Naturally Naughty - Leslie Kelly [50]
As he drove down the street, he glanced toward old Mr. Miller’s house and saw a shapely brunette in a red tank top trying to drag a big mattress across the driveway.
He immediately stopped the truck. “Kate, are you trying to break your back? Put that down.”
She dropped the end of the mattress and frowned at him. “You distracted me. Do you know how long it took to tug that thing out of the garage?”
He trotted across the driveway to her side. “I thought your cousin was going to help you.”
“She is. She’s had a bunch of phone calls to deal with. Problems with her agent.”
“And Miss Have-To-Do-It-Now can’t wait for her?”
“I’m not helpless. I’ve gotten a bunch of other stuff by myself.” She gestured toward her SUV, which already held a couple of chairs. And, judging by the upraised legs that nearly reached the interior roof, a small kitchen table.
He couldn’t believe she’d done it all alone. “I suppose you plan to unload all this stuff without help when you get back home, too?”
She scuffed the toe of her sneaker on the driveway and mumbled, “Well, I kinda figured you’d be back sooner or later.”
“Back to help you unload it, or to make you another ice pack and take care of you again after you slip a disc?”
Wrong thing to say. They both instantly remembered how he’d taken care of her the night before. Awareness hummed between them, as always, now not below the surface, but right out in the open again.
She bit the corner of her lip. “Look,” she finally said, “I’m almost done, are you going to help me or criticize me?”
He glanced at the open hatch and the mattress. “Honey, I hate to tell you this, but you’ve got a size problem here. I don’t think something this big is going to fit in there.”
“You sound like a conceited teenage boy about to get laid for the first time.”
Not recognizing the sultry voice of the woman who’d spoken, he turned and saw a shapely blonde standing just behind them on the driveway. She had her head cocked to the side and her hand on one hip, smiling wickedly. With her eye-popping build, sunny-blond hair and outrageous words, he immediately assumed she was the cousin.
Frowning, he ignored her comment. “I hope your call was important, since your cousin nearly gave herself a hernia out here.”
The blonde’s brow shot up. She immediately turned to Kate. “Katey, I told you to wait for me. Good grief, how’d you carry all that stuff by yourself?”
Kate didn’t answer. She was too busy looking back and forth between Jack and Cassie, a confused frown scrunching her brow.
Jack grabbed the end of the mattress. “Let me throw this in the truck and take it for you, Kate. I’m going home anyway.”
“Home?” the blonde—Cassie—asked. Then understanding crossed her face. “Oh, my, you’re J. J. Winfield, aren’t you?”
He swallowed a groan. “Jack. Jack Winfield.”
The blonde didn’t reply, just looked him over, head to toe, very intently. Smiling, she extended her hand. “Hi, Jack. I’m Cassie. The truck’s a great idea. Can you take a few other things, too?”
“Sure,” he said, still wondering why Kate looked so befuddled and hadn’t said a single word since her cousin had come out of the house. “Is that all right with you, Kate?”
After she nodded, he hoisted the queen-size mattress up with both hands. He saw Cassie’s eyes widen as she stared at his arms, chest and shoulders. As he walked away, he heard her whisper, “Too much to handle, indeed. But oh, Kate, wouldn’t you have fun trying?”
They loaded up his truck with the few remaining pieces of furniture and were finished within a half hour of his arrival. Cassie disappeared into the house again, after thanking Jack once more for his help.
“Are you heading back now? Or do you want me to drive this stuff back, then wait for you to get there to unload it?”
“Let me say goodbye to Cassie and I’ll come back so we can unload it this afternoon.” She turned to go into the house, then paused. “Jack? Thanks a lot for stopping to help. I really do appreciate it.”
He shrugged. “Just being neighborly.”
She glanced up and down the block, at the manicured lawns, the