Lucky in Love

by Kelly Elliott

  I raised a brow. “Tell me she didn’t ask you to go along.”

  “She didn’t. She invited me over for movie night. But I need a night out, too. I broke up with Miranda.”

  “You did it!” I gasped.

  “Yes, and before you judge me, I intend on hooking up with a woman whom I hope has loose morals and is only interested in a one-night stand. So you’re driving.”

  I snarled my lip. “Okay, first off, that was way too much information. And how do you know I didn’t want to hook up with someone?”

  Anger flashed through his eyes. “Saryn, you’re not having a one-night stand.”

  “Ryan, you don’t get to say what I can and cannot do. Sorry.”

  He rolled his eyes. “God, at least let me make sure I know the dude and he’s not a douche or a serial killer, or a douchey serial killer.”

  I reached for the door and pulled it shut behind me. “If you’re hanging out with serial killers, I think we have a bigger problem here.”

  Ryan laughed and draped his arm over my shoulder. “I never thought I’d say this, but let’s go find some pussy…um…and dick.”

  “Yeah, you just made it really weird.”

  “I know, let’s forget I even said anything.”

  The moment Ryan and I walked into Bricks Dance Hall, I felt like I’d stepped back in time. The music pulsed through my body and I had an incredible urge to dance.

  “Who is the hottie walking toward us, tell me you know her!” Ryan said, nearly screaming it over the music. With one quick glance to where he was looking, I smiled.

  “That’s Lucy. She’s a nurse I work with. And I’m pretty sure from the stories she tells us at work that she’s your perfect rebound girl.”

  My brother let a charming smile play across his face. By the look on Lucy’s, he wasn’t going to have to work hard at this tonight.

  “Who’s your handsome friend, Saryn?” Lucy asked, somehow managing to make her voice sound seductive over the music.

  “This is my brother, Ryan. Ryan, Lucy Hart.”

  He took Lucy’s hand and kissed the back of it, causing me to roll my eyes. He said something to her, but I couldn’t hear what it was since he leaned in and said it close to her ear. By the way she flushed, I was glad I hadn’t heard it.

  “Where have you been hiding your brother, Saryn?” Lucy asked, tearing her gaze from Ryan.

  “In the woodshed,” I replied.

  She laughed then focused back on Ryan. “Care to dance?”

  “Lead the way.”

  And like that, I was on my own. I didn’t even know where Lucy was sitting with the other nurses. I looked around the bar in an attempt to find them, but it was packed with people.

  “Shit.”

  I turned and headed to the bar. I’d order a beer and make my way around until I found them.

  As I stood in line, I let my eyes wander. I didn’t know anyone in the place. Boerne wasn’t really the small town I’d grown up in any longer. More and more people were moving outside of San Antonio. Boerne still managed to keep its small-town appeal, but little local places like this clearly had attracted more city folk. Half of them weren’t even two-stepping the right way.

  With a sigh, I finally stepped up to the bar. The bartender gave me a smile, let his eyes drop to my chest, then snapped them back up. “What can I get you?”

  “Bud, in a bottle, please.”

  He nodded and walked away to get my beer. After I paid and tipped him, I turned and froze in place. Standing not far from the bar was Truitt. My knees felt wobbly. Again. This time the man wasn’t nearly naked. Oh, no. He was wearing tight jeans, a very snug blue T-shirt, and a black cowboy hat. Why, of all the men in Texas, did this one make my insides quiver with desire? The dull pulse between my legs was almost instant. As if he could sense I was staring at him, he turned and looked directly at me. He smiled. Good Lord up above. I actually let out a sigh.

  “Look away, Saryn. Look away,” I muttered to myself as I looked past him, attempting to make it seem like I was searching for someone. I walked in the opposite direction, quickly.

  As I moved away from him, I spotted Natalie, one of the nurses I worked with.

  “Thank God,” I mumbled.

  By the time I pushed through the crowd and made it to the table, I was positive I’d worked up a sweat.

  “Natalie!” I nearly shouted.

  She looked up and grinned. “It’s about time you showed up!”

  I glanced to her right to see her talking to a handsome cowboy. He tipped his hat at me as I sat down.

  “Saryn, this is Luke. Luke, Saryn. She’s the new nurse I was telling you about.”

  The way he looked at me made me glance at Natalie with a questioning look.

  “He’s my cousin.”

  Ahh…that explained the way he was eye-fucking me. “It’s nice meeting you, Luke, was it?” I asked as I stretched my hand out to shake his.

  “That’s right. It’s my pleasure.”

  I glanced over my shoulder to look in the general direction I’d just come from. A small part of me was disappointed Truitt hadn’t followed. Quickly dismissing that thought, I focused back on the table.

  “Is everyone dancing?” I asked, looking directly at Natalie. I didn’t want Luke to think that was a hint for him to ask me.

  “Yes. Luke and I just finished taking a spin and I needed a break.”

  I smiled and looked out at the dance floor. When I saw Truitt, I felt my entire body tense. He was dancing with a beautiful blonde. He had her tucked up nicely against his body, and the two of them moved across the floor like they’d done it a thousand times. I tried to ignore the instant pang in my chest. Holy hell, was that jealousy?

  Nonsense.

  “Do you know Truitt?”

  Natalie’s voice pulled my gaze away from the dance floor.

  “What?” I asked, flustered by her question.

  “Truitt Carter, do you know him?”

  “Um, sort of. He’s friends with my older brother, and he’s building a playhouse for my parents.”

  Luke and Natalie both looked confused by that.

  With an awkward laugh, I corrected, “Well, not for them, for my daughter. They hired him to build her a playhouse.”

  Natalie grinned. “He does amazing work and has a long waiting list of clients.”

  That little bit of information was interesting. How had my mother been able to get him to build Liliana’s playhouse so quickly?

  “I’ve heard he’s amazing. At his work. With playhouses,” I said like an idiot.

  Luke stared at me, then tilted his head. Crap.

  “I mean, I don’t really know. My mother is handling most of it since it’s on their property.”

  He smiled warmly, but there was a bit of lust in his eyes that caused an instant rush of heat to my cheeks.

  “What do you do, Luke?” I asked, hoping to shift the subject off of Truitt.

  “I’m a deputy sheriff for Kendall County.”

  A cop. There was something hot about that. “Well, thank you for your service, sir.”

  He winked, and I wanted it to make my stomach dip, but it didn’t.

  Damn it.

  “Luke, you should really ask Saryn to dance,” Natalie said. “I need a bit more time to recover. I’m so out of shape.”

  Turning to look my way, Luke raised his brow in question. “What do you say, like to take a spin around the dance floor?”

  This was it. The moment I was officially moving on from my divorce. Could I honestly hook up with a guy for a night of meaningless sex? That I wasn’t sure about, but a little bit of personal contact would be nice. And Luke was for sure giving me signs he was interested.

  “I’d love to dance, thank you.”

  He stood, reached for my hand, and led me to the dance floor. A Chris Young song played as Luke expertly drew me close to him as we started to two-step. For the first time in a long time I felt a little reckless. Free. Like a girl w
ho was finally able to enjoy herself.

  And tonight, I had every intention of enjoying myself to the fullest.

  Truitt

  LUKE BARNES WAS dancing with Saryn, and I didn’t want that to bother me as much as it did. Why should I care who she was dancing with? But when I first looked over and saw her standing there, staring at me with a beer in her hand, that old familiar feeling of want and desire rushed through my body.

  “Truitt, if you glare at Luke any harder, you’re going to burn a hole right through him.”

  Shay’s voice pulled my gaze off of Luke and Saryn. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  She raised a brow. Shay Barnes probably knew me better than I knew myself. We’d had a off and on friends-with-benefits thing going for the last couple of years. Neither of us were looking to settle down or get into any sort of relationship. I’d known Shay since high school, she was a friend and one of the few people who knew I had once upon a time had a thing for Saryn. She was someone I could trust. And someone I could fuck and walk away from the next morning knowing she wasn’t after my money or a ring.

  “She’s a client and Ryan’s sister.”

  Shay glanced back over. “No old feelings coming back?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” I said, then spun Shay and did a little dip. When she came back up, she took another peek over at Saryn and Luke.

  “She’s a client. Is that all, Truitt?”

  “Yes, that’s all.”

  Shay left the subject alone, for which I was grateful. I wasn’t exactly sure what my feelings were toward Saryn. She’d ignited something inside of me years ago that never fully died out. Hell, every woman I ever tried to date I compared to her. I’d woken up with my cock in my hand more than once, with her as the star in my dreams.

  I was having a hard time trying to figure out what I was exactly feeling for Saryn. Hence the reason I called Shay earlier tonight. It had been way too long since I’d hooked up, and I wasn’t in the mood for a one-night stand. I rarely did those any more, and honestly hadn’t really had that many. Shay was a safe place to go. Both of us had an understanding that if either of us ever found ourselves in a relationship, this thing we had together was over and we would both walk away friends. We’d stayed true to it. Shay had met someone last year, dated him for a while, and when it turned out he was cheating on her, she found herself at my house in the middle of the night. We didn’t have sex then, we simply talked. She was more than a fuck buddy, she was truly a friend.

  After a few hours of dancing with Shay, talking to other friends, and trying not to pay attention to what Saryn was doing, I sat at a table and watched as Luke walked out of the dance hall, his hand on Saryn’s lower back. She had stopped, said something to her brother, then left. The fact that Ryan didn’t stop her from leaving with the guy pissed me off. I knew she wasn’t a little girl anymore, but was he really going to let his sister just leave with someone?

  I finished off my beer, looked around for Shay and found her dancing with some city slicker who didn’t have the first clue on how to properly two-step. I rolled my eyes and decided it was time to cut in.

  I made my way toward them and Shay caught my eyes. She almost looked relieved to see me coming their way.

  “Darlin’, you about ready to head on out?”

  The guy turned and faced me. “Are you together?” he asked, looking slightly defeated.

  “No, he’s just going to take me home and give me a few orgasms, then we’ll call it a night.”

  Now the poor bastard looked confused.

  I tipped my hat and wrapped my arm around Shay’s waist and guided her off the dance floor. “Why do you do that?” I asked with a chuckle.

  “I like to see the look of shock on their face,” Shay answered unapologetically.

  “Some day a guy is going to catch your attention, Shay, and you’re going to be screwed.”

  She tossed her head back and laughed. “And some day you’ll realize why no woman has ever caught your eye.”

  I sat in my truck and ran my hand down my face. I’d had a long night with Shay and hadn’t gotten home until almost four in the morning. A few hours of sleep and I was practically begging the girl in the drive-through to hand me my coffee.

  “One large black coffee and an orange scone.”

  I took the coffee and the scone and gave her a polite smile. “Thank you.”

  She grinned and then promptly began taking another order.

  By the time I got to the shop, I felt like I could at least keep my eyes open without force.

  When I walked in, Jack, my right-hand man, was waiting for me. We didn’t normally work on Sunday, but he had texted me with a problem. A major problem were the exact words he used.

  “You better have a damn good reason to call me on a Sunday. It’s the only day I take off, dude.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “The playhouse for the Nights…” he started, then trailed off.

  I narrowed my eyes at him and asked, “What about it?”

  “There’s a tree that’s going to be a problem.”

  “A tree?” I asked.

  “Yes. A tree.”

  The next thing I knew, Jack, Evie, Will, and I were staring at a large Spanish Oak tree on the Night’s property.

  “What do you mean, they won’t let us cut it down?” I asked, staring at Evie.

  “Well, last night I had a dinner party and I was walking some of the folks around back here. I explained to them that we were having a playhouse built for our granddaughter. Well, one of our dinner guests noticed this tree, then went on to say it was some sort of trail tree that the Native Americans used to mark things like rivers and creeks.”

  I stared at her, not sure where it was all going.

  “She informed me this morning that she contacted someone from the state to come out and see if this was a trail marker tree. If it is, we can’t cut it down.”

  “Is it a law?” I asked, never having heard of such a thing.

  “I don’t know. It could be just this woman attempting to throw some weight around, or it could be something real.”

  My hand scrubbed along my jawline. “I think the easiest thing to do is move the playhouse to another location, so we don’t even have to worry about this.”

  “Not worry about this! Some woman is trying to tell me which trees I can and cannot cut down on a ranch that has been in my family for generations. Who in the hell does she think she is?” Will practically shouted.

  I glanced over to Jack, who raised his brows and gave me that look that said, See what I mean. We have a problem.

  “Will, Evie, if I can give my advice to you both.”

  The couple stopped arguing and turned to face me. Both wore looks that said they would start this up again the moment Jack and I left.

  “You have plenty of options for where to put the playhouse. If we’re gong to move it, now is the time to do it. I say, let’s just take the tree out of the equation and move the playhouse.”

  Evie nodded. “I agree. Where would you suggest, Truitt?”

  I looked around, trying to find a spot where we wouldn’t really need to clear a lot of trees out. I hated cutting them down anyway and always tried to find the spots on folks’ property where we would have to cut down as few trees as possible.

  “Well, since Saryn and Liliana are staying in the guest cottage for the foreseeable future, I suggest putting it between the two buildings. What about in that little clearing right there?”

  “Oh, that was where Grandma cleared years ago for a garden. I don’t think we would have to cut any trees down if we put it there,” Evie stated.

  “Well, what happens when Saryn moves out of the guest house? Then the playhouse is farther away from our house,” Will added.

  “Will does have a point.” Evie sighed.

  Jack cleared his throat. “You could put it more toward the side of your house, rather than the back. If we went to the right side of the house, I think you’d only need to
clear out that one cedar tree and the one live oak.”

  Everyone looked over to where Jack had suggested. The sound of a car pulling down the drive caused all eyes to swing over toward the guest house. Saryn pulled up and stopped. She got out of the car and paused as she realized everyone was looking at her.

  She was clearly arriving home from her night out. She started toward us and I took a long drink of my now cold-as-ice coffee. Evie headed toward her and started to grumble.

  “Oh, Lord. This ought to be good,” Will said.

  Before Saryn could say anything, Evie spoke first and didn’t even attempt to keep her voice down.

  “Really, Saryn? I was worried sick about you, out all night and coming home in the clothes you went out in.”

  Jack and I both turned and started to make our way over to the newly proposed building site.

  As we got farther away, I glanced back over my shoulder to see the two women arguing.

  “Looks like Saryn didn’t waste any time moving on from the douche ex of hers,” Jack said with a chuckle.

  I took another drink of my coffee and tried to ignore the strange ache in my chest. Saryn had most likely spent the night with Luke and that bothered the fuck out of me. Hell, who was I to judge? I’d gone back to Shay’s place last night. Still, the idea of her sleeping with Luke, him touching her, made a strange feeling rush through me.

  “Guess not,” I finally said before coming to a stop.

  “Wonder who the lucky bastard was?”

  “It’s none of our business,” I stated, harsher than I had intended.

  Jack simply nodded and put his hands in his pockets as we waited for the three of them to walk our way. I had to admit, I was surprised Saryn hadn’t turned and walked back to her place.

  Evie cleared her throat. “I’ve filled Saryn in on what was happening and told her that we are going to relocate the playhouse.”

  Will kept walking and made his way toward the house. I glanced his way and Evie spoke again.

  “Liliana spent the night with us last night and is watching a movie with Rose. Our housekeeper.”

  “Momma, I don’t think they need to know all of that,” Saryn snapped.