Somebody Like You

by Lynnette Austin

  And the problem between them had nothing whatsoever to do with physical compatibility. They were totally in sync on that level. The man made her body sing.

  Emotionally, though, they were total opposites. Yin and yang.

  Her stay in Maverick Junction had taught her just how much she wanted someone to love, someone who loved her. A partner for life. Someone who would trust her. Whom she could trust back. They couldn’t quite seem to get there. Not enough for Cash to move beyond the caring and into loving. Not enough to want her by his side for life.

  As they turned into the airport, she said, “Drop us off at the curb, Cash. There’s no reason for you to park.”

  “I’ll help you with your luggage.”

  “A porter can do that. And Silas is with us.”

  “Okay.”

  He slid the SUV to the curb and hopped out, rounding the hood to open her door. But he didn’t take her hand to help her out. Silas helped Cornelia from the backseat, then moved to the rear to unload their luggage.

  “We need to talk, Annie.”

  “Cash—”

  “Silas,” Cash said. “Do you mind dealing with that and helping Nelly inside? I need a minute with Annie.”

  The two men exchanged looks.

  “You got it,” Silas said. “I’ll be right inside, Ms. Montjoy.”

  She nodded. When she turned back to Cash, his eyes searched her face.

  “Annie, I know you need to go home. I understand that.”

  He hesitated, and she saw uncertainty in his eyes. Cash, who always knew what to do, what to say, was at a loss. She wanted to touch him. Didn’t dare. She’d break into a thousand shards.

  “This is more than that, though, isn’t it?” he asked. “This is good-bye.”

  Unsure of her voice, she nodded.

  “Why?”

  “We’ve been through this. There’re a myriad of reasons. I need more. More than you want to give me. Thanks to you, I understand I deserve more. You taught me that.”

  “Annie, I—I care about you.”

  “I understand that, Cash. And even knowing that, I didn’t trust you when I should have. I knew deep-down you hadn’t made that video. And still, I accused you. I let us both down.”

  “Because I didn’t give you reason to trust. I’ll make it up to you.”

  Tears shimmered. “Oh, Cash.” Her voice broke. “I can’t do this.”

  “Don’t leave me, darlin’.”

  “I have to. I love you, Cash.” She saw the shock, the surprise. “I know you don’t love me back. I understand you can’t. I don’t understand why, but that doesn’t really matter, does it?”

  “I don’t want you to leave.”

  With a sad smile, she raised her hand, brushed it along his stubble-rough cheek. “Good-bye.”

  With that she turned. Self-preservation had her nearly running into the terminal. She made herself move forward; she didn’t dare look back. If he was still there, she’d go to him. Settle for whatever he could give her until he decided to move on.

  He’d made it more than clear, over and over, that he wasn’t ready to make a commitment. She couldn’t go on without one.

  *

  Half an hour later, the pilot gave Annelise a thumbs-up, and the engines roared to life. Within minutes, their private jet lifted into the air.

  Face pressed to the window, she watched the buildings grow smaller and smaller. Was he staring up at the sky, waiting till the plane disappeared from sight? Or had he turned the minute she left, eager to get back to the ranch, to his life?

  He’d think about her. She knew he would.

  And yet her cowboy hadn’t been able to pull the trigger. He couldn’t make promises. He’d said he cared for her. Not enough, because while she hadn’t been looking, she’d fallen head over heels in love with him, and she wanted to be loved right back. She refused to settle for less.

  His grandfather had sure botched things with that will and the Vivi fiasco.

  Cash couldn’t see beyond it. Couldn’t recognize love because all he could see were the chains of obligation.

  So, somehow, someway, she had to pick up the pieces and move on. Work around this gigantic hole he’d left in her heart.

  Annelise picked up her phone and called her grandfather. “We’re in the air, and we’ll be in Boston by noon.”

  “I’ll be right here waiting for you,” he groused.

  The confinement had been hard for him. Once Cornelia had been deemed a match, he’d had to go back to the hospital. Back to solitary confinement, as he put it. In order to receive his half sister’s marrow, his own had to be destroyed with chemotherapy and radiation treatments. They couldn’t mix the good with the bad.

  But that left him lacking an immune system and susceptible to any and all germs. So, his new home was in a sterile hospital room in the isolation wing.

  “I know this is hard for you.”

  “They’ve killed my white blood cells. If Cornelia doesn’t come through…”

  Annelise heard the fear in her grandfather’s voice.

  “She’s not going to change her mind, Grandpa. She’s right here with me. I’ll see you soon. Love you.”

  “Are you ready for lunch, Ms. Montjoy?” Hilda, their flight attendant, stood with a tray for her.

  Too worked up to be hungry, she declined lunch. “Why don’t you give mine to Silas? I’m sure he’ll be able to handle a second one.”

  Hilda set it beside him. “If you change your mind, I have cheese and fruit, chips, whatever you’d like.”

  “Thanks.” She sipped her coffee. “Do you need anything else, Nelly?”

  “Oh, no. This is wonderful. I’ve never flown on a private jet. I believe I could get quite used to it.”

  “I’m going to take a short nap if you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all. This has been a difficult morning for you.”

  Annelise closed her eyes. Difficult? Now there was an understatement.

  As badly as she was hurting, it was worse because she knew she’d hurt him, too. Ironically, Cash was the vulnerable one. So much more vulnerable than she. She’d learned to protect herself emotionally from a very young age. Early on, she’d blocked herself from the negatives the press threw her way, from the mind-boggling expectations that, in all honesty, were mostly self-imposed.

  Cash had never learned to do that. Hadn’t needed to.

  She imagined the whole YouTube mess had actually been harder on him than on her. And yet he’d handled it. For her.

  He’d taken care of her. A single tear dripped from her chin to her hand.

  Half-asleep, she let her mind drift. Remembered.

  Her first impression of Maverick Junction. A dusty little town with no soul. So wrong.

  Sally’s Place and that first long drink of iced tea.

  Cash walking through that door, his long, lean body creating a hunger the second she saw him.

  Big-hearted Dottie, in her pink outfit, welcoming her with milk and chocolate-chip cookies right out of the oven.

  The sun kissing her naked body as she and Cash lay together by the pond.

  Snuggled beside him under the stars at the drive-in, Staubach snoring in the backseat.

  Dancing with Cash in Dallas, his hard body pressed close to her own.

  Cash holding the young girl on the horse.

  Annelise drifted off to sleep, not waking till the wheels of the plane touched down.

  She was home.

  And she’d never felt more alone.

  *

  Cash banged the door shut behind him so hard that Staubach started barking. “It’s okay, boy.” He reached down and patted him.

  It had been three days since Annie’d left. He’d never been more miserable. He’d figured once she boarded that plane, he’d drive home and get on with his life.

  He’d miss her, sure, but he’d move on. Problem was, it wasn’t happening.

  He tried feeding himself a good dose of reality, telling himself th
at his and Annie’s lives had no common ground. She belonged to a family dynasty, for God’s sake. Annie—an oil baroness. Why would she even consider being with somebody like himself? A guy who worked hard every day, who enjoyed working hard every day.

  There was no way Annie’d ever marry him—if he asked her, of course. Big assumption there, that he was ready to tie himself down.

  Hell, even if she did agree to take him on, he couldn’t live her life. He didn’t want to even try. He couldn’t spend his life in suits and tuxes, always looking over his shoulder for the press, careful not to commit some major faux pas.

  And she sure as hell wasn’t about to give that up to live his ranch life in Maverick Junction. Nor could he ask her to.

  So there you go. He and Annie were over. And admitting that was like sticking a fork in his eye.

  A beer in one hand and a bag of chips in the other, he kicked back in his recliner. After a couple of long, cool drinks, he set his Lone Star on the end table and picked up the remote.

  He’d watch some TV. Maybe the Rangers were playing a little ball tonight.

  They weren’t.

  Cursing himself, calling himself every kind of fool, he clicked on his DVR.

  And there was Annie staring out at him.

  The press met her at the airport. The story had all the makings for good drama—her sick grandfather, the long lost relative, Annelise rushing home to his bedside with the answer to all their prayers.

  Why he’d recorded it, he hadn’t a clue. None that he’d ’fess up to, anyway, even to himself. Why he watched it every night, over and over, he couldn’t say.

  Or refused to.

  It grew dark outside, but Cash didn’t bother to turn on any lights. There was his Annie, all decked out in her designer duds, looking for all the world like the heiress she was. Like one of the fairy princesses in his niece’s storybooks.

  And damned if the Twitt wasn’t at the airport to greet her. The guy had more guts than brains. He knew he’d been found out, and he’d still showed up. Cash ground his teeth. When DeTwitt reached for Annie’s hand, she avoided it by digging into her purse as if searching for something. No doubt the two would have words later. Annie’d lay him out good.

  “Keep your hands to yourself, you lout,” Cash grumbled, “or I’m gonna have to cross the continent to punch out your lights.”

  “Speaking of lights.”

  His mother flipped on the overhead, and he blinked, swore.

  “Boy, for somebody who doesn’t care—”

  He jerked out of his chair. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “I figured as much.” She studied him. “You look like hell, son.”

  “I feel like it, too. How about that?”

  “Don’t bite off my head. It’s not me you’re mad at.”

  Hands jammed in his pockets, he said, “Okay. I’ll play. Who am I mad at?”

  “Yourself, of course.”

  His mother moved into the kitchen, and he trailed after her. As she started stacking dishes and loading them into the dishwasher, he said, “Mom, you don’t have to do that.”

  “No, I don’t. But I am your mother. I love you. And it’s about time we had a talk.”

  “A talk? About what?”

  “About that stupid old fool who fathered your father.”

  “You want to talk about Grandpa?”

  “Good.” She tipped her head at the bottle in his hand. “I see you haven’t had so many of those you can’t think.”

  “This is my first one.”

  “And it needs to be your last. You have a lot to do. Your dad and I will babysit Staubach. I’ll take him with me tonight.”

  Now he was totally confused. “Why does Staubach need a sitter?”

  He pulled out two chairs and dropped into one. “Quit fussing over there and come sit down. You’ve lost me. What does any of this have to do with Grandpa?”

  Then he narrowed his eyes. “Does Dad know you’re here?”

  “As a matter of fact, he does. I’m here with his blessings. He agrees with everything I’m going to say to you.”

  He shrugged and tipped back in his chair.

  “Leo never could stay out of anybody else’s business,” his mother said as she sat across from him. “Don’t get me wrong. I loved the man. He was like a second father to me. But we all know it was a mistake when he married Vivi and an even bigger one when he added that codicil to his will. He wasn’t thinking clearly anymore. We should have been on top of that. And we weren’t.”

  “That’s—”

  “Quiet.”

  When his mother used that tone, he always did whatever she asked. Now was no exception.

  She leaned her elbow on the table and rested her chin in her hand. “Annie is the one, baby. I knew it the second I heard you say her name. When I saw the two of you in the stables after your ride, any doubts I might have had disappeared.”

  He opened his mouth. She held up a hand, and he closed it again.

  “You two are meant for each other. Don’t let her slip away because of Grandpa Leo.”

  “It has nothing to do with him.”

  “Oh, come on, Cash. I didn’t raise a dummy. Of course it does. You’re thinking you would never have considered marrying your Annie if Gramps hadn’t added that stupid stipulation. You’ve talked yourself into believing marriage is on your mind only because of that artificial deadline. That’s been settled now, and Vivi is gone. But you’re still sitting here in the dark, thinking about Annie. Missing her. So none of those arguments are valid. Your father and I watched you and Annie when you were anywhere near each other. What we saw on your faces was real. It’s time you put your grandfather’s foolishness to rest and pop the question.”

  He got up and walked to the window.

  “Answer one question for me, Cash.”

  “Okay.”

  “Do you love her?”

  Without turning around, still staring into the darkness, he said, “Yes.”

  “Have you told her that?”

  “No.”

  “Then you’d better get packed. Sounds to me like you need to make a trip to Boston.”

  He stayed at the window, listened as she called to Staubach, and heard the door close behind his mother and his dog.

  The woman was a steamroller. And she was right. His mom always had been.

  He rested his forehead on the windowpane. No doubt Annie’d say no, but no guts, no glory. He had to take a final shot at talking her into a life with him. On her terms.

  She liked the city? Fine. There were plenty of things he could do besides ranching. He had a college degree, a fairly sharp mind, and a burning desire to be with Annie.

  If that meant living in Boston, then that’s where he’d hang his hat.

  Chapter Thirty

  Annelise, her parents, and Nelly, along with three of her grandfather’s nurses, stood at his bedside, singing happy birthday. The nurses had brought him the traditional birthday cupcake since the transplant marked a rebirth.

  He beamed and took a small bite. “It’s the first day of the rest of my life. A life I’ll have because of you, Nelly.” He looked at his half sister and then at his granddaughter. “And you, Annelise. You’re a stubborn one. And today, I’m thankful for it.”

  She gaped at him. “You’re calling me stubborn? Have you looked in the mirror lately?”

  Everyone laughed.

  He took her hand in his. “So. I understand you met a boy out there in Texas. Your mother told me he’s quite the catch.”

  “I don’t think that’s exactly what I said,” her mother corrected.

  “Still, it’s what you meant,” he said. “Your father was impressed with him, too. Said he has a good business head on his shoulders.”

  It hurt. Talking about Cash was like sticking a pencil in a fresh wound.

  “Cash Hardeman is as fine a young man as they come,” Nelly said. “I’ve known his family since, well, since his grandpa was a young boy. And
I do mean boy, in this case. Calling Cash a boy—Well, doesn’t really tell the tale, does it, Annie?”

  Annelise wet her lips. “No. He’s a man.” Her chest felt asthma-tight.

  “So why aren’t you with him?” Her Grandpa practically bellowed.

  Annelise gaped. “Because…because I had important things to do here.”

  “Why didn’t you bring your fellow along?”

  “Grandpa.” She toyed with an earring. “First of all, he’s not my fellow. Second, we’re like, I don’t know. Champagne and bottled beer…city and country. We live in completely different worlds.” She ducked her head. “Besides, and this is probably the biggest reason, he’s not interested in me. Not really.”

  “Then why’d he follow you all the way to Boston?”

  “What?”

  Grandpa tipped his chin toward the window that faced onto the nurse’s station. “That the young man out there in the cowboy hat? The one you’re not pining for?”

  She followed his gaze, and there stood Cash. He looked tired. He looked wonderful. He looked right at her.

  Her breath caught.

  Cash crooked his finger in a come-here gesture.

  She turned to her grandfather.

  “Go.” He made a shooing motion. “Get out there and see what the boy wants. He certainly is a tall one.”

  “Yes. Yes, he is.”

  “Should make some wonderful grandbabies.”

  She laughed and rushed out to Cash. “What are you doing here?”

  He shook his head. “Questions later. First, this. I need this.” He ran his thumb over her lower lip. Then he took her hand in his, lifted it, and kissed her fingers, the palm of her hand. Dipping his head, he kissed her neck below her ear.

  “I love when you wear your hair in a ponytail. Love the way it bares your neck for me,” he whispered.

  “Cash—”

  “You know one of the reasons for a hat like this?” He touched a finger to the brim of his Stetson.

  She shook her head. “No, but I think you’re going to tell me.”

  “Darned right. It hides us from prying eyes when we do this.” His lips claimed hers, and she lost all rational thought. When he lifted his mouth from hers, she felt light-headed and more than a little dizzy.