"It was… nice to have something for myself, to not be in Maddox's shadow. He was always the golden boy." Pushed up on that pedestal by their mother. And then Mom had died, and Justin had never had the opportunity to earn a place of his own. "And… we didn't have the easiest time of it when I was a kid. When I started having success in the arena, everything was different. I took all of it—everything that was offered to me."
He waited for her to get what he wasn't saying.
Her brow wrinkled. "Fame?"
"Women."
He saw the light dawn in her eyes. She was beginning to understand. Too bad his womanizing wasn't the worst of it. He returned his focus to the building across the street.
"At seventeen, nineteen, twenty-one... I soaked up the attention. For years, I lived my life like that. Taking what was offered with no thought for the consequences."
He wished she'd say something, anything. She was completely silent.
He felt like he was going to lose his lunch. Here came the big reveal.
"You already know how my career ended. But you don't know that after I got out of the hospital, I was addicted to pain pills. I wasted my days in fleeting moments of induced bliss interspersed with long periods of depression. My behavior hurting my family and killing me, but I didn't know how to stop. And all those so-called friends I'd made in the circuit? Gone."
He dared a look at her and saw tears had clumped her eyelashes together. His gut kicked hard.
"And now?" she asked.
"I'm clean. When Haley came back into Maddox's life, she saw what I was doing and gave me the kick in the pants I needed. But I'm still…" He shrugged, his hands fisted at his sides. "…floundering."
And that's why she deserved so much more than he could ever be.
He inhaled a deep breath and met her eyes. She stared at him, and he couldn't find words to tell her what that kiss—and her friendship—had meant to him.
And then the noisy group of university students exited the club. They must've finished up while he was unloading his heart.
He stepped away from her, and she was swallowed up in the crowd loading into the bus.
He stood in the cold for a long time afterward, hands in his pockets, staring at the corner where the taillights had disappeared. She hadn't said a word.
And maybe that's what he deserved.
Chapter Nine
One week before Christmas, Valri turned her Honda onto a bumpy dirt road outside of Redbud Trails.
She was really going to do this. Tell Justin how she felt.
She hadn't seen him since that night outside the comedy club.
At the time, she'd been relieved for the interruption when their classmates had exited the club. She hadn't known what to say to him then. She'd needed time to think.
And then during the last week of class, a nasty stomach virus had rampaged over the school, knocking out many students and their professor, who had cancelled classes. After that, they'd had an assigned makeup time to present their final presentation to the professor and about ten other students. She hadn't seen Justin at the presentation. Likely he'd had a different time assigned.
One of her dad's seasonal employees had quit and left the store without the needed help, and she'd had to adjust her schedule at the Coffee Hut, working odd hours. Justin hadn't come through for coffee. She'd hoped... but maybe he was still avoiding her.
She didn't have his number, but when she'd confided in her parents, her dad had mentioned driving past a huge barn lit up like something from a Chevy Chase movie, and she'd known what she had to do.
She'd spent the afternoon at the free clinic and still wore her scrubs beneath her winter coat. Twilight fell around her as she guided her car over the rutted road. And then she saw it.
The garish lights were already visible, the entire roof of the barn had been covered and crisscrossed with white and multi-colored lights. The lines of the building, each corner and the high windows, were lined with red and green. And two trees flanking the building had been wound with blue ones.
It was bright. And made her smile, thinking of Justin's niece and her excitement. She knew his complaints about the barn were in jest. He'd said he loved Christmas that first night of class during introductions.
Her heart in her throat, she pulled her car over the cattle guard and up a well-tended gravel drive. Justin's truck was parked next to a white, two-story farmhouse. She parked next to it.
She was met by a huge black dog with a lolling tongue. It didn't look that dangerous, so she stepped out.
She closed her car door and turned at movement near the barn. And there was Justin, just stepping out of the overly-lit place. He was wearing his Stetson pulled low, a jean jacket, and his familiar boots. He held a pitchfork like a walking stick, then stopped it in the ground when he saw her.
Stark surprise crossed his face, quickly hidden. He leaned the pitchfork against the side of the barn and came toward her. As she rounded the car to meet him, his boots crunched in the gravel, and he slid a pair of leather gloves from his hands, stuffing them into his back pockets.
"Hey." He smiled, but his eyes were hooded.
"Hi. A little late to be working, isn't it?" Now that she was here, nerves gripped her, making her fumble for words.
"You're one to talk," he said, nodding to her, no doubt noticing her scrubs. "What's going on?"
"Well, I…" Missed you. Need you. "I thought I saw you on campus when I was there yesterday. Near the administration building."
He nodded, scraping one hand across his jaw, and rocking back on his heels. Was he as nervous as she was?
He reached into an inside his jacket, pulled out a sheet of paper folded into fourths, and handed it to her.
It was worn, as if he'd already handled it several times.
He cleared his throat. "I declared my major."
Her head came up as she unfolded the sheet and saw it was a page printed from the university course catalog. Across the top, in bold letters, was emblazoned, "Veterinary Sciences."
She smiled up at him, and for the first time, noticed that something had settled deep in his eyes. He seemed more at peace.
She vaguely registered a sound like the slap of a screen door in the periphery of her senses, but she was caught in the magnetism of Justin's eyes.
"Uncle Justin, who's here?" a young voice called out.
She had to break their gaze when a small torpedo launched between them. Justin caught Livy with an arm around her shoulders. "It's Valri, my friend from university, remember?"
"Hi!" Livy was so wired, she was bouncing on her toes.
"I was just telling Valri about my major." His words were for Livy, but his eyes remained on Valri. "That I decided it was time to start taking risks again."
She swallowed against the lump rising in her throat, because wasn't that what he'd done at the comedy club when he'd told her about his history?
"I'm glad," she whispered.
#
Justin watched the play of emotions cross Valri's expressive face. His heart was pounding, his adrenaline pumping like he was back in the arena challenging a bull.
Valri was here. She'd come to him.
He'd had next to no hope of seeing her again after classes had been cancelled and their final rearranged. But she was here now.
"Don't you have somewhere to be, squirt?" he asked Livy at his side, ruffling her hair.
"No." The girl looked up at them guilelessly, the picture of innocence. She couldn't know she was intruding.
"It's okay." Valri handed him back his paper.
His stomach did a slow flip. She wasn't leaving already, was she?
"I actually came with a Christmas gift for your uncle."
She had?
She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a small clump of greenery, wrapped with a red ribbon. He took it from her outstretched hand, realizing on closer inspection that it was a swag of mistletoe.
His eyes jerked to her face. The sun
had long since set, but with the barn lit up like a runway behind him, he could see how rosy her cheeks had gone.
"What is it, Uncle J?"
Livy tried to peer up from beneath his elbow. He'd almost forgotten she was there. He put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a shove toward the house. "I'll give you twenty bucks to disappear right this second."
Livy took off running.
Valri's lips twitched, but he also saw the nervous jerk of her hands by her sides.
The sudden confidence that her gift had given him pulsed through him with each breath.
The screen door slammed behind Livy, leaving them alone in the barn-lit yard.
He stepped closer, reaching for her. She came willingly into his embrace. He let his left arm come around her waist as he held up the mistletoe so they were both looking at it.
"This is the gift?"
"Part of it," she whispered.
He tucked the sprig of leaves and berries into his coat pocket and let his hand come up to cup her cheek. His head tilted toward her—there was nothing holding him back this time—but just before their lips would've touched, he hesitated.
"Are you sure?" he whispered.
To answer, she lifted on her tiptoes to meet his kiss. She tasted like coffee and mint, a Christmas combination. One of her arms slid around his neck, the other around his waist.
And he was home.
He didn't let things get carried away, soon tucking her head against his chest, even as he placed a kiss against her temple.
"Merry Christmas to me," he murmured.
She laughed, and the sound vibrated through him from his head to his boots. Or maybe that was the joy washing through him.
"There's one more thing," she said, pushing slightly against his chest, tilting her head so he could see her face. "I'm falling in love with you."
There was only one answer to that. He kissed her again, passionately, endlessly, until they were both panting and out of breath.
"That's good," he said when he could finally speak. "Because I'm already there." He swallowed back the fear that threatened to choke him and said, "I love you."
She threw her arms around his neck, and they held each other, breathing together, basking in the joy of the moment.
"You sure I'm not too young for you?" she asked, a teasing lilt to her voice.
"You're probably more mature than I am," he returned.
"Probably?"
He laughed. If she could accept him, scars and all, he could accept the age difference between them.
"I'm glad you came out tonight." He spoke into the hair just above her ear. "Two more days without seeing you, and I was going to put my plan into place."
"What plan?" she asked, her breath hot on his shoulder.
"I told you I was going to start taking risks… I had this plan to park my truck in the drive-up window at the Coffee Hut until you decided to talk to me."
She hummed, and the soft noise reverberated through his chest. "I had to cut my hours there to help out at my dad's store. What were you going to ask me?"
"I was going to declare my love for you." Ha. The words were easier to say the second time around. "And ask if you could fit a washed-up bull rider into your future plans."
He found himself holding his breath as he waited for her answer. Even though they'd said the biggies, the ILYs, neither of them had mentioned the future. Until now.
When she hesitated a moment too long, he went on. "About my major… being a vet tech or even a vet someday is a job that's in demand no matter where I end up. So if… the woman I eventually marry ends up in Texas or Nebraska or even Alaska… I'd follow her there."
She sniffled, and he rested his palm against her jaw to tip her head back. Her eyes had filled with tears, but she was grinning. "Really?"
"Really. Somebody has to make sure you eat."
The back door burst open again, and Livy's voice called out from the porch. "Haley wants to know if you're coming inside or you're going to smooch your girlfriend some more?"
He winced. "Sorry."
Valri laughed. "You're kidding, right? When my family gets a whiff of this, it's going to be a nightmare."
He turned them toward the house, loving how naturally she fit against his side. "I think we can take them. Together."
"Together. I like that. I'll protect you and you protect me."
He nodded, grinning like a fool into her upturned face as they approached the porch steps. He squeezed her waist. "Best Christmas ever."
And it was.
Dear reader,
Thanks for reading Mistletoe Cowboy. I hope you enjoyed it!
All reviews are appreciated, whether positive or negative. If you liked this book, you might also like Secondhand Cowboy, a contemporary romance releasing March 2015. Sign up for my newsletter for exclusive excerpts and to stay up-to-date with my new releases.
If you would like to connect with me or learn about my other books, you can reach me through my website www.lacywilliams.net or www.facebook.com/lacywilliamsbooks. Thanks for reading!
-Lacy
Historical
Heart of Gold
Marrying Miss Marshal
The Homesteader's Sweetheart
Counterfeit Cowboy
Courted by a Cowboy*
Roping the Wrangler*
Return of the Cowboy Doctor*
The Wrangler's Inconvenient Wife*
A Cowboy for Christmas* (December 2014)
Wagon Train Sweetheart (May 2015)
Her Convenient Cowboy* (June 2015)
*Wyoming Legacy series
Contemporary
Kissed by a Cowboy
Love Letters from Cowboy
Mistletoe Cowboy
Secondhand Cowboy (March 2015)
Mistletoe Cowboy: A Cowboy Inspirational Romance Page 7