Come Closer, Cowboy

by Debbi Rawlins

  Naturally he’d tried her cell but she hadn’t answered, and damned if that hadn’t pushed all kinds of buttons.

  A bunch of trucks and cars lined the street and he had to park four blocks away but it was probably for the best. There was so much crap going on in his head that a walk might help. Some of his anger still lingered but he hadn’t given up hope.

  He’d done a lot of thinking about him staying and why he hadn’t told her yet. And yeah, he still deserved an explanation regarding her disappearing act. But Gunner had figured they would take a couple days to cool off, then have a frank conversation. Work out whatever they needed to.

  Yesterday, he’d been optimistic enough to have told Ben they had a deal and then, while Mallory had met with the electrician, Gunner had dashed to the bank and had some good-faith money wired. Ben had said it was completely unnecessary, but Gunner figured the cash deposit on their new partnership could be used to get some improvements under way.

  If it had turned out Gunner still had to prove he was the man she needed, he’d decided he was willing to do that. Right now, he wasn’t sure how he felt.

  Jesus, there were a lot of people swarming outside the Full Moon. Some were wearing bathrobes, but most of the folks were in work clothes and hauling charred pieces of wood out of the bar and loading them onto trucks.

  As he got closer he realized they were the tables and chairs Mallory had from Coop. His insides tightened. They weren’t worth much, but she had a sentimental streak when it came to the few things her father had passed on to her.

  A guy he vaguely recognized from the other night stopped to shift his hold on a chair. “Don’t worry, Gunner. We got lots of folks pitching in. We’ll have Mallory back in business in no time.”

  Gunner managed a small nod. Most of these people barely knew her. She hadn’t been here long enough. But that hadn’t stopped them from rallying to her rescue. He scanned the crowd and saw two women carrying trays of muffins and doughnuts that they set on a folding table next to pots of coffee. He hadn’t spotted Mallory yet so he moved to the door.

  She was leaning against the bar, her hair a wild mess around her pale face. Mostly she kept her head down, nodding at something the man with his arm around her was saying. Gunner recognized him right away. Mike. The guy from that first night. Whatever he was whispering to Mallory brought some color to her cheeks and a small smile to her lips.

  Gunner doubted he had a single goddamn thing to say that would comfort her—unless him returning to California made her day.

  But that’s not what he’d decided he was going to do. He wanted to fight for her. Fight for her trust. For her love.

  Brady, the guy who’d helped with Fanny, stopped to give Mallory a reassuring pat on her back. She gave him a smile that would melt any man’s heart. Other men Gunner had seen at the bar, and some he hadn’t, were giving her words of encouragement or reassuring nods as they worked to clean up the debris.

  While he stood back, waiting, watching, twisted up with indecision, he heard two women talking about how Mallory had pledged money from her beer sales to Kyle Higgins’s medical care. And wasn’t that nice of her, Mallory being a newcomer and all?

  Gunner remembered the collection jar she’d placed on the bar. Whether or not it was common practice for businesses to collect donations, it hadn’t surprised him that Mallory had chipped in, then gone the extra mile. She was a good person with a kind heart, despite being born to two selfish jerks who hadn’t given a shit about her.

  In a short time she’d become a part of the community. Not because she’d gone out of her way to be accepted. Blackfoot Falls had welcomed her because of the type of person she was, pure and simple. She fit in here.

  And he didn’t.

  For most of his life Gunner had felt as if he was standing on the outside looking in. Even after he’d become a stuntman and joined the Association and the union. He’d gotten along okay with most everyone, but a distance had always existed between him and them. He’d remained an outsider. But he’d never felt that way with Mallory.

  Not until right now.

  She had all the help and comfort she needed. Deserved. What the hell did he have to offer her? It was pretty damn clear she didn’t need him. In fact, she would be better off without him.

  In the middle of talking to a young man wearing a T-shirt that read Fire and Rescue, she reached into her pocket. When she brought out her cell and answered a call, Gunner’s heart took the final plunge to the pit of his stomach.

  He’d been clinging to a shred of hope that she’d misplaced her phone in the confusion and that’s why she hadn’t answered his calls. Now he knew better.

  He stepped back, knowing she hadn’t seen him. He was wrong about not having anything to offer. She wanted two things he could provide. First he had to stop at the bank and pick up the money he’d had wired. Then he’d head back to LA, just as she’d asked him to do.

  If he’d been thinking rationally, he would’ve remembered that she’d run away from him. Mallory had never wanted him here in the first place.

  * * *

  IT WAS JUST past 10:00 when Gunner finished writing the second note. The first had been an apology to Ben. Hell, he hoped his friend would understand. The second note, though, had been much harder to write. The wadded-up balls of paper around him testified to that. This version, though? He’d taken out all the angry stuff. Just told her that he hoped the money would help her fix the bar and that he’d miss her. He’d signed it with a plain goodbye.

  Ben had left to deliver horses and wouldn’t be back until evening. That was perfect. Gunner had time to make a clean getaway. After one last look around the guest room, he grabbed his duffel bag and went to the kitchen. It didn’t take but a minute to leave the envelopes and the sticky note instructions on the cherry table and head out to his truck.

  His heart hadn’t merely sunk to his stomach back in town. He’d left it there on the sidewalk, battered and broken. This whole thing was on him. He’d known better than to get attached. Than to think he could be a man Mallory could count on.

  Even so it took a lot more than a minute for him to turn the key. But in the end, he did.

  * * *

  A GIRL WHO worked at the coffee shop had shoved a fresh coffee at Mallory, which she’d taken, although she’d been trembling from head to toe. Everything about the morning felt surreal. All these people who’d come to help? She barely knew them. Some she’d never seen before. She was grateful beyond words, but she was also in shock. Not just about the fire or her neighbors. Gunner hadn’t shown up. She’d thought for sure—

  “Hey, kiddo. How you holding up?”

  She turned at Ben’s voice behind her. “I’m here,” she said, her voice gruff from more than smoke and no sleep. “I thought you were gone for the day.”

  “I came back as soon as Grace got ahold of me.” He stood beside her, watching people hustle in and out of the bar.

  “You shouldn’t have. There’s nothing you can do.”

  “Come on,” he said, squeezing her shoulder. “You think I could’ve stayed away?”

  Why not? Gunner had no problem avoiding her. So they hadn’t parted on good terms last night. She never would’ve dreamed he’d let that get in the way considering what had happened to the bar.

  “They won’t let me help.” She saw the envelope in his hand and a bad feeling crept over her.

  “They’re good folks,” he said, nodding slowly. “Come over here
with me for a minute.” He took her arm and steered them to a more private spot by the new bakery.

  Mallory knew it was going to be bad. Knew it in every cell of her being. She was amazed her legs were holding up.

  “He wanted me to give you this,” Ben said, passing her the thick envelope.

  She took it, the heft of it making her curious. But the bad feeling persisted. Her hands trembled so hard Ben had to open the envelope for her. It was filled with cash. “What the hell?”

  Ben blew out a breath. “Should be about fifteen grand there. A deposit for his share of the ranch. He probably figured you’d tear up a check.”

  She bit down on her lip. “Where is he?” she asked, though she was certain she knew.

  “Gone.”

  Already knowing didn’t help at all. Turned out she still had a few more tears left inside her.

  “Listen, it’s none of my business, but Gunner, he wanted to tell you about staying.”

  A flare of anger set her off. “So basically, everyone knew that but me.”

  “He only decided yesterday.” Ben paused. Indecision darkened his eyes. “He had a reason he didn’t tell you.”

  Something in those words made Mallory’s heart change rhythm.

  “He was worried.”

  “About what?”

  Ben looked at his boots. “That he wasn’t good enough for you. That you didn’t feel you could count on him.”

  It was like being hit by a truck. Mallory’s whole body cringed. “Why? How could he possibly think that?”

  She hadn’t realized how loud her voice had gotten until Grace moved in and put a hand on her shoulder. “For what it’s worth, Gunner was here earlier.”

  “Here?” Mallory asked. “This morning?”

  Grace nodded. “He was standing at the door when I was trying to get the crowd to give the workers some room. I figured he’d work his way to you eventually but when I looked again, he’d disappeared.”

  “I didn’t see him.” Mallory stared at her phone. “I wondered why he hadn’t called...” She checked and saw that he had... No messages, though. “There was so much noise and confusion—”

  “He probably didn’t count on Ben coming back this early and finding the notes,” Grace said.

  Mallory just stared at her, trying to make sense of things. “How long ago did he leave?”

  “I’m guessing about an hour, maybe less.”

  Mallory sighed. It might as well have been a week. She doubted she was even capable of driving.

  “You know, I’ve got a siren and a fast truck,” Grace whispered. “If you want, I bet we can catch him.”

  Hope ran through Mallory like sweet water. “I want,” she said, and nothing had ever been truer.

  Grace started for her truck, and Mallory practically ran to the passenger side and got in. That’s when she looked past the money to the note Gunner had left her. By the time they were on the highway, the siren parting the sparse traffic like the Red Sea, Mallory had used up all of Grace’s tissues, and started wiping her eyes with the bottom of her shirt.

  * * *

  “REALLY?” GUNNER COULDN’T believe he was being pulled over. Today of all days. He just reached over to the glove box and pulled out his registration as he opened his window. When he looked up again, Mallory was standing next to his truck, her hands on her hips, her eyes bloodshot.

  “Come on out of there,” she said.

  He looked in the rearview to see Grace standing by her vehicle. So it must not have been a hallucination. He stepped out of the truck, pulling Mallory to the side, away from the highway. “What are you doing?”

  “Give me the keys, Gunner.”

  “Why?”

  “Just do it.”

  He sighed, reached in and grabbed the keys from the ignition, only to have Mallory toss them over to Grace, who made a great catch.

  “You got the handcuffs ready if he gives me a hard time?”

  Grace held them up, the sun glinting off her aviator sunglasses.

  Rubbing his tired eyes, he sighed again. What the hell went wrong? Grace must’ve gotten to the envelopes first. He hadn’t anticipated that.

  “You are so stupid, Gunner.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  “Okay,” Mallory said. “I love you. Though you should already know that, too.”

  He wasn’t at all prepared for her to grab him by his shirt and pull him into a kiss. And it was one hell of a kiss. He felt it all the way to the worry that had tied his gut in knots, to his hands that pulled her into his arms. To his heart, which was beating with a joy he could barely contain.

  When she broke the kiss, it was only to meet his gaze with a glare. “Why would you run off like this? I’m so pissed at you. You leave me a wad of cash and take off? What’s wrong with you?”

  “Too many things to count,” he said, “but—”

  “Don’t say it. Don’t you dare say it. You’re the best man, the most wonderful man I’ve ever met. I will not let you break my heart. Do you hear me?” She gulped in a breath. “And dammit, I know you love me, too. And if you ever, ever make a comment about not being good enough, I’ll... I’ll...love you harder. As hard as I have to. Understand?”

  He nodded as he pulled her tight. This time, he kissed her. With all the mush he could muster. People were honking their horns, but he ignored everyone and everything around them.

  Finally he pulled back to look into her eyes. “I do love you, sweetheart. I have for a while, even when I didn’t know what love really meant.”

  The tender way she was looking back at him brought a lump to his throat.

  “I have one request,” she said, holding his gaze.

  “Anything.”

  “If you ever start getting restless or decide that living in Blackfoot Falls isn’t what you want, you have to tell me. No holding back.”

  It was an easy answer. “I give you my word,” he said, touching her cheek. “When I came back from Argentina and you weren’t there...” Remembering, he drew in a deep breath. “I never want to feel that void again. I don’t care where I live or what I’m doing as long as I’m with you.”

  Her smile filled any tiny empty places left in his heart. But as he leaned in to steal another kiss he realized the Blackfoot Falls sheriff’s truck was gone. “Did Grace take off with my keys?”

  Mallory turned and laughed. “She’ll figure it out and come back at some point.”

  “Well,” Gunner said, “as long as we’ve got the time, you want to get inside the truck and make out?”

  Mallory sighed. “That’s a perfect idea,” she said and they started kissing again, before he could get the door open.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from BIG SKY SEDUCTION by Daire St. Denis.

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  Big Sky Seduction

  by Daire St. Denis

  1

  OH, DEAR GOD...

  Gloria’s vision narrowed, like the shutter of a camera in ultra slow motion, closing in smaller and smaller. Her chest ached as if an elephant was sitting on her and a knot the size of a fist formed in her stomach.

  No.

  Not here.

  Not now.

  Carefully, she lifted the big, rough hand from her hip and rolled, or tried to, but her legs were stuck—entwined—between two large, tree-trunk-sized limbs.

  “Mmm.” A hand slid around her waist and snuggled her even closer to that massive chest at her back. So close, she could feel the sound of contentment rumbling against her shoulder blade, the kind of sound a big, well-fed cat of the king-of-the-jungle variety might make.

  With each wriggle she made in an attempt to break free, his ridiculously powerful arms held on tighter.