She sniffed back some tears but knew when she got home, she’d have herself a good cry. Holt James didn’t want her for more than a good time. She was not a good time girl, and she’d have to tell him she didn’t want to see him anymore if it wasn’t going anywhere. Sure, she knew she was rushing things where he was concerned, but she wanted to be happy again, maybe get married again, and have a man who would cherish her for the rest of her life. Only, it didn’t look like it would be Holt.
Close to closing time, she heard the bell chime then heard JoJo talking with a customer, and she heard Holt’s voice and butterflies took flight in her belly. It wasn’t the thought of seeing him. It was that she now knew he had no desire to make this more than what it was.
After she removed her apron, she walked out to the storefront to see him leaning against the display case then he saw her, straightened up, and grinned at her.
“Hi,” Holt said.
“Hi. Did you need some sugar?” she asked then the heat poured into her cheeks as he raised an eyebrow at her. He glanced at JoJo then back to her.
“Well, that would be nice.” He grinned.
Mentally groaning, she strode behind the case and stared up at him. God! He was just so handsome. She was about to respond when the bell chimed again, and she saw an older couple enter and smiled at them.
“Hi, welcome to Sweet Nothings, what can I get you?”
“I’ll have to look, honey,” the woman said with a smile. The man with her winked at her making her smile.
“I like banana nut bread,” the man said.
“I have that. I just baked some fresh this morning.”
“Wonderful. Could I get a slice of that?” He looked at Holt. “How you doin’, Holt?”
“Just fine, Pops. How about you two?”
“We’re good, hon,” the woman said.
“Sloane, this is Pops and Sunny Porter. Pops, Sunny, this is Sloane Gates. She owns the bakery.” Holt introduced them to her with a big smile.
“Are you related to the other Gates girls?” Pops asked, and as she was about to answer, Sunny interrupted.
“Well, of course, she is, Erwin. Can’t you see the resemblance?”
Sloane glanced at Holt to see him with his head tipped down to no doubt hide a grin, then she looked at Pops to see him with his eyes narrowed at Sunny.
“I don’t assume anything, Sunny.” He looked at Sloane.
“Uh, yes. We’re cousins,” she said with a nod.
“I knew it,” Pops said as he glared at Sunny.
Sloane tried not to laugh as Sunny winked at Pops, and a big grin lit up his face. What a wonderful couple they were.
“How’s Cash?” Holt asked the couple.
“Fine,” Sunny said.
“I’ll be right back with your banana nut bread, and Sunny take your time to decide. We’re getting ready to close, so take your pick.”
“I’ll take one of those chocolate cupcakes with the pink icing,” Sloane heard her telling JoJo.
After she entered the kitchen, she pulled a loaf of banana nut bread out of the case. She saw Holt out of the corner of her eye. She just wasn’t sure how she’d go about telling him she didn’t think they should see each other again. Her heart couldn’t take it again.
“They’re a wonderful couple,” she said for lack of something to say.
“They’re real characters, that’s for sure.” He stepped closer to her. “Hey, can I have some of that sugar you asked about?”
She looked up at him to see him smiling at her. Blowing out a breath, she smiled.
“Of course,” she murmured, then let him kiss her.
“Not near enough, but I’ll take that for now. How about dinner this week? We could go to the Hartland restaurant if you’d like.”
Did she go or tell him now? Maybe she could tell him after dinner. That made more sense. She knew it wouldn’t go over well when she did tell him, so doing it at the restaurant wasn’t a good idea.
“That sounds good. What night?”
“Thursday?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll pick you up at seven. I think I’d like a slice of that banana nut bread too.”
“All right.” She cut another slice, wrapped it in parchment paper then handed it to him. “Who is Cash?”
“Their grandson. He left here about ten years ago. Just up and disappeared. Only they know where he is or what he’s doing. Sunny won’t ever say more than fine when anyone asks about him. He left a good woman behind too. Kenzie Worthington and Cash had been inseparable, so no one is sure what happened. Well, I’ll see you later, darlin’,” he said then gave her a quick kiss.
She watched him nod at Nancy and Courtney then left the kitchen.
Sloane heard him talking to JoJo as he paid her, said goodbye to Pops and Sunny then she heard the chime as he left. She glanced over at Nancy to see her staring at her.
“I should never have said anything,” Nancy said in a low tone of voice.
“It’s fine, Nance. At least I know not to expect anything for the future with him.”
“And I wonder why it is that I want a man,” Courtney murmured.
Sloane picked up the other wrapped slice of the nut bread, walked from the kitchen to behind the display case then placed it in a bag and handed it to Pops. He smiled as he took it from her.
“This is one of my favorite pieces of bread. Sunny rarely makes it anymore,” he said with a glance at Sunny.
“Hush, old man. I don’t make it because I don’t want to,” Sunny snapped.
Sloane had to bite her lip to keep from grinning. These two were a riot. She could tell they loved giving each other a hard time. She watched as JoJo put the cupcake in a little box, placed it in a bag and handed it to Sunny then rang them up. Sunny stared at the display case as if she wanted to order more which was fine with Sloane.
Sloane glanced up at the clock to see it was five minutes to closing.
A few more people came in, making her mentally groan. Some people just waited until the last minute to do anything, but when she saw Grant Hunter enter behind some women, she straightened up and watched him talking with the people. He nodded for the people in front of him to take their number then he walked to the dispenser and pulled one out. He grinned at her and all she could do was stare at the man. Grant Hunter is in her bakery!
She watched as JoJo waited on the people in front of him then smiled when he stepped forward after she called his number.
“Hi, Grant,” JoJo said.
“JoJo. How are you?”
“Just fine. What can I get you?”
“Well, I thought I had made up my mind before coming in but now since seeing all of these cakes and cookies, I’m just not sure.” He grinned at Sloane. “Sloane, how are you?”
God! He remembered my name!
“Uh, I’m fine, Mr. Hunter. You?”
“I’m great. Please call me Grant. What do you recommend?”
“The banana nut bread is great,” Pops said as he took a bite from his slice.
“Damn it, Erwin. Couldn’t you wait until you got home?” Sunny chastised him then smiled at Grant. “Honey, how you doing? You like ranching?”
“I’m fine, Sunny, and yes, I love running the ranch. How are you?”
“We’re fine, but we need to get going. Come on, Erwin.”
“Sunny? How’s Cash?”
“Fine. Erwin,” Sunny snapped at her husband.
Sloane tried not to laugh as Pops started toward the door then stopped to shake Grant’s hand.
“We are happy you’re home, son.” Pops smiled then headed for the door.
Grant grinned then turned back to JoJo.
“Well, I can’t ignore Pops’ recommendation. Can I get a loaf of it or is it just by the slice?”
“You can get it any way you’d like,” Sloane said then heat poured into her cheeks and she had no idea why.
“Great. I’ll take a loaf and a dozen of the chocolate chip cookies, plea
se.”
“All right. Let me get that for you, Grant. It will just be a minute,” JoJo said with a smile.
Sloane tried like hell not to stare at the man, but he was beyond good-looking and so sexy. He wore a white straw cowboy hat, red T-shirt, and his Wranglers certainly knew where to hug him. Tearing her eyes away from his crotch, she watched as he talked with the other people in the bakery. None of them seemed as in awe of him as she was. Of course, he grew up here, so country star or not, he was treated as one of their own. Once he paid for his order, he touched the brim of his hat, gave her a nod then left the store.
She let a breath out, making Nancy and JoJo laugh. She grinned and shrugged. Maybe she’d get used to him coming into the bakery, but she seriously doubted it. Once everyone cleared out, she looked at her employees.
“Let’s clean up then we can go. Lock the door, please, JoJo. I want to get out of here, go home, and soak in my tub. My muscles are sore today. I didn’t know horseback riding would do that. I was barely in the saddle again.”
“Until you get used to it, you don’t realize how much that horse moves you around. I love it though,” JoJo said with a smile.
“I did enjoy it, and I’m looking forward to doing more of it. Holt put me on a very gentle horse.”
“That’s good, but the more you get on, the better it will get.”
Sloane nodded then she realized she wouldn’t be getting on any horse of Holt’s again. She had to let him know that if this wasn’t going anywhere, she needed to stop seeing him now. She knew he’d be upset because they did seem to have good chemistry but if he had no desire to go further in the relationship, she wasn’t going to waste her time with him. Been there. Done that. She wanted to fall in love and have a man who would love her and only her. Not want another woman. There was just no sense in continuing to see Holt if there was no hope for a future with him.
After they cleaned up, Sloane walked out with the ladies, they said their goodbyes and then went their separate ways. Since the weather was nice, Sloane had walked to the bakery, but now she wished she hadn’t. Damn, who knew her muscles would feel like this. Well, Holt had warned her, and he had applied the salve and given her a jar to take home. She would be using it after her soak in the tub tonight for sure. However, she was not looking forward to Thursday. For the first time since meeting Holt and being with him, she didn’t want to see him.
****
Holt drove up to his home, shut the truck off, and stepped out. He could hear Buddy barking from inside. It was a nice day, and he hoped it stayed that way. He frowned. Sloane seemed a little distant to him, and he wondered why. What had changed over the weekend? Maybe she was just having a bad day. It was Monday after all. Then again, if it wasn’t, maybe he could get it out of her when they went to dinner.
There were times he hated Mondays too, but he was getting past the point where he let a day bother him. He had horses to raise. He headed for the barn where the indoor corral was to see how the men were doing. Two young horses required breaking before Holt took them to Trick. Speaking of Trick, he pulled his cellphone from the back pocket of his jeans and called him.
“Holt, what’s up?” Trick said when he answered.
“I should have the two horses to you this weekend. Will that work for you?”
“Yes, I just finished training three, so I’m free whenever you want to bring them over.”
“Sounds good. Maybe I’ll stop in and say hello to that beautiful wife and daughter of yours too.”
“You can say hello to my daughter, but stay the hell away from my wife,” Trick growled out then laughed.
“Hell, Trick, you know you have no worries about another man taking Kaylee. She’s too much in love with your ugly mug.”
Trick laughed. “Lucky me.”
“Damn straight. I’ll bring the horses Saturday. See you then.”
“Yes, sir,” Trick said, then disconnected.
Holt pocketed his phone then walked to the corral just in time to see Richie go flying through the air as the horse bucked him off. He hurried to the rail to make sure he was all right but shook his head in wonder when Richie got up, dusted the back of his jeans off, and grinned. He looked over to Holt and saluted.
“You are one crazy son of a bitch,” Holt said to him.
“Gotta love this job,” Richie said as he caught the horse again and climbed back into the saddle.
Holt watched as he hung on, but the horse won again and tossed him off her back. Every time he’d hit the ground, Holt would wince. Damn, he remembered what that felt like. He heard the air whoosh out of Richie the next time, and he lay there for a few seconds. Holt and the men started climbing the rail, but then Richie climbed to his feet and laughed.
“What a rush,” he said as he looked at them all on the top rail ready to jump in.
Holt shook his head. There was no way he would ever do this again. He paid his men well, but there wasn’t enough money in the world now to make him get on an unbroken horse. That ground was hard, and it got harder the older he got. But Richie was young and didn’t seem to mind. He would once he got older though. Holt knew that from experience. He knew he was lucky he hadn’t broken his neck during his days of breaking horses.
“You okay?” he asked Richie.
“Oh, hell yeah. She ain’t gonna win,” Richie said with a grin as he got back on the horse.
“All right, I’m heading in. You guys can quit whenever you want, but Trick is expecting both horses on Saturday.”
“It’ll be done, boss,” one of the men said.
Holt raised his hand then strode down the aisle of the barn to head for the house. He walked across the yard, up the steps, wiped his feet, and entered the house. Buddy sat at the door, waiting on him. He removed his hat then hung it up on the pegs by the door. He squatted to rub the dog’s ears.
“Do you need to go out, boy?”
He grinned when Buddy moved to the door. Holt opened it then watched as the dog ran to the barn. That dog loved to see the men. He shoved the door closed, then headed for the bathroom to grab a shower. Buddy would be ready to come back in by the time he was done.
As he entered the bedroom and stripped off his clothes, he couldn’t get Sloane out of his mind or her distant attitude. He was smart enough to know when something was bothering a woman. Carolyn never had a problem giving him the cold shoulder when he’d done something wrong, but he wasn’t sure why he was getting one from Sloane. The weekend had been great, or so he thought. He’d had a good time and thought she had too. But he had a gut feeling that something was wrong. Was she sensing his hesitancy toward his feelings for her? He knew his worry that he wouldn’t be able to give her what she needed from him was strong. He supposed he’d find out soon enough. He wasn’t going to ask because he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.
He did want to call her though. He’d love to have her spend next weekend with him, but he was getting a vibe that something was up. Damn women and that cold shoulder treatment. A man usually had no clue what was up and getting a woman to tell him was like pulling teeth. It was an if you don’t know then I’m not telling you thing. God! He’d get that so much from Carolyn. How the hell was a man supposed to know what he did wrong if a woman won’t tell him? Usually, he just groveled and kissed ass to get Carolyn to forgive him for…whatever it was he’d done…and even after it was over, he still never knew.
He reached into the stall, turned the water on, and stepped inside. He scrubbed his hair and body then turned the water off, opened the door, and grabbed a towel. After he dried his hair and himself, he wrapped the towel around his waist and stepped out.
Taking a deep breath, he walked to the mirror, wiped the steam off, picked up his shaving kit, and began to shave off the day’s scruff. Damn, he was tired, and it didn’t seem like he did much of anything today.
After pulling on sweatpants and a T-shirt, he headed back for the kitchen to find something to eat. It was late but he was hungry. That s
lice of banana nut bread only made him hungrier. He opened the freezer door, peered in, and found a spaghetti microwave dinner. He leaned against the counter as it cooked, and Sloane entered his mind again. Damn. Something was up. He just knew it and it scared the hell out of him. He liked her. He liked being with her, but he knew something was eating at her.
Taking a deep breath, he pulled his cellphone out of the pocket on his sweatpants and called her. The hell with this, he needed to know what the fuck was going on.
“Hello?” he heard her say upon answering.
“Hey, darlin’,” he said.
“Hi. What’s up?”
“Well, that’s kind of what I’d like to know.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I stopped in at the bakery, I got the feeling you’re not happy with me for some reason, Sloane.” He grimaced when she blew out a breath. Here it comes.
“I’m not sure…we should see each other anymore.”
Damn! He didn’t see that coming.
“Want to tell me why?” He gritted his teeth.
“Because you have no desire to settle down again, and I do. I know I just went through a divorce, but I think I want to get married again one day. I know I want to find love again…you don’t.”
He ran his hand down over his face and sighed.
“Sloane, I don’t know where this is coming from. We haven’t been seeing each other that long. For God’s sake, how do I know what I want right now?”
“That’s just it, Holt. I do know what I want. I don’t want to waste my time with you.”
“Waste your time with me? That’s a hell of a thing to say. How do we know who we waste time with? I like you, Sloane. I like you a lot but yeah, I’m not sure I want to marry you,” he snapped then felt like an ass when he heard her hiss in a breath.
“Well, there you have it. I’m not saying I want to marry you either, but I don’t go into any relationship thinking it’s not going anywhere other than bed,” she practically yelled.
“Noted. All right. You have a nice life, Sloane. Good luck to you,” Holt growled out and hit End.
Holt Men of Clifton, Montana Book 12 Page 15
