by Dylann Crush
“Uh-oh. About what?”
“I think it’s time you also learn how to cook.”
Presley let out a bellow of laughter before he lowered his head to nibble on her ear.
Dixie sighed, letting herself enjoy the man’s embrace. She’d learned a few things over the past several months: how to let go of her guilt, how to stop putting everyone else’s needs first, and how to place her trust in someone else.
And it was all because of him.
Who knew her pig-wrangling, cursing, antagonizing childhood crush had actually been her knight in shining armor in disguise? She did know one thing though—she’d follow her gram’s advice. Gram had told her once that if she found a good man, a man who’d treat her well and love her the way she deserved to be loved, she needed to hold on tight and never let him go.
Dixie pulled back and looked into Presley’s eyes.
She’d found a good man.
And that’s exactly what she intended to do with him.
For more Holiday, Texas
check out book one in the series
All-American Cowboy
On sale now!
Acknowledgements
A huge thank you to those of you who have read and enjoyed the books in the Holiday, Texas series. I love reading your reviews and hearing from you! Special thanks to the team at Sourcebooks for making me look good, especially my editor, Mary Altman. To my agent, Jessica Watterson, I owe you one…you helped me whip this baby back into shape, and I’ll be forever grateful. Kudos to the other authors who are walking beside me in this crazy publishing journey—my critique groups (Jody, Joyce, Paula, Christine, Diane, Miguella & LeAnne.) And piles of hugs and kisses to my co-host of Romance Happy Hour, Dawn Luedecke, for putting up with me and to my Romance Chicks who have been there from the start… Christina Hovland, Jody Holford & Renee Ann Miller. I wouldn’t be doing this without you, chicks! Finally, to my family and friends who have bought my books, suffered through impromptu plotting sessions, and always had my back, especially Mr. Crush, HoneyBee, GlitterBee, and BuzzleBee. Always.
Hungry for more? Go back to where it all began with All-American Cowboy
Chapter One
No three-hundred pound piece of prime pork was going to get the best of her. Charlie Walker adjusted the tilt of her cowboy hat against the glare of the Texas sun and leaned down, putting herself eye to eye with the enormous pig. “Someone’s not feeling very photogenic today, huh?”
Baby Back grunted in response and made a break for the right. Charlie dove after her, trying to grab the pig’s blinged-out collar. She missed by a country mile and went down, sending a cloud of dust flying as her hip hit the gravel with a crunch.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Charlie scrambled to her feet with a scowl. If that’s the way the hellacious hog wanted to handle things, then so be it. But she was going to play this smart. Her mama always said the best way to get someone to cooperate was to kill them with kindness. Forcing something close to a smile, Charlie took the giant marshmallow she’d been saving as a special treat out of her back pocket. Baby Back obviously wasn’t going to earn the reward with good behavior. Might as well use it as a bribe. “Sooey! Here piggy, piggy.”
Baby Back’s ears perked.
“You want an ooey, gooey marshmallow?” Charlie tore off a tiny bit and tossed it in Baby Back’s direction.
The pig snuffled it out of the dirt, squealing in appreciation.
“Come on, piggy. Want some more?” Charlie lobbed another chunk, waiting until Baby Back was snout-deep in her search before taking a tentative step forward. If she could just grab the collar… She leaned in, her fingers almost grasping the hot-pink band of leather.
Before she could so much as blink, Baby Back rushed her, snagging the marshmallow out of her hand, knocking her flat on her rear, and dashing toward the damaged stretch of fence. With a thud and a crack, the rail split. Baby Back bolted through the break in the fence and disappeared.
Again.
Add another exclamation point to the day from hell.
“Almost had her that time,” Darby, Charlie’s best friend since birth, called from her safe perch. “I swear, if you’d just lunged a little bit farther…” She raised a bottle of Coke in Charlie’s direction and took a swig.
Charlie took her time getting to her feet. “Almost doesn’t count—”
“Except in horseshoes and hand grenades, right?” Darby served up a wink alongside the smart-ass comment.
“Yeah. That’s what Sully used to say anyway.” Sully, her boss, her mentor, and the last living Holiday in Holiday, Texas. Well, the last living Holiday until he’d passed away, leaving Charlie struggling to keep everything together.
Darby’s amusement faded, her eyes crinkling with concern. “How you holdin’ up, sweetie?”
“Okay, I guess. I just wish I knew what was going to happen to the Rambling Rose.”
Sully’s lawyer had surprised everyone by keeping his mouth shut for a change. The only tidbit of gossip anyone had been able to extract from Buddy Hill, Esquire, was that he’d been trying to contact Sully’s grandson—some hoity-toity real estate tycoon from New York City—about the will. The Rambling Rose was the oldest honky-tonk in Texas and had been in the Holiday family for more than 125 years. Charlie couldn’t imagine working anywhere else.
Hopefully she wouldn’t have to.
“I know Buddy’s trying to figure that out,” Darby said. “Hard to believe this will be the first time in history we don’t have a Holiday on the Rose’s float for the Founder’s Day parade.”
A deep ache pulsed in Charlie’s chest. She rubbed the spot over her heart with her palm. Sully had always loved being the grand master of the annual parade. But she couldn’t think about that now—she had bigger issues. Like the fact that her maintenance man had walked out on her this morning, her bartender forgot to put in an order for the favorite local brew, and she hadn’t crossed off a single item on her to-do list for the biggest concert of the year.
Or—he huffed out a sigh—the fact that a tour bus full of senior citizens had pulled up not ten minutes ago, wanting some of the Rambling Rose’s famous ribs and a picture with the most celebrated pig in Conroe County.
One problem at a time.
“Damn pig. I’d better get the truck and chase her down. Last time she got out, she plowed through Mrs. Martinez’s garden and ate all of her green peppers.” Charlie secured the gate behind her—not that it would do much good unless she found someone to fix the fence. “I’m still getting blamed for her salsa coming in second place at the county fair.”
“Remind me why y’all insist on having a pet pig as a mascot?” Darby climbed off the rail and fell into step with Charlie.
“Tradition. You know Sully. The Rambling Rose has had a pig on staff ever since it opened. They sure as heck aren’t going to lose one on my watch.” Not even if her watch might be coming to an abrupt end. She ducked through the back door of the honky-tonk and grabbed her keys off a hook. “You coming?”
Darby shook her head, sending her dark curls bouncing. “I’ll leave the pig wrangling to you. I gotta get home and get dinner going. Waylon will skin me alive if he finds out I spent all afternoon hanging out with his baby sister.”
“Now I know that’s a lie.” Charlie yanked open the door of the late-model dually pickup. “He’s got you on such a high pedestal I’m surprised you don’t get a nosebleed from the lack of oxygen.”
“He does love me, doesn’t he?” Darby slung her arm around Charlie’s neck and pulled her in for a hug. “We’ll try to stop by later, if your mama’s up for watching the kids.”
Darby and Waylon had been married for nine years, but it could still get weird, thinking about her BFF swapping spit with her brother. So Charlie tried not to think about it at all. As in, ever. “Has she ever not been up for watching them?”
�
�True. Be sure to save us some seats up front tonight, okay? That band is supposed to be real good.” With a squeeze and a quick kiss on the cheek, Darby stepped away. “And don’t worry about Sully’s grandson. He’ll probably fly down, take a look at the place, tell you what a great job you’re doing, and be on a plane back to New York City before you even have a chance to pour him a draft of Lone Star.”
Charlie snorted. “Oh yeah? With my luck, he’ll realize he’s always wanted to manage the oldest honky-tonk in Texas, and he’ll toss me out on my backside.”
“He might just like your backside.” Darby waggled her perfectly plucked eyebrows.
“My backside isn’t up for review. Besides, if he ever does have the nerve to show up around here, he’ll be the one getting tossed on his ass. Would it have killed him to pick up the phone and give Sully a call sometime? Maybe even come down for a visit?”
“Honey, I know you loved Sully like family. But not everyone loves as fierce as you. Give the guy a chance.”
A chance? In the eight years she’d worked for Sully, there’d been no word from either his son or his grandson. It had broken her heart to watch the cancer eat away at him, knowing she was just about the only family he had left.
But Darby was right about one thing—Charlie did love fierce. Fierce enough to know that the most important thing to Sully was keeping the Rambling Rose in the family. So even if it killed her, she’d do whatever she could to ensure his dying wish came true. She’d try to give his grandson a chance, assuming he had the decency to show up sometime in the near future.
“Hey, will you let Angelo know I’m hog hunting? Maybe he can stall lunch so I have a chance to bring back the prodigal pig to pose for pictures.”
“You bet. Good luck.”
With a final nod to Darby, Charlie climbed onto the bench seat and cranked over the engine. How many times had Baby Back broken out over the past month? Two? Three? She’d lost count of how many mascots they’d had over the years, but none of them had ever been as ornery as Baby Back. That pig had a devilish streak as long and wide as the Rio Grande.
She shifted the truck into drive and wondered if anyone would believe her if she said Baby Back got taken out by a combine. Sully was the only one beyond the tourists who gave a hot damn about the pig. She gripped the steering wheel tightly, fighting back a fresh surge of emotion.
For Sully.
Then she put the pedal to the metal and fishtailed out onto the main two-lane road that would take her through the center of Holiday in pursuit of the runaway porker.
All-American Cowboy
On sale now!
About the Author
Dylann Crush writes contemporary romance with sizzle and sass. A romantic at heart, she loves her heroines spunky and her heroes super sexy. When she’s not dreaming up steamy storylines, she can be found sipping a margarita and searching for the best Tex-Mex food in Minnesota. Although she grew up in Texas, she currently lives in a suburb of Minneapolis/St. Paul with her unflappable husband, three energetic kids, two chaotic canines, and a very chill cat. She loves to connect with readers, other authors, and fans of tequila. You can find her at dylanncrush.com.
Also by Dylann Crush
Holiday, Texas
All-American Cowboy
Cowboy Christmas Jubilee
Cowboy Charming
Last Chance Rodeo
Bestselling author Kari Lynn Dell marries rodeo action with raw authenticity on her home turf: the Blackfeet Reservation, Montana
Four years ago, one thoughtless moment cost David Parsons everything. Now he’s finally tracked his lost horse to the Blackfeet Reservation and is ready to reclaim his pride. But the troubled young boy who’s riding Muddy now has had more than his fair share of hard knocks, and his fierce guardian Mary Steele will do whatever it takes to make sure this isn’t the blow that levels him. Soon David is faced with a soul-wrenching dilemma: take his lost shot at rodeo glory…or claim what could be his last chance to make his shattered heart whole?
“This talented writer knows rodeo and sexy cowboys!”
—B.J Daniels, New York Times bestselling author
For more Kari Lynn Dell, visit:
sourcebooks.com
I Love This Bar
Bestselling author Carolyn Brown invites us all to the local Honky Tonk, where the beer is cold and the cowboys are hot!
When barmaid Daisy O’Dell inherits the local Honky Tonk, she’s determined to prove she has what it takes to run the bar successfully. But when Jarod McElroy walks in, looking for a moment’s peace and an ice cold beer, he finds himself one red hot women behind the bar instead. The minute Jarod sees Daisy with her hot looks and smart mouth, he knows he’s met his match. Now if he could only convince her to come out from behind the bar, and come on home with him…
“Funny, witty, heartfelt and sexy.”
—Book Junkie
For more info about Sourcebooks’s books and authors, visit:
sourcebooks.com
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