Her Favorite Maverick

by Christine Rimmer

  And that gave her the courage to suggest a meeting. “I’m maybe five miles from the Ambling A and I was wondering if—”

  “Yes. Meet me at the house. Come straight here.”

  She sucked in a deep breath and ordered her heart to slow the heck down. “Yeah?”

  “I’ll be waiting on the front porch.”

  * * *

  Hope flaring in his chest and sweat running down his face, Logan stuck his phone back in his pocket. Luckily, he was within sprinting distance of the house.

  “Gotta go.” He jammed his pitchfork into the ground.

  “What’s up?” demanded Xander.

  “Everything okay?” asked Hunter.

  “Everything is great. Got a meeting with my favorite accountant,” he called over his shoulder as he took off at a run, leaving Xander and Hunter staring after him, on their own to finish burning out the stopped-up ditch behind the main barn.

  Entering the house through the back door, he hooked his hat on a peg, toed off his dirty boots and then headed for the utility room, where he stripped off his shirt and used the deep sink there to wash away the smoke and grime.

  Clean from the belt up, he raced upstairs to grab a fresh shirt and a pair of boots free of mud and cow dung. He was just stepping out the door, tucking his shirt in as he went, when Sarah’s white Honda pulled up in front.

  She got out before he could get there to open her door for her. God, she looked good in snug jeans, boots tooled with twining flowers and a white shirt, her thick hair swept up in the usual bouncing ponytail.

  He skidded to a stop a foot away as she pulled open the back door and bent to unhook Sophia’s seat.

  “Here. Let me take her.”

  “Ga! Ba!” The baby waved both fat fists and smiled that gorgeous toothless smile at him as Sarah passed him the carrier.

  “It’s really good to see you, too,” he said to Sophia.

  “Pffffft,” the little girl replied and then laughed that adorable baby laugh of hers.

  Sarah anchored her baby pack on one shoulder. “I was wondering if we could talk?”

  He almost had a heart attack from sheer gladness right then and there. “Absolutely. Let’s go to the office.”

  * * *

  In the office, Logan put Sophia’s carrier on the desk.

  Sarah dropped her pack beside the carrier, opened the front flap and pulled out a teething toy to keep the baby busy for a little while. She offered the toy and Sophia took it.

  Pulse racing and a nervous knot in her stomach, hardly knowing what she was going to say, Sarah turned to face the man she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about.

  How could such a hot guy just keep getting hotter? Surely that wasn’t possible. Still, his eyes were bluer, even, than she remembered, his sexy mouth more tempting. His hair was wet, his shirt sticking to him a little, like he’d washed up quickly and hadn’t really had time to dry himself off.

  No doubt about it. He was, hands down, the best-looking man she’d ever seen. She wanted him so much. And she was so afraid it wouldn’t work out.

  But then he said, “Sarah,” sweet and low and full of yearning.

  The very same yearning she felt all through every part of her body.

  And then he was reaching out. And she was reaching out.

  She landed against his warm, hard chest with a tiny, hungry cry. His arms came around her and she tipped up her mouth to him.

  His lips crashed down to meet hers. She sighed at that, at the perfection of being held by him, of having his mouth on hers. He smelled of soap and hay and something kind of smoky—and man. All man. So good. So right. So exactly what she needed.

  She moaned low in her throat, her hands reaching, seeking, sliding over the hard, muscled planes of his chest and up to link around his neck.

  He lifted his head, but only to slant that wonderful mouth the other way. His big hands roamed her back, pulling her closer, as though he could meld their two separate bodies into one.

  And then from the doorway, a gravelly voice said, “Ahem. Hope I’m not interrupting.”

  With a gasp, Sarah broke the kiss.

  She would have jumped back from Logan’s embrace, except he didn’t allow that. He cradled her close to him and said to his father, “Well, you are interrupting. Go away and close the door behind you.”

  “Aw, now.” Max glanced down at his black boots and then up again with a rueful half smile. “I just need a minute or two.”

  “Whatever it is, it can wait.”

  “No, it can’t. Come on, son. This won’t take long.”

  Sarah felt awful and awkward and very unwelcome. It was disorienting—one minute swept away by the glory of a kiss and the next feeling somehow like an interloper in the Crawford house. “I should go.”

  Logan only held her tighter. “No way.”

  She couldn’t stand this. Max in the doorway, refusing to leave them alone, Logan holding her too tightly, glaring at his dad.

  “Really, Logan. Please. Let me go.” She pushed more strongly at his chest and he finally released her.

  Grabbing the baby carrier, she hitched the pack over her shoulder and turned for the door. Max stepped back. She swept past him and fled.

  * * *

  Max blocked the doorway again as soon as Sarah darted through it.

  Logan barely held himself back from punching his own father right in the face. “Get out of my way, Dad.”

  Max didn’t budge. “Now, son. You need to just let her go. She’s not the one for you. She has a child and no man, which tells me things went bad with whoever that baby’s daddy is. That’s not a good sign. And beyond that, you never know. The father could show up any day now.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about. The father is out of the picture. Period. End of story.”

  “Well, whatever happened with the guy before you, I don’t think I’m out of line in assuming it didn’t end well. That means Sarah’s been hurt and it won’t be that easy to win her trust. I just don’t get it. Why choose a woman with all that baggage? You’re just asking for heartbreak.”

  Faintly, Logan heard the front door shut. “I don’t know where you think you get off with this crap, but it’s got to stop.”

  Max looked at him pleadingly. “Just give someone else a shot, that’s all I’m saying.”

  “Pay attention, old man. Shut your mouth, open your eyes and use your ears for once. I’ve done it, let that wedding planner of yours set me up, gone out with the women she found for me. And you know what that’s done for me? Not a thing—except to make me more certain that if there ever could be the one for me, Sarah’s it.”

  “Now, that’s not true.”

  “You’re still not listening, Dad. It’s a problem you have. Sarah is the one that I want. All your plotting and scheming isn’t going to change that.” Outside, he heard a car start up. He needed to go after her. “Move aside.”

  Max only braced his legs wide and folded his arms across his chest.

  Fast losing patience, Logan made one more attempt to reason with the stubborn fool. “Okay. I get that whatever’s eating you about Sarah is somehow related to what happened with Sheila way back when. You want to talk about that, fine, you talk about it. Just cut all the mystery and say right out what you’re getting at. Because frankly, you’re making no sense to me or to my brothers. For years, you’ve warned us off getting seriously involved with a woman. ‘Have fun, boys,’ you always said, ‘but don’t tie yourselves down.’ And ‘Marriage is like a walk in the park—Jurassic Park.’”

  Max had the nerve to chuckle. “You have to admit, that was a good one.”

  “Not laughing.” Logan glared at his father until Max’s grin vanished. “What I want to know is why, out of the blue, you want all six of us married—just not with any woman who already has a child
?”

  “Think about it. It’s not good for that baby, Logan. To get all attached to you and then to lose you. That’s bad.”

  “Who says anyone’s losing me?”

  “You don’t know what can happen.”

  “Nobody does. That’s life. What I do know is that the way you just behaved with Sarah was rude. Unacceptable. Sarah’s done nothing wrong and she’s nothing like Sheila. Sarah would never turn her back on her own child the way Sheila did to us.”

  Max got the strangest look on his face. His straight shoulders slumped. All of a sudden, he looked every year of his age. “Maybe I did a few things wrong, too, you know? Maybe you and the other boys don’t know the whole story of what happened with your mother.”

  “Maybe?” Logan got right up in his face over that one. “Dad, you are so far out of line, I don’t know where to start with you.”

  “Son, I—”

  “I’m not finished. If you haven’t told us the whole story about Sheila, remedy that. Tell it. Do it now.”

  Max put up both hands and mumbled, “I’m only saying, if you really care about Sarah and her baby, you should do the right thing and walk away now.”

  “You’re saying nothing and we both know it. And I am finished with listening to you tell me nothing. You keep that wedding planner off my back. You tell her I’m not going on any more dates with the women she’s constantly calling to set me up with. I’m done dating women I don’t want. I want Sarah. And right now, I’m going to do my level best to convince her to give me a real shot. Out of my way.”

  That time, Max didn’t argue. He fell back and Logan headed for the door.

  * * *

  Outside, Logan found that Sarah’s white CR-V was already long gone. At least he’d left his crew cab in front. He jumped in. Skidding and stirring up a mini-tornado’s worth of dust, he headed for the highway.

  He drove fast and recklessly all the way to town, not even knowing for sure if that was where she’d gone. It just seemed his best bet. If he didn’t catch up with her, he would have to call her and he had a bad feeling that when he did, she wouldn’t answer.

  Damn the old man. This was all his fault. One minute, Logan had Sarah in his arms again and she was kissing him like she’d finally realized that she needed to give him a real, honest shot with her—and the next minute, his dad was there, acting like an ass, hinting of dark secrets, messing everything up.

  If Max had ruined things for good with Sarah, there was going to be big trouble as soon as Logan got back to the ranch.

  He rolled into Rust Creek Falls on Sawmill Street and slowed down a little—after all, this was his town now. He didn’t want to run any of his neighbors down. Plus, it would be hard reaching out to Sarah if the sheriff locked him up in jail. He rolled along at a sedate pace and then had to choose his first destination—her house on Pine or Falls Mountain Accounting on North Broomtail.

  He slowed down at Pine—but he just had a feeling she’d gone to her office, so he rolled on by that turn, taking North Broomtail instead.

  And he scored.

  She was parked in front of her office, the back door open, bending to get Sophia’s carrier out when he pulled his pickup in next to her.

  Glancing back over her shoulder, she spotted him. Rising to her height, she turned. He jumped out and they faced off over the open car door.

  “Sarah, I’m so sorry about my dad. You can’t listen to—”

  She put a finger to her lips and spoke softly. “Sophia’s asleep.”

  He lowered the volume. “We need to talk. You know we do.”

  “Oh, Logan. I really don’t—”

  “You called me. You know you want to talk this through. Give me a break here. Don’t change your mind. I missed you so damn much. Admit you missed me, too.”

  Her soft mouth hardened. “Yeah. Right. You missed me so much you were going out with someone else.”

  “Sarah...”

  “Shh.” She glanced up the street as a couple of older ladies came toward them on the sidewalk. They smiled and waved. He watched as Sarah forced her lips into an upward curve and waved back. Logan waved, too.

  The ladies strolled on by, bending their heads close to speak in low voices, glancing more than once at Sarah and Logan.

  Finally, the ladies moved on down the street and Sarah said, “Really, I don’t—”

  “I don’t want anyone else,” he vowed before she could finish telling him no all over again. “I only went out with those other women because you dumped me.”

  She scowled. “Dumped you? We had one date. You can’t dump a person after just one date.”

  “Okay, so dump is the wrong word. You didn’t dump me. You only said you didn’t want to be with me and you wouldn’t go out with me again. Fair enough?”

  “I...” Her sleek brows drew together. “Wait a minute. Other women? There was more than just one?”

  She hadn’t known there were three dates?

  He could punch his own face about now—trying so hard to explain himself and just making it worse. “Look. I was miserable. Viv Dalton kept calling. After the first one, I knew I wasn’t interested and I told Viv I wasn’t. But that woman is really determined and I was just sad, missing you, wanting you and trying to forget you. Those three dates did nothing for me. They didn’t help me forget you. How could they when all I did was think about you?”

  She was softening. He could see it in those golden-brown eyes, in the way she looked at him. Intense. Reluctant—but expectant, too. “You, um, thought about me?”

  “Only you. And I’m done. Finished with trying to forget you by wasting the time of nice women I’m not the least interested in.”

  “You are?”

  “I am. I swear it to you—and I also promise that I’m not rushing you. I’m only hoping that maybe we could try again, take it slower, if you need it slower. Be...I don’t know, be friends.” He tried not to wince when he offered the friend zone. Being her friend wasn’t going to satisfy him, no way. “Whatever you want. As long as we can see each other, be together, find out where this thing between us might go. That’s all I want from you. It’s all I’m asking.”

  * * *

  Over the top of the open car door, Sarah stared at his impossibly handsome face.

  Really, she didn’t need any more convincing. He’d said he missed her, that he couldn’t forget her. And she’d missed him, too. So very much.

  No, she still didn’t see him as the kind of guy who would sign on for forever with a single mom and her baby girl.

  But the barriers between them were at least partly because of her. She was afraid to trust him. She’d had a little too much of men she couldn’t count on and she was holding back, keeping him at a distance in order not to get hurt again.

  But Logan was turning out to be so patient. He really did seem to want to be with her. He was kind and generous and he was crazy about Sophia.

  Why not just go with it, for however long it lasted? So what if it didn’t go on forever? Why shouldn’t she just enjoy every minute she could have with him?

  Sarah stepped back. His face fell in disappointment.

  But then she pushed the door shut—not all the way. She left it open enough that she would hear if Sophia started fussing.

  About then, Logan must have seen her decision in her eyes. “Sarah.” He said her name low, with relief. And something bordering on joy.

  She moved in close. He opened his arms. And she stepped right into them, laying her hands on his broad chest, feeling his heat and the beating of his strong heart under her palms. “I’m just...scared, you know?”

  His eyes turned tender, soft as the summer sky. “I know. And that’s okay. Just give me a chance, anyway. Give us a chance.”

  There was a giant lump in her throat. She swallowed it down. “Okay.”

  One corne
r of that fine mouth of his hitched up. “Okay...what?”

  “Okay, let’s give this thing between us a fighting chance.”

  “You mean it?”

  “Yeah. Let’s do this. Let’s try.”

  “Sarah...”

  For the longest, sweetest moment, they just stared at each other.

  And then, at last, he gathered her close and he kissed her, a deep, dizzying, beautiful kiss. She let her hands glide up to encircle his neck and kissed him right back.

  Someone was clapping behind her. Someone else whistled. Logan lifted his head and said, “Get lost, you kids.”

  She glanced over her shoulder in time to see a couple of local boys run off down the street in the same direction the two older ladies had gone.

  “All right,” he said, putting a finger under her chin and guiding her face back around so she met those fine blue eyes of his. “Where were we?”

  She grinned up at him. “Tonight?” she asked.

  “Where and when?”

  “My house. Six o’clock.”

  Chapter Seven

  Sarah turned from Sophia’s crib.

  Logan was waiting in the open doorway.

  He held out his hand. She went to him and he wrapped his arms loosely around her. “Well?” he whispered.

  She put two fingers against his lips and mouthed, “Sound asleep.”

  He caught her hand. “Come on.”

  She turned off the light and silently shut the door behind them.

  After one step, he stopped in the middle of her tiny hallway. “Wait.”

  She gazed up at him, confused. “What?”

  “This.” Pulling her close, he lowered his mouth to hers.

  She giggled a little against his warm lips. And then she sighed in dizzy pleasure as he kissed her more deeply. It felt so fine, so absolutely right, to be held in those lean, strong arms of his, to have his lips moving on hers, his tongue exploring her mouth in the most delicious way.

  When he lifted his head and gazed down at her, she saw his desire in his eyes. Her bedroom was two steps away. And all at once, what would happen between them tonight was breathtakingly, scarily real. Her heart rate kicked up a notch. She could feel her pulse beating in her neck. He regarded her without wavering, his eyes full of promises, his mouth a little swollen from that beautiful, lingering kiss they’d just shared.