Read Online A Family to Come Home To (Saddle Falls) by Sharon De Vita - Free Book Online Page A

from her hand. “I thought you said you were a cook?”
    Hannah brushed her damp, shaky hand over her white apron, hanging on to the rag with the other hand so Jesse wouldn’t see how desperately his presence made her hands, and just about everything else, shake.
    “I am a cook, Jesse,” she insisted, rattled because he was so big, so masculine, and so intimidatingly gorgeous. How was she supposed to keep her composure when he set those laser-blue eyes on her, staring at her as if he could see straight into her heart and all the secrets she’d buried there? “It’s just, I had a little accident,” she said with a sheepish shrug.
    Leaning against the counter, one eyebrow lifted in amusement as Jesse glanced at the floor and the few spots of chocolate she’d missed on the counter and walls.
    “A chocolate accident is my guess,” he said, unable to conceal the humor in his voice.
    Hannah sighed. “Good guess,” she admitted, trying to force herself to relax. “Jesse?” She dared to meet his gaze and felt her stomach tumble over.
    “Yes, darlin’?” He surely enjoyed looking at her. She was dressed differently from this morning. Her hair was swept up in some kind of knot atop her head. But it was a little lopsided, and a few tendrils were rebelling, slipping free to frame her beautiful face. The shorts had been replaced by a pair of comfortable-looking jeans that hid those sinful legs. Pity, he thought, letting his gaze wander over the rest of her. He sure enjoyed looking at those long, gorgeous legs of hers. The white blouse she wore was covered by a large apron with a big red heart in the middle.
    His gaze shifted, and for the first time he noticed her mouth. It was bow-shaped, with a sexy little indention right in the middle of her top lip. Devoid of color, they had something shiny on them, something that made a man ache to see if she tasted as good as she looked. His tongue suddenly itched to trace the outline of that sexy mouth. Slowly. Leisurely. Carefully. He shifted, diverting his thoughts to try to bring some relief to his suddenly tense body.
    “Jesse, how did things go with Tommy?” She studied him, trying to read his face, his eyes, but the only thing she saw was amusement—and, if she wasn’t mistaken, desire.
    She wanted to flush again. She couldn’t remember a man ever looking at her that way before, at least not with such naked, blatant interest. Even though she might not ever have experienced it, it didn’t mean she couldn’t recognize it.
    Or respond to it.
    She could feel the heat of his gaze on her, feel it shimmer through her, evoking a heated response of her own.
    “How’d it go?” Thoughtfully, Jesse crossed his arms across his chest, still thinking about that sexy little mouth of hers. Satisfied he’d have to taste that mouth—sooner or later—just to find out for himself, he turned and glanced out the window where Tommy was sitting at the patio table waiting for him. “About as well as could be expected, I guess,” he said, turning back to her with a smile.
    Swell, Hannah thought. He was just a fountain of information. “Is Tommy all right?” she asked nervously.
    “All right, darlin’?” With a wry smile, Jesse shook his head. “You mean, have I done anything to warrant having you chase me around the kitchen with one of your frying pans?” He laughed at the look of horror that swept over her face. “No, darlin’. I promise I’ve done nothing to harm him or to warrant one of those pan-bashings.” He lifted a hand to her cheek, unable to resist being so close and not touching her. It was something he could quite easily get accustomed to, he realized. “And I don’t intend to do anything to harm him, Hannah. At least not intentionally.”
    “You know, you would have been fine had you stopped just a few seconds before,” she admitted in irritation, chewing her bottom lip and resisting the urge to move her face so he wouldn’t be touching her. It was hard to