Claiming the Cowboy for Christmas (The Hills of Texas Book 4)

by Kadie Scott

He was head over boots in love with a woman who, at best, saw him only as a once-upon-a-time childhood friend with benefits, or, at worst, as handy for scratching an itch.

  Hopeless.

  Jennings had spent most of his chores trying to figure out what in tarnation, if anything, he should do about it, because he couldn’t leave things in their current state. No way was he giving up, though.

  He pulled up the Hughes’ long gravel drive and parked next to Ashley’s car, then debated his next move. All the lights were still off, which meant no one was up yet. Five was a tad too early to be knocking on their door, although likely her dad would be getting up in the next half-hour or so. Still, he didn’t want to wake any others who might sleep later. Plus, he needed to talk to Ashley in private, before she said anything to her family.

  He glanced at the window over the porch roof—Ashley’s room—and rolled his eyes at the stupidity he was contemplating. “You’re a fool, Hill,” he muttered.

  Even so, he got out of the car, shivering at the cold that seeped into his bones. Using the route he’d memorized as a kid, Jennings shimmied up the oak tree which had a large branch that hung over the porch roof. Twice, his boots, slick from the dew on the ground, slipped.

  “Dang it,” he muttered, holding back worse expletives.

  He was pretty sure one elbow now sported a bloody scratch. Still, he managed to shimmy out over the branch, then swung down, lowering himself to the porch roof. Except, again, the dew was to blame when his boots slid on the shingles and he went down to his knees with a decently loud thump.

  Jennings froze and waited, watching the windows around him for someone to turn on a light and find him sneaking into Ashley’s room. Her dad was likely to pull a shotgun on him.

  What the heck was I thinking?

  But no lights went on. Jennings let out a long breath. He’d come this far. Very, very carefully, he made it up to Ashley’s room where he knocked softly on the window pane.

  No answer. No sounds of stirring from inside.

  He tried again.

  Nothing.

  Shaking his head, at himself, Jennings pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed. Why he hadn’t done that in the first dang place was anyone’s guess.

  “Jennings?” Ashley croaked in a sleep-rasped voice after the first ring.

  “Yeah. I’m outside your window. Let me in.”

  “You’re what?” He heard her squeak even through the glass panes.

  “Shhhhhh,” he hissed. “Let me in.”

  “Oh, my gosh. You’re crazy.”

  He wouldn’t debate the point.

  A shuffling noise came across, then the snick of the window lock being undone reached him. He hung up and stuffed the phone back into his pocket as she slid the window open.

  Ashley stuck her sleep tousled head out the window, grey eyes shooting sparks at him in the moonlight. “Jennings Hill, what on earth are you thinking?”

  At least she’d hiss-whispered the words.

  “It’s freezing out here, Hughes. Let me in.”

  She rolled her eyes, but backed away so he could crawl through her window. Only, halfway in, he managed to get a foot tangled up in the curtains. Balance thrown off, he swayed a moment before falling over, taking Ashley down with him. They landed in a heap on her bed with her beneath him.

  With a muttered expletive, he leaned back, then had to contain a chuckle at her disgruntled expression. They both sobered, staring at each other in her darkened room, the moonlight streaming in through the window their only source of light.

  Damn, she was gorgeous. Trapped by her grey eyes, wide and wary, he lowered his head until he brushed his lips across hers. Then he groaned when she didn’t protest and tangled his hands in her hair as he deepened the kiss. Every thought of discussion and his previous anger faded as his brain short-circuited and his body took over. She felt so good in his arms, so right.

  Still, sanity had to intrude eventually. He gave her one last hard kiss, then lifted his head, smiling at her flushed face and dazed gaze. “Hi,” he murmured.

  Suddenly her gaze snapped, lips flattened. “Seriously?” She shoved him in the chest with both hands.

  Somehow, they managed to untwist themselves until they sat on the bed facing each other. She looked incredible, all sleepy and irritated and well kissed at the same time.

  Don’t be getting any thoughts. But he just couldn’t seem to help it.

  *

  Discombobulated was a word Ashley always considered rather goofy. Who would ever use it in real life, right? But now, the term totally described her. She stared at Jennings, irritation and hope and total confusion twisting all up inside her, doing her best impersonation of a fish on dry land, her mouth opening and closing on words that just wouldn’t come out.

  He was dressed in work jeans and a button down with a thick coat that somehow emphasized his broad shoulders, and suddenly she craved him all over again.

  “Hi,” Jennings said again. The low tones of his voice skittered down her spine.

  Heck, she was in for a world of trouble. One word and she turned to jelly, nerves fluttering throughout her body. Only, no, she shouldn’t be excited, because she’d only succeeded in ruining things last night all over again. But, despite that, he’d shown up. Even climbed through her window, sneaking into her house to speak to her.

  What did that mean? And why was hope running through her like a marathoner hopped up on endorphins?

  Say something, dummy. Her brain finally waded through the back and forth debate enough to kick in.

  “Hi,” she squeaked.

  “So…” He searched her face with an intensity that had her heart pounding in response. One arm on the headboard behind her, caging her in, he leaned closer. Was he going to kiss her? Every cell in her body pleaded for him to lay his lips over hers.

  “Want to start over?”

  Ashley came down from anticipation with an almighty thump, even as relief poured through her. Did he regret that stupid argument as much as she did?

  The giddy sensation in her stomach said she sure as hell hoped so. “You’re not here just to mess with me?” The thought had crossed her mind. The move was something he might’ve tried in the past.

  Jennings’s easy grin flashed. “I’m done playing games with you.”

  “Oh.” She winced at the lame comeback, but what else did a girl say to a comment like that?

  “Tell me why it’s so important to fool everyone into thinking we’re dating.” He shrugged out of his jacket, laying it across the headboard.

  That was what he wanted to talk about? Ashley scrunched up her face. She hadn’t explained much before other than telling him she just didn’t want people speculating.

  “I told you…”

  He shook his head. “Now give me the real reason, and we’ll go from there.”

  Ashley sighed. How to even begin? “Based on the way both Taylor and Eric have been acting, I realized they’re still worried about my being unhappy about her marrying Eric.”

  He listened quietly and didn’t say anything to that—not even a snide remark—so she twisted her hands up in her lap and kept going. “I’ve told her a thousand times, I’m happy for them, and the field was clear for her. But I think she’d find it easier to believe if I…”

  “If you’re involved with someone else.”

  She winced at the grim undertones to his words, the way his jaw hardened. “Yes.”

  “Please tell me you didn’t sleep with me just to make your sister feel better. I already agreed to fake the boyfriend thing.” He vibrated with tension the same way a bucking bronco did before being let out of the chute.

  Denial had her reaching for his arm, strong and warm under her fingertips. “No!”

  He grimaced and held a finger to his lips.

  They glanced at the door, waiting and listening. When nothing happened, she turned back to him. “No,” she repeated in a lowered voice. “Sleeping with you just…happened.” Hone
sty insisted she amend that. “I mean, I obviously suspected the issue with Taylor and Eric, or I wouldn’t have asked you to help me. But it didn’t factor into…last night.”

  He didn’t move a muscle, not even a twitch. Simply sat there and studied her face, his expression unrelenting. “Let’s say I believe you. What was your plan this morning?”

  She sighed. “I was going to tell them we had a fight. That you misunderstood me and we ended things.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Did I misunderstand you? When you left?”

  Her breath locked up in her throat. “I’m not in love with Eric.” No give from the man in front of her. “And I wasn’t using you. I just…”

  Ashley trailed off, biting her lip. Admitting more was not an option, because her emotions where Jennings was concerned were still a jumbled up, confused mess.

  Jennings ran a hand over his face, weariness shadowing the gesture. “I’m not sure I believe you. About your feelings for Eric.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you were with him for years and followed him around like a puppy dog. Then you ran away to lick your wounds after you broke it off.”

  “That was true two years ago. Maybe. Even before then I’d started to have doubts, if I’m frank. Either way, it’s certainly not true anymore.”

  He lowered his hand, disbelief patent in the questioningly lifted eyebrow. “Yeah? What changed?”

  Ashley flopped back against the pillows, spent and tired of trying to convince people. “You’re not going to believe me anyway.”

  “I promise to try.”

  That was new. She glanced his way to find him watching her, an earnest expression in eyes shadowed in her dark room.

  The discovery that she wanted Jennings to believe her, to know the truth, settled as easily as a butterfly landing on her finger. Maybe she’d always wanted him to try. “I realized I’m as happy on my own in Dallas as I was at any point in my relationship with Eric. I didn’t miss him so much as I didn’t want to deal with the dating scene. I also missed working on the ranch and being with my family. I waited to see if I felt…more. Felt anything other than friendship.” She twitched a shoulder. “I don’t. I think I was comfortable with him after such a long time together, but my heart wasn’t in it. Not like Taylor. The way they look at each other—”

  Suddenly a mental image of Jennings looking at her that way—as if he couldn’t imagine his life without her in it, as if she made his day better purely by being part of it—popped into her head and settled in her heart. Except, after the way she’d treated him, he’d never look at her that way, and she might have to be careful not to look at him that way, the way she was headed. A crazy thought, totally out of her reach.

  He deserved better. More.

  He looked at her long and hard, but she didn’t flinch, holding his gaze.

  “What do you want to do now?” he asked.

  She sighed and stood up. “I guess it’s time to go confess things to Taylor.”

  He stood too, and she had the strangest urge to wrap around him and be surrounded by him in a hug, lay her head against his chest and listen to his steady heartbeat.

  “Or I could still help you out,” he suggested.

  She was halfway through planning her explanation to Taylor as his offer sank in. She blinked up at him. “What do you mean?”

  He shrugged. “I agreed to play along, and I’ll still do it. Be your date to the wedding. Appear suitably smitten. As you said, after Christmas, you go back to Dallas. I don’t mind pretending a while after the holidays if that helps, and then you can break things off. If you want.”

  Ashley opened and closed her mouth, reprising her earlier gasping fish act. “Why would you do that?”

  He flashed his cockiest grin. “Because I’m a nice guy. You just never noticed, Hughes.”

  She pursed her lips. Was that really it? He was being nice?

  He crossed his arms as he waited for her answer. After another few minutes of silence on her part and amused watchfulness on his, he made a show of checking his watch. “Hughes, the DMV doesn’t take this long. What do you say?”

  Could she do this? Fool her family with a guy she’d thought hated her? A guy she’d slept with only last night? A guy who still lit her body up like a string of mismatched Christmas lights when she was anywhere near him? She pushed that bit aside and instead focused on how bubbly and happy Taylor had been since Jennings had entered the picture. Could she do this?

  A knock at her door had Ashley jumping.

  “Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey,” Taylor sang through the door.

  Ashley spun back to Jennings, eyes wide. “You have to get out of here or my father will have a fit.”

  Amusement tipped his lips up in a quirk. “Answer quick, Hughes.”

  “Ash? Did you say something?” Taylor called out.

  She glanced over her shoulder and back up at him. “Okay.”

  Before she could blink, he reached out and yanked her body against his, bringing his lips down on hers. Ashley melted into him instantly, opening her mouth to his kiss as desire, which had been waiting in the wings since he showed up, slammed through her at his taste, his touch, the warmth of his body against hers, all now familiar and yet beautifully new.

  And distracting.

  She didn’t notice the click of the door followed by a soft gasp.

  “Ashley Hughes.” Taylor hissed as she closed the door behind her.

  With seeming reluctance, Jennings pulled back, and Ashley blinked dazedly, her body still all tingly after what actually amounted to a brief kiss. She followed Jennings’s lead as he turned to glance at Taylor, who stood there grinning.

  “You’re in so much trouble if Dad catches you.” Taylor chuckled even as she said it, obviously not hugely concerned about that trouble.

  “I’m leaving. I’m leaving.” Jennings, his arm still wrapped around Ashley’s waist, pulled her in and kissed the tip of her nose.

  Before she could say or do anything, he was already scurrying out the window. She followed, her bottom lip caught between her teeth as she watched him slip a bit on the roof before he used the tree they’d played on as kids and shimmied out of sight.

  “Okay, young lady, start talking,” Taylor demanded behind her.

  “I’m older than you,” Ashley murmured.

  Silence greeted the comment. She slowly turned to face Taylor, who stood tapping her toe but still grinning like a nut.

  Ashley groaned. Instead of answering, she flopped back on her bed, shoving her head under her pillow.

  Taylor plopped down beside her and shook her by the shoulder. “No way are you getting out of this.”

  “Go away,” she grumbled, her voice muffled by the pillow.

  “No way. I want to hear all about what happened at Jennings Hill’s last night…and this morning.”

  Ashley remained under her pillow, only now she was hiding. What had happened last night? Everything. Nothing. She still needed to process the latest swing in the relationship. Rollercoasters got less play than her life.

  “Come on,” Taylor wheedled, flipping the pillow to the floor and dragging the covers back. She smacked Ashley’s butt. “Talk.”

  Ashley flipped to her back and flung an arm over her eyes. “Later.”

  “So, you’re still exhausted after a bout of blow-your-mind sex with Hottie Hill? I can understand that.”

  Despite needing to hype up the relationship for show, Ashley found herself reluctant to go into it, reluctant to lie about something that was feeling way too real. How to get out of discussing this in any way, shape, or…oh, the hell with it. Before Eric and Taylor, Ashley would’ve told her sister everything. If she were honest with herself, she’d missed their closeness this last few years. Would it be so bad, telling her parts?

  With a long-suffering sigh, Ashley scooted up in the bed and flipped on her lamp, blinking at the bright light. She held out a hand for her pillow, which Taylor handed over, and got it situated behin
d her back. “Great sex might be part of why I’m exhausted, but we didn’t do it here.”

  Taylor hopped about on the bed, jiggling Ashley around. “I knew it was headed there! I mean, I know you two had that falling out years ago, but the sparks.” Taylor whistled. “I’m thrilled you finally found happiness with the right guy.”

  Except she hadn’t. Not really. Ashley closed her mouth and let her sister keep going.

  Taylor took her hand, gripping it hard. “I’ve been feeling so guilty. Stupid, I know, especially after we talked. I mean, I know you don’t love Eric anymore. But I want you to be as happy as we are, and this whole wedding thing with you unhappy…”

  Ashley reached out to grip Taylor’s arm and stopped her right there. “I haven’t been unhappy.”

  Taylor cocked her head, a you-can’t-fool-me glint in her eyes. “Of course, you have. I’m your sister. You think I didn’t know? You don’t like Dallas. I know you stayed away to give me and Eric a chance, time to figure things out, and I’m beyond grateful—”

  Ashley shook her head. “I love my job.”

  Taylor crawled over and snuggled into her. “You want to work on a ranch. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”

  Had she been that obvious? She didn’t remember saying the words out loud until she had expressed them to Jennings the other day.

  Ashley’s cell phone, which she’d dropped on her bed after Jennings’s wake up call, buzzed indicating an incoming text. She picked it up to check.

  “Looks like I’m joining you for breakfast.”

  She scrunched up her face. What the heck? “Just go home.”

  “Can’t. Your Dad just walked out of the barn while I was getting in my truck.”

  “Oh my gosh. Dad just caught Jennings,” Ashley said.

  Taylor’s eyes went wide. “I didn’t hear the shotgun. That’s a good sign.”

  Ashley typed at her phone. “What did you tell him?”

  “That we had a fight and I came over to apologize.”

  Quick thinking, using their real fight as a reason. “Done this before, huh?”

  “No, smart aleck. He had to finish some chores. Said to ring the doorbell.”

  As soon as that text came through, the doorbell chimed downstairs. Ashley and Taylor looked at each other with wide eyes.