrub.”

Her face was bright red and framed by whisps of her hair. She didn’t slow or make any indication she’d heard him, so he placed a hand over hers, forcing her to ease up on her dishwashing.

Sophie let out a long breath then forced a smile, her gaze darting up to meet his. When he released her hand, she resumed, at a more reasonable pace.

Duke busied himself with scraping and rinsing the plates he’d brought in. Every so often the two of them would exchange meaningful glances. There was so much that hadn’t been said between their moment yesterday and when she’d reached for his hand. He wanted to ask her what it meant—no he wanted to tell her what he thought it meant—but he couldn’t find the words.

Finally, he settled on the lamest thing he probably could have come up with. “I appreciate you.”

Her brows creased and she slowed her movements before meeting his gaze. “What?”

He forced a strained chuckle. “You’re a good person, you know that, right? You’re the kind of person who knows the right thing to say at the right time.”

She snorted then got back to her scrubbing. “I’m just… me.”

“You’re more than that,” he insisted, softly. Duke placed a plate into her soapy water and their hands grazed one another. It was so quick and unexpected, he barely had a chance to react before the hairs on his arms lifted in response.

“You should talk,” Sophie responded, drawing him back to the moment at hand. “I’ve never met anyone who would willingly do everything I’ve found out you do.” She heaved a sigh and faced him. “You don’t see that, though, do you?”

He shrugged. “I guess we’re cut from the same cloth.”

She huffed again, waving a dismissive hand at him. “You can say that all you want, but the fact is?—”

Duke caught her hand mid-air, causing her to freeze. Her eyes widened slightly and her lips parted as she exhaled softly. Her eyes were bright and full of question. There might have been a small dose of fear—but not for her safety—it was more like the uncertainty of what they’d been so close to doing.

Right here. Right now. He could tell her how he’d fallen for her that first day she’d come to the shelter. That it had been torture to ignore his attraction to her the more time they’d spent together. He could tell her he wanted another chance and that their first date shouldn’t count.

Duke opened his mouth just as someone on the other side of the room gasped.

As one, both Duke and Sophie turned to find Pippa standing in the doorway with a large casserole dish that contained the remnants of their lasagna dinner.

A sly smile slid across her face and she gave them a knowing look. “I knew it.”

Sophie tore her hand from Duke and scurried from the room faster than she could have if her hair had been on fire. The sound of the front door slamming shut was the only thing that rang in Duke’s ears.

He stood there in stunned silence. He’d been so close. All he’d had to do was tell her.

“Did I say something wrong?” Pippa’s voice shattered the silence and Duke turned an angry gaze on her.

“You have the absolute worst timing.”