It took her more than a moment to realize that the flashing lights were actually the camera flashbulbs going off and not some further effect of Zeke’s kiss. When he finally gently ended the kiss and pulled away from her just far enough to make eye contact, she laughed a little shakily.
“That was...” Her voice trailed off. “More intense than I would’ve expected,” she finally finished.
Zeke’s smile was all male and more than a little protective. “It’s exactly what I would’ve expected. Except the real thing is much better than anything I could’ve imagined.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tor give Zeke a little wave and a grin and head back to Leta.
“I need to call my publicist,” Sophie finally said, her voice trembling.
Zeke took the phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Will you promise me one thing?”
“Probably,” Sophie hedged.
“One more dance tonight, no matter what your publicist says you should do.”
“I promise,” she smiled as she stepped back toward the window where they’d had their earlier conference with Tor.
Her hands shook as she prepared to dial Eileen’s number on Tor’s phone.
This day had begun with Zeke saving her from an actual fire. It looks like he was about to save her from a virtual one as well. And for all that she had told him that this is not a real date, Sophie was beginning to wish that it was something more than make-believe.
TEN MINUTES LATER, she ended the call. When she turned around, Zeke was standing by a table several feet away—far enough away so that he couldn’t overhear her conversation, but close enough to keep an eye on her—and holding a champagne flute out toward her.
He might be the most thoughtful man I’ve ever met.
She accepted the glass gratefully and took a long drink.
Much better than sweet tea.
And almost as heady as Zeke’s kiss.
The band struck up a slow song. “Dance?” he asked.
Sophie nodded and placed her hand in his. When they reached the dance floor, she moved into his arms as if she belonged there, and rested her head against his shoulder.
“So, what’s the verdict?” he asked after a moment.
“My publicist is pretty sure this whole plan is a disaster. She thinks it would be better if I stayed in Dallas overnight and joined the rest of the cast and crew tomorrow morning for filming—going back out to Tor’s ranch will only feed the rumors that he’s really the one I’m involved with.”
“Right. Because that’s much more plausible than hooking up with a no-count ranch hand.”
“Hey.” She stared into his eyes intently. “I never said anything like that. Eileen wants to protect me.” Her gaze dropped to the floor. “Besides, you said you wanted to help, too.”
“I do,” he said. “How do you want to do this?”
“Eileen’s already booked me a room here for the night.”
“So I just ... leave you here?”
The sense of devastation that washed through her at the words surprised her. “I guess so,” she said.
This was stupid. She’d just met the man that morning.
That’s what she told herself, anyway.
But she knew that she would like the chance to get to know him better. In the course of just one day, he had made her laugh more than she had in longer than she could remember.
Even now, he tried to cheer her up.
“Ah, hell,” he whispered into her hair. “If I go running back home after you dress me up and take me to the ball, does that make me Cinderella?”
“Only if you leave one of your cowboy boots behind for me to find you with,” she snickered.
He laughed with her. “Not likely. These things are hell to get off.”
“Good. I don’t want a stinky old boot, anyway.”
Pulling back far enough to frown at her indignantly, he said, in his snootiest tone, “These are my dress boots. They are not stinky.” He paused, his gaze on her face considering. “I really should have found a way to bring a work boot along. Now those can get pretty ripe.”
“Gee,” she replied dryly. “What a lovely gift idea. I think I’ll suggest it as a giveaway at our screening of this film.”
“You know, I didn’t even have a chance to ask you what the movie is about.” He twirled her around, spinning them across the dance floor.
“Oh,” she said, a little breathlessly, “the usual. Tough cowboy, pretty girl, evil bad guys. Some gunfights, few kisses.”
“A few stinky work boots,” Zeke added.
With that, he kissed her through the laughter one more time before leading her off the dance floor to say goodbye to Tor and Leta.
Chapter Eleven
The next morning, Sophie call down for coffee. She usually didn’t drink much caffeine, but the day before had been exhausting. The more she considered everything that it happened, from beginning to end, the stranger it seemed. Like a story that might’ve happened to someone else.
It was too unreal to be believed, she decided. And because of that, she was just going to pretend that there was nothing to it. It had been an entertaining interlude. Nothing more.
Nothing at all like a fairy tale.
So why can’t I quit thinking about that one cowboy and his magical kiss?
When room service arrived at her door, she pulled on the hotel bathrobe. Eileen was having clothing delivered in the next hour, along with a car and the driver to take her back out to Necessity. Milo had apparently followed through and arranged for the next film location to be prepped. They would be back on track by this afternoon as if nothing untoward had happened, though the production company and their insurance would be out quite a bit of money to repair the damage to The Chargrill.
Opening the door, she was surprised to see the room service waiter bringing in a cart with not only her coffee, but also a large platter with a silver warming dome on the tray. He wheeled in the little table and placed it near the desk.
“I don’t think that’s mine,” she said. “I only ordered coffee.”
“Yes, ma’am, it is yours. I’m sure of it.” He grinned in a way that almost made her nervous.
“As a general rule, I don’t accept deliveries that I have not ordered.” She made her voice is imposing she possibly could.
“I would be happy to open it for you,” the deliveryman said, his grin growing wider.
“Do you know what’s in it?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am, I do.” His eyes danced with mischief as, with a flourish, he lifted the round dome off the plate.
There, atop hotel china, sat a single, black cowboy boot.
Sophie burst into laughter.
“I have Cinderella’s boot,” she said aloud.
“There’s more, ma’am.” He pulled a note out from under the plate. Sophie took it, almost afraid to open it for fear of ruining the moment. When she finally managed to read it, the note had only one line and no signature:
I think Cinderella shouldn’t have played it so coy.
ZEKE STOOD JUST OUTSIDE the perimeter the film crew had erected around the old bank building in downtown Necessity.
He’d been waiting there for almost an hour.
Colton stood next to him. “You know, you could go in with me. I’m the Fire Marshal. They need me there. And I told him yesterday that you were my assistant. There’s nothing keeping us out.”
“Shut up, Colton.”
“You sure have gotten full of yourself since you started dating Sophie Daniels,” Colton muttered.
“It wasn’t a date.”
“Bullshit, man. I saw the pictures of that kiss. It’s all over the internet this morning.”
Zeke’s jaw clenched. “We are not dating.”
Yet.
“You know you look like an idiot with only one boot on, right?”
“Colton,” Zeke warned his friend, who just laughed cheerfully.
He’d felt like an idiot the
night before when he limped out to be picked up by Tor’s limo wearing only one boot and one sock. Tor and Leta had frowned and clearly wanted to ask questions but chose not to, a kindness that Zeke couldn’t decide if he appreciated or not.
Zeke continued to scan the street anxiously. This time, when a black car drove up, he felt his stomach tighten. The sight of Sophie’s waving chestnut hair blowing in the slight breeze as she got out of the car, however, calmed his nerves.
Now he’d find out if that beginning of the connection that he had felt with Sophie Daniels had been only in his mind, or if it was something they might explore together.
When Sophie turned around and saw him leaning against his truck, wearing only one black boot, a wide grin split her face.
Zeke barely heard Colton say, “I’ll be inside, man.” He was too busy watching Sophie duck the perimeter and make her way to him.
When she was close enough for him to hear her, she held up the boot and said, “I think this is yours.”
“That it is,” he replied, unable to hold back his own wide smile.
Without a word, she walked up close to him, set his boot on the hood of his pickup truck, wrapped her arms around him, and planted her lips on his.
When she came up for air, they were both gasping.
Glancing at the crowd of photographers who surrounded them, he said, “You do realize that now we’re going to have to work extra hard to convince my friends that we really are dating, right?”
“Oh, I don’t think they’ll be surprised,” she said. “You saved me—you’re my hero, Cinderella. Besides, we’ll be sure they get lots of pictures.”
Billionaire in Blue Jeans
Prologue
Behind the bar at Shooters Saloon, Sierra MacAllan mixed another gin and tonic for Henry Davis, the local butcher for the cattlemen, and drew a beer from the tap for his brother Thomas, one of the two barbers in Necessity, Texas.
One more night here and I’m done tending bar forever.
“All I’m saying is that Necessity’s getting too big for its britches. We got too many billionaires coming into town, buying up the land—building factories and dude ranches and the like. Next thing you know, we’ll have us a tourist industry.” Henry was half-drunk, but he wasn’t entirely wrong. In the last few months, several billionaires had bought properties in and around town.
It was why Sierra was about to be able to quit her extra jobs and work solely as a real estate agent. The commissions on those sales had set her up to concentrate on her favorite job.
“So we have a couple of new billionaires. Is that really a problem?” Sierra said from behind the bar.
“Plus the one we already had,” Thomas said.
“Y’all, I don’t think that’s entirely fair to Tor Edwards.” Sierra shook her head. “He’s been nothing but good to this town.”
“Yeah, he’s one of us,” Carly Manning, another regular, said. “He grew up here. It’s the outsiders coming in and buying up all the land that’s a problem. Like that one Jimmy caught you kissing, Sierra.”
Sierra blushed. She regretted that incident. She and Jimmy hadn’t been dating long, but she’d let Chad Parker, the latest billionaire in town, grab a kiss before he left the bar one night. Unfortunately, Jimmy had been walking in at that moment.
“Who else?” she asked, determined to change the subject from her ill-advised kiss.
“Well, there’s that movie star—Sophie Daniels.” Thomas nodded emphatically.
“She’s Zeke MacAllan’s girlfriend. She doesn’t count, either.” Sierra shook her head.
“Jerry Goodman.” All the bar’s patrons involved in the conversation murmured and nodded.
He really is a horrible person, Sierra admitted.
“It’s all your fault, Sierra.” Carly sounded more accusing than Sierra would have expected.
“My fault?”
“For selling them the land,” Henry said.
She held up both hands as if to ward them off. “No way. I’m a realtor. I’m supposed to sell land. I’m not taking responsibility for the billionaires buying it.”
“Yeah, like you don’t take responsibility for anything,” Carly muttered.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know what I’m talking about.”
It would be much better if everyone in Necessity didn’t know what she’d done to poor Jimmy. She’d never admit it aloud, but she still cried over losing him. He’d been a good guy.
Chad hadn’t, as it turned out.
She brushed aside the thought. “Anyway, Zeke’s my cousin. I couldn’t very well tell him I wasn’t going to sell the land to his girlfriend. Daddy would have had my hide if I did, and you know it.”
Still, she felt guilty.
Maybe there’s something I could do to make up for my part in bringing in too many billionaires to Necessity.
When she got home that night, she opened up her laptop and began typing in search terms.
How to change zoning laws in Texas.
How to prevent a land sale.
Petitioning local governments.
By the time she was done, she was yawning so hard her jaw cracked. But she had a file full of researched information to work with.
And better than that, she had a plan.
She might have to find another way to make a living before this was all over, but if she could win back the respect of the town, it would be worth it.
Chapter 1
The sun hung heavy in the sky that Sunday afternoon. As he made his way through the mostly empty downtown, Cash Crawford couldn’t remember the last time he had been through Texas.
He’d spent almost five years with Necessity,
nothing but his truck and a suitcase, travelling around for the next bit of work.
That was the life he was used to.
The life I always enjoyed.
Suddenly, though, he didn’t need to travel, didn’t need to find roustabout work in the oil fields. Every time he thought about it, his head reeled.
Guess it’s time to settle down somewhere. Necessity’s as good a place as any. And a sight better than some.
The past few months were a blur. The number of meetings he’d had to attend, all the contracts he needed to sign—they’d seemed never-ending.
What my company needs is a straightforward man, Uncle Jerry had written in his will, and of all my relatives, Cash is the only one who fits the bill.
It went on from there. Uncle Jerry’s other relatives hadn’t spoken to Cash since the reading of the will, either. Apparently they didn’t much like the implication that they were tricky. Or untrustworthy. Or any of the other less-than-kind terms Jerry had used to describe them.
Uncle Jerry had not been a lovable man. In fact, Cash was almost certain he’d never seen the man smile. At his open casket funeral, the body looked no different from when he was alive. The deep-set wrinkles still frowned and his mouth remained set in a stern line. The sad part was that nobody really came to the funeral. Sure, there were the odd businessmen and some extended family, but that was it. There were a lot of empty seats.
That was the life of a billionaire, Cash thought. All fun and games and luxuries and land—until one day, you turn up dead and nobody cares.
Don’t think like that, he admonished himself. After all, he wanted to be optimistic about his own future.
He spotted the first person he’d seen since he’d gotten to town—a thin boy sweeping the street. He pulled over and parked, stepping out of the truck in front of the boy.
“Good morning,” smiled Cash, as politely as he could.
“Hey,” replied the boy. He stopped sweeping, a deep frown taking over his face. “Do I know you?”
Cash shook his head. “I don’t think so. I’m new around here—but I was wondering if you could help me.”
A wide grin spread across the boy’s face. “Anything. What’s the problem?”
“I’m looking to buy a ranch. Could yo
u tell me where the nearest realtor’s office is? I thought there was one downtown.”
“That’s so funny! A ranch,” squealed the boy. He could barely contain his laughter. When Cash raised an eyebrow, the kid’s smile faded. “Oh, you’re serious?”
“Yes, actually,” said Cash.
Flustered, the boy dropped the rake to the ground and wrapped his arms around himself, offering the most innocent smile he could manage. “Sorry... It’s just...”
Cash waited, trying to keep his confusion from showing.
“You don’t look like one of those guys, you know,” whispered the boy.
“Sorry, I don’t—”
“Never mind,” declared the boy, his cheeks crimson. “Sorry, but the realtor’s office is closed on Sundays.”
“Right. Yes, of course.” Damn his short-sightedness.
“It’ll be open tomorrow—it’s the third door down.” He pointed to a door.
“I don’t suppose there’s anywhere to stay in town?”
“Not really. Not since Miss Mary Belle quit renting out rooms over her shop. But there’s a hotel up by the highway.”
Where the rooms were probably too expensive and smelled funny. Not that money was an issue anymore. Still, he’d rather have a tent, if he had his choice between the two.
“Thank you.” He tipped his hat to the boy and headed back to his truck. The he stopped, rubbing his hand over his eyes and glancing up and down the street.
“What about the closest place to get a drink?”
He pointed at the corner. “That’s around on the other side of the block. Shooters Saloon. You can’t miss it.”
SIERRA BARELY RECOGNIZED herself. All she was trying to do was brush her hair but once she really looked at her own reflection, she couldn’t break away.
Loving Necessity: The Complete Necessity, Texas Collection Page 23