Jackson pulled his phone from his pocket and accessed his email. The one with the flag on it, from his younger half-brother Dylan who’d been here in town the week before, caught his eye again.
He shook his head. He had a younger brother? And two older brothers? “Strange world.”
Crazy Dylan had suggested they all meet back in Red Creek on the last day of the month, at noon at Cubby’s Restaurant. He’d written something about the town having a lot to offer, the family business keeping his interest, and the people here accepting him like a born-and-raised Red Creekian.
His younger brother had actually used the term Red Creekian in a sentence. Even so, Jackson had no plans to ever revisit this town after his week’s incarceration was up.
No new emails, so he tucked his phone away and took a look at the files sitting on the desk. With a deep breath, he prepared his brain for another day of massive info dump.
Jackson sat in his dad’s chair and opened the top file. West Virginia coal and gas plant production specification codes… The words didn’t even register as English. “Hell.” Jackson didn’t have enough fuel in him yet for this tedious shit. He stood, hiked up his jeans, and walked back down the hall to the small kitchen. Pouring a cup, he spotted a black ringed-binder on top of the refrigerator.
He pulled down the book and flipped it open. The first page had a newspaper article about Dusty Walker’s first day as owner of the newly re-incorporated company he and his wife had inherited from his father-in-law. “Huh.” So Dad had changed the company name. And his wife owned half, which probably explained why Dusty had stayed with her, the greedy asshole.
Jackson felt the heat of anger surface again, and shook his head. The guy was gone. Wasn’t it time to shove past this pissed-off phase and move on to…moving on?
He scanned through dozens of pages of news articles, the first half from actual newspapers, the later ones printed from online sites, all of them chronicling the rapid growth of the company under his father’s leadership. He had to admit, Dad had a crap-load of business sense.
“Hi there.” The receptionist’s voice reached him from her desk.
“Hi. Is he here?” A deep female voice had Jackson cocking his head.
“He is. Let me—”
“Wait, which one is this, now?” That sultry voice again.
“It’s Jackson, the third son. He’s twenty-five. From Oregon.” Abby didn’t bother to lower her voice. She must not realize he was just around the corner. Or did she know he was there, and just didn’t care if she appeared professional or not? “Did you hear about what went on with Dylan last week? You know Zoe Chapman, right?” Abby’s voice went quieter.
“I know Zoe. What happened?” The sultry one sounded curious.
Abby’s voice dropped down to a mumble and the two spoke for a minute.
Jackson strained to hear, but couldn’t catch anything.
“That’s quite a coincidence.” The sexy voice spoke.
“Yes, I thought so, too.” Abby tsked. “So, would you like me to let Jackson know you’re here to see him?”
“Wait, is this the rodeo cowboy?” Ms. Sensual Voice sounded disappointed.
“Yes. That’s him.” A giggle. “Is that a problem?”
Jackson set down his cup and moved a few inches to peek around the wall. His jaw dropped.
Tall, maybe just a few inches shorter than his six-feet, two-inches, even in her flat…red high-tops? Different. Her jet-black hair shone in the bright light as it swung thick and straight, cut just at her shoulders. Her jeans clung to her curvy hips and she had a booty that made him forget to breathe. The graphic printed T-shirt strained at the press of her full breasts against the front of the material.
He ducked back into the kitchen and swallowed, recognizing the heat rushing through his body as blood racing from his head to his groin. Holy hell, she was the best thing he’d seen in this town, by a long shot.
“I was hoping…” Her sexy voice switched to a long sigh. “For one of the business-type brothers, but I was in Kansas City for two weeks setting up new servers for a startup company, and I really need to talk to one of Dusty’s heirs.”
Jackson took another quick look at her. Yeah, she definitely put a rocket in his pocket.
“You should talk to Jackson. He’s a nice guy.”
Ms. Sensual Voice pressed two fingers between her eyebrows. “It can probably wait until next week. Talk to that one, instead.”
Abby shrugged. “Why?”
Jackson knew he had to make his presence known before the hottie said something that’d make her too embarrassed to go out with him. He grinned. And he would sorely like to take her out. Then take her back home, and spend the night with her. “Because…” Stepping out of the kitchen, he strode toward her, using his sure-hit cowboy gait.
She turned to look at him. Her sky-blue eyes widened and her cheeks pinked up to a sexy shade of embarrassment.
“Our guest thinks this dumb ol’ cowboy don’t have enough gray matter upstairs to understand what she needs.” And what she needed was to have those red lips of hers kissed. Hard.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Walker.” Her sensual voice rolled quietly from her as her gaze dropped to take him all in, then shot back to his face.
He held out his hand. “Jackson Walker.”
She took his hand and the surge of electricity that ran up his arm and through his nerves blotted out all thoughts except bedroom ideas.
“Aurora Hughes.” She pulled her hand back a little too quickly, and sucked in an uneven breath. Did she feel it, too? That zip and ping of lust?
“Is that your real name, Rori?” Abby smiled like she was enjoying every minute of this meeting.
“Yes.” Rori’s blue gaze met his. “My friends call me Rori.” She shook her head as if to pull her thoughts back from wherever they’d shot off to. “May I speak with you for a few minutes, Mr. Walker?”
“Sure thing, and it’s Jackson.” He gestured for her to precede him down the hallway. “Abby, hold my calls please.” Of course, he hadn’t received one call since he’d arrived here, but it sounded good anyway.
“Yes, Mr. Walker.” She sing-songed with a smirk as she went back to her keyboard.
In front of him, Ms. Aurora “Rori” Hughes walked stiffly, but that nicely-rounded bottom of hers moved and swayed in an amazingly seductive way. They stepped into the big office and he shut the door. When he turned, she stood right there.
Those blue eyes stared into his, and when he inhaled, her light patchouli scent wrapped itself around inside his head. She opened her mouth.
He swallowed and leaned a centimeter closer, ready to kiss her perfect lips if she gave one more sign that she wanted him as much as he craved her.
“I want to apologize for what I said out there.” Rori nodded toward the front of the building. “I meant no offense, but I have a bad history with rodeo cowboys.”
Her words cooled his jets as effectively as a shovel-full of snow dumped inside the front of his pants.
****
Rori bit her tongue when Jackson jerked back as if she’d thrown a rotten tomato at his forehead. She hadn’t meant to blurt it out, but oh boy, was he a barrel full of sexiness. Those inky blue eyes surrounded by long, thick lashes. That mouth, full and curved in a teasing smile. A jaw that looked strong enough to withstand anything a rodeo horse could throw at him. She fisted her hands, wanting to run them through his shaggy, slightly curling hair.
She’d almost imagined he wanted to kiss her. Right here in Dusty’s office. Blinking, she backed up a few steps but bumped into the edge of the desk. “Sorry. I’m a little…” Rori glanced at the desktop. What was she? Incredibly turned on by a guy she’d met less than a minute ago? A shiver raced through her, tightening her nipples and sending a sweet ache to her belly.
“A little…?” He reached around her and pulled one of the guest chairs nearer. Leaning over her a bit too close.
He gave off the purely masculine scent of
soap and outdoors and she held her breath, keeping her gaze fixed on the desk to fight back that naughty temptation. Rori had to remember the pitiful existence her cousin lived because of a rodeo junkie. She refused to end up the same way.
When Jackson finally moved away from her, she sank into the chair, glad her knees held out as long as they had, and watched him stroll around the desk and take a seat in Dusty’s chair. Dang, she had more than one reason to be uninterested in this man. Besides rodeo cowboys being poison, this one was her benefactor’s son, to whom she was indebted. So why did the idea of shoving all those files off the desk and spreading herself on the flat surface for his pleasure keep intruding on her thoughts?
“Ms. Hughes?” He leaned back in the chair, watching her with those too-seductive eyes. “What can I help you with?”
“It’s Rori. Please.” Her gaze darted around as she recalled the points she’d come here to make. “First…” She blurted the word too loudly, and his eyebrows rose. “First, I wanted to tell you how sorry I am about your father. He was a kind man, a good businessman, and everyone in town is feeling the loss.”
Jackson nodded once, his lips thinning.
Yep, she could imagine how he felt, learning he had three brothers he hadn’t known about. She’d be angry as a hornet, too. Maybe she could help him by showing him the good his father had done. “Second, I want to talk about Cyber Wise.”
Glancing at her T-shirt then at the powered-down computer on the desk—both of which bore her company’s logo—he nodded once. “I’m guessing you’re Cyber Wise?” Those beautiful eyes of his shifted to look at her.
“I am.” Rori scooted to the edge of her chair. “Two years ago, Dusty recruited me from the University of Kansas. I’d just completed my MSCoE and was…”
His gaze dropped when she’d thrown out her credentials. Was he uninterested? He wasn’t a college man, from the rumors floating around. Did she just lose him?
She waved one hand to dismiss what she’d just said and started over. “I finished my Master’s in computers, and he asked me to come to Red Creek and work for him.”
Jackson met her gaze. “But you’re not on the payroll.”
“We worked out a deal. I started my own business in town, but made D. Walker Mineral my number one priority.” Dusty’s business sense combined with her need to work on her own terms had clashed then melded into a win-win arrangement. “He leases the old five-and-dime building to me free of charge, for as long as I remain in town and stay available to his company.”
His jaw shifted and he narrowed his eyes. “You just told Abby you were in Kansas City for two weeks.”
Shit, he’d caught that? Rori took a deep breath. “I want to…someday…open another office in KC.” Hopefully with the help of Dusty’s company. “And getting my name associated with corporations in that area is imperative.” There. She didn’t exactly lie, but she didn’t confess everything either. Now, just how sharp was this rodeo cowboy?
His lips curved in a smirk. “So, after Dusty died, you figured you’d just go do whatever you wanted, and damn the contract?”
She clamped her jaw closed. The man did not play fair. “The job in KC was a last-minute thing. The company they’d hired to do their startup went belly-up, and they urgently needed help.”
Jackson just stared at her.
Loosening her facial muscles, she gave a sad smile. “Dusty was…gone already, the company shut down for the week after, and I was only a three-hour drive away from Red Creek if an emergency arose. One hour by Dusty’s private jet, if needed.” Shifting in her seat, she let go of the guilt she felt for missing the funeral and for semi-breaking her contract with the company.
The man in Dusty’s chair did not look impressed.
She needed to hit this cowboy with more facts.
“The contract specifies that I can take jobs outside the region. And I have, many times, with Dusty’s okay.” She gestured out the window. “I mean, you’ve seen Red Creek. How much computer work do you think this town needs?” Her voice rose as her panic grew. This man could terminate her contract and leave her without a storefront, and with a truckload of electronics to move. She should probably have been nicer to him from the start.
He watched her for long moments, then placed his hand flat on the desk and stood. “Let’s go see this building of yours.” A shaft of sunlight coming through the window highlighted his face.
She stared, unmoving. He was handsome, rugged, but those eyes were too compelling, too sharp.
“Rori?”
His hair fell in disarray, and in the sunlight, gleamed with a dozen shades of brown. “Huh?” He’d said something…
With a grin, he walked around the desk and opened the door. “Your building? The old five-and-dime? Let’s go take a look at it, then we’ll have breakfast at Cubby’s, and talk business.”
With her butt still stuck to the chair, she shifted her gaze, trying to figure out his plan of attack. “Sure.” She got to her feet and wandered past him and out the door. How had a quick confirmation of contract validity become a personal tour and breakfast? She glanced down at her old Get Cyber Wise T-shirt. And why hadn’t she worn something a little sexier?
Chapter Two
Jackson followed Rori down the hallway and out the front door, nodding at Abby who gave him a wave and a smile. He’d be sure to question her later, since she seemed to know Rori. Well enough to share gossip with her, anyway.
The sun had climbed in the sky and the breeze carried the scents of heating asphalt and grass. It would be a hot, humid day again today, and visions of him lying on a cushioned chair next to the pool at the lake house all day reading a rodeo magazine kept sneaking into his head.
They stood at the curb and waited for a slowly passing pickup truck to go by before stepping out to cross the street.
“You said two years?” He liked that he had something on this woman, since she had something against him already—his rodeo career. Whatever the hell that was about. The anger in her eyes when she’d shot him down earlier looked fresh, as if whatever had happened to her—rodeo-related—was still going on.
She stepped up onto the opposite curb. “What?” Turning to walk down the street, she left room for him to walk next to her. On the inside.
Placing his hand on her lower back, he guided her toward the buildings, leaving space for him to walk on the outside, along the curb. Just as his father had taught him. Old-fashioned, but that’s what a gentleman did, according to Dusty Walker. And the feeling of her firm body against his palm proved too much to resist.
Balking a little, she glanced up at him. Pink colored her cheeks.
Firm and warm… He dropped his hand away as revolutions of sexy ideas spun wildly in his head. “Two years ago you came here?”
She nodded and looked down the street. “I’ll be forever grateful to him. He was more than generous. It was such a stroke of luck that we met, and both happened to be—”
“Oh, hell.” A horrific thought flashed into his brain, making Jackson trip over his own feet, nearly tumbling into her. Holy shit, could she be another one? He stared at her face, looking for any similarities to Dusty.
“What is it?” She waited a second, and when he stayed silent, she pulled her keys out of her pocket and slid them into the lock on the reinforced glass door of an old glass-front, brick, two-story building bearing a round sign proclaiming Cyber Wise Inc.
“I was wondering about your family.” His voice came out wobbly. Damn him, if he had the hots for his half-sister… A chill of disgust raced through him and his stomach turned.
“My family?” She walked into the building and lights flickered on overhead. “Why?” Turning to face him, she crossed her arms.
Jackson set aside his suspicions for the moment and scoped out the room. Ten tables, each with computer stuff on them and chairs on one side of them. Like a showroom, where she’d give her customers hands-on demonstrations. “This is really smart.” He walked to one setup a
nd looked at the monitor, keyboard, box that made computer things happen, and mouse.
“I’ve found that actually letting people get in elbows-deep is the way to avoid any dissatisfaction with my products.” She’d uncrossed her arms but hadn’t moved.
“Give me your sales pitch.” He didn’t really care about computers, he just liked hearing her voice.
She squinted at him, then proceeded to give him a quick lesson in the different options of computers…and she lost him. His phone served as his only connection with the world, otherwise he stayed as far away from technology as he could get.
“You’d be able to teach me?” He thought of the setup back at the office on Dusty’s desk. That monster, Jackson didn’t even know how to turn on.
“Teach you…” She tipped her head, and that flow of sexy hair brushed her shoulder.
He looked away, silently reminding himself that he needed to get her paternity sorted out first.
“Computering.” He shrugged. “Haven’t had much need for one, but the people in the office are telling me to open documents and spreadsheets and internet and powerpoints, and I only know what one of them things is.” He pulled a frown.
She smiled. “You do that ‘good ol’ boy’ thing pretty darn well.”
Glancing at his boots, he shuffled one foot. “Aw shucks, ma’am. Wish it was just an act.” He played it off as a joke, but it was a sore point with him. He didn’t have the book learning his mother had wanted him to have, but Dusty had been on his side. Dad hadn’t gone to college, and he hadn’t tried to pressure Jackson into going. But now that he’d met someone as smart and accomplished as Rori, he felt a hundred steps behind her.
“Sure.” She shot the word at him.
He glanced into her soft, blue eyes. “Yeah?”
Jackson: The Sons of Dusty Walker Page 2