“We aren’t sleeping together,” she argued.
“Yes, we are. We aren’t having sex, but we are sleeping together. Every Sunday so far, and I liked it,” he said. “You can sleep with us, little piggy, if you want to.” He scratched the kitten’s belly, and she rolled over in his arms like a baby and shut her eyes. “Right now, I need to stir a pot of chili I’ve got going on the stove. You can go with me if your new mommy trusts me.”
“I’m not that cat’s mommy, and, yes, I trust you. Here, take her box in case you need to put her down while you stir,” she said.
She went back to her tablet and was busy plotting her next move in the pig war when the bell rang again, and there was Tyrell. At least he didn’t have a shoe box in his hand, or roses either, so that was a good thing.
“Hey, Jill. I missed seeing you in church yesterday,” he said.
I’m sure you did. I bet you even looked for me and Sawyer when you got to your destination and the back of that van was empty, she thought.
“Sawyer and I went for a hike,” she said.
“Well, I overheard Gladys telling Polly that you had a mouse problem at the bunkhouse, so I went out in our barn and rustled up a kitten for you.” He pulled a yellow ball of fur from his pocket and handed it to her by the scruff of the neck. “You’ll have to tame her. She’s a little wild.”
The kitten spit at her and growled, but after a minute of gentle petting, it was as tame as Ollie.
“So do you like her?” Tyrell asked.
“She’s cute as a newborn chicken,” Jill said.
“She’s a cat, not a chicken.”
Jill pushed the issue. “But her fur is the same color as a fresh-hatched chicken.”
“I guess it is. Well, I’ve got to go. Hope she’s a good mouser,” Tyrell said. “You got time for a picnic lunch anytime this week?”
“Looks like a busy week on Fiddle Creek, but thanks for the kitten. I’m sure she’ll love the bunkhouse.”
“You might want to ask your roommate if he’s allergic to cats. If he is, I’ll take the kitten back to the barn out on Wild Horse.”
Jill smiled up at Tyrell. Was he the one who had been wearing a mask and had taken them from one van to the other? Or had he been one of the first kidnappers? She couldn’t tell. It had been dark, and they were all tall men wearing cowboy boots.
“Sawyer loves cats even more than I do. He might even claim this one for his very own,” she said.
Tyrell frowned. “I brought it to you.”
“And I really do thank you.”
“See you at Polly’s sometime this week.”
“I’ll be the one filling pitchers behind the bar,” she said.
He shut the door behind him when he left, but a gust of cold air breezed across her face all the same. “Now that’s fitting, isn’t it, Audrey? Kidnap me and then bring a present to cover it up. Pretty damn cold, if you ask me.”
“Did I hear someone talking?” Sawyer asked.
She held up the yellow kitten. “Her name is Audrey because…”
“I watched that movie with Finn’s kids. Audrey is the name of a chicken, right?”
She nodded.
“So Quaid brought a playmate for Piggy here?”
“No, Tyrell did.”
His laughter echoed off the walls. “Well, come on over here Chick and meet Piggy. We’ll see if the Gallaghers and Brennans can get along in feline form.”
They set them on the floor behind the counter, and the two sniffed each other. Audrey reached out and swatted Ollie, who promptly swatted back, and then they jumped three inches straight up and landed in a bundle of fur, kicking and biting each other.
“The feuding blood runs deep,” Jill said.
“Not necessarily. They’re playing, not fighting. They think they are sisters,” Sawyer said.
They stopped, flopped down beside each other, and fell asleep with Audrey curled up in the middle of Ollie’s stomach.
“Aha,” Sawyer said. “And the pig and the chicken shall lie down behind the counter in peace. Think we’ll live to see the day the Gallaghers and the Brennans make friends?”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath. I don’t look good in that shade of blue, and don’t be getting too close to me after almost blaspheming the holy word.” Jill laughed.
He started around the counter. “Why is that?”
She backed all the way up to the far end, beside the cash register. “Because if lightning shoots out of the sky, I don’t want to be the one it gets instead of you.”
“Here comes lightning.” He pinned her hands behind her back.
She barely had time to moisten her lips before his closed in on hers. He was dead right. It was electrifying, sending jolts of pure desire shooting through her whole body. She wanted Sawyer, plain and simple.
“Ouch,” he said when he broke the scorching kiss.
“I didn’t bite you.”
He pointed to his leg. Audrey was climbing it like it was a tree.
She reached down and picked the yellow kitten from his jeans and held her close. Did fate intervene in the form of a kitten, so they wouldn’t take the kissing business to the next level? Was it trying to tell her to pay more attention to the Gallaghers, since it was Audrey who had put a stop to things?
“I had no idea that chicks could claw like that,” he said.
“They can’t, but cats can,” Jill said. “And now it’s closing time. We’d best load up enough of that chili for our supper and put the rest in the refrigerator for later. We have to take these critters home before we go to the bar. I won’t have them inhaling all that cigarette smoke. I’ll get a bag of litter and a couple of cans of food from the shelves if you’ll take care of the chili.”
“I’ll do it,” he said. “That was a fine kiss, ma’am. It flat-out weakened my knees.”
“Sawyer O’Donnell, you are full of shit.”
“No, ma’am, I’m speakin’ the absolute guaran-damn-teed truth.”
Chapter 18
The aroma of coffee wafted through the bunkhouse that Tuesday morning. Sawyer picked up his cell phone and found that he had no missed calls, that it was six o’clock in the morning, twenty-one degrees outside in Burnt Boot, Texas, and that it was January twentieth, his sister’s birthday. He would need to call the florist after he finished the morning chores, or there would be plenty of calls, starting with his mother fussing at him for missing an important day in their family.
He was on his way to get a cup of Jill’s strong coffee but stopped to take in the picture before him. Holding a mug, Jill sat on a worn rug in front of the woodstove. Piggy—she had a name, but Sawyer couldn’t remember it—danced across the rug sideways, and then Chick grabbed her by the tail, and the fight was on. They made Monday night wrestling look tame, right up until they got tired at the same time. Then they were friends who needed each other to sleep.
Just like you and Jill, his inner voice said.
I slept fine by myself last night, he argued.
Not as well as you did on Sunday.
Sawyer let the voice in his head have the last word. There was no arguing with the truth. He did sleep better when Jill was next to him.
She was gorgeous with the first morning light glimmering in her hair. Her green eyes sparkled as she watched the kittens play, and suddenly he was jealous as hell that he hadn’t been the one who brought them to her. Every time she looked at them, she’d think of Quaid and Tyrell, maybe even going back and reliving what their kisses felt like.
“Hey, you are awake,” Jill said. “Coffee is ready. There’s a breakfast casserole in the oven, and the girls have been fed.”
“You cooked?” he asked.
“Be thankful. Not grouchy.”
He poured coffee into a mug and sat down on the sofa. “I’m not a bit grouchy.”
“Your words say one thing. Your attitude says another. How can you be grumpy when these two kittens are so entertaining? Even when they are asleep, they make me smile.”
“You want honest?”
She nodded. “What’s your problem?”
“What do you think about when you look at those kittens?”
She sipped her coffee, a smile covering her face.
His heart grew heavier and heavier. Dammit! He didn’t want to be right this time.
“Well, when I look at Piggy Ollie over there, I think of pork rinds. And when I look at Audrey Chick, I think about Chicken Chips. Never knew the latter existed until I found them online yesterday. They are doggy treats, and I guess they taste like chicken. And that makes me smile. No, it does more than that. It makes me giggle like a little girl who found a way to get even with a smart-ass on the playground.”
She popped up agilely and sat down beside him on the sofa. “They also make me think of Quaid and Tyrell, and remind me of the fear I felt in that dark van. I’ve never been afraid like that before. I’ve always been able to take care of myself. But I had no gun and not even a hairpin to pick a lock with. I wasn’t strong enough to kick down the doors or to get away from the two of them, as big as they were, and they had guns. If you hadn’t been there, I’d have been a blubbering, quivering bundle of nerves, but I had faith in you, Sawyer. I knew you’d figure a way to get us out.”
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and drew her close to his side. “Don’t underestimate yourself, darlin’. Once you got over the fear, and the anger set in, you’d have kicked ass. How can you love those kittens if they remind you of the fear?”
“It’s weird, but they are so cute and funny. Maybe they are the sign that I definitely do not want to get mixed up with either family,” she said.
“They won’t quit,” he said. “And what’s this about pork rinds and doggy treats? I love pork rinds, and my sister buys those chips all the time for her spoiled little rat of a dog.”
She fit in his arms perfectly. He shouldn’t fight the urge to take it past a few kisses to the next step. It wasn’t like he’d forgotten how to date. He’d gone out lots of times and even considered a serious relationship once.
The timer on the oven sounded, and for a split second, Sawyer thought his phone was ringing. They both hopped up at the same time.
“Breakfast is ready. I’ll get the plates if you’ll make the toast,” she said.
“Why? Do you burn toast? I’m not surprised that someone as hot as you can burn bread by touching it,” he flirted.
She slapped at his arm, deliberately missing. “That’s a pickup line. Not a bad one, either. How many women have heard that?”
“Well, there was Delilah, Gloria, Letitia, Julie, Darcy, should I go on? I’m not sure I can recollect how many women have burned bread for me.”
Jill pushed him into the kitchen. “Well, scalding-hot cowboy, get on in there, and let’s see if you can burn toast.”
* * *
He had asked about pork rinds and Chicken Chips, and Jill had managed to dodge that bullet by changing the subject. But now he was probably thinking of all those tall, beautiful blonds and brunettes he’d dated and wishing that he was having breakfast with them instead of a spitfire redhead that had admitted she had been scared shitless.
That’s what friends do. They tell each other how they feel, she thought, hoping it might quiet the voice in her head before it ever got started. But the voice had to throw its two cents into the ring. You went past the friend stage the first time he kissed you. Deal with it. You are attracted to him, and he’s definitely been flirting, she argued. But Sawyer could have any woman anywhere. Right now he could move to Wild Horse or River Bend, ranch to his heart’s content, and have anything he wants. They are both beautiful women, and, dammit, I’m working myself up into a jealous rage.
The irritating voice didn’t have a comeback, which aggravated Jill even more. She pulled the oven omelet out and set it on a hot pad in the middle of the table, put out plates and silverware, and refilled their coffee cups.
Sawyer winked at her when the second round of toast popped up. “I must have lost my power. It’s perfectly browned, not burnt. Hey, you mentioned retail therapy yesterday. Have you ever ordered flowers online?”
Dammit to hell and back on a rusty old poker. He’d decided to send flowers to one of those hot women of his past.
“Yes, I have. I send them to my mom in Kentucky all the time,” she said. “It’s easy peasy. You key in your credit card numbers after you pick out what you want, tell them the date you need it delivered, and hit send.”
Suddenly, she wasn’t hungry and even the coffee tasted horrible.
“Can they even get flowers to Comfort, Texas?” he asked. “That’s pretty far back in the woods.”
His old flame was about to get a second chance.
“Don’t know the logistics of the whole business, but they get them there when they say they will. I expect they pick out the nearest florist, and believe me, for the price you pay, they can afford to cough up the delivery fee.”
He set the plate of toast on the table and hurried to his room, returning with a laptop. “Okay, show me the place you use.”
He’d already gotten online, so she went straight for the site, and he picked out the biggest bouquet of red roses offered, typed in all the information, and hit the “send” button. “Wow, that is fantastic. My sister is going to be so surprised when they arrive at her house in a couple of hours.”
“Your sister?” Jill spit out.
“Today is her birthday. Let’s eat before it gets cold. I’m starving, and there’s chores waiting for us to do.” He dipped deeply into the egg casserole and picked up two pieces of toast. “It’s already buttered, and there’s apple butter and grape jam in the fridge if you want it. As for me, I’m planning on a second helping of this scrumptious-lookin’ casserole rather than having extra toast with jelly.”
Sawyer’s sister and Jill were two happy women.
“So is your sister younger than you?”
Sawyer shook his head, swallowed, and sipped his coffee. “Oh, no. She’s the oldest of four, and bossed us boys around like she was the Queen of Sheba. She was twelve when I was born, so she thought she had as much power over me as Mama. She still likes to boss me, since I’m the only single one left in the family. And believe me, if I forgot her birthday, the sun would fall from the sky.”
“Her name?”
“Martina, and my brothers are Hugh and Kevin. Mama is Latino. Daddy is Irish. They made an agreement that Mama could name the girls with names from her heritage, and Daddy could give the boys Irish names.”
“And Sawyer is Irish?”
He grinned. “No, it’s English. If Daddy hadn’t loved his daughter so much, I would probably be Seamus, or maybe Tomas, but Martina cried when I wasn’t a baby sister. Mama had been reading Tom Sawyer to the kids, and if Martina couldn’t have a sister, then she wanted a brother named Sawyer. Daddy tried to talk her into Tom, but she’d have no part of it. So he gave in to her tears, and I’m Sawyer.”
“It fits better than Seamus or Tom,” Jill said.
“Well, thank you for that and for this delicious breakfast. You think we should call a babysitter for Piggy and Chick, or can they stay by themselves until we come back from chores?”
Jill looked at the sleeping kittens. “They’ll grow up fast. We’ll have to make a medical decision, Sawyer. Do we have them spayed or let them have kittens?”
“We can decide that later. Right now, let them be babies,” he answered.
* * *
It had been a slow afternoon at the store, and both Sawyer and Jill wished for the kittens to entertain them. He propped his feet on the counter, dropped his cowboy hat down over his eyes, and started to snore. She sat on the counter, ba
ck to the cash register, and went through emails from her mother and her best friend back in Kentucky. She replied and told them both all about the kittens and what they’d named them. She didn’t mention, nor did she intend to tell them, about the kidnapping business.
Her phone rang immediately, and she fished it out of her purse and headed to the back so the conversation wouldn’t wake Sawyer.
“Okay, young lady, talk. I can always tell more from your voice than those sterile emails. Two cowboys brought you kittens?” her mother, Barbara, asked.
“It’s two of the three that kissed me that day,” Jill said.
“The other one did not bring you a kitten. What’s the matter with him?”
“He’s smarter and does less to irritate me than the other two.”
“Please tell me you aren’t going to stay in Burnt Boot permanently. Those people in that part of Texas are crazy. Gladys and Polly should act their age and sell all that property to the highest bidder. They are not spring chickens anymore, and it’s time for them to retire,” Barbara said.
“I think that’s what they’re trying to do.”
Jill got a long martyred sigh for her answer.
“I don’t mean retire and put you in charge. Dammit! Jill!”
“It’s okay, Mama. I can take care of myself.” Jill went on to tell her more about the feud and the way things were happening, leaving out the part about Sawyer’s kisses and how they affected her. “And now I have a customer, so I have to go. You should come see me in Burnt Boot.”
“No, thank you. You come see me, and we’ll go up to Lexington and spend the day in the spa, stay overnight, and shop until we drop.”
“We’ll talk about it later. Got to go,” Jill said.
“Tell your aunts hello for me. I can’t believe you’re living in that backwater place, but you’ve always been strong willed and liked boots better than high heels.” Barbara’s tone was scolding as she ended the call.
“What customer?” Sawyer asked.
“Were you eavesdropping?” Jill asked.
The Trouble with Texas Cowboys Page 17