“Uh.” Dallas really wished he had a window he could pace back and forth to. He didn’t see a way to keep it a secret. “I asked Jess to go to dinner with me.”
A beat of silence came through the line, and then Ted burst out laughing. Dallas chuckled half-heartedly with him, not sure if Ted thought the idea of a relationship with Jess was ludicrous or not.
“Good for you,” Ted said. “Really, Dallas. That’s great.” He sounded genuine, and Dallas let his smile spread across his face again.
“You think so?”
“Sure,” Ted said. “She’s a pretty woman, and you’re a great guy. Why not?”
“I don’t know. Are there rules about dating here at the ranch?” He turned around to find Chris and Leon in his office now, and Dallas wondered how much they’d heard. His heart dropped to his steel-toed boots, and the three of them stared at one another.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Ted said. “Bring the kids by whenever. Emma is making her braided breadsticks, and we’re having spaghetti on the side.” He chuckled again, and Dallas joined in with him.
He set his phone on this desk and faced his guys again. “Hey,” he said. “What did you two need?”
“Who are you going out with?” Chris asked. He stood six feet tall, with linebacker shoulders, as he’d played football all the way through college. He hadn’t been recruited into the NFL, and he’d traded his helmet for a cowboy hat. He’d been working at Hope Eternal for three years, Dallas had discovered, and he’d recently come over to the mechanical side of things after he’d had a run-in with Jess.
Dallas swallowed. “Uh, no one.”
Leon looked at Chris, and Chris looked at Leon. “I swear I heard him ask if there were rules about dating here at the ranch.” Leon’s grin could only be classified as one Dallas would see on a Cheshire Cat. “Gotta be someone.”
Leon had dark hair and eyes, and Dallas had learned that he’d been out with every woman on the ranch at least once—except Jess.
Dallas didn’t know how he could tell them and not get daggered looks. They obviously didn’t like her, and that suddenly struck him. Why didn’t they like her?
Why do you? he asked himself, but he had no answer to either question.
He sat down at his desk. “It’s nothing, guys. Do you have your schedules for today?”
“You’re no fun,” Chris said. “I came by to say I’m headed to San Antonio with Greg to get that load of hay. We’re going to pick up the swather parts we need.”
“Oh, perfect,” Dallas said, pretending to look at something ultra-important on his laptop.
“And I came to talk to you about a couple of days off,” Leon said. “My mother is having her gallbladder removed, and she needs someone to sit with her after she gets out of surgery. You know, the drugs make a person loopy.”
“You have the paperwork?” Dallas asked, and Leon stepped forward and took a folded square of paper out of his pocket.
“Right here.”
Dallas took it and unfolded it to find the dates. Not for another month. He tapped and clicked to get the calendar for the shop, and no one else had requested those days off. “You should be good,” he said. “I’ll put it in right now.”
“Thanks, Dallas,” Leon said. “I’ll bet we can figure out who it is,” he said as he and Chris turned to leave the office.
“Yeah,” Chris said, and Dallas expected their voices to get quieter the further from him the walked. But they didn’t. In fact, it sounded like Chris was still in his office when he said, “I’m sure we can figure it out, Leon. Looks like a woman is coming this way right now.”
Chapter Eight
Jess saw the two grease monkeys ogling her as she walked toward Dallas’s office. She knew Leon and Chris, of course. She knew everyone who worked on the ranch. “Good morning,” she said politely.
“Morning, ma’am,” Chris said, twittering a moment later.
She paused and peered at him, something igniting in her blood. “What’s going on?”
“Nothin’,” Leon drawled. “What are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to Dallas,” she said, ready for them to move on. Chris had moved over to mechanical after she’d had enough of his complaining in the stables. Ginger had reported that it was a much better fit for him, and he’d been doing well in the past year since he’d left her crew.
Of course he was, Jess thought. He didn’t have a supervisor over here to answer to. At least not until she’d hired Dallas. She tried to see past them to the office, and thankfully, Dallas filled the doorway.
“Go on, guys,” he said. “You’ve got work to do.”
Chris and Leon moved on, and Jess turned to watch them go, wondering what she’d done to them. Again. She’d simply asked for Chris to be transferred, and he had been. He still had a job, and he was better at it than he’d been with the horses.
Leon had worked his way through all the women here at the ranch, and Jess had been dating someone else when it was her turn. At least, that was what he’d told her. She’d been more disgusted with him for that than anything else, and perhaps she had told him she wouldn’t go out with him even if he asked.
He never had, and she couldn’t help feeling like she’d been slighted in some way.
“What was that about?”
“Nothing,” Dallas said, touching her elbow. His skin seared hers, and she turned toward him. “What are you doing here?”
“I just came to see you,” she said, smiling at him as she pressed in close to him to enter the office. “You got an offer on your house?”
“Not yet,” he said. “But I should by tonight.” He smiled too, and in Jess’s opinion, he didn’t do that nearly often enough. She didn’t see him often enough to really know, though, and she decided on the spot to change that. How, she wasn’t sure, but if they started dating, surely she’d get to see him more.
She’d spent the last two weeks fighting with herself over whether or not she should even want to see him more. In the end, she’d always come back to yes, she wanted to get to know him better.
The problem was, Dallas was like a walled city. He didn’t say much, and he was so busy that anything she did to pop into his life would be extremely noticeable. She’d settled for texting a little bit here and there and seeing him occasionally at the West Wing. He didn’t seem ready for much more than that, and Jess had once tried to convince a man he was ready to date when he wasn’t, and she didn’t need to repeat that disaster.
He sat down in front of his computer, and Jess saw the quick flash of pain as it crossed his face. “You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah.” He painted over the discomfort with a smile that could surely charm anyone with even one good eye.
Jess cocked her head, trying to see deeper inside him to what he wouldn’t say. “We haven’t talked as much lately,” she said. “I was a little surprised to get your text.”
“Were you?” The smile slipped away, and the more vulnerable version of Dallas Dreyer took over. “I’ve just been really busy with getting the new system set up,” he said. “And the kids back in school, and…stuff.”
“You say ‘stuff’ a lot,” she teased, but it did annoy her somewhat that he couldn’t be more specific.
“Do I?” His light gray eyes sparkled now, and Jess sure did like seeing that. She’d seen him with this glint in his eye when he laughed with Ted Burrows or when he smiled at something his daughter said during dinner.
“Yes,” she said with a light laugh, beyond glad it wasn’t a giggle. “You might want to work on being a little more specific tonight.” She stood and lifted her hand in a wave. “I have to get back to my horses. I’ll see you tonight.”
“Okay.” He stood too and took the couple of steps to the door. “See you tonight.” He smiled her out the door, and Jess couldn’t help the extra bounce in her step as she went back to Rich and a horse named Valley of Ferns, because of her feathery light, almost velvet, coat.
“Hannah,” J
ess said later that night, entering the other woman’s bedroom. “Can I borrow that tank top with the blue ruffles?”
Hannah looked up from her tablet, surprise in her expression. Jess already wore a pair of tight, black jeans, and she needed something feminine and flirty for this date. Though Dallas had touched her elbow that morning, and he’d asked her to dinner to celebrate the offer on his house, he’d still been somewhat distant. It was almost like he didn’t even see her standing in front of him, and she really wanted to open his eyes that night.
Hannah’s gaze slid down to Jess’s feet and back to her curled hair. “Who are you going out with? You said you didn’t meet anyone at the wedding.” She got up off her bed and stepped over to her closet.
“I didn’t,” Jess said. “Well, I suppose you could say I did.”
Hannah handed her the shirt, and Jess slipped out of her T-shirt and into the blue tank. It clung to her bust-line all the way down to her ribcage and then fell in ruffled layers to cover the top of her jeans. “I love that on you,” Hannah said. “It’s so good with your coloring.” She smiled at Jess. “Who are you all dolled up for?”
“Dallas Dreyer,” Jess said, trying not to feel so giddy. She’d texted him earlier that afternoon, and he’d responded with, Driving to get the kids. Will see you in a few hours.
She’d deflated a little, and she’d determined not to text him again. He could send texts too, and she didn’t want to come on too strong. She’d been told she could be intimidating, and Jess usually wasn’t afraid to let a man know how she felt about him.
“Dallas Dreyer?” Hannah’s eyes opened a little wider. “Wow, Jess. He is a good-looking man.”
“Why are you so surprised then?” Jess turned to look at the back of the shirt in the mirror on Hannah’s closet door. It hung right, and she was glad she’d thought of this tank top. Hopefully, Dallas would like it.
“I’m not surprised,” Hannah said. “That he asked you out. I’m surprised you said yes.”
“Why?” Jess looked at Hannah fully now. They’d been working together on the ranch for years now, and they’d lived in the West Wing next door to each other for all of that time. Eight or nine years, since Hannah had come to Hope Eternal.
“He doesn’t seem like your type,” Hannah said, shrugging. “That’s all.”
“What’s my type?” Jess asked, truly curious. “He’s smart and handsome. He’s hardworking. He’s turned that equipment shed around singlehandedly in just two weeks.” She was very impressed with Dallas, and surely Hannah was too.
“That’s all true,” Hannah said. “It’s just…he has two kids, Jess. And he’s an ex-con.” She shrugged again. “I mean, I get that we don’t judge men like him here, but you were never very interested in the guys we’ve had from the re-entry program before.”
“He’s not in the re-entry program,” Jess said. “And I like kids.” Dallas’s were nice enough, and she didn’t find them annoying like some of the eleven-year-olds that came for their first riding lessons.
“Okay,” Hannah said. “Forget I said anything.”
“Thanks for letting me wear this.” She smiled at Hannah and down at the tank top. “You’re sure it looks okay?”
“It looks amazing,” Hannah said, looking at her again before she picked up her tablet.
Jess lingered for a moment, sensing something in Hannah. “Hey,” she said, sitting on the edge of the bed and looking at the brunette. Really looking. “What’s wrong?”
Hannah shook her head, sighed, and then let her shoulders sag. Without saying anything, she turned her tablet toward Jess, so she could see what was on the screen. Warm Hearts sat there, their highly recognizable logo with a handprint placed over a heart right at the top of the page.
Jess sucked in a breath, her eyes round as she looked from the screen back to Hannah.
“Why are you signing up for this?” she asked.
“Because Jill met Mike at the wedding, and now you’re going out with Dallas, and Ginger is married now, and Emma’s engaged, and I just….” She blew out her breath and rolled one shoulder again. “I’m just lonely, and I want to meet someone too.” She turned the tablet back to her. “So I’m signing up for this thing. If someone messages me, and I’m not interested, I don’t have to answer.”
Jess had never used a dating app, and she was truly surprised Hannah would. She could hear the loneliness in her friend’s voice though, and Jess didn’t know how to make her feel better. She wasn’t great with feelings and explaining them to herself or someone else.
“I love you, Hannah,” she said, and the other woman raised her eyes to Jess’s again. She stood, bent down, and hugged her, glad when Hannah sniffled and said, “I love you too, Jess. Have fun tonight.”
The doorbell rang just as Jess said she would, and pure terror tore through her. “It’s him, and I don’t even have shoes on yet.” She darted out of Hannah’s bedroom and into hers, her mind quickly moving through her available footwear. Almost anything would go with a pair of jeans and a tank top, but Jess wanted to stand out.
She felt like she had to with Dallas, and she quickly stepped into a pair of black sandals that added a couple of inches to her height. Nothing too drastic, and nothing she couldn’t walk in for the whole night. In fact, she’d once gone dancing in these sandals, and her feet hadn’t complained once.
She hurried out into the kitchen to find Dallas standing there, chatting with Jill. He wore a pair of jeans too. Nothing too fancy, and nothing too light. He’d put on cowboy boots, and for some reason, Jess found that adorable. He was definitely more mechanic than cowboy, but she sure did like the idea of a cowboy mechanic, so she clung to that.
He wore a dark purple shirt with only a couple of bright yellow stripes across the chest, and if Jess hadn’t found him appealing before, the cowboy hat he wore tonight would’ve changed her mind. Big time.
He caught her staring at him, and he reached up and touched the brim of that dark, delicious, cowboy hat with two fingers. She got herself moving in the right direction, her smile genuine and real as she approached.
“Hey,” he said. “Don’t you look great?” He grinned at her and reached for her hand. She willingly laced her fingers through his, snaps and crackles and pops moving through her whole body. Her teeth almost chattered from the electricity bouncing between them, and when she met Jill’s eyes, it was obvious she could see something happening between the two of them too.
“Thanks,” Jess said, grinning from Jill to Dallas. “You look amazing too.”
Dallas ducked his head as if examining his own clothes, as if he hadn’t dressed himself. “I cleaned my car and everything.”
“Let’s go then,” Jess said. They turned toward the front door, and she had to let go of his hand. Thankfully, he took her other one as they walked away from Jill, and once they settled in his car he gave a nervous chuckle.
“You wouldn’t have wanted to get in this thing a couple of hours ago. The kids eat in it every day, and wow, my children are slobs.”
Jess laughed with him, glad things seemed to be easy with him.
She quieted and as they left the ranch, he said, “I haven’t been on a date in a very long time, Jess,” he said. “I hope you’ll forgive me if I mess it up.”
“Dating is like riding a bike,” she said. “It’ll come right back to you.”
“Do you go out a lot?” he asked.
“I wouldn’t say a lot,” Jess said, glancing at him. She also didn’t want to talk about her romantic history on the first date. No need to get into the specifics of her failures and shortcomings so soon. No, she wanted to hide those for as long as possible.
“More than me,” he said. “I’d been married for fifteen years. Martha and I dated for a year before we finally got engaged.”
Jess didn’t like that word “finally” in there. She shook her hair over her shoulders, realizing that she’d forgotten to put on earrings. A flash of regret hit her, because she wanted to be and
look her best tonight.
“How long…?” She let her question hang there, because she didn’t want to continue it. “You didn’t want to get married?”
He glanced at her, but Jess just played with the end of a piece of hair as if she didn’t care. But honestly, she did. If he wasn’t looking for a committed relationship, she might as well go back to the West Wing right now.
“Martha stalled for a while,” he said. “She wanted her father’s approval, and I hadn’t applied for medical school yet.”
Ah, so status was important to his ex-wife. “She didn’t file for divorce until you were about to get out?”
“Yes,” Dallas clipped out.
That made perfect sense to Jess, but she wasn’t sure Dallas had gotten the memo yet.
“Who’s the last guy you went out with?” he asked, his voice still on the outer edge of angry.
“Spencer,” she said.
Dallas looked fully at her, not bothering to watch the road. “Spencer from the ranch, Spencer?”
“Yes,” Jess said, her chest filling with a chill. “It didn’t really work out. He’s like a brother to me.”
“Did you kiss him?”
“Yes,” Jess said. “It was awkward and horrible.”
Dallas started to chuckle, the sound morphing into full-blown laughter. As he quieted, he said, “If it’s like that when I kiss you, just tell me, okay? I haven’t kissed a woman in a while either.”
Surprise moved through Jess. “Are you planning on kissing me tonight?”
“I don’t know,” Dallas said. “I guess that depends on how well the date goes.”
“It’s the first date,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said, clearly not getting it.
“Maybe I don’t kiss on the first date,” she teased.
Dallas’s cheeks took on a pinkish hue, and he chuckled again. “Good, that’ll take the pressure off me for a while.”
Jess crossed her legs in the front seat of his small sedan, wondering if he could see her yet. “I mean, I’ve been known to kiss on the first date, if I really like the guy.”
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