The Last Single Maverick

by Christine Rimmer

  Joss asked, “Why? You going to buy yourself a bar and grill?”

  “Don’t laugh. I just might.”

  She pulled on his hand until he turned and faced her. “You’re kidding.”

  He busted to it. “Well, yeah. What would I do with a bar and grill?” He joked, “Unless you want to show me how to run one?”

  She tipped her dark head to the side, and even through the shadows, he saw the ghost of a smile haunting her way-too-kissable mouth. “It’s kind of a nice fantasy. Living in this great little town, running the place where all the locals love to hang out…”

  A slight wind ruffled her hair, brought the scent of her perfume to him. She always smelled so good. It occurred to him that if he ever tried again, really tried, with a woman, he hoped that maybe she would smell as good as Joss did. Clean and sweet, both at once.

  She frowned a little. “What?”

  He bent closer, whispered teasingly, “I didn’t say anything.”

  She was studying him. “You had the strangest expression on your face…”

  “I was thinking that you smell good, that’s all. That I like your perfume.”

  “Oh.” Did her cheeks get pinker? Hard to tell in the darkness, but it seemed that maybe they did. “Well, um, thank you.”

  “The pleasure is all mine, believe me.”

  Her eyes seemed so wide right then, and filled with amber light, even in the deep shadows of the dark porch. “Jace?” She sounded slightly breathless.

  He encouraged her, “Yeah?”

  “You know today, when you came down the hill after me and found me flat on my back?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I thought how I wished I had kissed you last night.” Her words sent a flare of heat moving through him. She added, almost shyly, “I mean life is too short, right? You never know what might happen.”

  He touched the side of her face. Her skin was so soft. And damn, was she trying to tell him something? “Joss, are you okay? Are you in pain? Do you need to see a doctor?”

  She cut him off with a low, sweet laugh. “Stop. I’m fine. That wasn’t my point.” And then she grew serious again. “It’s only, well, in life it always seems like there’s plenty of time. But is there really? What if I died and I hadn’t even kissed you?”

  He gazed down into her upturned face and he never wanted to look away. A moment ago, he’d been kind of depressed, to think that the Hitching Post was closed up, with a For Sale sign on the front door. But suddenly, he didn’t feel bad at all anymore. The world seemed full of promise. And hope. Of good things. And every single one of them was shining in Joss’s big brown eyes.

  “I really don’t want you to have any regrets,” he said, his voice low, maybe a little rougher than he’d meant it to be.

  “But I do have regrets. You know that. About a thousand of them. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and I—”

  “Shh.” He touched her sweet lips with his fingers and instructed solemnly, “I want you to let those regrets go.”

  “I’m working on it.”

  “And the little problem that we never kissed?”

  “Yeah?”

  “That’s easily fixed.”

  “You’re right,” she whispered, tipping that tempting mouth up to him like an offering. “So very easily…”

  “We can fix it right now. Here. Tonight.”

  “Yes.” Those bright eyes had a naughty gleam in them. They told him she could be bad—in a very good way. “I think we should.”

  “Joss…” It wasn’t a question. Not this time.

  But she answered it anyway. “Yes. Oh, yes.”

  He lowered his head and tasted her lips for the first time.

  Chapter Seven

  Joss knew that she shouldn’t be kissing Jace.

  She was almost thirty, for crying out loud. Old enough to know that nothing messed up a perfectly great friendship as fast as sex could. And what did sex start with?

  Kisses.

  Kisses like this one. Slow, delicious kisses. Kisses that began so gently, with Jace’s wonderful soft mouth just barely brushing hers, with the warmth of his big, lean body so close, but not quite making contact with hers.

  Yet.

  Kisses that led to touching—oh, yes.

  Touching just like Jace was doing right now, his big hands cradling her face, holding her mouth up to him. Wonderful hands he had, strong and slightly callused, and warm.

  So warm…

  He let them wander.

  She knew that he would. She welcomed the slow twin caresses along the sides of her neck as his fingers skimmed downward. Oh, she could easily get used to this, to kissing Jace.

  For five whole years, she’d never kissed anyone but Kenny. Really, what had she been thinking?

  She’d been missing out, big time.

  Jace clasped her shoulders. His lips moved on hers, coaxing. She knew what he wanted.

  She wanted it, too. She parted her lips for him and let him inside.

  He groaned, a soft, low, pleasured sort of sound. She felt it, too. The beginnings of arousal. Already, her body was kind of melty and heavy in the most lovely, delicious sort of way.

  She swayed against him and he gathered her in.

  Oh. Yes. Perfect. Her breasts were now pressed against his hard chest. They ached, a little, already. A good, rich, exciting ache. An ache that promised to deepen in the best sense of the word.

  His arms were nice and tight around her and she felt cherished and safe and very, very good. And his tongue was doing beautiful things inside her mouth, stroking, exploring. Learning all her secrets—well, a few of them at least.

  He lifted his mouth from hers. She made a frantic little sound, not wanting it to end. Not yet.

  Oh, please. Not yet….

  And then, what do you know? It didn’t end. He simply slanted his amazing lips the other way and kissed her some more.

  Yes. This, she thought in a lovely, foggy, heated wordless way. This was it. The kiss. The one she’d known she couldn’t afford to miss….

  Jace’s kiss…

  He wrapped her even closer, so tight against him.

  Tight enough that she could feel his growing hardness, pressing into her. Her response was immediate. She sighed against his warm lips and pressed herself even closer, lifting her hips to him, eager.

  For more.

  For sex.

  With Jace.

  Sex…

  Oh, she did want to…

  But then what?

  The annoying question echoed in her brain, stealing her pleasure in this special moment, reminding her that her life was all upside-down and an affair on the rebound was not a good idea. Her world was way too complicated already. She didn’t need to make it more so.

  He must have felt her withdrawal. He raised his head and he smiled down at her, so tenderly, his dark eyes low and lazy. “You messed up and started thinking, didn’t you?”

  “Guilty.” She put her hands against his chest. She could feel his heartbeat, strong and steady.

  He peered at her more intently. “You okay?”

  She nodded. “You are a totally amazing kisser.”

  And he smiled. “Likewise.”

  “I would kiss you some more, but…”

  “…it’s not what we’re about,” he finished for her. His strong arms fell away and she carefully kept herself from swaying back against him. He offered his arm. She took it. “Come on,” he said, “I’ll take you back up to the resort.”

  * * *

  “Not coming in?” she asked, when he pulled up under the porte cochere.

  Jace was thinking he would like to go in. He would like it a lot, but it seemed too dangerous after that kiss. She’d felt just right in his arms. And the sweet taste of her lips…

  That had been something. The way she’d cuddled up close against him had really gotten him going. They might be best friends and not going there. But he had to be realistic. She did it for him. In a big way.


  And he needed a little distance. Tonight, he could too easily be tempted to try and put a real move on her. And he got that she wasn’t up for anything hot and heavy with him—or with anyone. Not after what she’d been through.

  “Not tonight,” he whispered. “Breakfast? We can go down to the bakery and maybe—”

  “Yes.” She smiled an eager smile. And he was glad. They’d shared an amazing, mind-blowing kiss, but it wasn’t going to mess things up between them.

  The valet opened her door. She got out and then turned back and leaned in to ask, “Nine tomorrow morning? Pick me up right here, under the porte cochere?”

  “You got it.”

  The valet shut the door. Jace watched her turn for the entrance, admiring the easy sway of her hips, entranced by the way all that lush, shiny hair tumbled down her slim back.

  During the drive to Jackson and Laila’s place, his mind kept circling back to the kiss. To the way she filled his arms, to the feel of her breasts against his chest, to the way she pressed her body to him, lower down, to her soft mouth opening under his…

  He thought about kissing her again.

  He thought about doing a lot more than just kissing.

  The house was dark when he let himself in. He went straight up to the guest room and took a shower. A very cold shower, for a long, long time.

  When he got out, his teeth were chattering and his lips were blue. But the shower had done the trick. He was freezing and sex was the last thing on his mind.

  And he’d learned his lesson. He was not kissing Joss again. He was not even thinking about kissing Joss again.

  Uh-uh. No way….

  * * *

  In the morning before he left to pick up Joss, he joined Jackson and Laila in the kitchen.

  “So,” he asked his twin, “how long’s the Hitching Post been closed?”

  “Since March,” Jackson said.

  “You never a said a word.” Jace tried not to sound accusing, but it did kind of bug him that no one had told him. “Nobody said anything. Joss and I stopped in there last night and everything was dark.”

  Jackson sipped his morning coffee and answered with a shrug. “It was a shock when it happened. But you were more or less refusing to communicate at that point.”

  That was true, Jace had to admit. In March, he’d still been pretty down after the whole mess with Tricia. Half the time, when Jackson or any of his siblings called, he would find some excuse to get off the phone fast, and then not bother calling them back. He hadn’t felt like talking to anyone—and he certainly hadn’t felt like answering any questions as to what the hell was the matter with him.

  “Sorry about that,” he said and meant it.

  “Hey.” Jackson gave him a grin. “You finally seem to be coming out of it. That’s what matters.”

  At the stove, Laila asked, “You want some bacon and eggs, Jace?”

  “Thanks, but no. I’m picking Joss up and we’re going to the Mountain Bluebell.” He asked his brother, “So what’s the story? I always thought the Hitching Post was a moneymaker. Why would they suddenly close down?”

  “Lance O’Doherty died,” Laila said somberly.

  Jace blinked. “No.” O’Doherty and his wife Kathleen had owned the Hitching Post since it first opened in the 1950s. Kathleen had passed away some years back.

  “Yeah,” Jackson confirmed. “Lance finally went to meet his maker. The old guy was in his eighties. And he was still going strong right up to the end. Story goes that he went to bed on March first and never woke up on the second. There was no one to take over for him.”

  “I thought there was a daughter…”

  Jackson nodded. “Noreen. She’s in her fifties. Plays the harp for some symphony in San Diego. Never married, no kids. Has zero interest in coming back to Thunder Canyon to run her dad’s bar and grill. So she shut it down and put it up for sale, cheap. At first, we were all sure that someone would snap it right up. I think I heard that there were a few offers made, but I guess those deals never went through.”

  Jason shook his head. “The Hitching Post out of business. That’s just wrong.”

  “Someone will buy it eventually,” said Laila. “It’s been only a few months since it went up for sale. It’s a great location, with plenty of parking. I heard a rumor a cousin of the Cateses from Sheridan was thinking about buying the property and turning it into a farm machinery dealership.”

  “Farm machinery?” Jace swore in disgust.

  Jackson chuckled. “People need tractors, Jace.”

  “And this town needs the Hitching Post.”

  Jackson sent him a sly look. “Why don’t you buy it?”

  He thought about last night, him and Joss in the shadows next to the locked-up front door with the For Sale sign on it. He’d teased her that he would buy it and she could teach him how to run it.

  But it was only a daydream. A fantasy, like Joss had said.

  Laila fished bacon out of the frying pan and onto a paper towel–covered platter. “Yeah, that would be great if you moved to town. Your brother misses you, you know? We all miss you. Family matters. It matters a lot.”

  Jackson and Jace shared a look. Jace had missed his twin, too. He only realized how much now he was coming out of the funk that had gripped him for months.

  And Thunder Canyon would be a great place to live. Yeah, it got mighty cold in the winters, but he could deal with that. There were still lots of wild, wide open spaces in Montana. He wouldn’t mind exploring them. Plus, he’d have the benefit of being near a lot of the people who mattered most to him. And he was planning to move.

  But he wasn’t ready to decide where yet. And as for the Hitching Post…

  “I know zip about running a restaurant,” he said.

  Jackson got up to refill his coffee mug. “No law says you can’t learn.”

  * * *

  Joss was moving a little stiffly when he picked her up at nine. But she said she was fine.

  She laughed. “Hey, you should have seen me when I first got up. It wasn’t pretty. But I’m feeling better now that I’ve been moving around.”

  And it did seem to him that her stiffness faded as the day went by. After breakfast at Lizzie’s bakery, they walked over to the Historical Society Museum on Pine Street. Aunt Melba was there, behind the little desk in the small lobby area of the old building.

  “So lovely to see two young, smiling faces,” she said. She charged them three dollars each and then gave them a guided tour.

  The rooms were small and dark and packed with treasures from the past. There was a whole display dedicated to Lily Divine, the madam who’d owned the Shady Lady Dance Hall in the 1890s. They learned that some sources claimed Lily hadn’t really been a madam at all, but a hardworking laundress who took in women in trouble and helped them to get back on their feet. There was even some dispute as to whether the famous portrait of Lily, nearly nude but for several strategically place scarves, was actually of Lily at all.

  Jace couldn’t help wondering if that portrait still hung over the bar inside the Hitching Post. He hated to think of someone turning the place into a tractor dealership.

  What would happen to the portrait of the Shady Lady then? Would they dismantle the long, gleaming cherrywood bar that had been built over a century ago?

  He decided not to think about it.

  Times changed and a man had to learn to roll with the punches. He set his mind to enjoying the time he had left with Joss.

  It was going by too fast.

  That afternoon, they went riding again. He borrowed Major from Jackson and she rode Cupcake. He took her to a small, crystal-clear lake he knew about on the other side of Thunder Mountain from the resort. It was too cold to swim, but they spread a saddle blanket in the sun and stretched out for a while. She said she was feeling better about her life now, about everything. And she thanked him. She told him she didn’t hate all men anymore. And she said that was mostly due to him.

  He listened to her tal
k and drank in her laughter and thought about kissing her.

  But he didn’t. They were friends. Period. And he intended to remember that.

  That night, the family get-together was at Dax and Shandie’s. Jace took Joss. They had a great time.

  The next day was the Fourth. In Thunder Canyon, that meant a parade in the morning, a rodeo in the afternoon and a community dance in the town hall at night. He and Joss spent every moment together.

  He thought about kissing her a lot that day, especially at the dance. When he held her in his arms, it was all too easy to start remembering how good her lips felt pressed to his.

  But he held himself in check somehow. Even though sometimes, in her eyes, he thought he saw an invitation. He had a feeling she wouldn’t be entirely averse to another kiss. And when he danced with her, he tried not to read too much into the way her curvy body swayed against him.

  That night, he took another long, cold shower before he went to bed. It didn’t do a lot of good. His dreams were all about Joss, naked and willing in his arms.

  Thursday they played golf up at the resort’s golf course. Joss was a really bad golfer.

  “I’m worse with a golf club than I am on a horse,” she said.

  He had to agree. Actually, she had some aptitude for riding. But she was a walking hazard with a golf club. Every time she swung it, turf went flying. The ball, however, rarely budged.

  After dinner that night at Corey and Erin’s, they returned to the resort and hung out in her suite. He told her he kept thinking about the Hitching Post, that he was actually kind of tempted by the idea of maybe buying the place, of moving to Thunder Canyon and learning how to run a restaurant and bar.

  She encouraged him. He was just getting around to hinting that maybe she might consider taking a job managing a restaurant and bar in a great little town like Thunder Canyon when the phone rang.

  It was her mother, at it again. He couldn’t hear the woman’s words, but he could see in Joss’s face what she must be saying: Come home to Sacramento and work things out with Kenny. When Joss hung up, her slim shoulders were drooping and all the warm amber light was gone from her eyes. He wanted to take her in his arms and hold her, and promise her that everything would be okay.