The Cowboy's Rebel Heart: An Enemies to Lovers Second Chance Romance (Wild Texas Hearts Book 4)

by Deborah Garland

  “Hey, Maddie, I have something for you,” Delsey said once she got inside, breaking the silence.

  Maddie spun around, her face still blank. “Yeah?”

  From inside her own wide sack of a purse, Delsey took out what looked like an oversized wallet. “This was mine. I’m sorry it’s not new.”

  “A pocketbook?” Maddie touched the pink quilted fabric. “Betsey Johnson?”

  “Her stuff never really goes out of style. Here. I want you to have it now. You’ll need something to carry your pads.”

  Right. I hadn’t thought of that. “What do you say, Mads?”

  “Give her a chance, Logan. She’s not five,” Delsey snapped.

  “Are you sure you want me to have it?” Maddie asked in a soft voice.

  “Why wouldn’t I want you to have it?”

  Shrugging she said, “What about when you have a daughter?”

  My head sagged forward.

  “I’ll figure something out when that happens. Right now, I have... I mean, you’re here. Besides, maybe I’ll just have boys.” She smiled.

  Maddie giggled and took the purse. “This is super cool. I bet Marco will like it, too.”

  I scoffed a laugh.

  “Delsey, will you come upstairs and help me?” Maddie asked and a truck-load size of pain ached in my chest. But it made sense. Maddie needed a woman right now.

  “Of course, sweetie. Let’s go. Show me your room.” She turned and winked at me, acting like she hadn’t been walking around the house naked marking the place as her own.

  I felt marked and claimed. Damn. I was just fine with that.

  Delsey

  I TRIED NOT TO THINK about the trips I’d taken up and down those steps with no clothes on. The house took on a new feel with Maddie there. A home. A place for a family.

  “Maddie, do you have any cramping?” I asked.

  “Yeah. It’s bad.”

  “Oh, sweetie, why didn’t you say anything?”

  “I was more scared of all the blood.”

  “That’s normal.”

  She looked down at herself and cringed.

  “What is it?”

  “There’s a little blood on my pants.”

  “I wish I could say that won’t happen again. But every girl goes through it. It’s mortifying and terrifying. That’s why it’s good to always have pads on you and change them every chance you get.” I left off how it will also ruin her favorite underwear, too.

  Too much to throw at the little girl.

  “I’m gonna change,” Maddie said, holding what looked like sweat pants in her hands.

  “I’ll leave.”

  “No, I’ll go to the bathroom. I want to take an aspirin, too.”

  “You can swallow pills, sweetie?”

  “Yeah. All the...surgeries I had. There were all kinds of medicine.”

  It all came back to that horrific accident. “I’ll wait here for you and we’ll go back downstairs together.”

  “Good.” She smiled and leaned in for a hug.

  Maddie only came up to my boobs, but the weight of the hug made me feel like I could fall down. With her gone, the room lost its energy and winded me.

  The walls had been painted a soft lavender and white balloon shades hung from each window. The furniture was also bright white lacquer with wicker drawer accents. A bookcase sat on a wall filled with books. Spines of every primary color popped against the powdery soft feel of the room.

  Maddie came back in the bedroom looking much more relaxed and comfortable.

  “I love your furniture. I had something similar when I was young.” I ran my fingers across the dresser.

  “Uncle Logan brought it over from my...my mom’s apartment.”

  Of course, this was her furniture before the accident. “Was this the color of your room?”

  “Yeah, Uncle Logan made the hardware store look up the paint colors so he could use the same color here.”

  “I’m not surprised.” I didn’t think I could be more floored with how amazing that man was. “So, is it the same color?”

  “No,” she said with a giggle and it made me turn to look at her. “I told him it was. He tried so hard.”

  “I bet. This is a great color, though. Makes me think of Easter eggs.”

  “Me, too,” she said, sitting on the edge of her bed. “I’ve wanted him to paint a different color. I’m over the lavender. But he’s been so busy,” she said, looking down.

  This little girl has had to deal with so much grown-up stuff, including not having the room she wanted because Logan worked so hard to support her and probably came home to pass out.

  “What color do you want?” I’d send a painter here tomorrow if Logan would let me.

  Maddie smirked and opened the top drawer of her desk sitting next to the bed. A stack of glossy magazines came out. She slid one out and opened up to an ad with colors all too familiar to me. It was an ad for my signature lipstick. Champaign Blush. “It’s so pretty,” she purred.

  “I agree. That’s why I put it all over the place.” I looked around, hiding how much this moment affected me. “I matched my colors with black, but with all your bright white furniture, the color will look fabulous in here.”

  “Uncle Logan said we have to move.” Her voice got shaky.

  My heart jabbed. Something made me reach out to hold the little girl’s chin. “No, Maddie. You don’t have to move.”

  “He said he hasn’t paid his rent.”

  I took a breath. “That’s right. And he was wrong not to talk to me about it. But I had no idea what happened to your mom and your grandparents. Other people in town had gotten behind and I worked it out with them. I’m sorry if my coming here to tell your uncle he had to move out, scared you. He asked for a few months to catch up and I’ve agreed. And that’s that.”

  “He made me believe he doesn’t like you,” Maddie said and then scratched her head. “But he...kissed you.”

  Oh boy. “Uncle Logan and I didn’t get along in high school.”

  “He told me that. I can’t believe he was a...a bully.”

  “That was a long time ago. He’s definitely changed. No one sees that more than me. Now, we obviously feel...differently about each other.”

  “He calls you the princess.”

  I laughed. “Does he now?”

  “I’m not sure if he meant it in a mean way.”

  “I kept to myself in school. Maybe people thought I was stuck up. I just didn’t have many friends. Your mother was nice to me, though.” I glanced at Maddie. “Do you have many friends?”

  She nodded happily. “Yeah, I guess.”

  “See...” I tapped the girl’s nose. “You’re already ahead of me.” I spotted a crutch in the corner. “Do you want to take your prosthetic off? Get comfortable.” I kept my voice as even as possible, letting her know that wouldn’t bother me.

  “No. This new one feels really good. I just wanted to ask you...”

  “Yeah?” My heart did a little dance.

  “Are you Uncle Logan’s girlfriend now?” Maddie’s tone gave no hint of the answer she wanted to hear.

  “I don’t think so.” I watched Maddie’s expression blank out. “I have to go back to Houston to run my company and work in my lab. Your uncle has his job here and you.” I wondered how much Maddie understood. The girl was sharp, but love baffled geniuses.

  “Oh. He hasn’t had a girlfriend since the accident and I feel...” Her voice dropped and she began to hiccup.

  I sat next to her on the bed. “What, sweetie?”

  “Uncle Logan always had some kind of girlfriend. Mama used to give him a hard time. I heard him tell her that he liked different girls and didn’t want just one, which I don’t really understand.”

  “Boys seem to have to date a lot of girls before they find the right person.” Although, I hoped Maddie avoided falling in love with a man who preferred variety over commitment.

  “It’s just that...” Maddie undid the pink ti
e holding her braid together and started unraveling her hair. The intense blonde lit up the room. God, this little girl was gonna be gorgeous. Just like her mother. Where had the blonde had come from, though? Her dad perhaps because Janey had super dark hair. “I feel like he hasn’t had a girlfriend because of me.”

  I had to tread lightly here with my answer. “You know what? I bet that’s true. But only because you needed him and he made you the priority. Let me tell you something about men.” I crossed my legs. “In general, they don’t do things they don’t want to do. But we all choose what’s important to us and give of ourselves where we’re needed most.” I thought about how I probably wouldn’t see the inside of my lab for a few weeks settling the COO replacement mess.

  My conversation with Truitt rung out in my head and his hateful sneers walloped me all over again.

  It never ends, kid. Feeling insecure.

  “What if he gets a girlfriend and she doesn’t like me? Where will I go?” Maddie’s voice squeaked, sounding afraid.

  I needed to squash that idea. Right. Now. Not happening. “Oh, sweetie. First of all, there’s no way anyone wouldn’t like you. Love you, even. And your uncle is now your guardian. That means you come first. He loves you. Do you understand?”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “You’re his beating heart. Anyone who doesn’t want to share a life with you isn’t right for him. He’ll see that. And it won’t matter because you’re more important. You’ll always be more important.”

  “I guess. I don’t want to feel in the way.”

  “Maddie, did I make you feel in the way this week?”

  “Oh, no,” she answered right away.

  “See?”

  Single parents had to face these heartbreaking choices. Logan now qualified as one. I was certain any woman would open her heart to Maddie. And if a woman didn’t, she didn’t deserve Maddie or Logan. He was smart enough and dedicated in a primal way to Maddie’s happiness.

  “I’m gonna lie down,” Maddie said, pulling at a fleece blanket covered with dancing bears up to her shoulders.

  “Don’t forget we have that ice cream and chocolate.”

  “My stomach still hurts a little.”

  “That’s normal, too.” I brought the cover further up to Maddie’s chin and laid a kiss on her forehead. “Remember what I said last night? It doesn’t matter if I’m your uncle’s girlfriend or not. I’ll always be your friend if you want that.”

  “I want that,” she whispered and her eyes closed.

  My throat tightened. God, what kind of aftermath would I be leaving behind?

  Carefully, I walked down the stairs, my body trembling. Logan stood in the kitchen sipping from a plastic blue cup.

  “That wouldn’t be whiskey by any chance?” I asked.

  He turned to me and his face was so painfully beautiful. “No. Iced tea. If there was a day to get hammered.” He put the cup down and ran his hands down the back of his neck. “If you want something, I’m sure I have a bottle of something, somewhere.”

  “No. Really.” I stepped to the window to look out on the property. Another lost opportunity to tell him about the house offer. My time was running out.

  “Did...Maddie say something to upset you?” Logan asked. “She saw us kissing and I couldn’t make out her expression, except that she didn’t look happy.”

  “She asked if I was your girlfriend.”

  “Are you?”

  “Am I?” I said, laughing because no-strings sex wasn’t my style.

  “There’d be a lot to figure out there.”

  “I know.” I didn’t miss the distant hypothetical.

  My phone buzzed and the email from Truitt made me shake, reading the subject line. More hateful words thrown at me. Swallowing hard, I sloppily shoved it in my coat pocket, but I missed and it hit the floor.

  Logan was there to pick it up. “I got it, darlin’.” When he handed it back to me, his attention came alive. “Delsey, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” I took the phone from him.

  “I call bullshit on that.”

  “You’ve got enough on your plate.” My words made a look of alarm cross his face. I’d not told him about the scandal because that bad news hadn’t followed me here. So far.

  “I’ve got two hands and a strong-as-fuck back. I lost a step in the last hour, but thanks to you, I’m better. What’s up?”

  I raised my eyes to the ceiling. “I fired Truitt this morning.”

  Logan said nothing at first, just looked at me. Finally, he uttered, “If I may, I’d rather you not work with an ex-lover. But did you have issues with him before today?”

  “Besides him cheating on me?” I laughed. “He ran the company well and let me...”

  “Let you what, darlin’?”

  “He let me do my thing in the lab. I thought he...got me.” I sniffed. “It’s what he said that hurt so much.”

  Now you’ve gone and done it.

  “What did he say to you?” Logan asked through gritted teeth, his voice low, throaty, dangerous.

  For years I told Truitt about Logan being a cruel bully, empty and vile. I showed up and met someone else. A struggling, but proud man who’d turned my world upside down in six days. He and that little girl owned my heart. My rebel heart that had refused to love anyone else.

  Truitt wouldn’t understand in one phone call what had taken a whole week to understand.

  “He made me feel small,” I said, holding my stomach.

  “You? How?” Logan crossed his arms in disbelief.

  The odd show of confidence that either there was nothing someone could say to make me feel small or that he believed I was made of steel comforted me. “He said I was ugly.”

  “What?” Logan’s eyes turned beady and his lips twitched. “What in the world were you talking about that he came back to you with that response?”

  “Despite him being a great operations manager, he thinks makeup is frivolous. A tool women use to lie.”

  “That’s goddamn deep, Delsey.” He pushed off the counter and wrapped his arms around me in a long-awaited hug. “I can’t imagine the brain of a man who would think that.” He lifted my chin. “You don’t need me to tell you you’re not ugly, because you know you’re not. And you know I don’t find you that way. I never did, Delsey. All of this...” His thumbs swiped across my cheeks. “I always saw this. Your features are striking. If anyone could have pulled off zits, it was you.”

  I coughed a laugh into his chest.

  “Damn, woman, you’re shaking. I’m making light of this, aren’t I? Was there something else?”

  I shook my head. “It’s just the pent-up frustration he spewed all over me. It makes me think our entire business relationship, something I thought was strong, was also a lie. I was just something he was putting up with.”

  Logan stared at me, lowered his mouth... Then pulled away.

  Chapter Twenty

  Logan

  The soft shuffling of feet made me release Delsey, although I hated letting her go. I still didn’t know how Maddie felt about me and Delsey. Heck, I didn’t know exactly how I felt. What I wanted, what would work, and what wouldn’t. But what was perfectly clear, I couldn’t drag Maddie along for the hard ride while I fumbled through figuring it out.

  Delsey had gotten up into my soul and I didn’t know if I hated her for it or loved her.

  You’re an idiot if you don’t love her. What the hell more could you want in a woman?

  One who didn’t live one hundred miles away and worked eighty hours a week. One I didn’t owe a shitload of money to.

  “Hey, Mads,” I said cheerfully as she ambled into the kitchen. “How do you feel?”

  “I feel good. I’m a little hungry again.”

  Delsey brushed her shoulder. “You’ll always want to eat a little more during this time of the month. It’s normal, sweetie.”

  “Did you get that chocolate?” she asked, with a devious smirk.

  “
I did. And ice cream.” Delsey moved to the kitchen table and handed the bag to me. “I have a feeling your uncle can mix up a good sundae for you.”

  “Extra chocolate please,” she said, smiling and then wandered into the living room.

  “Don’t even try to leave,” I grumbled at Delsey, fishing through a junk drawer until I found something to carve into that bucket of ice cream.

  “Are you ordering me to stay?” She came up behind me.

  “Yes,” I said, twisting the ice cream scooper in several different directions.

  “Here, let me make the sundae. You’re not using the ice cream scooper properly.” She waved it. “Where did you get a Pampered Chef ice cream scooper, anyway?”

  “I have no idea where the damn thing came from. It may have been in one of the gift baskets we’d received after the accident. Lake and Emma opened them up and...”

  “You have great friends, Logan.” Delsey turned around and dug deeper into the container.

  Delsey licking her lips while carving out scoops into a bowl drove me crazy. Ice cream had always been a special treat Maddie and I got in town. All my freezer ever had was pizza. Before the accident, the frozen thing got pulled out at two a.m. after stumbling home from a bar if I were alone.

  Maddie came back in. “Are you having some, Delsey?”

  She looked at me over her shoulder and I mouthed of course.

  “I’d love some,” she answered Maddie.

  I checked the time on my stove. It was coming up on nine-thirty p.m. My mind started firing off in all directions. I wanted her to stay over. With me, in my bed. Last night at this time, I couldn’t have imagined doing that with Maddie in the house. Now it seemed unimaginable that Delsey shouldn’t stay. Like Maddie would look at me cross-eyed if I made Delsey go home.

  What a seismic shift my life had taken in twenty-four hours.

  Delsey presented three bowls all dolled up with ice cream and caramel-swirl Hershey’s Kisses. She even spotted a plastic pumpkin with leftover Halloween candy and on Maddie’s, she added Skittles and candy corn. “You can’t have too much sugar, battling cramps.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.”

  We strolled into the living room where Maddie had one of those Justice League movies fired up and didn’t look like she had any plans to go to sleep. That was fine, I wanted her there, too. I felt so damn complete that I didn’t have to choose who I wanted to be with. I got them both.