Saved by the Cowboy

by A. J. Pine

  Sheriff: Wish your head was tucked against my shoulder right now.

  It was the only text he’d sent during their separation. She hadn’t seen it until she woke up this morning, which had both relieved and confused her. She’d left the ball in his court after her texts during their last time apart, and it had been radio silence. She knew he was the strong and silent type, but the other night had been—Wow. But where in the world did they go from here? Where could they go? So she decided not to respond, especially since Adams or Walters could be around. She knew Cash would hit the office even though he had the day off because that was just what Sheriff Cash Hawkins did. He took care of things even when he didn’t have to.

  Michael: The co-op would like an answer. Have you reconsidered?

  She groaned. She was more than a name to add to a deed.

  Mom: Where the hell are you? Your father thinks it’s my fault you ran away. Says you’re just like your mother.

  Dad: I blame your mother.

  Gran: Am I doing this right? I’ve never texted on this new pHone. Oh darn. How do I get rid of that capital h? Sweetheart, are you where I think you are?

  Mom: Your grandmother thinks she knows where you are. Can you just answer one of us? Actually, no. Answer me before your father.

  She answered none of them. But then she felt bad about Gran. Gran was the reason she was here. She at least owed her the truth.

  Me: Yeah, Gran. I’m here. I’m gonna find the letters. Just don’t tell Mom and Dad. Please? Luv u.

  And because he had impeccable timing, that was exactly when Cash pulled up, effectively rescuing her from the life she still wasn’t ready to return to.

  He hopped out of the truck and she stood, holding up the cup carrier with two coffees from Baker’s Bluff.

  “Hey,” she said, not sure how she was supposed to greet him after two days.

  “Hey yourself,” he said, then dipped his head to kiss her—like, really kiss her—and yeah, that was exactly how they should greet each other after two days.

  “What’s with the uniform, Sheriff? Thought you were off until traffic duty tonight.”

  She looked him up and down, from what she assumed were steel-toed boots all the way to his sheriff’s badge and crisp collar.

  “Scratch that,” she said. “The uniform is hot as hell. You can wear it whenever you want.”

  He smiled, but his eyes didn’t crinkle like they did when he laughed, and she could feel there was something he was holding back. But he’d kissed her like he meant it and, boy, had she meant her part in it, too, so she wouldn’t pester him about a smile.

  “Wasn’t sure if I’d make it back home before it was time for official business, so I figured I’d look—official for the whole day. But it seems to me that you don’t mind it much.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t mind it at all. Is Dixie not riding along later tonight? If you need someone to keep you company…”

  Ugh. What was she doing? He was being nice and taking her to the farmers market, but he didn’t need her with him at work. He’d already told her he’d stop by the B and B when his shift was up so they could spend whatever was left of the night together. Because she’d be heading back to San Francisco tomorrow. She had to. There was a job, and a life to deal with even if she wished she could avoid it for one more day. Or week. Or maybe even the rest of her life.

  “Dixie’s in the back. She’d never forgive me if I went to the market without her. There’s this vendor—Felix—makes the best damned dog treats from scratch. She goes nuts for them.”

  Olivia laughed. “And you can’t just bring some home for her? Man, does she have you wrapped around her paw.”

  This, at least, elicited a genuine chuckle.

  “Yeah,” Cash said. “She sure as hell does. You’re welcome to join us, though. Tonight, I mean. Traffic duty’s usually pretty quiet on a Saturday night.”

  She raised her chin. “I was in a hurry,” she said haughtily.

  He took the drink carrier from her and opened the passenger side door. “You ready to go find what sent you to Oak Bluff in such a hurry? The answers to true love?” he asked.

  “I guess.” She wasn’t sure what made her more nervous, not finding the letters or finding them and realizing that what her grandparents had was something impossible to replicate. She used to think that if she could just see how they fell in love, she’d understand what was missing from her own romantic DNA and would be able to fix it.

  But what if Cash was right? What if she kept choosing guys she knew wouldn’t be forever guys because that was what kept her safe from having to commit and get hurt?

  Despite how amazing the other night was—how being with him was unlike being with any other man she’d been with before—wasn’t she still doing the same thing by choosing a man she couldn’t commit to because he lived over two hundred miles away?

  She climbed into the truck, her heart suddenly heavy. Here she thought she was finally doing something different, but despite how she felt about Cash—and oh, there were feelings—his life was here, and hers was not.

  As soon as she settled in her seat, Dixie gave her a wet kiss on the back of her palm. Olivia laughed hard, and with it some of that weight on her chest dissipated.

  “She give you a proper welcome?” Cash asked when he settled into the driver’s seat.

  Olivia nodded. “I’ve been properly welcomed by both of you this morning, so thank you very much.”

  He leaned over and kissed her again. “I plan on welcoming you a few more times today, if that’s okay with you.”

  “Mmm-hmm,” she said, sneaking one more sweet kiss. “It’s very okay with me.”

  The ride to the farmers market was long enough to warrant turning on the radio, which made Olivia thankful she didn’t have to fill the silence with all her talking. For once, she just wanted to be. So she let country music take up the space between them as they got closer and closer to finding the letters.

  “You wanna grab lunch first?” he asked.

  “Yes!” she answered with a little too much vigor. The truth was, now that they were here, she was terrified of finding what she’d come for—and terrified of the letters being lost for good. Lunch was the perfect distraction.

  “Good,” he said. “I know the perfect place.”

  The three of them—Olivia, Cash, and Dixie, strolled through the rows of market stalls. Finally Cash pointed up ahead.

  “There it is,” he said, and she followed his gaze to what was no more than a food cart. A one-type-of-food cart.

  “Corn dogs?” she asked. Not that she had anything against the popular carnival delicacy. But they were at a farmers market. It seemed—wrong.

  “Corn dogs,” he confirmed. “The best you ever had, made with cornmeal sourced from a local farm and most likely some sort of illegal secret ingredient that keeps patrons coming back week after week.”

  She eyed him in his sexy uniform, then narrowed her gaze. “Does a woman work the corn dog cart?” she asked.

  He cleared his throat. “I’m not sure. Haven’t been in a while. Might be.”

  Olivia placed her hands on her hips. “Sheriff Cash Hawkins, does the pretty girl at the corn dog cart give you free food because you’re a tall, dark, and devastatingly gorgeous officer of the law?”

  Dixie barked, and Olivia nodded emphatically.

  “See? Even your long-time friend agrees that flirting for food is very unbecoming of a sheriff.”

  A vendor walked by with a basket of Calla lilies. “Flower for the pretty lady, Sheriff?” he asked Cash.

  Olivia blushed and smiled at the young man, who couldn’t have been much older than eighteen.

  “Sure,” Cash said. “How much?”

  Olivia waved her hand. “Oh, it’s okay. I don’t need—”

  “For such a beautiful woman,” the guy said, “it’s on the house. Just—uh—don’t tell my employer over there at the florist stand, okay?” He nodded back toward the way they’d
come, then pulled a lily from his basket and handed it to Olivia with a wink.

  “Thank you,” she said as he backed away.

  Cash cleared his throat and then smugly raised a brow.

  “What?” she asked.

  Dixie barked.

  “Looks like my long-time friend is calling bullshit on you, Olivia Belle.”

  She groaned. “It’s not like I come here weekly to score a free lunch or anything.” She squinted toward the corn dog cart. “Wait, speaking of lilies…isn’t that Lily Green and Luke Everett?”

  Cash turned his head back toward the corn dog cart, and as soon as he did Lily seemed to glance in their direction.

  “Hide!” Olivia said, grabbing Cash by the wrist and pulling him behind the side of a tent where a couple was selling soaps and lotions.

  Dixie barked again.

  “Shh!” Olivia said. “Come here, girl!”

  She was more than a little surprised when the dog obeyed, and she grinned with satisfaction.

  “What in the hell are we doing?” Cash asked. “Why wouldn’t we just go and say hello?”

  Olivia shushed him, too, and he raised a brow.

  “Oh, stop, Sheriff. I’m not afraid of you.” It was only a half-truth. She wasn’t scared of being ticketed, arrested, or possibly thrown in jail. But there was the whole issue of how her heart hadn’t quite returned to its regularly scheduled rhythm since Wednesday night. That was more frightening than anything she’d experienced to date. Including being thrown from that horse in middle school.

  “Remember what I said about the sexual tension between those two?” she asked.

  His brows pulled together. “Lily and Luke? I told you. He’s her ex-husband’s friend. There are certain rules when it comes to that stuff. Plus, they can’t stand each other. I’ve seen ’em go at it—bickering and arguing about who knows what.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Lily and Luke. I’m telling you there is something going on between those two, and saying hello is not going to do them any favors.”

  “So we’re just going to hide out back here until…”

  Olivia tiptoed to the back of the tent where she could sneak a peek at the food cart in order to check her theory.

  She gasped.

  “What’s the matter?” Cash asked, rounding the corner.

  “Nothing,” she said. “But I rest my case.”

  She turned Cash’s attention to where Luke and Lily were still standing in front of the food cart—doing something that looked an awful lot like kissing.

  “Aw, hell,” he said. “Nothing good is going to come of that.”

  Olivia licked her lips, thinking of the last time she’d experienced a kiss as steamy and romantic as the one Luke and Lily were basically broadcasting for all to see. At least it looked steamy and romantic from several yards away. Based on whatever she saw simmering between them in the Everett kitchen, she didn’t doubt being right. As far as the last time she’d had a kiss to rival theirs? It had been with Cash.

  He wrapped his hand around her wrist now, gently tugging her with one hand and Dixie’s leash with the other, until they’d made it at least a hundred feet in the other direction.

  “What in the hell are we doing now?” she asked, parroting his words.

  “That’s none of our business,” he said. “Whatever’s going on between them is none of our damned business—and now I have to find us somewhere else to eat because who knows how long they’ll be there doing—what they’re doing.”

  Olivia was still hungry. But it was no longer for food. “Do you wish we were doing what they’re doing?” she asked, giving her lily an innocent sniff.

  “Jesus, Olivia,” he said.

  “What?”

  “I thought we came here to find your letters.”

  She took a step closer. “We did, but I thought you said you’d planned on giving me plenty of proper welcomes today.”

  He shook his head and chuckled. “I did say that. Didn’t I?” Then he slid his fingers under her hair, cradling her neck.

  Goose bumps peppered her skin. Her breath quickened, and her heart felt like it was beating double-time. What was it with this man? A week ago she hadn’t even known him, and she’d been doing just fine without his presence in her life—if you didn’t count fleeing a wedding where you were a bridesmaid and the bride’s brother had just proposed to you.

  Other than that, Olivia Belle was just fine without Cash Hawkins in her life. But what if just fine wasn’t enough anymore?

  The second his mouth touched hers, it was as if her whole being woke up from a long sleep. She pressed her palms to his chest and swore his heart was doing the same thing as hers. When her tongue slipped past his lips, she grabbed on to his shirt, fingers grappling at his collar as the kiss grew from sweet to something so much more.

  Then as quickly as the kiss began, Cash let her go and backed away.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I just—”

  “You’re in uniform,” she interrupted. “And we’re in public. It’s not professional. I’m the one who should apologize.”

  Dixie tugged at her leash.

  “She can see the dog treat stand,” he said with a soft laugh. But Olivia could tell it was forced. Something was up, and it was more than just professionalism.

  “Everything okay, Sheriff?” she asked.

  He nodded, then pulled his sunglasses out of his shirt pocket and threw them on, effectively hiding from her any trace of emotion.

  “Let’s get Dixie a treat,” he said. “Then we’ll find what we came here for.”

  He was quiet while Dixie enjoyed her grain-free pumpkin biscuits and while she gnawed on her sweet potato slices. Conversation was like pulling teeth when they finally settled on roasted corn on the cob as their so-called lunch, since neither was too keen on checking out the corn dog stand again.

  Dixie lay on the ground beside their picnic table while she and Cash avoided eye contact as they ate.

  Well, she kept trying to gain his visual attention, but he seemed plenty taken by his corn.

  “What in the world is going on?” she finally asked.

  He stood, dropped his plate and napkin into the trash and the stripped cob into the compost bin.

  She rose and did the same, then crossed her arms waiting for him to answer.

  “Cash Hawkins,” she said. “Is kissing me so terrible that you can’t even stand to talk to me anymore?” Because the way she’d seen it, that very first kiss the day he’d arrested her had been the start of something in her she couldn’t quite name, so how in the hell could it have been the end of something for him?

  “It’s not terrible at all,” he said flatly. “I just think we might be losing sight of the agenda. You came to Oak Bluff to find something, and it wasn’t there. So here we are, chasing down your answers, and I think we should stick to the plan, is all.” He picked up Dixie’s leash from the grass. “Come on, girl.”

  The dog looked up from where she was still enjoying what was left of her sweet potato treat and whimpered.

  “Dixie…” he said with a little more force.

  She rose slowly, the treat hanging from between her teeth.

  “Sure,” he said. “Bring it with you.”

  Her ears perked up.

  Olivia grabbed the rest of Dixie’s goodies and followed Cash as he started walking.

  “Her stall is usually in the second row,” he said.

  “Cash.”

  “Just keep in mind it’s been a lot of years since the house was remodeled into retail space and apartment. She might not have any clue what in the hell we’re talking about.”

  “Cash,” she said again.

  “What I’m saying is that you should prepare yourself—for whatever we may or may not find.”

  She was having trouble matching his gait, so she was now a few paces behind. “Damn it, Cash Hawkins, will you shut the hell up about the letters and just talk to me?”

  He stopped suddenly, t
urning to face her, and she plowed right into his solid wall of chest.

  She groaned. “What the hell has gotten into you?”

  “I’m in love with you, Olivia!” he snapped.

  Her eyes widened to saucers, and her jaw fell open. Passersby slowed at his very vocal declaration, and Olivia shooed them away.

  She pulled his aviators from his face so she could see his eyes. His gaze, always so steady, was now a raging sea of emotions she didn’t recognize on him.

  “You’re…what?” was all she could seem to muster.

  “I’m in love with you, damn it. And I don’t need a pile of letters to tell me if what I feel is real or if I’m doing it right. Because there is no right. There’s just me fooling myself into thinking I could avoid getting my heart stomped on again and you, blowing into town, messing up the status quo, and then leaving.”

  She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. “Cash, I—”

  “There,” he said, pointing. “Cora’s Collectibles. That’s our spot.”

  He strode in the direction of the stall, Dixie at his side.

  “So you’re just going to drop a bomb like that and walk away?” she asked, scrambling to catch up. “Don’t you even want to hear what I have to say?”

  He stopped and blew out a long breath. He looked so—tired.

  “What happened to us getting through this week and figuring it out?” she asked. “Wasn’t it you who said that San Francisco and Oak Bluff aren’t opposite ends of the earth?”

  He scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “You are leaving tomorrow, right?”

  “Well…yeah. I have to work on Monday.”

  “And when do you think you’ll be headed back this way?”

  Her brows furrowed as she flipped through her mental calendar. “Well, I have the Goldman bar mitzvah on Saturday and a baby shower brunch on Sunday…The next weekend there is that small dental convention…”

  “That’s what I thought,” he said.

  “Hey,” she said. “That’s not fair. It’s my job.” A job she wondered if she’d still have on Monday. After all, she did run out on the hotel owners’ son, which—though having nothing to do with her professional qualifications—could possibly cause some friction at work.