OVER THE NEXT week they fell into a neat, if a bit stilted routine. He and Kaylee hadn’t talked about the kiss at all, and he and Dallas hadn’t talked about their fight. But they were functioning.
They’d also submitted DNA for a paternity test and were expecting the results any day now.
Not that Bennett was constantly refreshing the online portal for the lab.
Every morning, Bennett drove Dallas out to Get Out of Dodge for his day of work, and then he went out and took care of his clients. He hadn’t made any steps toward the whole getting laid thing, but he was still figuring all that out. It was the weekend though, and that meant Dallas wasn’t going to the ranch. Which also meant that Bennett wasn’t working. They spent all of Saturday on the same property but not really near each other. Bennett took care of his animals, riding the horses, and Dallas hung out inside playing the Xbox that Bennett had finally purchased as promised.
Sunday morning, the results posted.
Bennett got them while he was still out in the field, dealing with a pig who had an infected testicle, of all the damn things.
There was a 99.999% chance he was the father.
The only thing that was missing from this moment was Maury Povich and a stiff drink.
He was...relieved. He was damn relieved. He’d known down to his bones that Dallas was his, but the confirmation was...
He didn’t have words for it. And he still had a pig to fix.
He managed to make it through the day, managed to make it all the way to the end of Dallas’s shift at Get Out of Dodge.
Finally, at dinner, Bennett addressed his son.
“The test results came today,” he said when Dallas was taking a bite of steak.
“Uh-huh.” He didn’t look up.
“I’m your father.”
Dallas flicked him a glance. “Wow. Really?”
“Yes.”
“No. I meant, you had this chance to make an A+ Star Wars reference and you whiffed it. You should start again. Luke, I am your father. Some deep breathing at least. Something. Maybe cut off my hand?”
“Dallas...the test was positive. I’m your dad. Do you have thoughts on that?”
“Not really. I knew you were.”
That was the end of that, for Dallas at least. He spent the rest of the evening ignoring Bennett. Which gave Bennett time to think about a few other things that were bothering him.
Kaylee.
And the fact that he had been thinking he wanted to hook up with someone.
The paternity test...that actually just made the stuff with Dallas feel better. He’d believed that Dallas was his son from the beginning. Now they had the legal stuff settled. So he could go to court and get custody.
So it was just the women, or lack of women, in his life that were still unsettled.
He needed to talk to Kaylee.
He went into the living room, where Dallas was sitting on the floor playing Xbox. Pepper was lying on his feet, and Cheddar was sitting next to him, leaning up against him and shedding all over him.
Dallas didn’t seem to mind much.
“If I...if I went out tonight would you be all right?”
Dallas laughed and didn’t look away from the TV. “I’m fifteen. Also, I’ve been left alone a lot.”
“I know. But I haven’t wanted to leave you the last couple of weeks, because this is a new situation.”
“You’re afraid I’m going to trash your house.”
“I’m not.”
“A little bit.”
“Fine,” Bennett said. “The thought crossed my mind at first.”
“There is that honesty that you promised me. It warms my heart.”
“And,” Bennett pressed on, “I was afraid you would run away.”
Dallas frowned. “Why would you care if I ran away? Then I wouldn’t be your problem.”
“Because I want you here. I’m not just keeping you here under sufferance, Dallas. I want you here. And if you don’t want me to leave because of the test...”
“I’ll be fine,” Dallas said, pushing that conversation aside. “I don’t need you to stay with me. I have the Xbox.”
“That’s all you did today. At some point, you’re going to have to learn to ride.”
“Yeah, Jamie said next week she’s going to teach me.”
Dallas actually sounded like he was looking forward to it.
“Good,” Bennett said. “Good.”
“Good.”
“Great,” Bennett added.
“Go. Go out.”
“I’m going to,” Bennett said.
He paused in the kitchen. He really didn’t feel good about leaving Dallas to his own devices. Not completely. Yes, the kid was independent. And yes, Bennett had stayed home alone when he was that age. But it just...he didn’t have the parenting thing down even a little bit.
Two weeks with a teenager in his house and it was far from natural to him.
He decided to call his brother. Wyatt picked up on the first ring. “Everything okay?”
He supposed calling his brother after eight was pretty weird. “Yeah. I... I’m headed out for a bit, but I wanted to see if you could swing by and check on Dallas in about an hour. And just be available if he needs someone.”
“Going out, huh?”
“Yes. It’s been a while.” Longer than Wyatt knew.
“Fine with me. But I do have to be up early. Might end up crashing on your couch.”
“That’s fine. I won’t be all night. But I’d...ideally like to be late.”
Wyatt made an understanding sound. “Right. Well, I’ll be there in an hour or so, so he doesn’t feel smothered. But he can text me in the meantime.”
“I’ll tell him.”
Wyatt chuckled. “All right. Good luck tonight, by the way.”
“Thanks,” Bennett said.
He hung up, then told Dallas about his plans to have Wyatt stop by. Dallas didn’t seem enthused at the idea of being smothered by all the newfound adults in his life, but mostly he was just engrossed in his game. Or at least pretending to be.
“I’ll be late,” he called out, his hand on the doorknob.
He wasn’t used to having to tell anyone where he was going, or when he’d be back.
“Good,” Dallas shouted.
“Don’t drink my beer.”
“You have, like, two beers in the fridge. I couldn’t even get a buzz off that. It’s boring. And if they’re gone it will be because Wyatt drank them. You know he isn’t going to let me have them.”
“True. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
His dogs, shaggy little traitors, didn’t follow him out. They stayed rooted to Dallas, who they seemed to love already.
That made him smile.
Bennett walked out to the front porch and looked down at the phone in his hand. He wanted to text Kaylee. Hell, he just wanted to see her. Go out with her like they always did. He wanted to talk to her about the paternity test. He wanted to...hug her.
He grabbed his phone and held it in his hand. Busy?
She didn’t respond.
He stood on the front porch and waited a while. Then he decided there wasn’t any harm in swinging by her place before he went to the Saloon. If she wasn’t around, or she had a tie on the door or something, he’d leave.
He had never found out how her date went. So maybe she’d be busy. Busy, busy.
And for some reason that made his stomach tighten.
He ignored it, and got into his truck, pulling out of the driveway and taking the short trip over to Kaylee’s place.
She lived in a nice, manicured little house on one acre, with a small paddock for her horse, Flicka, and her fat cat, Albus, who spent his days either on a cat tree in her place, or on a cat tree in the clinic.
She had geraniums in pots on her porch, which he always thought was funny. It surprised him when Kaylee added soft little touches to her home. There seemed to be more and more every time he came over.
He paused and knocked.
The door opened, and he looked up, his heart speeding up for a moment when Kaylee came into view wearing something that was very, very not Kaylee. Well, it was close to her normal clothes in theme, but it showed a hell of a lot more skin.
She was wearing a short denim skirt and a plaid button-up top with a couple of the top buttons undone. Her long red hair was curled slightly at the ends, and she was wearing a little bit of makeup.
“Did I interrupt something?” he asked in a very unsubtle way of trying to get information on how that date had gone.
“No,” she said. No other information was forthcoming. “What are you doing here?”
She sounded slightly breathless, and looked a little bit sweaty.
“I texted you. I was headed out to the Saloon and wanted to...see...”
“Oh. Right. Sorry. My phone is across the house and I’m trying to move a hutch.”
“A hutch?”
“I went downtown today. I saw a hutch. I bought it. And it’s here. And I finally got the damn doors on it but now I can’t move it where I want it.” She stepped to the side and waved a hand at the massive piece of red furniture standing in the middle of her living room.
“You should have called me,” he said.
“I can handle it.”
“You’re going to throw your back out, Kay,” he said, making his way over to the hutch. “Where do you want it?”
“Just right...” She waved her hand toward the back wall. “There in the empty space.”
Bennett wrapped his arms around the hutch and started to walk it back toward the wall.
Kaylee let out a frustrated growl. “You make it look so easy!”
“Is that a bad thing?” he asked, getting it backed up against the wall and taking a step back.
“Yes. I don’t like asking for help when I can struggle through it. But having struggled for more than an hour, you moving it just like that is obnoxious.”
“You help me out all the time,” he said, turning to face her, crossing his arms. “Why is it such a bad thing that I came to help you?”
“I just...don’t want to be a burden.”
“Kaylee,” he said, his tone stern. “You’re my best friend in the world. You’re not a burden to me.”
“Well. Whatever.”
“Let me take care of you sometimes, Kay. Let me be there for you.” That feeling he’d had the other day was back. That urge to comfort her. Touch her.
He would have always been hurt to hear her talk like this, even before he’d known about her parents. But now that he knew that she’d been neglected...
His chest burned looking at her. At that vulnerable expression on her face.
That she felt like a burden because he’d moved some furniture for her.
“Did you get the test results?” she asked suddenly.
“What? How did you...”
“You said you would get them in the next few days. I wondered if you did.”
“Yeah,” he said.
“And?”
“I’m his dad. But I knew I was.”
“But that’s a big deal. How do you feel?”
He saw how she was turning the conversation back to him. And well, he knew that part of that was on him. She was his support, and he appreciated that. She also seemed a lot more comfortable with that role than she did with taking anything from him.
“I’m...happy.” He was. Strange as that might be. “But I feel like you’re changing the subject.”
She crossed her arms and looked at him. Defiant. “Of?”
“Of why you didn’t call me to help you. Why you’re acting weird that I did.”
“I just... I told you. My parents didn’t pay attention to me. I had to do stuff for myself. Blah blah boring baggage. Who cares? I’m a successful veterinarian and they suck and I’ve transcended. Why go over it?”
“Because it hurts you.”
“So what?”
He reached out and grabbed hold of her arm before he realized what he was doing. And the touch went through him like a shot of bourbon. He let go of her. “You’re important to me,” he said, his voice rough. “Do you know that?”
“Sure,” she said, blinking, moving away from him, looking down at her carpet, at the dents left behind where the hutch had been before he’d moved it.
“Kay...”
“We don’t need to do this, Bennett. I’m fine. Thank you for moving the hutch.”
“I’m sorry about how weird things have been,” he said, his voice rough. “Do you want to go get a drink?”
“I... Sure.” She looked around. “I guess I’m dressed for it.”
“Yeah...why are you dressed up?”
“I bought a new skirt. I was trying it on.” She looked flustered.
“To assemble a hutch?”
“I mean, that wasn’t the plan,” she said. “I was going to...and then...whatever. Let’s go out.”
“Do you want to meet me there in case we leave at separate times?” This was where the whole wanting to meet a woman thing interfered with his desire to hang out with Kaylee.
“Um. Sure,” she said, giving him a strange look. “Let me get my stuff and leave some food for Albus.”
“I’ll meet you over there,” he said.
“Okay.”
He got in his truck and drove to the Gold Valley Saloon, having an easy time finding parking right in front of the bar. Not typical of a Sunday night, the last gasp of fun before the weekend faded into Monday, but he would take it.
Kaylee wasn’t there yet, so he took a seat at a table and surveyed the room. He wasn’t worried about anybody thinking Kaylee’s presence meant that he was off-limits. Everybody knew that him and Kaylee were only friends.
Kaylee appeared a few minutes later, not looking much less flustered than she had at her place. She sat across from him, and put her purse on the table.
“You do look nice,” he said. “It’s a nice skirt.”
She squinted at him. “Thank you.”
“Is it...for another date with Michael?” She’d dodged his first attempt at figuring out where she was at with Michael.
“Oh. Right,” she said, her tone overly casual. “No. I’m not seeing him again.”
Well. That was interesting. She’d bought a new skirt. And a new hutch. And her date hadn’t gone well.
He could also tell she was irritated by having to make the admission.
“What was wrong with him?” he pressed.
She laughed and shook her head. “What makes you think there was something wrong with him? Maybe it’s me.”
Without thinking, he reached out and pressed his hand over the top of hers. “There’s nothing wrong with you.”
She jerked her hand back, her expression unreadable. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”
“Is that why you got a new skirt?” he asked. “To get another date.”
She blew out a hard breath. “Bennett. I’m a woman. I don’t need an excuse to buy a cute clearance skirt. And yes, I will wear it. I’m wearing it now. So.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She was clearly not fine. She stood up, grabbing hold of her purse. “What do you want to drink?”
“I’m going to go easy, just get me a beer.”
If he was going to find a woman for a potential hookup, he wanted to be sober. Plus, he didn’t want to have to strand his truck in town. He was going to have to get back home. So whoever he found, he wasn’t going to be able to spend the night with.
Hell, one-night stands weren’t really his thing. So, maybe he would find somebody that he could go out with, and have a good time with for a while. That was more his speed. But seeing as it had been so damned long since he’d been with anyone, he was open to just about anything. Kaylee went over to the bar, and he couldn’t help but watch her walk all the way over. Watch the way the skirt rode up her legs as she went up on her toes and leaned over while she talked to Laz the bartender for a few moments, before acquiring two bottles of beer and returning to the table.
“So,” she said, obviously deciding to let go of the discomfort she had felt with the previous topic. “Did you want to see me about anything in particular? Or talk more about the paternity test?”
“I just wanted to go out,” he said.
“Oh.”
“I figured we could go out together.”
She looked at him sideways and lifted the bottle of beer to her lips. “Okay.”
“You know how I told you a little bit about my relationship with Olivia,” he said. “That I didn’t sleep with her.”
Kaylee brought the beer bottle down on the table, her hands rested flat, bracketing it on either side. “Yes.”
“It’s been over a year. Almost two. And I’m stressed the hell out. I need to get laid.”
Kaylee frowned, and then blinked rapidly. “O...kaay.”
“I figured you could be my wingman.”
All the color drained from her face. “You thought that I could be your...wingman. Your wingman. Because...I’m basically a dude?”
“No,” he said. “I just thought that we could go out and...”
“I thought you wanted to see me, Bennett.”
He had. He had wanted to see her. Texting her had been the most natural, easy thing. And actually, seeing her in that moment had felt more important than all the sex stuff he’d been thinking about. He missed her. He missed feeling like they were close, and this certainly wasn’t helping.
“Of course I want to see you,” he said.
“No. You wanted me to hang around and watch you pick up another woman. Because you want to talk to me and bang someone else. I...don’t even know what to do with that.”
“That wasn’t how I was thinking of it.”
“Of course it wasn’t,” she said. “Of course it wasn’t how you were thinking of it. But it’s how it is.”
“What the hell am I supposed to want? You’re my best friend. Of course I want to see you. And if you were a man, then I would have called you in this exact circumstance.”
“But I’m not a man,” she said, the words frayed. “I’m not. And you know I’m not. You had to move my hutch for me because I have tiny lady arms!”
“You didn’t want me to—”
She interrupted him, stamping her foot. “I am wearing a damned denim miniskirt!”
She stared at him hard, her blue eyes glittering. Hell, of course he knew she wasn’t a man. Touching her had been screwing with his brain for weeks. The kiss the other day had made it even worse. Yeah, he knew that she wasn’t a man.
“I’m trying to get this friendship back on track,” he said, the words grinding out of his throat.
This was too much. And it was going too far.
He knew Kaylee wasn’t a man. He was so damned aware of it right now it was driving him insane. Or maybe his life was making him insane, and she was a side effect.
She deserved better than that. Better than him losing his grip on reality and morality and doing something that would destroy this relationship they had. The one his life and livelihood was wrapped in so tight.
But Kaylee didn’t seem to be interested in backing down. In preserving anything. If it weren’t for the overt challenge in her eyes, he would have thought she had no idea what she was tempting. No idea what his body felt like she was suggesting.
“What’s on track?” she asked. “The two of us looking at each other until it feels so weird one of us has to look away? Me...kissing you because you look sad and I want to fix it?”
“No. None of that is on track and you know it.”
Kaylee leaned back in her chair and tossed her hair back, the level of faux bravado she was trying to project evidenced in the pronounced set of her jaw, at odds with the vulnerable glitter in her eyes.
“I don’t want you to leave with another woman,” she said, her words coming out far too raw for his liking. “I want you to leave with me.”