Her Cowboy Billionaire Blind Date: A Whittaker Family Novel (Christmas in Coral Canyon Book 7)

by Liz Isaacson

  “My sons set it up,” she said. “We’ve been out once or twice.”

  “Which is it?” Ryder demanded. “Once? Or twice? Is this—do you like him?”

  Finn at least made her stomach tighten and her pulse accelerate. She hadn’t seen him in a cowboy hat yet, and she wondered if that would kill the chemistry between them.

  Only if you let it, drifted through her mind, and she couldn’t get rid of the thought though she tried.

  Amanda also didn’t quite know how to answer Ryder. She’d been comfortable with Finn, at least once they’d started talking. There were new things in their relationship, sure, and that created a bit of awkwardness.

  But looking at Ryder, all she could feel was annoyance and pity. “I’m sorry,” she said, turning to take the soup inside. She could get the tortilla strips and leftover sour cream later.

  “Amanda,” Ryder said. “You’re sure about this other guy?”

  She rounded on him, wishing she didn’t feel a shower of sparks rushing through her bloodstream when she pictured Finn in her mind. “Yes, Ryder,” she said, deciding on the spot. “We’ve been out twice now, and I like the man.”

  He wasn’t a guy, that much had been obvious from the first moment Amanda had laid eyes on Finn.

  Ryder looked like he’d say something else, then he lifted his hands in the air and fell back a step. “All right. Okay. Good luck with him.” He turned and strode away, sending relief through Amanda’s muscles.

  She hit the button to close the garage door, hurried inside the house, and closed the door behind her, clicking the lock into place before heading into the kitchen and setting down the heavy soup pot.

  Her house was too big for her. She knew that. She paid someone to keep the grounds looking nice. To come in once a week and keep everything dust-free and polished and smelling good.

  She did her own laundry, all the dishes, and she enjoyed cooking. Well, she did when she had the opportunity to share her food with someone else. “Like today,” she said, flipping on a couple of lights and getting to work putting the soup in plastic containers.

  Yes, she’d really liked today, and while she had some reservations about Finn, she had just used him to get rid of another man. And she hadn’t lied. She did like Finn.

  “Too much already,” she muttered to herself. Beans rang the bell on the sliding glass door behind the kitchen table, and Amanda moved to let her out. Finn hadn’t called or texted in the hour since she’d left his house, and that was fine. She didn’t need him smothering her.

  Would it be smothering if she texted him right now?

  Because she’d pretty much decided she wanted to see him again, and they didn’t have anything scheduled or set up.

  She put the soup away, let Beans back in, and went through her nighttime skin care routine before she even allowed herself to pick up her phone again.

  What’s your schedule like this week?

  She stared at the message, wondering what Finn would think of it. She wasn’t even sure what she thought of it.

  She sent it anyway, hoping she wasn’t coming on too strong, but fearing she was. After all, she’d invited herself out to his place for lunch too.

  Cursing herself, she plugged in her phone, silenced it, and got in bed. No, she wasn’t sixteen, but she sure did feel inexperienced when it came to dating a man like Finn Barber.

  Chapter Six

  Finn woke to more flashing lights on his phone, a special kind of exhaustion following him as he went into the kitchen to start the coffee he couldn’t live without. All three dogs came with him, and he found the clicking of their claws on the wood floor comforting.

  He deliberately kept his phone face-down on the counter as he cracked several eggs into a pan. “There will be plenty for all of us, guys,” he told the canines as he stepped to open the door so they could go outside.

  They all seemed to smile at him as he went by, and he couldn’t help chuckling as their tails whipped by him. He left the door open, because the morning air felt cool and fresh, and went back to making breakfast.

  His mind revolved around the multiple things he had to accomplish that day, and he decided to leave his phone right where it was. Surely any messages he got could be answered later.

  Just as the eggs finished, Chocolate came back inside as if he knew his breakfast was ready. Finn divided up the eggs across four plates and put three of them on the floor. “Leave it,” he said to Chocolate, just as Vanilla and Licorice came tumbling back into the house.

  “Leave it,” he commanded again.

  All three pups stopped moving, their eyes trained on him. If he let Vanilla go first, he’d gobble up his plate of eggs and then try to shove Licorice out of the way to get his too. Chocolate, the oldest Lab, would go first, and Finn stepped in front of Vanilla and said, “Okay, Choc.”

  He practically dove forward, and Finn said, “Licorice.” Vanilla twitched, but Finn held out his hand toward the dog, his palm practically in his face. The plates scraped the floor as the other two dogs ate, and a whine started in Vanilla’s throat.

  “All right,” he said to him, and the yellow Lab nearly knocked Finn down in his haste to get to his eggs.

  Finn shook his head, a smile on his face, as he returned to the bar for his own breakfast. The call of that blue light tugged at him until he reached for his phone, his eggs cold already anyway.

  Only one message, and from the best person. Amanda had asked him what his schedule was for the week, and he simply looked at the words. Why didn’t he know how to answer her?

  “Maybe because you don’t really have a schedule,” he said to the empty house. He had work to do, and he did it, moving from task to task based on the time of day, especially in the winter.

  For example, he was already a little late getting outside for the morning weeding and animal feeding, and if he didn’t hurry up, he’d be battling the heat and the sun to get those chores done.

  He left his eggs on the counter and headed for the mudroom where he kept his work boots and his cowboy hat. Properly attired, he did end up shoving his phone in his back pocket without replying to Amanda’s text. After all, if he had an accident out on the farm, he’d need a way to call for help.

  At that moment, he remembered he’d been inspired to call his daughter. Once outside with all the dogs, he closed the sliding door behind him to keep the air conditioning inside where it belonged.

  He took out his phone and called Joann, hoping his daughter still didn’t go to work until noon.

  “Hey, Daddy,” she said, though she’d turned thirty in the spring.

  “Joann,” he said with a smile. “How are things at the restaurant?”

  “Oh.” She exhaled heavily. “Same as always, I suppose. Teenagers coming and going all the time. Slow drive-through times. Same old stuff.” She laughed, and Finn did too, because he knew that while Joann’s restaurant brought her a lot of stress, there was nothing she’d rather be doing.

  “Any new boyfriends?” he asked.

  She groaned. “No, Dad. Not you too. Mom’s been actually trying to set me up with people.” The disgust in her voice wasn’t hard to hear.

  Finn chuckled. “We both just want you to be happy,” he said.

  “I know,” she said. “But I’ll say the same thing to you that I said to her. What makes you think a boyfriend would make me happy? Maybe I’m doing just fine on my own.”

  “Of course you are,” he said, surprised at the fire in his daughter. “I was just making conversation.”

  “I know.” She sighed. “Besides, it’s not like you can talk. When’s the last time you went out with someone?”

  Finn very nearly tripped over his own feet as he walked toward the stables. “Actually….”

  “Dad,” Joann practically shrieked. “This is why you called, isn’t it? Who is she?”

  Finn chuckled, heat rising through him despite the cool air. “I wanted to talk to you, because…well, I don’t really know why.”


  “How did you meet her?”

  “Blind date,” he said.

  “Oh, come on,” Joann said. “That’s not true.”

  “It is,” Finn said, laughing. “Honest, honey. A friend of mine set me up with his mother. Now, I didn’t know it was his mother….” He continued the story, including as much detail as he felt appropriate, and then said, “And I’m not quite sure. I mean, she feels like my complete opposite. She’s a little overbearing, always texting and stuff.”

  “Dad, that’s what people do,” she said. “She’s dated other men in the past five years. She knows how it’s done.”

  “I don’t think she likes cowboys.” He reached up and touched his hat as if it were a brand.

  “You don’t know that,” Joann said. “You’re speculating. And what do you always tell me about speculation?”

  “That it’s probably not true,” he said in a deadpan.

  “Right,” she said. “So why not? I can tell you like her, even if you’ve only known her for a day. What’s the big deal? You know people meet online and fall in love without even seeing each other in person, right?”

  Finn did not know that, and he didn’t need to know that. “I’m just worried, I guess,” he said. “Like maybe this isn’t the right thing to do.”

  “Why wouldn’t it be? Dad, Mom’s happy. We’re all happy. You might as well be happy too.”

  “Yeah,” he said, but it wasn’t about happiness. He knew that. Joann moved the conversation to her sister, and Finn said he’d call Kim too, and then hung up.

  He got the horses out of the stables and into the pastures for the day. He fed the chickens. Got all the animals fresh water. He cleaned out stalls when the sun was overhead, and returned to the cool house for lunch.

  As he wished he had some of that tortilla soup from yesterday, he realized his real problem. He didn’t feel worthy of a second chance at love and marriage. After all, he’d messed up so spectacularly the first time, and he was perfectly happy with his horses, chickens, and dogs.

  Wasn’t he?

  As he spread mayo on bread and added ham and cheese, a niggling feeling inside told him that no, he wasn’t “perfectly happy.” Amanda had filled a hole he hadn’t even known existed in his life. Or rather, one he knew was there, but thought couldn’t be filled.

  He took a bite of his sandwich and pulled out his phone.

  I work for myself, he typed out. My schedule can be rearranged. He sent the message, and then quickly started tapping again.

  How about lunch tomorrow? I’ll come pick you up. Say twelve-thirty?

  That would get him out of the heat in the hottest part of the day, and he’d get to see Amanda again. He felt powerful for asking her this time instead of letting himself be set up or accepting her suggestion of bringing him lunch.

  Sure, she responded, followed with her address and the words See you then.

  Excitement popped through Finn, and he whistled to himself as he finished lunch and went to work on the yard.

  The following day, his palms felt slick as he pulled into the driveway of the appointed address. “Wow,” he said, gazing at the long driveway with the immaculate yard on both sides. This woman definitely had money, because there was no way she did all this yardwork herself.

  The house itself spanned two stories and looked like it could easily sleep two dozen people. He knew who Amanda Whittaker was, of course. Her husband had owned the largest energy company in the state, and her son had invented the robotics that had taken them out of the league of anyone else drilling for natural gas in Wyoming.

  She was a billionaire, same as Finn, and he had strange thoughts of finally meeting someone who could possibly like him for simply who he was. Not which family he came from. Not how many champion horses he’s bred and trained. Not how many zeroes he had in his bank account.

  The doorbell echoed throughout the countryside, and Amanda herself opened the door a few seconds later. “Hey,” she said, scanning him from head to toe. Her eyes came back to his face—and the cowboy hat he wore. “I’m not sure I know you…what can I do for you, cowboy?”

  Her eyes glittered pure flirtation at him, and Finn chuckled.

  “I guess I’m your cowboy blind date,” he said, reaching for her hand. “Does the hat bother you?” He watched her as sparks joined his bloodstream from the softness of her skin, the easy way she let him touch her.

  “No,” she said, her voice a little high and a little false.

  “You can be honest,” he said.

  She sighed and stepped back into the house for a moment to grab her purse. “All right. I did tell my sons I didn’t want a cowboy blind date.”

  “Ah.” He nodded, took her hand again after she’d exited the house, and started slowly for the steps. “Well, I wasn’t a cowboy at the restaurant.”

  “No,” she said slowly. “But you are a cowboy.”

  “That I am, ma’am.” He paused at the top of the stairs. “If that’s going to be a problem for you, maybe we should forgo lunch.” His entire being wailed at the thought, and he couldn’t believe that just yesterday morning he was contemplating not perpetuating a relationship with Amanda at all.

  She looked at him. Reached up and touched the brim of his hat. Smiled. “I don’t think it’s going to be that big of a problem.”

  “Really?” He didn’t mean to sound so surprised.

  “Maybe we should just play it by ear,” she said, tugging on his hand gently to get him to come down the steps with her. He did, thinking he’d probably follow her wherever she wanted to go.

  Then he reminded himself he was in charge of today’s date. That he wanted to be the one asking her out and picking her up and surprising her. His daughter’s words rang in her ears. She’s dated a lot in the past five years. She knows how it’s done.

  Finn did not. Had not. But he didn’t just want to be Amanda’s lap dog. “So there’s this great place a few miles from here. They make everything in a Dutch oven. Have you been there?”

  “No,” she said. “In Coral Canyon?”

  “No, it’s out on the road between here and Etna.”

  “Sounds intriguing.” She smiled at him, and he stepped in front of her to open the passenger door on his truck. Amanda wore a pair of jeans and a blouse with wildflowers on it, and she smelled like heaven. Finn couldn’t help leaning in and taking a deep breath as he put his hand on the small of her back and helped her into the truck.

  He had several nice vehicles, and he was secretly glad for them as he walked around the front of the truck and got behind the wheel. He wanted to impress this woman, and he wasn’t sure if he should be glad he could or worried he wasn’t going to be himself.

  “Tell me about growing up in Kentucky,” she said as he turned around to leave her property. He dang near drove into a pine tree he jerked the wheel so hard.

  Amanda just smiled at him. “Ah, I see I struck a nerve.”

  Try a thousand nerves, he thought, staring at her, completely unsure of how to begin.

  Chapter Seven

  Amanda wanted to give Finn a way out. Ask him another question. But at the same time, her curiosity over why his childhood was so difficult to talk about intrigued her. So she simply waited.

  He drove to the end of the lane and turned onto the street. “I grew up the oldest of two brothers,” he said. “The boarding stables and racehorse business should’ve been mine.”

  “You have boarding stables and a racehorse business,” she said. “Here.”

  “Exactly,” he said. “Here. Not there. My father was….” He cut her a look out of the corner of his eye. “A drunk. A mean one. Taught me everything I needed to know to run the family business, sure. Taught me how to drown my troubles and disappointments in a bottle too.”

  Amanda recoiled from the words. “Oh, I’m sorry, Finn. I didn’t know.”

  “I’m fifty-five-years-old,” he said. “I have a past. It’s fine. I don’t mind telling you about it.”

  “No
?” Because he seemed to mind.

  “It’s hard to talk about sometimes,” he said, keeping one hand loosely on the wheel while the other one rested on the windowsill beside him. He seemed to be the perfectly calm, collected man she wanted.

  Oops, not man. Cowboy.

  And she hated to admit it, but he was extremely sexy in that cowboy hat. The boots. The jeans. The orange and white plaid shirt. All of it had her heart racing in a way it hadn’t in years.

  “Anyway,” he said with a big sigh. “Once I got sober, I decided I didn’t want the bourbon-drowned life my father had. I didn’t want the unhappy marriage. I didn’t want the bitter sons.” He cast her a look she couldn’t quite decipher before he looked back to the road. “The only thing I wanted was the horses. So I moved here, and I made it happen. Well, not Dog Valley immediately. I had a little operation outside of Jackson Hole for about fifteen years. Met my wife there. Started a family. It wasn’t until that all broke up that I came to Dog Valley.”

  Amanda nodded, her head swimming with so much information. Finn had gone to church yesterday. He hadn’t had anything to drink at the restaurant on Saturday night, and she hadn’t seen alcohol in his house.

  “Do you still drink?” she asked.

  “Not even a drop, ma’am,” he said. “You?”

  “No, sir,” she said. “My poison is along the lines of potato chips and chocolate. Not together.” She laughed. “Or maybe together. I’ve never really tried them together.”

  He smiled, and the light of it filled the whole cab. “I like black coffee and banana bread to dip in it,” he said. “Can’t get a better meal than that.”

  “Sounds like a snack,” she said playfully.

  “Maybe it is,” he agreed.

  Amanda reveled in the happiness pulling through her. He’d just told her something difficult, and she knew so much more about him now. “When did you move to Wyoming?” she asked.

  “Oh, let’s see,” he said. “I was twenty-one, so thirty-four years ago.”