by Lexi Post
That cooled him down a bit. “What else did she say?”
“She wanted me to encourage you to let her see Charlotte. I told her that wouldn’t work because everything I tell you, you do the opposite.”
His head jerked back a fraction. “I do?”
She sighed. “Yes, you do. I don’t know why you have to argue with me about everything. I’m a certified, degree-carrying veterinarian.”
Logan’s look turned sheepish. “I can’t help it.”
“Yes, you can. All you have to do is say, ‘Good idea Dr. Jenna’.” Now that they were discussing it, she was glad to get it out in the open.
He shook his head. “I can’t.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “And why can’t you?”
The intensity returned to his gaze. “Because if I don’t fight with you, I’ll end up kissing you.”
Stunned, she stared at him while her heart galloped hard in her chest.
His big hands cupped her face. “Jenna.” His voice, so low and husky, pulled her in. “When I’m with you, I want to touch you, so I fight it and you, but I don’t want to fight it anymore.”
As her heart leapt at his words, her entire body came alive with the touch of his lips on hers. She moved her hands to his hard chest as his tongue swept into her mouth, tasting her like she was a craving he couldn’t deny.
One of his hands cupped her head and his other moved down her back to pull her closer. She felt the bulge of his rising need which set her nipples on fire. She slid her arms up and around his neck as his tongue tangled with her own.
He tasted of beer and man and everything that made her want him. His hard chest pressed against her breasts and her body ignited with remembered passion. He backed off the kiss by nibbling on her lips and kissing the corner of her mouth.
She didn’t want him to stop, but the bray of a wild burrow in the distance recalled her to where she was, in a dirt parking lot outside a bar. She pulled her head back to look at him. “Why did you do that?” She hadn’t meant to say the words aloud, but since they were out, she was anxious for his reply.
His broad shoulders shrugged. “Instinct.”
“Instinct?” She pulled her arms down and pushed against his chest. “Instinct is what guides animals, not us. We have brains.” Darn, she was no more than a mating call to him. “We have hearts.” He finally let her step away, the catch in her voice telling more than she wanted it to.
“Wait. Maybe that was the wrong word.”
Sure, and maybe it was exactly the right one. He was drawn to her for sex because she was in the corral. Best to get this filly far away from Mr. Stud. “Goodnight, Logan.” She spun on her heel and stomped to her car.
“Jenna, wait!”
She couldn’t wait. He’d tear her heart apart again. Hearing his cowboy boots crunching across the dirt parking lot behind her, she quickly unlocked the car door and reached for the handle, but Logan’s hand surrounded hers.
“Jenna, listen to me.” He pulled on her hand, forcing her to face him. “I used the wrong word. I should have said self-preservation is what motivated me to kiss you.”
She opened her mouth to tell him that was no different, but he squeezed her hand and shook his head.
“You don’t understand. I had to kiss you because I can’t stop thinking of us, like we were when we liked each other, instead of whatever this is.” Though he held her hand, he gestured between them with his other.
The last place she wanted to return to was their time together. Didn’t he get it? She was trying to forget it. “So, what are you saying? That you want to sleep with me again for ‘old times’ sake?”
He let go of her hand. “Not for old times’ sake. Maybe for new time’s sake?” He attempted a pitiful smirk.
Why didn’t her heart understand what an ass he could be? “I’ll tell you what you told Kylie. First, get tested and prove to me you don’t carry any sexual diseases and second, write down what you want from me.”
He scowled. “Don’t throw my own words back at me.”
She crossed her arms. “Then don’t throw my mistake back at me.”
“What mistake?”
She threw up her hands. “If you can’t figure that out then I can’t help you.” She spun around and yanked her door open. Slamming it shut, she started the car and drove by him, her heart pounding and her stomach tied up in a knot that was so tight, she thought she would vomit.
She pulled onto the highway and hit the gas. He just didn’t understand what torture he was for her. Maybe she did need to give up Last Chance. If she had one more conversation with him, she was sure she’d either break down in tears or hit him over the head with a shovel.
Chapter Five
Logan closed the tabs on Charlotte’s diaper. The teddy bear with the cowboy hat was firmly in her mouth and her cheeks were flushed. She wasn’t talking much this morning, just humming. It must be another tooth coming in. Her first teeth took forever, but as more popped up, she seemed to weather them better.
Pretty soon she’d be brushing her own teeth. He’d just found her fourteen months ago but she’d grown, according to the doctor, right on schedule. But it was too fast. He picked up his bundle of sweetness and moved to the dresser to take out a pair of purple overalls and a pink t-shirt.
Closing the drawer, he laid her on the bed and pulled the shirt over her head, dislodging the teddy. She immediately made a grab for it and almost fell off the bed, but he caught her, his heart pounding at the near fall. His grandmother said Charlotte wasn’t a China doll and would fall a hundred times a week and survive, but not on his watch.
He set her back on the bed and picked up the teddy.
“Mine.” She held out her hand.
“Can you say please?”
“Mine.” She frowned. “Mine, da-da!”
He shook his head. “Say please.”
Charlotte popped her mouth open and closed it, her face scrunching before she gave a sharp and short screech.
“Ouch, that hurt.” Cole, dressed in his fire department blue t-shirt, stepped into the room, his hands over his ears.
Logan held the teddy in front of his daughter. “Please, da-da.”
Her little face started to pucker, her bottom lip pushing out and he caved. Handing her the teddy, which she promptly put in her mouth, he kissed her on the forehead. “You will learn your manners.”
Cole chuckled. “What she’s learning is how to wrap her daddy around her little finger.”
Logan pulled the overalls up and buttoned them over her shoulders. “Too late. That’s already happened.”
As if she knew she was mostly dressed, she rolled over on to her tummy and pushed herself backwards until her feet touched the floor. With the teddy in her mouth and one hand holding onto the quilt, she walked to the end of the bed to look at Cole.
“Are you coming to your Uncle Cole for a hug?” Cole crouched down.
Logan pulled out a pair of socks. “Technically, you’re her second cousin.”
Cole ignored him. “Come on, sweetie.”
Charlotte took one step toward him before falling back on her butt.
Logan watched his daughter crawl to Cole. “I think something’s wrong with her balance. I asked my mom and she said both Trace and I were walking by now.”
Cole scooped up Charlotte, who giggled as he blew her kisses. “I wouldn’t worry about it. My mom always complained that Dillon and I had spoiled her by waiting to the last minute to walk then she ended up exhausted from chasing after us. She said we were making up for lost time.”
Logan put socks on his daughter’s feet while Cole held her. “That’s reassuring…I think.”
Cole laughed and handed Charlotte over. “It’s all how you look at it. Listen, I have a horse coming in today. I was actually supposed go to Dallas to pick it up, but I couldn’t get off work, so my friend Bo and his girlfriend Dana have been driving since yesterday, but when they arrive, Lacey and I won’t be here. Can you g
et the horse settled in and turn them over to Gram?”
Logan put Charlotte in the crook of his arm. “Of course. Did you already tell Gram?”
“Yes. Lacey had me bring over a tray of hors d’oeuvres for them. Don’t eat any.”
Logan stepped by his cousin. “As if I would.”
Cole followed him downstairs. “That’s right, you prefer breakfast food. I also called Jenna to let her know. She’s going to come by after she closes, but I won’t get off shift until Thursday. She said she wanted to talk to me about something. Do you have any idea what it could be?”
He shrugged in response even as he swallowed hard and his gut tensed.
“You haven’t done anything worse than usual, have you?”
His cousin’s assumption hit too close to home. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he stopped. “Why do you think it’s about me?”
Cole faced him as he came to a stop at the bottom of the landing. “I don’t know. I just have this feeling in my gut that she may not want to be our vet anymore and that would really throw a wrench in the works, just when I have this place finally running smoothly. The next closest vet is all the way in New River. Besides, Jenna is a damn good vet.” He glared. “You better remember that.”
Charlotte pulled the teddy out of her mouth and thrust it at Cole. “Kissie bye-bye.”
Cole switched his attention and Logan took a steadying breath. Was his cousin, right? Would Jenna stop coming to Last Chance? He didn’t want that at all. He may not know what he wanted with Jenna, but not seeing her was definitely not his answer. It was bad enough he hadn’t seen her in two days, which was stupid. He’d gone longer than that before, but that was before he started kissing her again.
After Cole kissed the teddy and Charlotte, he patted him on the shoulder. “And don’t worry. Bo and Dana are coming to my house as soon as Lacey gets home. You’ll still have the house to yourself with Gram and Gramps, when Gramps is home that is.”
So that was his silver lining on the day. There may be one bedroom technically free in the house, but there was only one upstairs bathroom and it would still be his.
As the front door closed behind his cousin, he headed for the kitchen where Gram would be waiting to feed her great-granddaughter. He was pleased his daughter had one constant female presence in her life. Would Kylie confuse Charlotte?
Kylie showing up out of the blue was just another piece of bad luck piled onto the rest. He’d never believed in universal fate or any of that bull crap, but ever since his father had his first stroke, fate had decided to deal him one losing hand after another.
“There’s my girl.” Gram reached for Charlotte as he walked in, and he handed her over.
“She’s getting heavy, Gram. Be careful.”
His grandmother scowled at him. “I’m no frail old lady, Logan. Seventy-two does not mean I have one foot in the grave.”
He cringed. “I would never think that.”
While she settled Charlotte into the high chair, he grabbed three of her homemade cinnamon buns and placed them in the microwave before she noticed. For some reason, he never seemed to be on Gram’s good side.
After pouring both of them their usual morning orange juice, he pulled out the buns and grabbed a cup of coffee.
“I’ll take a couple buns, thank you, Logan.” His Gram didn’t even look at him as she commanded two of the treats.
He didn’t say a word, just placed them on a separate plate and set it on the table next to her. There were no more in the fridge, so he pulled out sausage she’d cooked up the night before and added it to the microwave.
Chewing the sticky sweet bun while he leaned against the counter, he watched his daughter’s facial expressions. She smiled more than she fussed, which was a big change compared to nine months ago. Her face lit up as she grasped a small spoon and stuffed her mouth with oatmeal. He noticed her wince as the spoon hit a sensitive spot. “I think she’s cutting another tooth.”
She pointed the spoon at her great-gram. “More.”
“Then put it in the bowl, Char.” His grandmother pointed to the oatmeal and Charlotte looked at it as if it appeared out of nowhere. A wide smile split her lips, showing a bottom row of teeth. A squeal preceded the spoon being thrust into the bowl and it skidding halfway across the tray.
Gram patiently moved it away from the edge when Charlotte stuck the spoon in her mouth again. Her eyes widened this time and watered.
His heart jumped into his throat to know she’d hurt herself.
As if his grandmother knew he was about to comfort his daughter and take over feeding her, she waved him off. “You have chores and a new horse coming. I’ll take care of your princess. I don’t want her spoiled rotten by the time she’s two.”
Charlotte’s attention had quickly focused on Gram, forgetting her own pain. Only because of that was he able to stuff his warmed-up sausage into a piece of bread and blow his daughter a kiss. “Bye, Charlotte.”
“Da-da, bye-bye.”
Her chubby little hand dropped the spoon on her tray as she opened and closed her hand at him.
Damn, he loved that child more than his own life. Striding out of the room before he did something his grandmother was sure to scold him for, he headed for the front porch. If she thought Charlotte wasn’t spoiled yet, she had blinders on. His daughter was the apple of every family member’s eye, mostly his.
Yet she was half Kylie’s.
That single thought dispelled all the joy he felt at spending time with his daughter. He hadn’t heard a word from Kylie in two days. He’d given her his number, so she could call next time she thought to just show up at the ranch.
His fear was she had hired a lawyer. He may be home all day and have a great support system on this ranch, but a good lawyer would make his life look like the worst possible one for a baby girl to grow-up in and plead mother’s intuition and all that. He would do anything to keep that from happening.
He took a seat in one of the chairs on the porch and set his coffee on a small end table, usually used for beers at sunset. Taking a bite of the Italian sausage, he savored the spices before having a sip of coffee. He hadn’t heard or seen Jenna either, not even when he went into town to pick up more nails. He’d driven by her office and a number of cars were parked outside on Main Street, so she was probably busy with her animal patients.
Would she talk to him when she came out later or would she ignore him? His hand tightened on the plate he held. He’d make her talk to him. No, he’d show her he could agree with her. Maybe his arguing all the time was why she wanted to talk to Cole. If he stopped doing that, she’d have nothing to complain about. And if being nice led to a kiss, he was certainly good with that.
He took another bite of his impromptu sausage sandwich. Thinking about Jenna calmed him down enough to focus. Trace should be arriving soon and they could get a stall ready for the new horse.
Damn, Cole didn’t tell him what was wrong with it. Logan glanced at his watch. Cole would be pissed if he called him while on shift. He’d just have to wait for the horse to arrive to find out what its problem was. Hopefully, it was just the burn scars he heard Cole mention to Jenna.
Every horse that came to Last Chance had a sad story behind it. Cole was great at finding new homes for them once they had overcome any long-term side effects. Some stayed at Last Chance forever, like the horse he rode, Black Jack, who was severely claustrophobic thanks to being buried in an old coal mine.
The horse his brother rode, Lightyear, wouldn’t let anyone touch his face. Trace had figured out a way to get a bridle on the horse, but other than Trace, no one could touch its face without it freaking out. Macy’s owner had bought her cheap, thinking her facial markings would change. When she grew uglier in her owner’s mind, she was put out in a pasture with other horses during heat. The owner was clueless. Of course, she got pregnant and he didn’t want to pay to feed her anymore. Luckily, a friend of Cole’s heard about the horse and took it off the owner�
��s hands, delivering Macy to Last Chance.
He took another large bite of sausage. Jenna had to give Macy a lot of shots as her owner was negligent about regular vet visits too. Usually, the horses came through animal welfare. That’s how Lacey ended up with Angel, who now resided in a temporary lean-to at her and Cole’s new house farther west on the ranch. Since Angel feared all men, it was a better place for her to be than here with him and his brother.
Taking another swallow of coffee, he followed it with the rest of the sausage. Not knowing what the new horse might have for issues made it difficult to prepare for, so he’d get a stall ready, but also have the north corral free just in case. At the sound of horse’s hooves, he stood with coffee in hand and walked to the end of the porch.
Trace rode in on Lightyear. When he’d dismounted, Logan called out. “Leave the north corral free. We have a new horse coming today.”
His brother nodded before leading Lightyear into the barn.
Taking the final gulp of coffee, he set the cup on the end table then followed after his brother. He’d get Macy and the foal out to the south corral. It was still cool, but the little colt had an abundance of energy that he’d swear was pushing Macy’s patience. Maybe he’d move Black Jack out there, too. His horse might like a little company for a change and it would give the colt something new to investigate.
He passed Trace and stepped up to Macy’s stall. Sure enough, the foal was bouncing his head up and down. If Logan didn’t know better, he’d swear Macy sighed. “Hey little guy, are you bothering mama?”
The colt stopped to look at him then trotted to the door. “Guess you’re ready to go. You love this cooler air, don’t you?” He turned and headed for the tack room to get a halter for Macy.
When he returned, Trace was waiting for him. “Are you still calling him Charlotte’s Horse?” He pointed to the baby colt.
“Yeah.” At Trace’s look of disbelief, he finally explained. “I’m going to let Charlotte name him.”
“Are you starting a pool? I’ll put a hundred down on ‘Kissie,’ but I might switch that to ‘No’ if Whisper wants to bet on ‘Kissie’. Either way we would win.”