In each of his meaty hands was a mug of coffee.
Yay! He’d gotten up and made coffee.
I stepped back with the mug and after a sip that tasted like heaven, I gave him a shameless once-over. “Careful there, Grady. A girl could fall in love with a man who brings her the perfect cup of coffee looking like that.” I pointed.
He smiled widely and wickedly. “Any woman who could survive me is worth falling in love with.”
“Deep.”
“Makes me think of last night.” He bent down and kissed my mouth. “Now why are you out here snooping around when we can be back in bed?”
He must have seen me slink in and out of the garage, the window above the coffee maker faced that way. At least he’d seen the humor in it. Girls snooped. Any man who didn’t know that was a fool.
“I never realized how far back this land goes.” I scrunched my nose. “Is that brine from the river I smell?”
“It’s beyond those trees. Not really sure if that’s all my...well your land.” He pushed a hand through his hair, the muscles flexing in that arm, making the fabric of the shirt even tighter. “It gets really dense. There must be a marker somewhere sectioning off the state’s land.”
I’d not inspected the site surveys for any of the properties I’d bought over the years. I had lawyers and title managers for that. Plus, none of the other single-family homes I owned were in this rural part of town. Others were in developments.
“Have you ever thought about doing something with the land?” I could lay some good groundwork right now.
“That accident upended my life in every way imaginable. Everything has been on hold.”
I pushed my way into his arms. “No one expects to have their family stolen from them. Their dreams vanquished.”
“I’m amazed at what you see in me.”
“Whatever type of life you were living before doesn’t matter. You stepped up when everyone needed you most.”
“How’s the coffee?” he asked over the rim of his mug, his eyes tight and beady.
I understood how he hated compliments like that. “Good. Is there more?”
“Yep. And there’s more of me, if you want it.” He threw an arm around me and steered me back into the house.
WE HAD SEX A FEW MORE times, then Logan got a text from Maddie saying the rest of the girls were being picked up. We stared at each other. I felt like I could read his mind. The crazy idea we’d go pick her up together, looking all ravaged, hinting that we’d spent the night. But that we also fell in love and everything would be wonderful. Birds would sing and...
“I got you blocked in,” Logan said, all gruff and stoic. “So when I leave to get Mads, you’re free.”
I read that one wrong.
An empty Saturday jarred me. But I was going home tomorrow and I had to get my act together and prepare for whatever my investigators found out about the bogus allegations.
Logan took a quick shower and then kissed the life out of me while I leaned against my SUV. The passion and fire hadn’t been smothered in the least by giving into our curiosity.
He fumbled a goodbye and muttered something about Saturdays were chores, homework, and catching up with Maddie after days of long hours. None of that included me and it opened a hole in my chest.
Smirking, he got in his truck and drove off. His life had called him away.
I had to get used to not having him because I was walking away from him in twenty-four hours.
I TOOK BACKROADS TO get home to Nickel Song. Inside the kitchen, I dove into the fridge and took out a carton of eggs to make myself an omelet.
The egg and the cheese bubbling together smelled so good. My mouth watered and my stomach rumbled. I’d been one bite in when my phone rang.
My heart leapt, hoping it was Logan.
Truitt.
Ugh.
I didn’t want him bothering me. I was enjoying my time off in Wild Heart. Mostly because it wasn’t real. It was a screwed-up vacation. My body had been on auto-pilot day in and day out for my work. Fiddling about and bending to the whims of a young girl and her hot uncle were never on my daily calendar. But it’s all I’d been doing since I’d been home.
And I...loved it.
Loved them.
Maddie and Logan.
Smacking my head at the damage that was going to do, I answered my phone. “Truitt, it’s Saturday.”
“What in fuck’s sake are they doing to you out there in the sticks? Jesus Christ, if I believed cloning was real, I would say someone body-snatched you.”
“I will give you an opportunity to rephrase that a little more politely. I’m still your boss, so watch it.”
He scoffed. He actually scoffed.
“What’s got your expensive jockstrap in a twist?”
“You’re tagged all over Instagram. A kids’ dance? Really?”
“What’s it to you?”
“You’re supposed to be laying low. The more attention you draw, the more those trolls are going to write shit about you. About the scandal. If I see another fucking bunny with half of an ear...”
“You mean because of the fake scandal, right?” I pushed my plate away. “You know that bullcrap isn’t real.”
“Perception is reality. We advertise online. Likes and clicks and engagement are all plummeting because of you.”
“Any ethical scientist would never lie about something like that. Let alone condone it. Not ones I hire.”
“Whatever.”
“That’s been our deal. I run the lab and you run the business. My business, Truitt. Your job is to get my products into production and out to market. That’s it.”
“That’s it? That’s everything,” he yelled because if the company’s stock plummeted, he’d lose piles of money.
I took a lot of crap from Truitt because I knew he wanted the company to succeed. He owned a lot of shares and options. My success was his success. He’d never spoken to me in such a harsh way, though. Then again, I’d never disappeared for a week and became a wanton sex slave to a man I’d had ripped to shreds over many bourbon shots with Truitt. Something was happening to me here in Wild Heart. The hard shell of loneliness and the wall around my heart was spectacularly crumbling.
“Anything else?”
“You were really dancing with that piece of garbage who bullied you?” His voice gave him away like he wanted to woo me back only because I’d found someone else to keep my bed warm.
Theoretically speaking.
I’d used a lot worse words describing Logan Grady over the years, but hearing anything negative now about the man who honorably manned up and gave his niece a home and love, felt bitter and nauseating. Saying, Take that back, Logan is amazing in bed wasn’t a smart counterpoint.
Exhaling, I said, “You made it clear what I do with my body is my business when you screwed my assistant. Stay out of my personal life.”
“Just how hard did he make you come?” Truitt got low and gravelly. “Don’t deny it. You’re a sucker for a handsome face. That’s how I got you.”
I pushed the phone against my forehead. God, would everyone see me making Logan that sweetheart loan for the house as some sex payment?
And hell’s bells, glory bee. No judge or jury needed. Everyone would think I forced Logan to sleep with me like that was his payment for the missing rent on top of my sweetheart loan deal.
Turning him into a stud to pay down his debt by satisfying me.
“Jesus, Truitt, can’t a person change their mind? See things from another side and course-correct?”
“He’s a course correction?”
“Stay out of my life,” I repeated because it wasn’t worth arguing.
“Laying low didn’t mean a week of pretending to be the cool girl, adored by the homecoming king.”
“Oh, he adored me all right.” I got down to Truitt’s level. “In places I never let you touch me.”
“You’re playing with fire, Mac. Wild Heart’s got you thinking you�
��re all that again, huh? Are they praising you for coming up with shit to make ugly girls like you pretty?”
I shot out of my chair. What in the ever-loving holy hell was happening? “Are you begging to be fired?”
“You can’t fire me. I have a contract.”
“I’m guessing I can get out of it for insidious insubordination. Not to mention screwing my assistant at the office. You’re lucky we didn’t get slapped with a sexual harassment suit. You’re lucky she disappeared.”
“Wrecking our reputation with this lab shit and firing your COO will make the board decimate you, Mac. You’re not on the best terms with anyone. Fire me and you’ll have an even bigger shitshow on your hands.”
“Good thing, I like playing dirty. You’re fired.” I ended the call, my heart pounding.
A second later, my phone rang, scaring the hell out of me, thinking I’d get some crazy blackmail package with photos of Logan screwing me on his kitchen counter last night.
I swallowed and relaxed seeing it was Grace.
Shaking, I answered. “Hey, Grace.”
“I was wondering if you were free tonight?”
I had to face that Logan hadn’t asked to see me and let that hurt sink in. “I am free.” And proud of it.
Yeah, right.
“We’re doing a girls’ night. Emma, Lake, and even Harper, Jamie’s wife.”
My throat went tight. For one, I wanted to meet Emma. And to be included made me feel warm and welcome. “Um, okay. Where?”
“My place,” she said, sounding out of breath. “I’m cleaning now. I wish someone would have prepared me for how messy little boys could be.”
I wish someone had prepared me for how messy big boys could be... I giggled to myself and looked around my big, sparkling clean, empty house. “Hey, Grace, take a break. Bring the girls here.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay, I know everyone would love to see the inside of Nickel Song. You sure it’s not an inconvenience?”
“Nope.” Considering the morning I had and the firestorm I was facing going back to Houston tomorrow, I needed to drink every drop of Texas dry.
Chapter Seventeen
Logan
“Call her, Uncle Logan.” Maddie bugged me for the tenth time, following me around the house while I tried to tidy up.
I refused to fess up about us spending the night together. But Maddie seemed to have gotten in her head that what Delsey and I had last night at the dance was really a date.
“I’m sure Delsey is busy.”
“You won’t know unless you call her.”
Now I knew how single fathers with daughters didn’t stay single for long.
Christ, Maddie wanted another woman around. I felt hurt that I might not have been enough, but girls needing the influence of another woman was normal. Any single parent would see that. Parent. I was her parent. The state had awarded me full legal custody after Kyle Weatherby hadn’t answered any of the summonses by child services. I’d held my breath on that one. But in the end, joy tore through me when that piece of shit had done what he’d always done...disappeared.
Of course, that state of limbo wrecked me when Maddie had a few surgeries. I was on the hook to pay for it because I wasn’t her legal guardian yet and not on my medical plan. If he’d answered right away, I’d have been able to get her on my insurance.
Maddie held my phone out to me and when it rang, our eyes met like we were thinking it was Delsey calling me. Wouldn’t have surprised me. Powerful women didn’t sit by the phone. The truth was, I was dying to see her. I just hadn’t known what to suggest when she’d left this morning. So, like an idiot, I let her leave.
Snagging the phone, I glanced at the caller ID and my heart deflated. “Relax, peanut. It’s Walker. Yo.”
“We’re bachelors tonight. The ladies are doing a girls’ night. We’re heading to The Whistling Frog around five.” He sounded unusually chipper to have a night with the boys considering he seemed so attached to Emmaline.
According to the state of Texas, a child couldn’t be left alone until the age of thirteen. Two more years. Besides, Maddie had spent most of the day sleeping off her all-nighter at Christina’s house. I missed the kid. “No can do. Got Maddie.”
“Oh, let me rephrase my invitation. It’s bachelors with kids’ night. Jamie’s bringing Chloe.”
“Is Cam bringing Chase?”
“Chase isn’t even one year old. I said, kids. Not babies.”
I laughed deep in my chest wondering what the hell Walker would be like as a father. Strict as fuck, but loving as hell by how I saw him with Emma. And how he’d been with Chloe all the summers she’d spent on the ranch while Jamie had toured before marrying Harper.
“What’s Jamie doing with Bella?” I asked about Jamie and Harper’s daughter, who honestly, I lost track of how old she was. I was lucky to remember her name considering my family tragedy happened within weeks of that baby being born.
That meant she was about a year old.
“Jamie’s mother-in-law will be looking after the baby. Chloe wanted to be with him. He just came back into town from a few weeks of shows. Kid misses her daddy.”
Chloe was, what, thirteen now? I knew she adored her baby sister, but teenagers wanted their space, I assumed. My eyes lingered on Maddie. It’d be the same thing when I had a kid. The difference in age. The ground moved beneath me when I saw Delsey’s face. Red and sweaty, pushing out a baby. My baby. Maddie’s little cousin.
Damn premonitions teasing me with shit that ain’t happening would be the death of me. Or make me trip over my own feet because I kept imagining the craziest stuff.
“Hang on, Walker. Maddie, the guys are going to The Whistling Frog and want us to go, too. Chloe’s going.”
She pouted. “All right.”
I watched her slog up the steps to the second floor to change. Sheesh, she would rather be with Delsey. I’d have to ask the guys, well Cam and Jamie, how they handled it when their kid wanted someone other than them.
Whoa. My buddies would see right through that. And with Walker getting all chummy with Delsey again, who knew what the hell Dr. Rhodes knew about what was going on.
“Okay, Walker. We’ll be there. Thanks for the invite.”
THE SECOND I WALKED into The Whistling Frog I thought of Delsey. How it felt to be there with her. And now...not. But I had Maddie with me and that was just as good. No, it was better.
“There’s Jamie,” I said, pointing. Like he didn’t stand out.
My buddy rose from the booth he’d grabbed for all of us. Amusing, the country music star who probably made fans scream their heads off waiting for him to hit the stage had arrived first. That proved life in Wild Heart was real.
“Hey, Maddie,” he warmly greeted my niece, even though he hadn’t been around Maddie much.
“Hi,” she muttered, sounding intimidated by him.
For one, Jamie was six-foot-four and a megastar. He’d only moved back to Wild Heart a couple of years ago, still shiny and new to Maddie. He and I had been friends forever and to me, he was still James Miller, the guy walking around Wild Heart with a guitar slung across his shoulder looking for a gig.
Chloe waved from inside of the booth and I let Maddie slide in to sit across from her.
Maddie and Chloe had hung around together at Renner Ranch. Chloe loved to ride horses and I’d taught Maddie, too, before the accident. Since losing her leg, she’d not gotten back in the saddle, the doctors telling us, it would take intense therapy before her brain knew how to properly compensate for the new off-balance nature of her weight.
That center of gravity thing. Hearts and Horses came to mind. The equine therapy program for wounded warriors and others dealing with trauma. Delsey’s favorite charity.
Okay, yes, I’m stressing over why Delsey hadn’t called me.
“Cam’s on his way and Walker is talking to one of Tatum’s students over there.” Jamie held up a beer a
nd pointed.
My eyes flew to the bar thinking he had meant a female student. Being that’s how he met Emma, and as her professor and all. I relaxed seeing a guy standing with Walker. He looked our way and brought the guy over.
“Guys, this is Jeremy Gilroy. A senior at Tatum.” Walker no longer taught there for reasons we were never told. “This is Logan Grady and I’m guessing you know Jamie Miller.” Walker set down a bucket of beers.
“Dude, I love your music.” Jeremy shook Jamie’s hand, ignoring me. But we were all used to that by now from strangers.
“Thank you. Do you want to join us?” Jamie asked the kid, who looked to be about twenty-four.
“No. Got exams. Just talking to Dr. Rhodes here hoping he’d consider coming back to teach at Tatum. Actually, I was sent out on an assignment to ask him.”
Walker grinned. “I said, no thank you. But I’ll call over there so they stop sending students to talk to me about it.” He tipped his hat to Jeremy, who walked away. “I’m betting they’re gonna start sending some of the females to seal that deal. I need to put an end to that. Now.”
“Don’t trust yourself?” I chided him.
“You kidding? I got the finest woman ever admitted to that school. I doubt they have another Emmaline.”
Walker took the seat next to Jamie, who slid closer to Chloe then pinched her nose. The little girl lit up around her daddy. I nudged Maddie and got the same warm reaction.
“There’s Cam.” Jamie waved.
Cameron Renner swaggered in. The racehorses he’d bought from Sutherland Farms had kept him and Lake busy, traveling all over the country. We’d run before we could walk buying Blue Lake at the last minute before the Kentucky Derby. Now Cam and Cord were taking it slow, doing it right.
The Cowboy's Rebel Heart: An Enemies to Lovers Second Chance Romance (Wild Texas Hearts Book 4) Page 16