One Hot Momma Read Free Page A

meal with anyone, and I’m not talking about the regular game night with Buck and me. Jack said he only sees you for lunch here at the ranch. Heath confirmed it. You leave work earlier and earlier and come in later and later. This is affecting your life now, all of it, family, work, everything. What the hell is happening to you?” Her brows drew together, and she looked very much like their oldest brother, Heath.
    Aside from getting an earful of stuff he knew but wasn’t really eager to admit to, he didn’t like the fact that it was coming from Jan. He could curse at Jack or Heath. He could cowboy up and fight with them but not Jan. He wouldn’t, couldn’t, let his little sister who thought the world of him, down. “I’m going to ask Layla to marry me. If she says no, then I’ll quit pursuing her. If she says yes, you will support my decision like I supported yours. Okay?”
    “Okay.”
    “Am I forgiven?”
    “For now.” Jan smiled and hugged him a little too tightly. “I worry about you. Be careful okay?”
    “Promise.” Rafe shook his head as Jan walked off. Did she think he was so blind?
    Everyone at the ranch thought Layla was using him, that she had no interest in him other than watching her kids. They never saw Layla the way he did. A single mother working overtime to make ends meet. A proud woman who didn’t like to take handouts or help from others. It took a while for her to warm up to him, much less leave her kids with him, and now he was becoming a part of their routine. They expected him, all of them. He hadn’t forgotten his family, but he was building a new one. Unlike his brothers, his bride wasn’t going to fall into his lap. He had to work to get her affection, and that was something he had never really done before. Women were always easy to come by, and they loved him. Layla , hell he didn’t know what else to do to earn her love.
    Jan was right. He had sacrificed his family and his job, which again effected his family since it was their dude ranch collectively he worked at. Maybe he had been chasing Layla too hard for too long. Maybe she needed to miss him.
    * * *
    “Where’s Rafe ?” Brice asked as they sat down for dinner.
    “He had work to do.” Layla scooped macaroni and cheese onto the child’s plate.
    “This is lunch food.” Savannah wrinkled her nose at the hot dog and bun.
    “Well, it’s dinner food tonight.” Layla tried for a smile. Rafe always stocked their refrigerator no matter how many times she told him not to. There was “dinner food” in there, but she didn’t know much about cooking it or what exactly they would eat. Rafe normally fed them dinner, and she ate her sandwich at work. When he was there with all of them, he cooked. The kids would eat anything he made. As Brice tested the macaroni, she knew she was not their favorite chef.
    “Will he come over tonight?” Brice asked after reluctantly eating the food.
    “I don’t know. I don’t think so.” Layla realized in that instant he hadn’t said. He always told her where he was or what he was doing. She didn’t realize how much she had grown accustomed to knowing. Now she too began to wonder.
    “Can we call him?” Savannah asked.
    Layla thought about it for a moment. It wasn’t her business where he was or what he was doing. Then the previous night flashed before her eyes. Horror stuck her core, and she began to worry that he took their moment of passion and her rejection at what was obviously a mercy proposal too seriously. “After dinner.”
    They ate every bite.
    * * *
    Rafe sat at Jack’s house around the big country kitchen table with all of his family there. They were in the middle of setting up a game of monopoly when his cell phone vibrated. He looked at the number and excused himself. He ignored the long faces of disappointment from each one of them. He wasn’t leaving unless it was an emergency. “Hello?”
    “Hi Rafe !” Savannah giggled. “Are you coming over?”
    “Not