Western Pleasure (The Texas Two-Step Series, a Novella) Read Online Free PDF

off.
    No. She had to keep her head on straight. It was best the breakfast bar remained between them because if that handsome man came any closer to her she feared she would—
    Jim positioned the laptop on the bar, sealing the deal. Cementing her resolve to keep her place.
    He positioned the monitor so she could see it. The monitor on which she'd soon be looking at a dating website.
    "You'll be able to sit comfortably anywhere in the house and work on your computer."
    "Fabulous." Time to stop torturing herself with thoughts of what could be between them and enjoy exactly what they did have. "It's perfect timing. Dinner is ready."
    They took their seats at the kitchen table, and Ellen was relieved to discover it wasn't too hard to simply chat with Jim about their daily events.
    Once they completed dinner, Jim helped Ellen with the dishes again. But this time, she'd been smart and had fed dirty dishes into the dishwasher as she'd used them, so fewer were left to do after dinner. Yet in that short time, having him standing so close evoked such an intimate feeling her knees nearly buckled.
    When she closed the dishwasher door, Jim again stepped a little closer to her, and tremors shot through her heart. How could he not know what he was doing to her? How could men be so clueless about these things?
    She quickly spun toward the island, and dished up a cupcake for each of them. "Let's take these to the family room and play with my computer while we eat them."
    Jim didn't seem to be in a hurry.
    "They're vanilla-chocolate swirl, Jim. I know you love them."
    He mumbled something as he lifted the dessert plate holding his cupcake. She wasn't quite sure she heard what he said under his breath, but it sounded something like "That's not all I love."
    But that couldn't be right, could it?
    "What did you say?"
    "I said you're right."
    Nooo. That wasn't it. She stared at him, but he didn't look her way. Instead he marched into the family room and took a seat on a recliner.
    His abrupt departure seemed strange behavior for him, but then, maybe he didn't really want to be here tonight. Maybe he had other things on his mind. Maybe he had another woman on his mind.
    With that sour thought, Ellen grabbed her own small plate and joined Jim in the family room. She swung up the wooden arm on the recliner and positioned the laptop on top of the small table. "I can't wait to try this out."
    "I think you're really going to like it. It's very intuitive."
    "Where should I start?"
    "We could go over how to use your email. Click on that little postage stamp icon."
    She did as he instructed and the email program opened. A message awaited her. She clicked on it and saw it was a welcome message. She clicked on the paper and pen icon and a screen opened up so she could write a trial email. "This is a lot easier than I thought it might be."
    When Jim leaned forward to take a bite of cupcake, she quickly dashed off a thank you email to him before he could see what she was doing and clicked to send it. "How do I close this?"
    "On the top left, there's a small red button with an X in it."
    She clicked on it and the program closed.
    Jim took another bite of cupcake. A low-throated moan rumbled in his chest.
    "I take it you like it."
    He nodded, his mouth so full of cupcake he couldn't speak. She leaned over and wiped a dollop of icing from his lips before she realized what she was doing.
    Jim froze.
    She pulled back, rubbed the frosting between her fingertips, before reaching for a napkin.
    An extreme silence settled between them. Unsure what to do next, she turned back to the computer and clicked on a little compass icon. An Internet browser opened up. She typed in her own name to see if anything came up. She ought to be embarrassed, but she was kind of curious what the Internet had to say about her. Several blog posts came up mentioning her cupcakes. And even the article the Morning News had once run on her bakery. "Nice."
    Just then, Jim's cell phone rang and he