by Jess Bryant
Oh she sounded just like his mother when she said shit like that. It was a side effect of the fact Arlene had practically raised her. Still, it was one thing to sound like somebody else’s mother; it was another to scold them in that same tone of voice.
“You sound just like my mama when you say that.” He laughed and lifted her higher so she could get a good look at his face.
Austin Evans had never worked at Montgomery Oaks like his mother and older sister. He’d been too busy playing football and working an after school job at the mechanic’s shop. Still, he was only two years older than her so he’d been a surrogate big brother for her in a way, right up until they hit their teenager years and things had gotten more awkward than if they’d been kissing cousins.
“Put me down Austin. People are staring.”
“Darlin’ if you haven’t figured out by now that people always stare at you then you ain’t as bright as I thought you were.” He winked playfully but let her slip back to the ground. “How’s your daddy?”
“Doing okay.”
“Mama said you were staying with him, didn’t think I’d ever see you out here at the Roadhouse though.”
“Yeah, I’m just having some drinks with a couple of old friends.”
“Needed to get out of the house for a while?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
She got distracted by the sight of a familiar broad chest over Austin’s shoulder. Zach was heading back to the dance floor. This time he had a redhead on his arm. Seemed she’d been right when she figured the man could get any woman in town he wanted. He spun away from them across the floor and she was treated to his ass cupped in dark denim. No big surprise with a body like that she supposed.
“Blue?”
“Huh?” She pulled her eyes away.
“I said we should catch up while you’re in town. I’m headed out, early day tomorrow and all but we can get dinner, catch a movie. Do it up right.”
“Oh um… yeah, let’s get a drink and catch up.” She changed the plans so they sounded less like a date.
Austin wasn’t stupid though, he grinned, “I always did have a crush on you Bluebell and you’re just as pretty as ever. I’ll be seeing you around town. You can bet on it.”
She watched Austin Evans walk away and silently kicked herself. He was a nice looking guy and yeah, she’d known he had a crush on her since they were kids. Why couldn’t she go to dinner with him? It’s not like there was anybody keeping her from dating while she was in Fate.
Zach turned the corner nearby with his new dance partner and she blew out a heavy sigh. Yep, definitely nobody keeping her from dating, nobody but herself. Not that she could date Austin. She wasn’t staying in Fate permanently and if she started something up with him Arlene would be planning their wedding before the sun rose.
“Bluebell.” Jenny Sue’s voice pulled her back to reality, “Come say hello to my brother Jimmy. You remember him from high school don’t you?”
If she’d known she was going to a high school reunion she’d have started drinking earlier. She took a deep breath and turned back to their table. She was surprised by the man standing next to her friend and had to do a double take.
She did remember Jimmy from high school but that gangly kid couldn’t have been any different from the man in front of her now. He’d grown up. He was a couple of years younger than them, two or was it three? She couldn’t remember but now he was taller, broader, not big or bulky though, lean. He’d grown into his smile too, which was slightly lopsided in an endearing sort of way. That was new too, as was that slightly predatory glint in his dark brown eyes. He definitely hadn’t had the game to pull off that look when she’d seen him last.
“Nice to see you again Bluebell.”
“You too Jimmy.”
“How’s your daddy doing? I’d heard he had a stay in the hospital.”
“He’s back home now. Thanks for asking.”
“You’re looking good. Wherever you’ve been hiding yourself seems to agree with you.” His eyes flashed with that dark edge as they lingered on her breasts before returning to her eyes.
“I’m in Denver.” She ignored the look.
“Really? I have a friend that lives up there. How about you do me the pleasure of a dance and we can find out if you know each other? Small world and all that?”
He was already wrapping an arm around her waist to lead her to the dance floor. She’d have had a hard time coming up with a reason to say no. After all, this was Texas, dancing wasn’t an option, it was a lifestyle. As was flirting, that thought immediately had her eyes wandering the floor.
She didn’t have to look hard to find the big hard body. Normally she wouldn’t have flirted back with Jimmy. She wasn’t interested, not really. But she didn’t like the idea of being a wallflower while the only guy in the room she actually wanted to dance with paraded a string of women around the floor. Still, she didn’t want to give Jimmy any ideas so she kept her body firmly away from his when he tried to pull her close and she insisted on talking about his friend over the George Strait song as they two-stepped.
Even with the loud music, even with Jimmy talking, she could make out Zach’s rumbling voice behind her every few turns. He was close enough she could make out his voice but not what he said. All she heard was the answering giggles of the brunette that was back in his arms.
She wondered if he was dating one of the women in the parade. After all, it had been nearly a month since their catastrophe in the parking lot at Molly’s wedding. That was plenty of time to fall in love and plan forever with a woman in Fate. She’d seen it happen before, dozens of times.
“Guess you don’t know Steve then.” Jimmy yelled to be heard.
“Guess not. It’s a big city though, lots of strangers.”
The song came to an end and she turned to head back to her table before Jimmy could make the mistake of asking for another dance. One song had been more than enough for her feet which would no doubt be black and blue from him stepping on them for the past three and a half minutes. She’d forgotten that everybody in Texas danced; they all just didn’t do it well.
In her rush to get off the dance floor she turned and ran smack into a big, broad chest. Hadn’t she just heard Zach’s voice on the other side of the floor? How on earth did she keep running into him? She cursed and kept her eyes averted.
“Sorry.”
“No problem.” His big hands released her shoulders and she stepped back.
“Blue!” A woman shrieked forcing her to tip her eyes up far enough to see the face of the brunette on Zach’s arm.
By the time her brain processed recognition she was already engulfed in a tight hug that sent her stumbling backwards two paces. This time Jimmy was forced to catch them and he laughed as he steadied the two women. They were now sandwiched between the two men and she wished with all her old Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz rerun memories that she could simply click her red boot heels and go home.
“Blue! Oh! My Lord!” The brunette drawled, “It has absolutely been forever if it’s even been a day.”
“Victoria. Hi. It’s nice to see you.”
Nice wouldn’t have been the word teenager Bluebell would have used but she drew on every ounce of her charm school training and manners. Victoria Sands had been public enemy number one at Fate High School and she’d used all of her power and authority to make Blue’s life a living hell. She’d made fun of her clothes and her hair and occasionally the fact that she didn’t have a mother.
That had lasted right up until tenth grade when Blue had enough and punched her in the face. Things had gotten a lot easier after that. Still, her warm greeting was classic Fate. Nobody remembered the past if it was dirty and nobody held a grudge. Nobody it seemed but Blue so she bit her tongue and played along.
“You too, though I heard about your daddy dying.”
“He has cancer but he’s holding strong for now actually.”
“Oh well, bless your hea
rt. You’ve only had him for so long and now to think you might lose him too. We’ve been praying for him at the First Baptist.”
A deep breath later Blue smiled politely, “Thank you for that Victoria.” She tilted her chin up, “Hello again Zach.”
“Bluebell.”
“You two know each other?” Victoria’s head tilted suspiciously.
It had been three weeks since he gave her a mind-blowing orgasm with nothing but the touch of his hand. That time period allowed her the ability not to blush. Still, it had only been a week since his threat of retribution and her stomach flip-flopped with apprehension.
“It’s a small town. We all know each other right?” She shrugged in what she hoped looked like indifference.
“Some more so than others.” A smile curled at one corner of Zach’s mouth, “So how do you two know each other?”
“Oh we went to charm school together when we were little girls.” Victoria practically beamed.
That was an interesting answer. Blue would have gone with, “She liked to torture me for fun” but since Victoria seemed set on flirting with Zach she could hardly be expected to out her evil tendencies. Blue thought about doing it for her and then she realized where the comment came from. Victoria had always enjoyed pointing out her flaws in charm school. No doubt she could expect more of the same.
“Charm school huh?” Zach’s gaze never left Bluebell.
“Yeah, I suppose it stuck for one of us, not so much the other.” She grinned despite herself and watched his green eyes flash with recognition.
“Oh Blue, don’t be so hard on yourself. There was a lot to learn and you didn’t have a mama to go home and practice cutlery with.”
“Yes Vicky, I’m sure my downfall was the cutlery.” She tried not to laugh at the ridiculousness of a statement like that.
Victoria hated being called Vicky. She smiled primly as though she didn’t know that fact. She was all about letting bygones be bygones but even a charm school graduate could only take so much.
“It was really great seeing you Vicky. Zach.” She glanced up quickly and then back down, “We should get together and catch up again soon but I should probably get back to my friends. Jimmy?”
As expected he slid an arm around her shoulder, “Yes ma’am.”
“Bye bye now.” She waved.
“See you Bluebell.” Zach simply slid his own arm around Victoria and headed the opposite direction.
Once she got rid of Victoria and Zach she distanced herself from Jimmy with the excuse of using the little girl’s room. She didn’t like giving him mixed signals but she’d been desperate to get out of that situation.
Coming out of the bathroom she made a hard right and slipped out the back to the nearly deserted patio. It was a cool night and it had been misting rain earlier around sunset. She wiped off part of a fencepost that edged close to the river below and leaned against it.
Funny she’d left the ranch looking to put an end to being lonely and yet within a couple of hours she was seeking solace on an empty patio. She twisted her diamond middle finger ring and stared out at the darkness. The thing was, even in the middle of that bar, even surrounded by people she’d felt alone.
She was used to the feeling. She’d grown up with it. Living on a ranch there had never been a shortage of people coming and going. But she’d always been alone. Her father was always out in the bunkhouse eating with the hands or out in the barn working with an animal or out of town delivering cattle. It was worse now, knowing he was just down the hall, sometimes in the same room and still feeling the distance between them.
All her life she’d been surrounded by people who knew her. It was a small town, everybody knew everybody. And yet nobody really knew her. They knew the poor little girl that had lost her mother. Some of them thought they knew the sad child neglected by a grieving father. Others thought they knew the wild child daughter more concerned with her inheritance than her father’s well being. She didn’t know who any of those girls were.
Being in that house with her father though, being in Fate, it did something to her. It brought back that scared, lost little girl and she hated that feeling. She didn’t want to focus on that girl or all she’d lost, all she’d missed out on because her mama died and her daddy never got over it. And she definitely didn’t want to think of the adult she’d become and just how lost she still felt.
She was tired of feeling alone so she turned to go back into the bar but ran straight into a broad chest and big familiar hands cupped her shoulders to hold her steady, “Jesus! Stop doing that.”
“It’s Zach.” He frowned and released his hold on her shoulders, “And you’re the one that keeps running into me Bluebell.”
“You snuck up on me.”
“I said your name twice.” He looked at the bottle of Shiner in her hand, “How much have you had to drink?”
“Not nearly enough.”
He frowned and took the bottle from her.
“Give that back.” She watched him take a long draw off it and sighed when he didn’t hand it back.
“Where’s your date?”
“Jenny Sue was at the table with the others last I checked.”
“I meant the cowboy.”
Oh. She pursed her lips and tried to gauge why he was asking before smiling sweetly, “Jimmy or Austin?”
“Don’t get smart with me.” He smirked.
“You’re so worried about my nonexistent date, where’s yours?”
“You mean Vicky? She’s not my date.” He shook his head and took another pull of the beer.
“She hates being called Vicky.”
“I know.” He wiped the back of his hand across his lips and grinned.
She found herself smiling up at him despite herself. He was such a mystery. Maybe that’s what got to her. She couldn’t explain it but the sexual chemistry brewing between them was off the charts. Still, she knew better than to play with fire. She’d barely gotten out of the situation the last time.
“Is that why you insist on calling me Bluebell? Because I told you I didn’t like it?” She perked an eyebrow curiously.
“No. I like your name. I told you that. It’s pretty and it fits you.”
She hated the butterflies that danced around in her stomach when he said ridiculously nice things like that. He had all the charm of a true southern gentlemen but he knew how to work it better than most. And he had that dark edge that said he wasn’t quite as nice as a woman might want to believe. He was hazardous to her wellbeing and she stayed away from men like that these days. You live, you learn, you stop dating recklessly handsome men with silver tongues and dusty halo’s.
“Sounds like a line.” She shrugged.
He snorted and finished off her beer before setting it aside, “I don’t use lines. I may not be the most… gentlemanly… of cowboys but I don’t lie to women. Ever.”
She shivered at the dark way he said gentlemanly. Oh he was good. Too good. She should go inside. Being alone with him had yet to end well. But then he stepped closer and she could feel his body heat and her feet wouldn’t move. One of his big hands came up and cupped her chin, forcing her to look up and meet his eyes.
“How are you holding up?”
“Against you? I thought I was doing okay there for a minute.” She admitted and he chuckled lightly.
His thumb lightly stroked across her cheek, “I meant with your dad. It can’t be easy for you to see him like that.”
She swallowed hard as she met those soft green eyes. This man she barely knew was the first one to ask her how she was doing, really doing and look like he actually meant it. He looked like he cared. Her pulse danced and she had to take a deep breath before she could respond.
“I um… I’m holding my own there too.”
His gaze slid to her mouth and then back up. His lips pursed like he didn’t really believe her. She stared him down. Just because he said he didn’t lie to women didn’t mean she didn’t lie to men and she wasn’t a
bout to get into her daddy issues with a near stranger no matter how sexy he was.
“You look exhausted.”
“The last time I ran into you, you said I looked like hell. I suppose I should take exhausted as an improvement.” She pulled her chin away from his hold.
He grinned, “I might have still been a little angry with you then.”
“You’re not angry at me anymore?”
“Frustrated might be a better term for it.”
“I’m sure Victoria is much less frustrating.” She snorted.
“Victoria wants a boyfriend. Definitely more frustration than she’s worth.”
“Oh? You don’t do the whole boyfriend thing? Shocking.”
She’d called that one from the minute he stepped out of that truck hadn’t she? He wasn’t one of the nice boys. He wasn’t the let’s go on three dates and try the bases guy.
“I don’t do relationships.” He cupped her chin again and tilted her head back so she had to meet his gaze again, “Stop staring at my chest. It’s driving me crazy. I’m sick of looking at the top of your head.”
“You’re very tall. You should be used to looking at the tops of people’s heads.” She smirked. “Besides, it’s a very nice chest.”
“Thank you.” Humor danced in his green eyes again, “But we both know that’s not why you won’t look me in the eyes.”
“We do? Why don’t you enlighten me then? Why won’t I look you in the eyes?”
“Because I scare you a little. Because you kind of like it. Because every time we’re in the same room you get a little wet thinking of how hot we could be together.”
She swallowed hard. Her heart was trying to pound straight out of her chest. She looked up into that gorgeous face with the hard lines of his jaw and cheekbones. His sun-tanned skin made his dark hair darker and his green eyes brighter.
He was so distinctly male. He looked like what real men should look like. He looked like a nice distraction from her awful, pitiful life and if she was reading the situation correctly she might just have a chance of playing with fire without getting burned.
“So you don’t do relationships. Just sex. No dinners? No movies? No conversation?”