He didn’t smile as she’d hoped he would. In fact, Carson was wound very tight right now. Heck, he probably needed sex more than she did.
“Let me guess,” she went on. “Bennie really did marry the stripper, and all day you’ve been dealing with the fallout from that.”
Carson didn’t answer right away. “Yeah. The marriage is legal, but I told Bennie to get to a lawyer for an annulment. Whether he will or not is anyone’s guess.” He drank some beer, looked at her over the rim. “I’m so sorry.”
“You’re not Bennie’s keeper, even if I’m sure at times it feels that way.” She paused. “Is there any chance Bennie’s actually in love with this woman?”
“None. He met her last night at Jake Monroe’s bachelor party. That’s why we were there at the strip joint. Trust me, I wouldn’t have had even a drink if I’d known the lap dance she gave him was going to turn into this.”
Bennie probably hadn’t known it, either. A lap dance coupled with tequila shots could maybe feel like love. Temporarily, anyway.
“This Gigi’s not a bad person,” he continued. “By that I mean she doesn’t have a police record. I checked. She’s one of those rare people who really is working her way through college. Does it bother you to hear about her?” Carson tacked onto that.
“Not in the least. I really am not going to fall into a pit of despair.”
Carson stared at her as if trying to figure out if it was true. He finally glanced away, cursed. “I have to tell my mom.”
Which meant her own mom would soon know. Evie’s eyes widened when she realized the end result of that. Maybe there’d be some despair after all.
Well, crud.
“Yeah,” Carson agreed. “Either your mom will work extra hard to keep you with Bennie, or she’ll wash her hands of him.”
“She’ll only do that after much whining,” she finished for him. “Then, she’ll start playing matchmaker with a vengeance.”
That wouldn’t have been so bad if she would start the matching with Carson. But she wouldn’t. Not with her mother thinking Carson was too old for her. There was no telling what Carson’s mom and her mom could cook up.
“Mom’s gotten worse about micromanaging me,” Evie said. “This certainly won’t help.”
“She’s gotten worse because you were sick?” he asked.
She nodded, considered moving the conversation back to the sex offer he’d made when he first sat down. But with a despair-pit looming, Carson needed to know the big picture.
“After I was diagnosed, I’d never seen my mom like that. Always crying and searching the Internet for new treatments. She even asked Vita Banchini to do a healing spell for me.”
Carson didn’t gasp, but it was close. Vita was a strange old woman who lived in a trailer at the edge of town. She claimed to be able to see the future, do magic potions and stop bad stuff from happening—if she wanted to stop it, that is. Most people were either terrified of her or thought she needed to be in the loony bin. Some just wanted to buy her laundry detergent since she always reeked of herbs and other unidentifiable things. It was a testament to her mother’s gloomy state of mind that she’d go to the woman for help.
“Vita made these smelly poultice bags that my mom kept stashing around my house. And, of course, she wanted me to move back home. If the treatments hadn’t worked, I might have had to do that, too.” She shuddered a little.
“But they did work.” He stared at her. Paused again. “Were you scared?”
“Terrified.” She winced because she hadn’t wanted to admit that to anyone. Not even herself. Now that Carson had that big picture, it was time to move on to something else. “Are you seeing anyone?” That resulted in another wincing. Not very subtle, but it got that worried look out of his eyes.
“I was. She’s a doctor in San Antonio, but we broke things off a while back. She wanted to move to the next level, and I wasn’t ready.”
Evie had heard bits and pieces about that when she’d walked in on conversations between “the moms.” Ida was definitely pushing both Bennie and Carson into getting married.
“Maybe we need to stage a revolt.” Evie wasn’t exactly joking.
“You mean by us seeing each other?” He certainly didn’t sound as appalled or shocked by the idea as he had earlier in the day. “And that way if it doesn’t work out, then we can blame it on the shock of Bennie’s marriage. Maybe the aftermath of your illness, too.”
Evie smiled, then frowned. “You’ve given this some thought. Any chance you think we could succeed?”
“No.”
She wished that he had at least hesitated a little.
“Because I’ll feel guilty,” he went on. “Our moms will make our lives a living hell. And because eventually Bennie will sober up, come to his senses and do what it takes to win you back.”
Evie thought about that for a few seconds. “All of that is possibly true. Probably true,” she amended. “Except for the part about Bennie winning me back. Not going to happen. But our moms will certainly make us miserable while trying to set us on the paths that they’re convinced are right for us. That’s why I think we should kiss just so we can consider if it’s worth the effort.”
Carson’s eyebrow came up. “We’ve already kissed, this morning.”
“That wasn’t a kiss. That was a test-drive.”
He kept staring at her, probably trying to think of some way to wiggle out of this. And he wiggled all right. Sort of, anyway. Carson came off the seat and leaned across the table. He slid his hand around the back of her head.
And he kissed her.
Man oh man, this wasn’t a test-drive. It was a full-on lip-lock with his mouth firmly on hers. All in all, it was a really good place for his mouth to be because it sent a nice swirl of heat through her.
He didn’t stop with just a swirl, though. Carson pressed harder, deepening the kiss, and he did what she’d threatened earlier.
Carson made it French.
Just the way she liked her kisses. Well, she would have if they hadn’t been sitting in her family’s bar.
That nice swirl of heat—which was at a much higher temperature than just moments ago—was best suited for a more private place. Preferably one with a bed. But even without the privacy and the bed, when Carson finally pulled back, she felt as if she’d had an orgasm or two.
“You’re really good at that,” she said, smiling.
However, he wasn’t smiling. Nor was Carson still looking at her as if he wanted to have her for dinner. His attention was to his right.
And the two people who were standing there.
The two scowling mothers.
Evie could say with complete certainty that neither of their moms was gleeful about that orgasm-inducing kiss.
* * *
Carson felt as if he’d developed a sudden, severe case of ADD. He couldn’t focus, couldn’t think, and this wasn’t a good time for that to happen. He had a pile of work to do and some fires to put out, and he wasn’t getting any of it done.
The first fire was Bennie, but for the flame-dousing to start, Bennie had to answer his phone. When he did, Carson hoped like the devil that Bennie had gotten an annulment and was on his way back to Texas.
Fires number two and three were connected. And he’d been the one to start those. It’d begun when he had kissed Evie the day before in the Longhorn. It’d been a really stupid thing to do, but when she’d sat there, looking both beautiful and bothered, he hadn’t been able to resist.
If he had resisted, fire number three wouldn’t exist.
The moms’ disapproval.
Of course, Ida and LuAnn hadn’t wanted Carson to French-kiss Evie. Especially not in public. They probably had rationalized that at least if it’d happened behind closed doors, then word wouldn’t get back to Ben
nie and it wouldn’t spoil the chances of a Bennie and Evie reconciliation.
Even if it was getting obvious that neither Bennie nor Evie wanted that.
That put Carson between a rock and a hard place. He kept thinking about kissing Evie. About doing more to her than just kissing, as well. But life was not going to be fun if he did that.
Nope.
So it was best if he backed off from the kissing or the thinking about kissing and gave Evie some time to sort out her feelings. Carson still wasn’t sure that kiss was an actual desire to be with him instead of her merely going for that whole life-zest thing.
Now that she knew she was actually going to have a life, that was.
He needed to make sure that she couldn’t get that zest from Bennie. Of course, that would leave him out of the running for any future kisses with Evie. Until yesterday, Carson wouldn’t have thought that was a bad thing, but he was sure thinking it at the moment.
There was a knock at his office door, followed by his assistant, Merrilee, saying, “You got visitors, boss man.”
The door opened, and Carson steeled himself because he expected to see the moms walk in. But it was Garrett Granger. Good thing Carson had done the steeling because Garrett looked a little pissed off. He came in, shutting the door behind him.
“Evie,” Garrett said right off the bat.
“I know you’re here to lecture me. I haven’t been around Wrangler’s Creek much and didn’t see her when she was so sick. She’s been through too much, and I should just back off and let her work things out with Bennie.”
Garrett’s scowl turned to a frown. “No, actually I was here about some cows I need to sell, and I wondered if Evie had called you about them for me.”
“Uh, no. She didn’t mention any cows.” But it might have been hard for her to talk what with him kissing her.
The corner of Garrett’s mouth lifted in a half smile. “You got a guilty conscience or something?”
Or something. What Carson had was an attraction for Evie that was occupying way too much of his thoughts.
“I just happened to be in San Antonio on business,” Garrett went on, “and thought I’d drop by the request in person. I need to get rid of this particular herd because I’ve got some calves coming in.” He dropped a purchase order on Carson’s desk.
Carson glanced through it, nodded. “Let me make some calls, but I’m almost positive that I can have a buyer for you by the end of the week. Is that soon enough?”
Garrett nodded and kept staring. “Are you going to hook up with Evie or not?” he asked. “Gossip,” he added. “When you kiss a woman in the Longhorn, it doesn’t tend to stay secret for long.”
Carson knew that, too. Also knew the right thing to do was to nip this in the bud right now by telling Garrett that no, he wasn’t going to hook up with Evie. But the words just sort of stuck there in his throat, causing Garrett to half smile again.
“I always thought she deserved something better,” Garrett said. And with that, he walked out, causing Carson to wonder if he fell into that better category.
Probably not.
Because he could cause her more trouble than she needed.
And speaking of trouble, his phone buzzed, and he saw Bennie’s name on the screen. Carson answered it so fast that he damn near spilled his coffee.
“You’d better have good news,” Carson snarled.
“Some. I remembered where I left your truck. It’s at the San Antonio airport. Don’t worry—I didn’t drive it there. Gigi did because she wasn’t drinking.”
No, she’d been too busy showering red panties around the bar. “Where are you now?”
“Still in Vegas.”
And then Carson heard a sound he sure as hell didn’t want to hear. Giggling. Familiar giggling at that. Because he’d heard it enough at the Longhorn during Bennie’s so-called bachelor party.
“Is Gigi there with you?” Carson demanded.
Bennie didn’t answer right away, but Carson could hear some heavy breathing and some moans. The kind of sounds a man might make if he was on the verge of having sex.
“Can I call you back?” Bennie asked, still breathing and moaning.
“No. You can tell me how the appointment went with the lawyer, the one you’ll be using for your annulment.”
“Oh, that went fine. Gigi and I signed the papers, and the lawyer said the judge should grant the annulment in about six weeks. I just got a few more things to finish up here, and I’ll be home.”
Carson was stunned to silence for a moment. All of that sounded, well, responsible. If he graded on a curve, that was, and curve grading was par for the course with Bennie.
“Evie,” Carson said when she walked through the door. At first, he thought she was a figment of his imagination, but she was the real deal.
And mercy, she looked amazing.
She was wearing what a lot of Wrangler’s Creek women wore. Jeans, boots and a red top, but on her they looked amazing. No need to grade Evie on a curve.
“Evie,” Bennie repeated because he obviously thought Carson was talking to him. “Uh, can you break up with her for me? No, wait. That’s not right. I’ll man up and do it when I get back. Gotta go.” And with some additional moans coupled with giggling, Bennie ended the call.
“Was that Bennie?” she asked. “I didn’t hear any of the conversation, but you always get that look on your face when you’re talking to him. I like the look you had, though, a couple of seconds prior to that.”
The gaping stare where he’d been admiring the fit of her jeans. And her breasts. Her face, too. Hell, no use naming parts. He’d been admiring all of her.
No way did he want to tell her what Bennie had just said. Carson needed a chance to figure out how to go about it. Or decide if he just wanted to put this back in Bennie’s lap. Besides, if he told Evie that Bennie was getting an annulment but still breaking things off with her, it would put some dents in that sexual attraction barrier between them.
Carson needed some time to think about those barriers, as well. And decide if he even wanted them in place.
“Did your mom give you a hard time about me?” he asked.
Just as she knew his “I’ve got the hots for you” face, he knew her “yes, Mom did” face, but as Evie usually did, she just shrugged. “A year ago all this drama would have sent me in search of ways to keep the peace. I’ve sort of given up on that. I mean, for my mom to get what she wants, I have to settle for Bennie.”
Yeah, and she would be settling, all right.
“How about your mom?” Evie said, turning the tables on him. “Was she upset, too?”
“Oh, yes,” he readily admitted. “Bennie will always be her baby boy.” He paused, trying not to remember just how this had twisted at her. “She reminded me that I’m the responsible one and that I didn’t have the challenges growing up that Bennie did.”
“Ouch. She played the troubled teen guilt card on you.”
Now, he shrugged. “I deserved it. After all, I’m the one who kissed you.”
“Only after I kissed you. You know, for two people with so many doubts about seeing each other, we certainly have done our share of kissing.”
Carson laughed before he could stop himself. Evie smiled. One of those smiles that reminded him of just how good she tasted.
She held his gaze for a couple of seconds before Evie cleared her throat. “I came to drop this off,” she said, taking a small box from her purse. “It’s a necklace that Bennie gave me. I don’t feel right about keeping it, and I wasn’t sure if I’d see him anytime soon.”
“You’ll see him,” he insisted, but they both knew that might be a lie. If Bennie was still fooling around with his soon-to-be ex-wife, then it might be days before he came back to Texas. Months before he made it back to Wrangle
r’s Creek.
“Actually, I’d rather not. Returning the necklace is my way of breaking up with him.”
“You could try calling him,” Carson pointed out.
“What, and interrupt his honeymoon?” She put that last word in quotes. If she was the least bit bothered by Bennie’s marital predicament, Evie wasn’t showing it.
“Come to dinner at my house tomorrow night,” she threw out there.
He was instantly suspicious. And interested. “Dinner?” he repeated.
“Dinner,” she verified, the smile returning. “Kissing and sex are optional,” Evie added over her shoulder as she headed for the door.
Carson watched her walk away and knew one thing was for certain.
If he had dinner with Evie, sex wouldn’t be optional. For better or worse, sex was going to happen.
Chapter Four
“This is going to lead to sex,” Sophie said.
“Maybe,” Evie admitted. “But there are no guarantees with Carson. I have a couple of strikes against me.” She had her phone sandwiched between her shoulder and ear, and despite the rattling around she was doing in the kitchen, she had no trouble hearing Sophie’s sigh from the other end of the line.
“I just don’t want you hurt. Remember to guard your heart.”
“Too late.” Evie winced. Because it was also too late to take back that comment. She certainly hadn’t meant to blurt it out like that, but her nerves and the margarita she’d been sipping had lowered her defenses.
“Carson could get hurt, too,” Sophie went on. “Have you considered that?”
“No.” Actually, she hadn’t. But Evie considered it now. She honestly didn’t know what Carson thought of her. Well, other than it was obvious he was attracted to her. However, what if they had sex and it ended badly?
As in ending their friendship?
Great. Now, she was tipsy from the drink, tingling from the attraction and worried that she’d just screwed up big-time.
“Just talk this out with him,” Sophie went on. “Make sure you’re on the same page before you even kiss him. Because once you kiss him, you’ll be a goner.”
One Good Cowboy Page 3