Page 35 of Hot For You

After breakfast, they cleaned up together. When they were finished, he put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a little squeeze. “This afternoon, I have a few 4-H’ers coming over to look at my calves. You’re welcome to join us and meet the kids.”

“I might do that.” She smiled at him.

“Come on out if you decide you want to.” He released her, headed to the front door, and took a beat-up work-worn western hat off of the hat rack. He tugged the hat down on his forehead and opened the door.

Carilyn watched Cody walk out of the house. She never got tired of seeing his sexy backside. She also liked the feeling of being in the same house as him, making him breakfast as he came in from work. It was a homey, comfortable feeling.

She shook her head. This was exactly why it wasn’t a good idea to stay at the ranch with Cody. Jeez, soon she’d be heading back to Kansas and she could end up hurting both of them if she wasn’t careful.

It took some time to install the basic software on her new laptop, just to get it up and running. It was frustrating not having the software to prepare to tackle her job, but she’d just have to make up for lost time by working longer hours after she received the software.

She downloaded tracing software that a fellow hacker provided when she contacted him. Or her—it was virtually impossible to tell from their names. This hacker was referred to as Lord. His/her whole name was LordoftheFuneralPyre. It sounded masculine to her, but who really knew? Carilyn went by WizardAsp as her hacker name, which she figured was as androgynous as one could get.

When she was finished setting up her laptop the way she wanted it, she decided to head to the kitchen. She poked around until she found an old recipe book with one page marked. It was a recipe for chewy brownies. Despite the fact that she wasn’t the best cook, she did know how to make brownies. As long as she didn’t burn them, they should turn out fine.

First she checked to make sure Cody had all the ingredients to make the brownies and was pleased when she found everything. He was almost out of cocoa and flour, but there was enough to get by. It didn’t take long until she had all of the ingredients combined and was stirring the batter. She greased a pan and spread the mixture into it before putting it into a preheated oven.

While the brownies baked, she brought her laptop into the kitchen and checked her email again, praying she didn’t have one from Firebug. Thankfully she didn’t.

Just as she was going to close out the email client, a new one popped into her inbox. Sam Anthony.

“Sam?” she said as she straightened in her chair. She hadn’t heard from him since he’d gone into the Peace Corps.

She clicked on the email and read it through.

* * *

Hi, Carilyn,

I just got back to the States yesterday and I wanted to talk with you. I went to your apartment earlier today but you weren’t there, and you didn’t answer your phone when I called.

* * *

Carilyn paused to pull her phone out of her pocket and saw that yes, she’d missed two calls from him. She frowned but then saw that somehow her ringer had been turned off. She went back to reading the email.

* * *

I wanted to tell you how much I’ve missed you and that I’m back for good. Call me. I want to see you.

Love,

Sam

* * *

Carilyn blinked. Sam was back and he wanted to see her? She bit her lower lip. In the past she might have been excited to receive an email from him…but now?

She wondered, too, about him being back for good. Didn’t they have to sign a contract or something, like they did in the army? He hadn’t explained when he told her and she’d been in too much shock to think to ask.

The smell of something burning caught her attention. “Nooo,” she said as she jumped up from her seat, grabbed a couple of potholders, and opened the oven door. She groaned when she saw that the brownies were very dark and very overdone.

“Darn it.” She scowled. “These will be extra chewy if they’re not as hard as bricks.”

She put the pan on a trivet to cool and went back to her laptop. She wasn’t ready to respond to Sam, so she closed the laptop lid and wandered to the front door.

She knew what she’d do. She’d try not to think about Sam, the Firebug, or the burnt brownies and go outside for some fresh air and to see what Cody was up to. When she stepped out of the house, she saw him with a group of three kids and three horses stood behind them. From a distance she couldn’t tell how old the kids were.

With her hands in the back pockets of her jeans, she strolled toward Cody and the kids. The four of them were outside a corral with five calves in it.

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