“Juanita’s is the best!” Rose said. “I take my crew there at least once every year.”
“Guess you don’t have to now. Sure beats campfire food.” He nodded.
“But it doesn’t replace the comradery of friends grouped around the fire till late, singing ‘Kumbaya’ and roasting marshmallows.”
He chuckled and shook his head, then took off his hat to slap the dust off his thigh with it. “‘Kumbaya.’ Sounds like every church camp I attended as a middle-school brat. Next you’ll be suggesting y’all make friendship bracelets.”
“Rainbow embroidery thread, hell yes,” she replied. Her eyes followed the sultry gesture of his hat slapping his thigh, all old-west lazy, as he looked back up at her with a slight smirk and a squint to his eye that could put Clint Eastwood to shame.
“A bucket of tortillas?” Kelsey asked.
“Yup. It’s Juanita’s signature thing,” Toby replied, though he kept his gaze on hers. “Tortillas all hot and soft, stacked in old buckets that you trade in like milk bottles for new ones. Best thing in catering you’ll find around here.”
Hunter leaned into her ear as he walked past. “That cowboy’s ‘hot for teacher,’ Rose.”
Ugh! She closed her eyes in an effort to keep from blushing at the song quote. Hunter was lucky he’d been a friend in undergrad long before she’d been given this gig.
Hot and soft.She shouldn’t be thinking about those words, but just watching Toby, all masculine with his belt buckle blazing and the glint in his eye each time he cast his dimple her way… Damn, she needed one of her ice-cold sweet teas, and while she was cooling off her forehead, she could cool off the heat between her thighs, too—
Stop it!“All right. You wanted to show me something?” she asked, looking back to her crew. “Y’all good here?”
“Yup. I’m taking a nap,” one of the guys said.
“And I’ve got a tray of Oreos with my name on them and a mindless round or two of video games,” Meg said. “Are we getting showers any time soon?”
She nodded, and her eyes skittered back to Toby’s. Damn the man, he was grinning at the mention of showers as he turned to sag back against his truck’s front fender, and she looked away.
Bastard. He was remembering her shower. She cleared her throat. “I thought this afternoon we could dash over to the truck stop. They have pay showers, and it’s only a couple bucks per person.”
Toby offered her no alternative for her crew. He’d only offered her a shower yesterday. And judging by the way he was glancing sidelong at her now, he wanted her to take notice. She finished wrapping things up with her students and turned back toward Toby.
“You want a lift, vaquera?” he asked with a sexy jut of the chin, leaning on the truck with his ankles crossed and his arms folded so that his corded biceps bulged over each hand tucked in his armpits.
She smiled. “Back to the main house?”
He nodded.
“Let me grab a sweet tea first.”
“Grab me one, too.” He grinned. “Call it a transportation fee.”
She rolled her eyes and gave him a mock salute. “Aye, aye, Captain.”
“You know that’s right,” he added, chuckling.
She pretended to shoo him away. “I suppose it’s the least I can do for the promise of fajitas. Screw tacos. Flour tortillas are where it’s at, and don’t let anyone tell you differently.”
He leaned into her ear as she started walking back to her trailer. “You need a shower, too, Doctor R?”
Oh lord, he was getting bold. And this time, she let herself love it and smiled. She did indeed need a shower, but she’d save face and go with her crew so that they didn’t get the wrong impression—even if they all already seemed to notice the attraction flaring between her and Toby. Once she grabbed two cans of tea out of her fridge, she locked the camper, and Toby swung the passenger door open for her as she walked up.
“Hop up in here,” he said as she brushed by, and as she climbed up the runner board to drop back against the plush upholstery, he shut the door and slapped it once, chewing the corner of his mouth and looking around nonchalantly as he walked around the truck to the driver’s seat.
*
He climbed up,too, shut the door, and cranked the AC.
“Nice ride. Quite the upgrade from that little SUV you drove when we first met.”