“You look incredibly comfortable,” he said, tugging at the collar of his button-down shirt. “Trust me, I’ll take jeans and a T-shirt over a button-down and tie any day. Luckily, as a rancher, I’m not often forced into a tie.”
She smiled that smile again. “Well, then, guess we’re not eating here. Unwritten dress code. And to be honest, though I love the food at the Manor, I have it all the time.”
“Perk of the job, but I get it,” he said. “Casual always works for me. I’m new around here, but I already know Ace in the Hole and Wings to Go pretty well. Either of those sound good?”
“Ooh, I’m craving chicken wings—in extra tangy barbecue sauce.”
“Woman after my own heart,” he said, gesturing toward the door.
She stared at him for a moment, then rushed outside as if she needed a gulp of air. “Uh, Wings to Go isn’t very far.” They started walking, Lily stopping to pet a tiny dog with huge amber eyes, then to look at a red bird on a branch. He liked that she noticed her environment—and animals in particular. Xander’s mind was always so crammed with this and that he’d walked straight into a fence post the other day. Two of his brothers had a good laugh over that one.
Once inside the small take-out shop, they ordered a heap of wings and four kinds of sauces. Lily got out her wallet, but he told her to put it away, that tonight was on him.
“Well, thank you very much,” she said. “I appreciate that.”
“My pleasure.” He glanced out the window. “Given that it’s such a gorgeous night, want to take our dinner to the park? We have a good hour of sunlight left.”
“Perfect,” she said with a smile. “And good thing my dachshunds aren’t with us. Dobby and Harry would clear out the wings before we could unpack them. They’d even eat the celery on the side because it smells like chicken wings.”
He laughed at the thought of two dachshunds attacking a piece of celery. He held the door open, and they exited into the breezy night air. She sure was easy to talk to, much more than he expected. Not that he’d expected anything since the only thing he’d known about Knox’s date was her name. “I’ve always wanted dogs. Maybe one day.”
On the way to the park, they chatted about dog breeds and Lily told him a funny story about a Great Dane named Queenie who’d fallen in love with Dobby but ignored Harry, who was jealous. He told her about the two hamsters his dad had finally let him get when he was nine, and how they were so in love with each other they ignored him. She cracked up for a good minute and he had to say, she had a great laugh.
Rust Creek Falls Park was just a few blocks away and not crowded, but there were plenty of people walking and biking and enjoying the beautiful night. Since they didn’t have a blanket, they chose a picnic table and she sat across from him. For a moment they watched a little kid try to untangle the string of his kite. He looked like he might start bawling, but his mom came over and in moments the green turtle was aloft again. Xander swallowed, the tug of emotion always socking him in the stomach when he saw little kids with their moms. Big kids, too. He was always surprised at how the sight affected him. After all these years.
He turned his attention back to Lily and started opening the bags containing their wings. “My brothers and I love the food at the Maverick Manor. We’re there for lunch and dinner pretty often. I’ll bet you have something to do with that.”
She popped open the containers of sauces. “Well, thanks. I hope so. I love cooking. And I love working at the Manor. I can try all kinds of interesting specials and the executive chef always says yes. Lamb tagine was last night’s special and it was such a hit. Nothing makes me feel like a million bucks more than when someone compliments my food.”
“I love how passionate you are about your work,” he said. “Everyone should be that lucky.”
“Are you?” she asked.
He dunked a wing in barbecue sauce. “Yes, ma’am. One hundred percent cowboy. A horse, endless acres, cattle, the workings of a ranch—it’s what I was born to do.”
She stared at him, her green eyes shining. “That’s exactly how I feel—about cooking! That I was born to be in the kitchen, with my ingredients and a stove.”
He held out his chicken wing and she clinked hers to his in a toast, and they both laughed.
Huh. Whodathought this night would work out so well? When he’d heard his brother Knox arguing with his dad earlier and then calling his date and canceling, he’d been livid. Not so much at his brother for not just sucking it up and going on the date, but at his father for being such a busybody. Knox might have gone on the blind date if he hadn’t learned his dad had been responsible for it in the first place. Xander and Logan had told the other four brothers what their father was up to and to hide behind all large tumbleweeds if they saw Viv Dalton coming with her phone and notebook and clipboard, but Knox had thought the whole thing was a joke. Until Viv had apparently cornered him into going on a blind date with one Lily Hunt. He’d agreed and had apparently meant to cancel, then had put the whole thing out of his mind. Until his dad had said, “Knox, shouldn’t you be getting ready for your date tonight?”
Knox’s face: priceless. A combination of Oh crud and Now what the hell am I gonna do?
“What’s so terrible about you going on a date?” Maximilian Crawford had said so innocently. “Some dinner, a glass of wine. Maybe a kiss if you like each other.” The famous smile slid into place.
Knox had been fuming. “I always meant to politely cancel. I’ve been working so hard on the fence line the last couple days that I totally forgot about calling Viv to say forget it.”
“Guess you’re going then,” Max had said with too much confidence.
Knox had shaken his head. “Every single woman in town is after us. Who wouldn’t want to marry into a family with a patriarch who has a million dollars to throw around? No thanks.”
“Well, it is a numbers game,” their dad had said.
Knox had been exasperated. “I don’t want to hurt my date’s feelings, but I’m not a puppet. I’m canceling. Even at the eleventh hour. She’ll just have to understand.”
Would she, though? Getting canceled on when she was likely already waiting for Knox to show up?
So Xander had stepped in—surprising himself. He’d avoided Viv Dalton, the wedding planner behind the woman deluge, like the plague whenever he saw her headed toward him in town with that “ooh, there’s a Crawford” look on her face. But c’mon. He couldn’t just let Knox’s date get stood up because his brother was so...stubborn.
And anyway, what was an hour and a half of his life on a date with a stranger? Some conversation, even stilted and awkward, was still always interesting, a study in people, of how things worked. Xander had been trying to figure out how people worked for as long as he could remember. So he could apply it to his own family history.
“Best. Wings. Ever!” Lily said, chomping on one liberally slathered in maple-chipotle sauce.
“Mmm, didn’t try that sauce yet,” he said, dabbing a wing in the little container. He took a bite. “Are we in Texas? These rival the best wings in Dallas.”
“That’s a mighty compliment. Do you miss home?”
“This is home now,” he said, more gruffly than he’d meant. “We bought the Ambling A ranch and are fixing it up. We’ve done a lot of work already. It’s coming along.”
“So you and your five brothers moved here, right?” she asked, taking a drink of her lemonade.
“Yup. With our dad. The seven Crawford men. Been that way a long time.”
Her eyes darted to his. “My father’s a widow, too. I lost my mom when I was eight. God, I miss her.”
Oh hell, she’d misunderstood about his mother and he didn’t want to get into the correction. “Sorry to hear that.”
“I’m sorry about your mom,” she said.
Well, now he had to. “Don’t be. She’s not
dead, just gone. She took off on my dad and six little boys—my youngest brother, Wilder, was just a baby. When I let myself think about it, I can hardly believe it. Six young sons. And you just walk away.”
He shook his head, then grabbed another wing before his thoughts could steal his appetite. These wings were too good to let that happen.
Change the subject, Xander. “So what else do we have in common?” he asked, swiping a wing in pineapple-teriyaki sauce. “You have five brothers, too?”
She smiled. “Three, actually. All older. So you can guess how they treat me. We all live together in the house I grew up in—the four of us and my dad.”
“Protective older brothers. That’s nice. Princess for a day for life, am I right?”
She snorted, which he didn’t expect. “Exsqueeze me? Princess? My brothers treat me like I’m one of them. I don’t think they know I’m a girl, actually. I’m like the youngest brother.”
He laughed, imagining the four Hunts racing around the woods, playing tag, trying to catch frogs, swinging off ropes into rivers.
“They do appreciate that I cook for them, though,” she said. “And I do so because they’re hopeless. I told my brother Ryan that I was teaching him to cook and that he should heat up a can of stewed tomatoes, and I swear on the Bible that he put an unopened can of tomatoes in a pot and turned on the burner and asked, ‘How long should it cook?’”
Xander cracked up. “That’s bad.”
“Oh, yeah. He’s better now. He can even crack an egg into a bowl without sloshing half on the counter or floor. It’s all great practice for me for one day owning my own business—either a restaurant or a catering shop. I’m also studying for a business degree online—just part-time. But I want to learn how to start and run a successful business. I’m covering all the bases.”
“Wow, impressive!” he said. “You’re what, twenty-two?” She looked young. Very young. Too young for him, certainly.
“Twenty-three.”
“I’ve got seven years on you, kid,” he said. “And I’ll tell you, following your passion is where it’s at. I’m a big believer in that.”
She sobered for a moment; he wasn’t sure why, but then those green eyes of hers lit up again. “Me, too.”
They spent the next twenty minutes talking about everything from the differences between Texas and Montana cattle and terrain, where to get the best coffee in Rust Creek Falls (she was partial to Daisy’s Donuts but he loved the strong brew at the Gold Rush Diner), the wonders and pitfalls of having many brothers, and her favorite foods for each meal (omelet, chicken salad sandwich on a very fresh baguette, any kind of pasta with any kind of sauce). They talked about steak for ten minutes and then steak fries, thick and crispy, seasoned just right and dipped in quality ketchup.
The wings were suddenly gone but he could talk to her for hours more. They laughed, traded stories, watched the dog walkers, and she told him funny stories about Dobby and Harry. He loved the way the waning sun lit up her red hair and he felt so close to her that he leaned across the table, about to take both her hands to give them a squeeze. He truly felt as if he’d made a real friend here tonight.
But when he leaned, Lily leaned.
Her face—toward his.
He darted back.
She’d thought he was going to kiss her?
He cleared his throat, glancing at his watch. “It’s almost nine? How did that happen?” He tried for a good-natured smile, but who the hell knew what his expression really looked like. Xander had never been able to hide how he felt. And how he felt right now was seriously awkward.
He liked Lily. A lot. But did he like her that way? He didn’t think so. She was a kid! Twenty-three to his thirty. Just starting out. And she was the furthest thing from the women he usually dated. Perfume. Long red nails. Slinky outfits and high heels. Sleek hair. And okay, big breasts and lush hips. He liked a woman with curves. Lily was...cute but not exactly his usual type. Not that he could really tell under her loose jeans and the hoodie around her waist obscuring much of her body.
All he knew was that he liked her. A lot.
As a friend.
“Yikes,” she said, that plastered smile from when they first met on her face again. She jumped up. “Dobby and Harry are going to wonder where I am.”
He collected their containers and stuffed them back in the bag, his stomach twisting with the knowledge that he’d made things uncomfortable. Never lean toward a woman, he reminded himself, unless you’re leaning for a kiss.
“I live pretty close to the park, so I’ll just jog home,” she said quickly, tossing him an even more forced smile. “I’m dressed for it,” she added. “Thanks for dinner!” she called, and ran off.
I’ll drive you, he wanted to call out to her, but she was too fast. He watched her reach the corner, hoping she’d turn back and wave so he could see her freckles and bright eyes again, but she didn’t.
Hell if he didn’t want to see her again. Soon.
Chapter Two
The Ambling A was a sight for the ole sore eyes. Sore brain, really. Xander had thought about Lily all the way home, half wanting to call her to make sure she’d gotten home all right, half not because she might read into it.
Which made him feel like a jerk again, flattering himself.
But the way she’d leaned in for that kiss...
He would not lead her on.
He parked his new silver pickup and got out, the sprawling dark wood ranch house, which literally looked like it was made from Lincoln Logs, making him smile. He loved this place—the house, the land, the hard work to get the ranch the way they wanted. Xander headed in, never knowing who’d be home. Hunter, the second-oldest Crawford (Xander was third born), lived in a cabin on the property. A widower since the birth of his daughter, Hunter and his six-year-old, Wren, needed their own space, but the girl still had five uncles to dote on her. Logan, the eldest, had recently moved to town now that he was married with a baby to raise, but he worked on the ranch, as they all did, so it was almost like he’d never left.
The place sure had changed since the day they’d arrived. They’d mended fences for miles, repaired outbuildings, cleaned out barns, burned ditches and worked on the main house itself when they had the time and energy. A month later, it was looking good but they had a ways to go.
He came through the front door into the big house with its wide front hall and grand staircase leading up to a gallery-style landing on the second floor. He saw his dad and three of his brothers up there, going over blueprints, which meant his dad had proposed a change—again—and his sons were trying to talk him out of it. There was many a midnight argument taking place at the Ambling A. When they heard the door close behind him, they all came downstairs.
“Well, well, if isn’t the knight in shining armor,” Wilder, the youngest of the brothers, said with a grin.
Xander made a face at Wilder and shook his head, hoping they’d go back to talking blueprints. “Lily is hardly a damsel in distress. She’s very focused on what she wants. She can definitely take care of herself.” The more he thought about her, about what they’d talked about, her plans, her dreams, the more impressed he was.
Logan smiled. “Sounds like the date switch was a date match. Knox’s loss.”
Knox wasn’t around. He probably had left to get away from their matchmaking father.
“So? Was it a love match?” Finn asked. “When’s your next date?”
Twenty-nine-year-old Finn was the dreamer of the group. He could keep dreaming on this one, because another date wasn’t going to happen.
Lily was too young. And Xander was too jaded. She’d barely lived, and he was already cynical about love and guarded.
Xander rolled his eyes. “Get real. She’s twenty-three. C’mon. And very nice.”
“Ah, he used the kiss-of-death word. Nice,” Wilder said.
“Nothing gonna happen there.”
That settled for the Crawford men, they turned their attention back to the blueprints. Xander scowled as they ducked their heads over the plans, gabbing away as if they didn’t just dismiss a lovely, smart, determined young woman as “nice.”
Oh, wait. He was the one who’d called her that.
But his brothers had stamped her forehead with the word, which meant she wasn’t hot or sexy or desirable. All without even laying eyes on her.
They’d written her off.
And so did you. You’re the one who put her in the friend zone in the first place.
His dad came in from the kitchen with a beer. “Ah, Xander, you’re back from the date! Have you already set up a second one?”
“You don’t even know if we had anything in common, Dad,” Xander said. “Maybe we weren’t attracted to each other.”
“I just have a feeling,” Max Crawford said with a smile and a tip of his beer at his son. That feeling should tell his father otherwise.
“I think we’re just meant to be friends, Dad,” Xander said.
“Meaning she’s not his type,” Wilder threw in. “Xander likes his women with big hair, big breasts, big hips and big giggles. All play, no talk.”
His brothers cracked up.
Xander supposed he deserved that. He did like curvy blondes who didn’t delve too deeply and liked to watch rodeos and have sex without expecting much in return other than a nice night out and a call once in a while. But one of those curvy blondes had managed to get inside him and surprise him, and he’d fallen hard, only to find her in bed with his best friend. The betrayal still stung. All these miles away from Texas.
Max shook his head. “You boys should give ‘not your types’ a chance. You’d be surprised what your supposed type turns out to be.”
Logan raised an eyebrow. “If I remember correctly, Dad—and I do—it was you who told me that a single mother of a baby was not the woman for me. And she is.”
Rust Creek Falls Cinderella (Montana Mavericks: Six Brides For Six Brothers Book 2) Page 2