Midnight Ride by Cat Johnson Read Free Book Online

Even though it had been nearly a year since she’d been drinking her coffee alone in the morning—and she only took one teaspoon of sugar in hers—she’d never put the oversized sugar container away. It was too familiar, too much a part of the kitchen, so it remained where it had always been.
    Tyler took the mug Janie handed him. “I take cream and sugar in mine . . . if you’ve got any. I’m afraid I’m not as hard-core as Colton here.”
    Always the charmer, he treated her to the same self-deprecating smile she’d seen the night before during their odd encounter. Janie smiled.
    “Don’t worry, so do I. There’s a quart of half-and-half in the fridge. Top shelf.” Coffee without cream and sugar was torture, as far as she was concerned. It didn’t matter how good the beans were or how fancy the machine brewing them.
    “Thank you, much. I’ll grab it for us both, then.” He nodded, sending the cowboy hat into a dip as he turned to open the refrigerator. Tyler turned back to her with the container in hand. “Then when we’ve all had our coffee, you can come outside and see if Colton and I did a good enough job on the fence for you.”
    Janie drew her brows low. “You fixed it already?”
    “Yes, ma’am.” Colton leaned back against the counter with his mug in his hand.
    “I was going to help—”
    Tyler’s burst of air cut her short. “No gentleman worth anything is gonna let a lady help him do something like dig out a fence post. We handled it just fine on our own.”
    “Yup,” Colton agreed. “Wasn’t a problem at all.”
    Their kindness threatened to bring tears to Janie’s eyes. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
    “This here fine coffee is thanks enough.” Tyler smiled. “Don’t tell Rohn I said so, but he makes the worst coffee I’ve ever tasted.”
    Colton let out a laugh. “Ain’t that the truth. Tastes like he scooped it out of a tire rut after a rainstorm.”
    Janie couldn’t control her smile. “Maybe I should come over and give him a lesson.”
    The corners of Tyler’s mouth lifted. “I think that’s a very good idea. I can’t think of a better way to start a morning than greeting the day with a beautiful woman and some good coffee.”
    His stare was so intense upon her that she felt her cheeks heat. She couldn’t exactly say thank you since he hadn’t said she was that beautiful woman he’d been referring to, but the implication had been there. Judging by the look in his eyes as they focused solely on her, his meaning was clear.
    “Then I’ll see what I can do . . . about Rohn’s coffee, that is. It’s the least I can do to pay you back for your work on the fence.” Desperate to get out from under his gaze, she threw out that response and then turned toward the counter to add sugar to her own mug.
    “I’ll look forward to it.” There was amusement in Tyler’s voice as it came from much closer to her than she expected.
    He leaned past her to set the container of half-and-half on the counter next to her. The move put him close enough that the combined scents of manly deodorant and good clean sweat hit her. That, along with the warmth radiating off his body as he brushed against her before moving back, had her hyperaware of Tyler. He was a man and she was a woman. Her body knew it and didn’t care he was younger and she was a fool to even think of him that way.
    Janie took her time adding cream to her mug. When she finally had no more excuse to hide in the corner, she turned. She was in time to see Colton shoot an amused look at his friend before his mug covered the smirk on his lips.
    Tyler was a flirt. Colton knew it. Jed from the lumberyard had known it. Deep down, Janie realized it, too, which made it even more ridiculous that she was letting him get to her. He was a young, cocky ranch hand enjoying life. Enjoying it a bit too much, as far as she could see.
    She needed to get herself back on level ground. She was a mature woman who also happened to be