by Lori Wilde
Chapter Six
A wedding date. What the hell did Tanner know about being anyone’s date at a family member’s wedding?
Not much, that’s what. Yet he’d volunteered anyway. Not just volunteered but talked her into taking him when she’d hesitated.
He obviously had heat stroke.
Pausing in his work long enough to wipe the sweat from his forehead, Tanner glanced up. He spotted his boss heading from his truck toward the house.
Besides having to be Erin’s date, Tanner also had to clear cutting out of work early with his boss.
“Hey, Brady! Got a second?”
Brady paused at the sound of Tanner’s voice and turned. “Sure.”
The younger man wandered toward where Tanner and Randy were working. Not wanting this to be a public discussion, Tanner strode to meet him halfway. The last thing he needed was to have Randy overhear he had a date on Sunday.
“How’s that fence coming along?” Brady scanned the line of posts that was going to form a new paddock for the horses.
“Good. We’ll finish this section of posts today.”
Brady nodded. “Sounds good. So what’s up?”
“I need to get out of here a couple hours earlier than usual on Sunday. I figure if we start afternoon chores early, we can get them done before I have to leave, so Randy doesn’t have to handle it on his own. If it’s okay with you, that is.”
Tanner never took time off. Not sick days. Not personal days.
He didn’t think Brady would have an issue with the request. Even so, he wanted to be respectful and ask. The Cutwrights had always been generous bosses. They treated him good. It was only right to show them the same courtesy.
“Sure. No problem.” Brady’s mouth formed a grin. “Got a hot date?”
“Actually . . .” This part wasn’t as easy as asking for the time off. “That’s something else I guess I should probably run by you.”
“Now I’m really intrigued.” Widening his stance, Brady folded his arms and looked like he was settling in for a good story.
Just what Tanner didn’t want—this becoming a big deal.
It wasn’t. Not at all . . . and maybe if he kept telling himself that, he’d start to believe it.
“So, um, you know your wedding planner?”
“Erin?” Brady’s eyes flew wide. “Holy shit. You don’t have a date with Erin, do you?”
“It’s not a date. She just needed someone to take to her sister’s wedding, but if it’s a problem for you, I’ll tell her I can’t go.” And why did that offer leave a feeling of disappointment in Tanner’s gut? It wasn’t a date and he wasn’t really sure he wanted to go in the first place.
“No, it’s not a problem. I think it’s great you’re getting out there. Good for you, man.” Brady slapped him on the back while a stupid grin beamed on his face.
This was what Tanner got for getting drunk one night after the big implosion of his relationship with Jill and confiding in Brady. “I’m not getting back out there. It’s just a favor.”
“A favor for a smart, successful woman who also happens to be gorgeous. A favor that involves spending a whole evening together, dining and dancing and who knows what.” Brady’s suggestion hung temptingly in the air.
Damned if Tanner hadn’t thought the same thing himself. He couldn’t even laugh off Brady’s insinuation.
He drew in a deep breath.
Maybe there was one last hope that would save him from himself and this ill-conceived plan. “Is Ellie going to have an issue with it, you think? If she does, I’m fine with backing out. Don’t want to mix business with pleasure and mess up your wedding.”
Brady let out a chuckle. “Don’t worry. Ellie doesn’t have a problem with it either.”
“How do you know? You should ask her.”
“I don’t have to ask her. She already commented on how she hoped you and Erin hit it off during the wedding because you would make a cute couple.”
Tanner felt the frown settle on his brow. “Cute?”
Tough. Rugged. Stubborn. Yes to all, but the last thing a hardworking Texas ranch boss was, or wanted to be considered, was cute.
Holding up one hand, Brady laughed. “That was Ellie’s word, not mine. You are coming to the bridal shower, right? Ellie asked. Erin should be there.”
“Bridal shower? Me?” Tanner nearly choked on the words.
“Why not? It’s coed.”
That other men would be forced to be there, too, didn’t make the idea any more appealing. “Uh, no. I’m busy that day.”
“Do you even know what day it is?” Brady asked.
“Whatever day it is, I’m busy.”
Brady laughed. “Okay. I’ll tell Ellie no. But as for leaving early on Sunday, it’s not a problem. Go. Have fun.”
“Thanks.”
Happy this painful conversation was done, Tanner was about to take his leave when Brady added, “Come in late Monday if you need to.”
“I won’t need to. I’ll be here on time. Early, even, to make up the hours.” But damn, now his mind had gone to bad places and his body had followed. Tanner’s displeasure deepened. Time to cut this conversation short. “I gotta get back to work.”
“Sure.” Still smiling, Brady nodded.
Just like that, one little date that wasn’t even really a date had snowballed into a big deal. Grumpy, Tanner stalked back to where Randy was working and grabbed the tool he’d left leaning on the post.
“What did you have to talk to Brady about?” Randy asked.
Not looking up as he pounded the blades of the post-hole digger into the ground, Tanner said, “None of your business, that’s what.”
“Hey. No need to be rude about it.” Randy actually sounded hurt.
“Not being rude. Just stating a fact.” He was having enough issues with his knee-jerk decision to go to this wedding with the sexy wedding planner in the temptingly tight skirt as it was. He definitely didn’t need to share his doubts or—God forbid—his feelings with a kid.
Pride. It had to have been his damn stubborn pride that had made him argue to convince her he could pull off stepping in as her wedding date.
Yup. That was the only explanation. Pride goeth before a fall.
He might not be a poet or a philosopher or even a churchgoer nowadays, but he’d been dragged to enough Sunday services by his mama to remember that quote from the Good Book. He was certainly paying for being prideful.
Now he’d have to break out his Sunday-best clothes, which he hadn’t worn in a very long time, and go to some highfalutin wedding in the city he usually avoided. And be on his best behavior, all to prove to Erin that he could clean up good and not embarrass her in front of her city-folk family.
Yup, definitely heat stroke, because he sure as hell hadn’t been thinking clearly when he’d thought this was a good idea.
But even as he sweated and dug and beat himself up over the decision, in the back of his mind he couldn’t help wondering what Erin would be like when she wasn’t working. Among friends. After a celebratory champagne or two.
Did she dance? Slow or fast? Did she expect him to dance? He could hold his own on the dance floor when necessary, but he was nothing to look at out there, especially if the DJ played some of that new dance stuff.
Now, holding Erin close and swaying to an old country standard would be another thing entirely. Which led back to what he suspected was the real reason he was going to this wedding Sunday. He wanted to spend more time with her.
Why? He hadn’t forgotten about the disaster his one and only relationship with a city girl had been. He should know better than to expect different results with a different city girl, yet he was going anyway.
Tanner decided to give himself a break about being weak.
Erin was a looker, despite how snooty and silly she was when it came to the country. Tanner smiled at the memory of Erin in his arms that day after the snake incident.
He was an adult. He could be strong
and resist her obvious charms. He could enjoy a beautiful woman’s company for a night and then walk away. It wasn’t like she was going to invite him home with her.
That thought caused enough disappointment to worry him. Maybe he wasn’t as strong as he thought he was.
Chapter Seven
Erin parked the car and strode toward the office that evening looking and feeling a whole lot different from when she’d left that morning to go to the Cutwright ranch.
Her heels might possibly be ruined from the trek through the country. She was sweaty and her hair had started to frizz. And the biggest change—for better or worse—she had a date to her sister’s wedding.
She didn’t quite know how to feel about that. Part of her was on high alert, waiting for the disaster that could come. The other part—a part she was trying to ignore, not quite successfully—was aflutter with a combination of excitement and nerves at the prospect of a date with the hot cowboy.
Erin shook her head and tried to clear it of his presence and focus on work as she pushed through the front door and into the air-conditioned air.
Jessica glanced up from the desk. “How did the meeting go?”
“Good, actually. I got a lot accomplished. I’ll fill you in as soon as I get something to drink. It’s so hot out there, I finished my bottle of water long ago.”
“Did you get back to your sister? She left like five messages on the office line.” Jessica’s voice followed Erin to the back room of the office, where she reached into the fridge for a cold bottle of water.
Though Jessica had a tendency to exaggerate, Erin didn’t doubt Ashley had been blowing up the phone lines.
“Yes.” Erin cracked open the bottle and took a long sip before wandering back to the front. “I texted her from the car.”
She’d texted there’d be two names for the place cards. Hers and Tanner’s. Then Erin had summarily ignored the following calls from Ashley, as well as the text demanding to know who Tanner Black was.
This was just the beginning. She was in for an inquisition live and in person, she was sure. At the rehearsal dinner. Before the ceremony. Definitely during the reception while he was there with her.
She hadn’t really thought this through. How in the world would she explain Tanner? Just a friend? A stranger who was kind enough to take pity on her and be her date on just days’ notice? The only man she knew who wasn’t gay or married? All of that made her sound like a lonely loser.
True or not, she didn’t want anyone to think that.
She should call Tanner to cancel. But then she’d have to tell her sister her date wasn’t coming, and that seemed worse.
Erin sighed.
Jessica must have heard. She pinned Erin with a piercing stare. “I thought you said today went well?”
“Workwise it did. This wedding might not be a disaster. In fact, I think I can make it great. It’s my personal life that’s the problem.”
“Personal life.” Jessica’s eyes widened. She went so far as to get up and move around to sit on the edge of her desk, closer to where Erin stood. “Do tell.”
“It’s just I invited this guy to be my date to Ash’s wedding and now I’m second guessing myself.”
Jessica’s brow creased. “Why? A date with a man sounds good to me. Do I know him?”
When Jessica looked a bit too excited, Erin decided she’d better knock any romantic notions out of her assistant’s head. “He works on the ranch where I went for the meeting today.”
“Ooh, a cowboy.” Jessica’s whole face lit up.
“How is his being a cowboy a good thing?”
“How is it a bad thing?” Jessica seemed honestly baffled by Erin’s doubts.
“You’ve met my sister and her fiancé. You know the kind of jobs they have and the people they hang out with. That’s who’s going to be at this wedding when I arrive with a man who, if I’m lucky, will show up in jeans and boots that don’t have cow manure on them.”
“I think you’re being a little narrow-minded.”
“That’s what he said.” Erin scowled at being censured by a twenty-five-year-old.
“I dated a cowboy once. They clean up real nice when they need to.”
“Really?” Erin was afraid to hope.
Jessica rolled her eyes toward the ceiling dramatically. “Oh my God, don’t look so surprised. Trust me, clothes look mighty good on a man who works with his body all day. It’ll be worth it, even if he does arrive in jeans and boots. A man like that will put all those guys with desk jobs to shame.”
When Jessica put it like that, Erin was a little tempted to see for herself. But still concerned. “But what—”
“Stop! Erin, do you hear yourself?”
“I guess not. What am I saying that’s so wrong?”
“We did a whole unit about this in my psych class. You always come from a place of no when a decision involves men and relationships. You need to reset your default and start from a place of yes.”
“What exactly does all that mean?”
“Trust everything will work out. Trust him. Go to the wedding. Say yes to having a great time.”
When Erin didn’t immediately agree to blindly trust a man she’d known for mere hours, Jessica let out a huff. “Okay, how about this? If you’re that worried, tell him to meet you here early. That way if he shows up in something inappropriate, you have time to dress him.”
“Dress him in what?” It wasn’t as if Erin had a closet full of men’s clothing. What was she supposed to do? Drag him to a mall on a Sunday afternoon and hope to find a jacket that would fit his bulging arm muscles?
Memories of those muscles and how they’d felt beneath her hands, how he’d scooped her up so easily and carried her to the truck, momentarily distracted Erin until Jessica continued, “Call Andre. You’ve given him enough business. He owes you. With Andre’s stock of men’s suit rentals and his eye for fashion, he’ll fix up your cowboy in no time.”
As much as Erin hated to give in and admit it, Jessica’s idea wasn’t horrible.
This could actually work. That meant, like it or not, she was going to the wedding with a man who made her mouth go dry and her knees weaken. It didn’t really matter that it was a fake date. It felt real enough.
Fear made Erin want to say no to the whole thing, which only proved Jessica’s amateur analysis of her. What else might she end up saying yes to?
When it came to Tanner Black, Erin was afraid to ponder that question.
Her cell phone rang, just when Erin didn’t have the time to deal with calls. With one eye on her computer screen, she grabbed it without looking at the caller ID.
“Hello, this is Erin.”
“Hello, this is your sister.” The attitude was clear in Ashley’s voice as she mocked Erin’s greeting. “Nice of you to finally answer a call.”
“I’m sorry. I’ve been busy.” And she was sorry she hadn’t checked the name on the cell’s screen first.
“So have I. I’m getting married Sunday, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“I haven’t forgotten. I put it in my calendar so I wouldn’t.”
Ashley countered Erin’s teasing with a humph. “Brat.”
“Bridezilla.” Erin smiled at her clever retort. Once the wedding was over she wouldn’t be able to use it anymore, so she had to get it in now.
“Whatever. So who is this mysterious man you’re bringing?”
This was why Erin needed to learn not to answer the phone without checking the caller ID. She didn’t have an explanation for who Tanner was.
Well, she did, but not one she liked.
Erin sighed and realized she had yet to answer Ashley’s question. “If I told you, he wouldn’t be a mystery now would he?”
“Fine. I’ll just ask him when I see him. Will you be bringing him to the rehearsal dinner, too?”
“No. He’s, uh, busy that night.” Not that she’d asked.
“You’re seriously not going to tell me anything about him?”
“Nope.”
“Ugh, you are so annoying.”
Erin smiled. She was beginning to like having a mystery man to torture Ashley with. And keeping him a mystery cut down considerably on having to come up with excuses. The fact that it annoyed her sister was a bonus.
As much as she was enjoying that, it was time to get back to work. Reaching for her notebook, Erin said, “If you’re done interrogating me now, I have a million things to do.”
“You always have a million things to do.”
“Tell me about it, so let me go and I’ll see you Saturday.”
Ashley sighed. “All right. And let me know if Tanner decides he can make it for the rehearsal dinner.”
“He won’t.” Because Erin had no intention of asking him. “Now I really gotta go. Love you. ’Bye.”
“Love you, too.”
Relieved to finally be free of the questions she didn’t want to answer, Erin disconnected the call and sagged against the back of her chair.
Relationships were exhausting. Apparently, even fake ones.
Chapter Eight
Tanner straightened his tie and fought the urge to tear it off.
He hadn’t worn a tie in years. Hell, he hadn’t worn a jacket that wasn’t meant to ward off the rain or cold in just as long. But he had put on both today, in addition to a brand-new button-down shirt and a new pair of dark denim jeans he’d actually gone shopping to buy.
Good thing he already owned a decent pair of boots he never wore for work or this little shindig really would have cost him a fortune. He’d only had to polish his good boots to make them presentable. He’d shined up his buckle, too, while he was at it. His black Stetson, after a thorough brushing, topped it all off.
It was all a lot of effort, but looking in the mirror, he figured it had been worth it. He looked good if he did say so himself.
Damn good. Good enough to impress even the woman who was expecting him to fail, which had made it doubly worth the effort because no matter what she thought, there was no way he was going to screw up today.
Not even close.
When was the last time he’d gone to so much trouble to impress a woman? And a woman he wasn’t even planning on sleeping with to boot. He couldn’t remember, which probably meant the answer was never.