All-American Cowboy

by Dylann Crush

  “I love you, too.” His mouth found hers, and the Rose faded away. Nothing existed except her and Beck, cocooned against the rest of the world in their own little bubble. The kiss moved from tentative to testing to torching in the space of seconds. She was toast. This was it for her. She had the Rose. She had Beck. She had it all, everything she’d ever hoped for and never thought she’d be able to hold.

  The sound of applause burst her little bubble, and she backed away from Beck to see her family and staff filling the dance hall. Their hands clapped together, their smiles reflecting the happiness in her heart.

  “Does this mean you’re staying in Holiday?” She tucked her chin against her chest and gazed up at Beck. She’d never get tired of seeing that face, not if she lived to be as old as the Texas hills.

  “I hope so. But it depends on you.”

  “On me?”

  “Yeah. I quit my dad’s company and gave up the Rose. Any chance you might be willing to give me a job?”

  “A job, huh?” She tucked her hands in his back pockets and nuzzled into him. “Well, I do need someone to clean out Baby Back’s pen.”

  “From Midtown Manhattan to slopping out pig stalls, huh? If it means I get to see you every day, the answer’s yes.”

  “Good. Now, will you be my date to the fling tonight?”

  “For as long as you’ll have me.”

  Charlie closed her eyes and sent a silent prayer of thanks to Sully. He had to have had a hand in this. No other logical explanation would do. She only hoped that Beck meant what he’d said. Because a lifetime with him wouldn’t be long enough, and she intended to hold on to him for the rest of hers.

  Epilogue

  One Year Later

  Charlie climbed onto the Founder’s Day float, a leash in her hand. Poor Baby Back had retired from public appearances, but they’d kept the runt of her litter from last summer—a three-hundred-pound beauty named Pork Chop. Beck joined her and gave Shep the thumbs-up, signaling they were ready to move out. The new flatbed Beck had built this year’s float on provided a much smoother ride than last year’s, and there was plenty of room for the whole family.

  Charlie let her gaze linger on the gathering of Walkers. Her mom and dad stood at the back of the float, their kids and grandkids nestled around them. Waylon and Darby sat on a couple of bales of hay with their kids sandwiched between them. Cash and Kenzie waved to the crowd. Statler and Presley blew kisses to the women lining the parade route. As the truck began to inch down the road, Charlie turned to her Texas transplant.

  He’d come to mean so much to her over the past year. His real estate background and marketing expertise had doubled their income. He’d completely revamped Sully’s old place and had plans to add on and turn it into the kind of home where they could raise a family.

  When Shep stopped the float in front of Whitey’s so the Shiners could do their coordinated spins, she turned to Beck and gulped in a breath of hot, humid air.

  “Beck?”

  “Yeah, what’s up?” He peered at her from under the brim of the new cowboy hat she’d bought him.

  “Hold this?” She handed him Pork Chop’s leash. “I need to ask you something.”

  “Now?” He glanced at her, raising his hand in a wave to Dwight and his brand-new girlfriend on the side of the road.

  “Yes. Now.”

  Her tone must have caught his attention. He gave her a questioning look. “Everything all right?”

  “God, I’m just going to say it, okay?”

  “What’s wrong, Charlie? You look like you’re about to pass out.”

  “You okay, hon?” Darby handed June to Waylon and scrambled over a bale of hay.

  “What’s going on?” Presley twisted around and lifted a longneck. “Y’all need a drink?”

  Cash clamped a hand to his hip. “You’re not supposed to be drinking in public. It’s illegal.”

  “Well, then, I guess I’d better finish it up right quick.” Presley tipped the bottle up to drain it.

  “Can everyone be quiet for a minute?” Charlie yelled.

  Even the spectators stopped cheering. An awkward bubble of silence surrounded the Rambling Rose’s float.

  She took in a wobbly breath. Passing out might not be out of the realm of possibility.

  Beck cupped her cheek, worry causing his eyes to crinkle at the edges. “What’s wrong?”

  “Okay, here goes. Will you marry me?” The words tumbled out, leaving her stunned and in shock. She’d intended on asking, just thought she’d be a little more romantic in her delivery.

  The moment seemed to last forever. No one moved—not her parents, not her nieces and nephews, not even Pork Chop. Then, all of a sudden, everything seemed to move at warp speed.

  Her family surrounded them. Darby and her mom wrapped her in a hug. Tom and her brothers clapped Beck on the back, and the kids danced around them singing a song about Aunt Charlie and Uncle Beck sitting in a tree.

  A shriek cut through the chaos. Beck stepped onto a hay bale, his fingers stuck between his teeth like she’d taught him how to whistle. “Hey! Y’all might not have noticed, but I haven’t exactly answered the question yet.”

  Charlie’s heart sank into her boots. Where was he going with this? Had she managed to misread the entire relationship again?

  Beck set the leash down on the hay bale and stepped on it with his boot to hold Pork Chop in place. A grin slowly stretched across his face. “Damn, girl, I’ve been waiting for months for you to bring that up.”

  Confusion shot holes through her thought process. “What do you mean months?”

  Beck knelt down and pulled a small box out of his pocket. “I’ve been carrying this around with me for weeks now. Didn’t feel right asking you to marry me first. I didn’t want you to think that I was only after the Rose.”

  “After all this time? I wouldn’t think that.”

  “I know. But others might. This ring belonged to my grandmother. I’m sure Sully would have wanted you to have it. I love you, Charlie Walker. More than I ever thought I could love anyone or anything. Marry me. Let’s make it official.”

  Her eyes welled with tears. Happy tears this time. “Yes! I love you, too. Yes, yes, yes!”

  He stood and slid the gorgeous oval-shaped engagement ring on her ring finger. The folks lining the parade route cheered. Her family surrounded them, offering congratulations and hugs. They were going to make it official, which meant she’d become a Holiday. And she’d finally be able to keep her word to Sully that the Rose would stay in the Holiday family after all.

  “Can we go somewhere far away for the honeymoon? Maybe somewhere you’ve never even been?”

  His eyebrows rose. “You sure about that?”

  “Yep. This will always be home, but I want to see the world. It’s time for me to stretch my wings a little bit.”

  “Hmm, Bali maybe. Or Thailand. We’ll have to give this some thought.”

  Charlie laughed at the serious look on his face. “Surprise me, Manhattan.”

  She’d never have guessed this would be how it would work out. For her, it was a win-win-win. She’d gotten the Rose, she’d gotten the guy, and she’d kept her promise. They locked lips, putting on quite a show for the spectators lining the parade route.

  Until a squeal and a shriek from somewhere in the crowd broke them apart.

  Charlie looked down where Beck’s foot rested on the hay bale, no leash in sight. “Where’s Pork Chop?”

  Beck glanced to the right. “She was here a second ago.”

  Like mother, like daughter. Charlie caught sight of the pig’s tail end disappearing behind the line of chairs on the curb. “We’ve got a runaway, and it’s your turn.”

  Beck hopped off the float and went after the pig. Charlie cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled after him. “Better catch her be
fore she finds Mrs. Martinez’s garden.”

  The float began to move again, and she looked out over the main street in town. She had a business and a fiancé and was surrounded by friends, family, and more love than she knew what to do with. It didn’t seem fair for one country girl to be blessed with so much. But she was going to hold on and enjoy it. Even if she did still need to train Beck on proper pig management.

  They had time.

  A lifetime.

  Order Dylann Crush’s next book

  in the Holiday, Texas series

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  Keep reading for a sneak peek of the next book in Dylann Crush’s Holiday, Texas series

  Chapter One

  Jinx Jacobs glanced at the custom-rigged cuckoo clock behind the bar of the cheesy North Hollywood biker club she’d been working at for the past six months. At any moment, an engine would rev, and a Hulk Hogan action figure decked out in pleather would roll out on a miniature Harley, marking the half hour. Her boss thought the clock was classy. She thought it looked like an overgrown child’s failed mixed media art project.

  Yep, there it went. She had fifteen minutes before her boss/very-ex-boyfriend would strut in. Hooking up with Wade hadn’t seemed like such a big deal when she’d taken the job. But over the past six months, his true colors had shone through. She couldn’t afford to be around when he discovered she’d taken the back pay he owed her from the till.

  “Whatcha doin’, sweets?” Geri, the gussied-up, full-time waitress who should have turned in her red leather mini about thirty years ago leaned her hip against the bar.

  “I’m done. Can’t take it anymore.” Jinx carefully counted the cash, not wanting to take a dime more than her fair share. She’d never taken from the register before, but Wade had strung her along for too long.

  Geri pulled a compact out of her short apron and lined her lips in her signature fuchsia. “Wade know you’re heading out?”

  Jinx grabbed her arm, causing the bright line to swerve across Geri’s cheek. “No. Please don’t tell him, okay?”

  “He’s not that stupid, hon.” Geri wet her finger with her tongue and rubbed at the pink mark. “Thousand bucks or more gone from the till? Even Wade could figure that out. Don’t take a genius to put two and two together. And we all know, Wade ain’t no freaking genius!”

  “Think you can buy me some time?” Although Jinx hesitated to call her a friend, Geri had been her only ally in this hellhole.

  “I’ll see what I can do. He’s gonna be pissed though. They got that Halloween costume contest coming up, and now he’ll be short a bartender.”

  Jinx wrapped a rubber band around the cash and stuffed the wad of bills into her bag. “It’s his own fault. You know he’s dealing drugs out of here. I can’t be involved in that—and you shouldn’t be either.”

  Geri shrugged. “The pay’s good. Wade’s always been fair with me.”

  “You can’t keep buying those gift cards for him. He’s using them to pay off the guys running drugs. He thinks he’s covering his trail, but someday, someone’s going to catch onto him. I don’t want you to get caught up in that.”

  “Where else am I gonna go?” The older woman crossed her arms under her chest, dragging her low-cut tank even lower.

  For half a heartbeat, Jinx thought about suggesting they take off together. But there wasn’t enough room for both of them on her bike, and there was no way she was leaving that behind. The 1953 Indian Chief Roadmaster was the only thing she had left from her dad.

  Jinx slung an arm around Geri’s neck, wrapping her in a half hug. “Just take care, okay? You’ve got my new number if you need to call me.”

  Geri nodded, wiping a tear away from her electric-blue lined eyes. “Be careful, Jinx.”

  “Promise me you won’t give him my number.”

  “Sure, kid.”

  Jinx slipped a few bills from the stack of cash and handed them over to Geri. “For the cats.”

  That small gesture opened up the waterworks, and Geri dissolved into a puddle of tears. The woman might look like she got stuck in the 1960s, but she had a heart as sweet as honey and ran an unlicensed cat rescue out of her two-bedroom mobile home in Kagel Canyon.

  “Get outta here before he gets back.” Geri nudged her with her shoulder. “Take care of yourself. Hendrix too.”

  “I will.” Jinx bent down to scoop up her tiny traveling companion. Taking a Chihuahua on a cross-country motorcycle trip probably wouldn’t end up being one of her wisest decisions, but she couldn’t leave the little guy here. He’d been with her for three years now, by far the longest relationship she’d ever been able to—or wanted to—maintain.

  She slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder and pushed through the door to the gravel parking lot. The door slammed closed behind her, causing the giant Z in the BEER & GEERZ sign to come loose and swing down like a sickle, missing the top of her head by a mere few inches.

  The sunshine-yellow paint job on her bike sparkled in the bright California sun. She wrapped Hendrix in a baby blanket and tucked him into the pricey dog carrier she’d attached to the rear of her bike. After securing the rest of her stuff in the saddlebag, she straddled the seat. Her fingers shook as she buckled the helmet under her chin and slid her shades in place.

  She hadn’t driven the vintage motorcycle more than a couple hundred miles in the past two years. With any luck, it would hold together until she made it to New Orleans, where her friend Jamie had promised her a high-paying bartending job. She could save up some cash and eventually see about turning her artwork into some sort of money-making opportunity.

  But even if her bike crapped out on her along the way, she needed to head south. Wade had his hands in too many questionable activities along the West Coast. Wouldn’t be safe to go home to Seattle. The way she figured, the only place he wouldn’t be able to come after her would be Louisiana. Wade had told her once he had a warrant out for his arrest in his home state. She hoped that hadn’t been another one of his lies.

  With a last look at the desperate, run-down bar she’d considered a temporary home for the past several months, she revved the motor, let the tires spin on the dusty gravel, and accelerated onto the two-lane highway.

  * * *

  “But, Daddy, I want to be a unicorn.”

  Cash Walker ground his molars together and took a deep breath in through his nose. “Kenzie, honey, it’s getting late. We’ve still got a few stops to make before we head home.”

  The seven-year-old drama queen clamped her fists to her hips and narrowed her eyes. “I don’t wanna be a cowgirl for Halloween again. All I do is dress up in my regular clothes.”

  “That’s not true. Nana made you that suede vest with the fringe you wanted. She spent a lot of time on that costume. You don’t want to hurt her feelings, do you?” Trying to reason with his daughter once she made up her mind about something was more difficult than trying to talk sense into some of the repeat offenders he dealt with on a regular basis as the deputy sheriff of Conroe County. He made a move to grab her hand. She was faster, wrapping her arms around the sparkly unicorn costume hanging on the rack in front of her.

  “She didn’t make it new, Daddy. It’s the same one Ryder wore two years ago. It’s a boy costume. I want to be a unicorn, not a cowgirl this year.” Her lower lip stuck out in a pout.

  Glancing toward the filtered sunlight streaming through the suburban mall skylight, he counted to ten in his head. He should have known better than to bring Kenzie with him today. But when his mom found out he had to go into Austin, she’d asked him to stop by the mall and pick up a baby gift she’d put on hold for his sister’s shower.

  “Come on, Tadpole. Can’t you pick something else? Aunt Darby has lots of other choices.”

  “They’re all boy costumes, Daddy. A stormtrooper. A policeman. A
fireman. I want a girl costume this year.” She stroked the unicorn’s long, rainbow-colored mane. “Why can’t I dress up like a mommy like Aunt Charlie?”

  Over his dead body would his seven-year-old stick a pillow up her shirt and dress up like a pint-size pregnant woman for Halloween. Kenzie’s fascination with her aunt’s bulging belly bordered on obsessive. Sure, he was just as excited as the rest of the family that Charlie and Beck had tied the knot and were expecting the newest member of the family. But it also rubbed like a burr in his boot, seeing his baby sister get her happily ever after while he struggled to find his own way after Kenzie’s mom had abandoned them. Being a single dad had never been on his bucket list, although he wouldn’t trade his little tadpole for anything.

  As his mother never tired of telling him, maybe it was time for him to try again. Kenzie deserved the best. He knew one thing for sure—if he ever decided to go looking for a potential partner, he wouldn’t let himself get swept away like he had with his ex. He’d learned his lesson the hard way…love made a person blind. Any future relationship he went into would be with his eyes wide open.

  He put both hands on his daughter’s waist and hoisted her up over his head to sit on his shoulders. “We’ll talk about it when we get home. Now where’s that shop Nana wanted us to stop at?”

  Kenzie let out an exaggerated sigh. He bounced her up and down a few times with no reaction. Even at seven, she could hold a grudge longer than most grown men. Finally, he pulled out all the stops and tickled the underside of her knee. She kicked her hot-pink cowgirl boots against his chest and erupted into a fit of giggles.

  “You better hang on up there. Don’t want to fall off,” he warned.

  She grabbed a handful of his hair in each fist. “Walk faster, Daddy!”

  If he ended up with a receding hairline, he’d know who to blame. He stopped at the mall directory and figured out the store he needed was two floors up and on the opposite side of the mall. By the time they picked up the custom onesies his mom had ordered, his shoulders ached. He carried Kenzie out to the truck and waited as patiently as his type A personality would allow while she buckled herself into her booster. She’d always been bullheaded, but since she had started second grade this fall, she’d been especially independent.