Cowboy Famous: Book 4 (Cowboy Justice Association)

by Olivia Jaymes

  Linda’s green eyes twinkled and she had a knowing smile. “Hang around here? Not much going on compared to California.”

  The banging of the hammer overhead stopped and Jazz heard Griffin swear under his breath.

  “Oh, I don’t know about that. There’s one or two interesting things.” Jazz looked up at the porch ceiling and smiled.

  “Good luck.” Linda leaned forward and whispered. “My boy is a hard case. I fear that it’s our fault.”

  “He definitely has a few issues,” Jazz whispered back. “But he’s a good man. You did a good job, Mrs. Sawyer.”

  “Thank you, and call me Linda, please.”

  “I will, thank you. These cookies are criminally good. The best I’ve ever had.”

  “I’ll give you the recipe,” Linda beamed at the praise.

  “I don’t really cook much for myself.”

  “I’d take her up on that offer. Those cookies are famous in five counties and she keeps that recipe under tighter control than the gold at Fort Knox.” Griffin had come down from the roof and was standing on the porch. Damn if he didn’t just about bring her to her knees. At some point he’d stripped off his shirt and the hammer hanging from his belt loop pulled his jeans low on his hip bones. His shoulders, slick with sweat, were muscled and wide and his abs were tight with ridges that made her want to trace them with her tongue. She couldn’t stop her gaze from wandering just a tad further south and her mouth went dry at the impressive bulge behind his fly.

  She ran her suddenly sweaty palms down her jeans and then lifted her heavy hair off of her damp neck. Griffin was watching her closely waiting for her to say something.

  What were they talking about?

  Cookies.

  “Then I better take that recipe.” Jazz had to drag her gaze away from Griffin’s half naked body to be able to form sentences again. “Thank you.”

  Man, she had it bad. In her entire life she’d never lusted after a man the way she did this one. If this went on for another eleven weeks she’d be a drooling, mumbling mess.

  “I’m going to go clean up, then Jazz and I can get on the road. We have a lot to do today.” Griffin grinned and headed toward the door but stopped right next to her.

  Leaning down, he whispered only for her to hear, “Saw you look.”

  Whistling a lilting tune, he tromped into the house with Jazz still sitting there with a scarlet face and a racing heart. She couldn’t imagine what Linda and Liam must think of her.

  “Can I give you some advice?” Linda asked. “You look like you could use it.”

  Jazz nodded slowly but a trifle unsure she was making the right decision. It might be advice she’d rather not hear.

  “You’re going to have to toughen up if Griffin’s the one you want. He’s one of ten and they were all hard on each other growing up. Teasing became a sport to those kids. You’re going to have to get a thick skin because he’s one of the better ones at it.”

  Was he the one she wanted? She definitely wanted him, but the one? That was simply setting herself up for heartache.

  “I don’t think he wants to be the one.” Jazz answered by deflecting Linda’s advice back on Griffin. She wasn’t ready to inspect her own feelings and motivations that closely. Not today. Maybe never.

  Linda snorted and waved her lemonade glass. “He doesn’t know what he wants. He thinks his life is perfect just the way it is. What it is is empty,” she stated, slapping the glass down on the table. “If you want him you’re going to have to play his game. Give him what he thinks he wants, Jazz. He’ll find out that it’s not pretty quick. The problem is he’s spoiled.”

  Liam, obviously a wise man, had disappeared somewhere into the garage leaving Linda and Jazz all alone.

  “Spoiled? He doesn’t seem spoiled at all to me,” Jazz denied. “In fact he’s one of the best men I’ve ever met. Honest, loyal and all that stuff.”

  “I didn’t mean that way,” Linda replied, her voice dry. “I meant by women. They dance to his tune because they want him to fall in love with them. What they don’t realize is he will never fall for a woman who does that. He needs a woman who doesn’t make things too easy. And no, I am not talking about sex.”

  Her cheeks grew warm and Jazz’s fingers tightened on her glass. She didn’t want Griffin to fall in love with her. “I think you’ve misunderstood my relationship with your son. It’s not serious or anything. I’ll be going back to Los Angeles eventually.”

  The thought made her miserable though. Nothing there glittered anymore the way it had before she came here.

  “I don’t think so but if that’s how you want to play it, we will.” Linda sipped at her lemonade and reached for another cookie. “So tell me what you’ll do when you get back home.”

  Jazz and Linda spent the rest of the visit talking about movies, television, and Jazz’s roommate Caitlin. Linda knew who she was as she watched the soap opera Caitlin was currently in. The time passed quickly, and before she knew it Griffin had joined them once again.

  “Ready to go?” She watched as he drank down a large glass of lemonade practically in one gulp and grabbed several cookies.

  “I’ll get a bag for you.” Linda slapped at her son’s hand but her face was smiling. Jazz couldn’t help but feel a tightening in her chest at the love she saw between mother and son. It was an expression Jazz had often dreamed of being on her own mother’s face.

  That dream had long passed.

  Jazz stood quickly, suddenly feeling like she needed to go. Seeing this close, happy family unit had been harder on her than she’d bargained for.

  “I’m ready,” she said, brushing off the crumbs from her jeans and avoiding Griffin’s gaze. She didn’t need to be interrogated by him at the moment and those gray eyes saw way too much.

  “Then we should get on the road,” he agreed, accepting the plastic bag of cookies from his mother. He leaned down and kissed her cheek and she gave him a big hug.

  “Try to come to Sunday dinner and bring this charming young lady with you.”

  “I will if you make fried chicken.” Griffin put his hand on the small of her back to lead her down the stairs. Her skin tingled through the fabric where it touched and her pulse skipped a beat.

  He helped her into the truck and she tried to control the heat that swept through her body at his very nearness. Her knees almost buckled as the scent of his skin wrapped around her.

  The one? Did she really want Griffin Sawyer to be the one? He wasn’t even looking for the one.

  What an ugly freakin’ mess she’d walked right into, all because she wanted to be a star.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Buddy Meltreeger has been keeping his nose clean since Casey Charlock’s death,” said Sheriff Logan Wright. Griffin and Jazz were sitting in his comfortable living room and drinking iced tea. “No more speeding up and down Main Street. No more closing down the bars on Friday and Saturday nights. It appears he doesn’t want to bring himself to my attention.”

  Jazz kept sneaking looks between Griffin and Logan over the rim of her glass. While Logan was all blond and blue eyed gorgeous with a gleam of the devil inside, Griffin was the epitome of tall, dark, and sexy with the aura of hardworking and responsible. They were like opposite sides of a really hot coin.

  “Logan, Mark is not behaving.” A female voice from the hallway made all three of them turn their heads. “Melissa is tearing her hair out.”

  An attractive brunette stood in the doorway, her own hair askew. A pencil was stuck into her ponytail and there was some sort of stain on her t-shirt that was paired with plaid pajama pants. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days.

  “Are Mark and Melissa your kids?” asked Jazz, wondering if the poor woman had been up with sick children the last few nights.

  Logan grinned and stood to wrap his arms comfortingly around the woman. “Mark and Melissa are our fictional characters and sometimes they give Ava a hard time.” He winked at Jazz and Griffin before kissing th
e obviously lucky woman on the forehead. It was clear he adored her. Stain or no stain. “She’s almost done with this book and on a deadline. Honey, you need to get some rest. They’re not going to behave until you do.”

  “I only have about twenty thousand words left,” Ava replied, her eyes looked a little unfocused. “I can’t stop now.”

  “If you want those words to make any sense you’ll go to bed right now and get some rest.”

  Ava looked indecisive, but apparently Logan knew how to handle her. “If you sleep now, I promise to make you some pizza and cheesecake for when you wake up.”

  “I am tired.” She smiled and headed back down the hallway leaving a grinning Logan in her wake.

  He settled back down on the couch. “Sorry about that. It gets a little weird around here when Ava’s getting to the end of a book. I’m used to it but I’m sure it looks strange to others.”

  “Your wife is a writer? That’s so cool. I’ve always wanted to do that,” Jazz enthused.

  “She is, and a damn good one too. She’d be happy to talk to you about it when she’s done with the book,” Logan offered. “Maybe she can give you some tips.”

  “I wouldn’t want to bother her,” Jazz protested but Logan waved her worry away.

  “She loves doing it. Talking about writing is almost as much fun for her as actually writing. I’ll give Griffin a call when she’s done and maybe we can have you guys over for dinner.”

  Feeling her cheeks warm, she ignored the intimation that she and Griffin were a couple.

  “That’s very kind of you,” she replied instead.

  “You should have known Logan before he married Ava. Kind is not how you would have described him,” Griffin laughed.

  Looking at the stunningly handsome sheriff, Jazz had a few ideas of the adjectives she might have used.

  “Perhaps I would have described him the same way I describe you,” she teased.

  Logan laughed, the sound booming in the air while Griffin frowned. “She’s got your number, Griff. You may have met your match.”

  Griffin growled but didn’t say much else. Jazz was actually coming to like his stubborn, ornery growls. He only used them when he didn’t have the words to express himself.

  It was kind of cute. Like a giant, sexy teddy bear.

  “Anyway, do you need me to go with you when you question Buddy?”

  Griffin shook his head and finished off his iced tea. “It’s your day off. Besides, I think you promised pizza and cheesecake not five minutes ago. I’d hate to be you if Ava wakes up and there’s none here.”

  Logan stretched out his long legs. “She’s going to sleep probably through morning. She’s been up for about thirty-six hours straight. I have time to run to the store and there’s a great new bakery in town. I’ll pick up a cheesecake there.”

  “I think we’ll be okay on our own. I’ll call you if I need you. Deal?” Griffin stood and Jazz followed suit. She was ready to finally talk to Buddy and find out his story. Did he know that Casey had been seeing someone else?

  “Deal. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”

  Jazz and Griffin bade Logan goodbye, hopped into the truck, and got back on the road. No words were spoken during the drive and only the sounds from the radio kept it from being completely silent. She wasn’t used to being with someone who didn’t talk. About themselves. All the time.

  “You’re very quiet. Is anything wrong?”

  He flashed her a smile before turning his attention back to the road. “No. Should there be? I’m a quiet guy, honey. I only speak when I have something to say. When I do have something to say, believe me, nothing will stop me.”

  She thought about that for a minute and decided she liked it. It was straightforward, just like him. No drama.

  “And you don’t have anything to say now? Not even about Logan giving you a hard time?” she teased.

  “Logan gives everyone a hard time. It wasn’t that long ago he was known as the biggest male whore in Southern Montana—hell, maybe the entire state. Now that he’s a happily married man, he likes to act like his past never happened and that he’s pure as an angel’s tear.”

  Jazz giggled at the image he painted. “Uh, nothing about Logan makes me think he’s innocent. He may be married but he’s got bad boy written all over him. Or former bad boy in his case.”

  “Do I look like a bad boy?” Griffin was laughing as he pulled into the parking lot of a local coffee shop.

  “Not in the least,” Jazz answered instantly. “You’re the guy in the movies that everyone follows when the shit hits the fan. A born leader.”

  He rubbed his chin and contemplated her words. “I think I like that. Does that guy get everyone to safety?”

  “As many as he can. Sometimes he has to sacrifice himself though.”

  “Don’t like the sound of that.” He put the truck in park and pushed open the door. “Are you in the mood for a fancy coffee?”

  “I guess.” Jazz shrugged and frowned as he came around to her side of the truck to help her out. “I thought we were going to talk to Buddy. What are we doing here?”

  “Buddy has a weekend job here according to Logan. If I’ve timed this just right, he should be getting off work in about fifteen minutes.”

  “Is there anything else I don’t know?” she asked as they entered the dimly lit establishment. Several tables were filled with people tapping away at their laptops while others lounged on overstuffed couches. The muted sounds of their conversations mingled with the clinking of glassware and the occasional ring of the bell over the door.

  “Yep, and you’re about to find out.” Griffin placed his hand under her elbow and led her to a small table in the far corner. They settled into chairs and a young man bustled over to take their order. “I like fancy coffee drinks.”

  “Can I–Oh shit, not again,” the young man groaned. “Why can’t you leave me alone?”

  “I’ll have an iced white chocolate mocha with the dark chocolate shavings on the top. Jazz?”

  “Uh, the same?” Griffin looked like completely unperturbed at the negative vibes rolling off Buddy Meltreeger. He looked slightly more mature than the photo in the case file, but all in all he hadn’t changed much.

  “Listen, I’m not getting you anything,” Buddy hissed, leaning forward. “Get out of here and leave me alone. I didn’t do anything.”

  “We want to talk to you,” Griffin replied reasonably. “If you didn’t do it, you need to help us find who did. Otherwise this is going to follow you around for the rest of your life. Do you want that? I want whoever did this. I don’t have anything personal against you, Buddy.”

  Several expressions flitted across Buddy’s face until he got to acceptance. Finally he nodded. “I get off work in a few minutes. I’ll talk to you then.”

  “Don’t forget our coffee,” Griffin reminded him.

  The young man’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You were serious? Dude, teenage girls come in after school and order that drink. You really want that one?”

  If the remark bothered Griffin it didn’t show. “I’m secure enough in my manhood.” He held up two fingers. “We’ll both have one.”

  Buddy shuffled back behind the counter and Jazz took in Griffin’s smug expression. “I guess I did learn something I didn’t know before. You have the coffee palate of an adolescent cheerleader.”

  “So?” Griffin asked with a grin. “As for my beverage choice, I have a bit of a sweet tooth.”

  “A bit? That drink is going to have so much sugar in it I’m going to have to run a marathon to burn off the calories. I don’t normally eat or drink things that have that many calories in them.”

  “Why?” He looked genuinely confused. “You had cookies today.”

  “I’m an actress. The camera adds ten pounds.”

  His heated gaze ran up and down her body sending warmth straight to her toes and fingers. “You’d look just fine if you gained ten pounds.”

  “I
’m considered fat for an actress,” she sighed, knowing it was back to rice cakes and grilled chicken breast tomorrow. Letting herself go while she was here was a bad idea. It would just make it all the harder when she got home.

  “You’re considered perfect here in Montana,” Griffin retorted. “Damn woman, cut yourself some slack. Live a little. You never see a tombstone with the words ‘Gee, I shouldn’t have eaten that last cookie’ on it.”

  Buddy slid the two drinks in front of them with a “Be right back.” Jazz sipped at her drink, her face hot with embarrassment.

  “You’re good for my ego but it’s not that simple. I need to lose weight,” she argued. He just didn’t understand the pressure she was under. Show business was full of gorgeous women and they were all vying for the brass ring.

  “A man doesn’t want to lie on top of a bag of bones.” Griffin kept his voice low so no one else could hear them, thank the Lord. “Drink your iced coffee. In fact, I’m going to order you one of those rich desserts in the display case.”

  “Then it’s a good thing you and I aren’t lying anywhere together,” she replied, her tone chilly. She didn’t like to be reminded that his integrity was more important than them shagging like there was no tomorrow. She understood it, but she didn’t have to like it.

  “Yet.”

  Heat bubbled through her veins at that so simple one-word and the promise it held. With each passing day her desire for him was growing stronger. How could she ever last eleven more weeks? Maybe she would get voted out sooner. Much, much sooner.

  “Okay, I’ve only got about thirty minutes.” The legs of the chair scraped on the floor as Buddy sat down. “I’m supposed to meet my friends at the bowling alley.”

  “Then we’ll get right to the point.” Griffin introduced Jazz and her role before posing the first question.

  “Did you know Casey had a new boyfriend after the two of you broke up?”

  Red stained the young man’s cheeks but he nodded affirmatively. “She said she did when I called her one night but I knew she was lying.”