by Ciana Stone
“And that’s what you did when you worked for them?”
“I worked on production reports and allowables.”
“So why did you quit? If you don’t mind me asking?”
“Had a bit of a run in with a superior over someone exceeding an allowable.”
“You mean you caught an overage or tried to give one?”
“Caught one. Wrong one. A friend of my boss.”
“Ooooh.” Annie nodded.
“Yep and so here I am.”
“Well, I for one am glad you’re part of the company,” Liz said.
“And I wish you were part of it,” Pressley replied.
Liz shook her head. “It’s not for me.”
“Yeah, what would there be for Liz to do?” Callie asked.
Pressley looked at Liz with one raised eyebrow. “You mean they don’t know?”
“Know what?” Callie asked.
“That Liz has a Masters in geophysics.”
“Oooh, really?” Callie looked at Liz.
“Oooh…” Cody mimicked. “What the heck is that?”
Liz laughed. “Something that doesn’t come into play in racing or training horses.”
“So you don’t have any desire to be part of the oil business?” Hannah asked.
“None whatsoever.”
“She’d prefer to hang around the ranch and play with Kyle,” Cody said.
“Amen to that, girl.” Liz leaned over to click her bottle against Cody’s.
Hannah sighed. “Sometimes ya’ll make me envious. I’m going to end up an old maid at the rate I’m going.”
“Oh puleeze.” Cody thumped Hannah on the top of the head with her finger. “Girl, you turn down more dates that anyone I know.”
“Yeah, from farmers and mechanics – roustabouts and ranch hands.”
“Well what’s wrong with that?” Liz asked.
“Nothing. I mean I don’t have anything against men who work with their hands but – but I – but I…oh, I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do,” Cody argued. “You want a man who’s educated and sophisticated, enjoys fine dining, good wine, highbrow entertainment – going to art galleries and getting all fancied up.”
“Well, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Hannah remarked.
“I didn’t say there was.”
“But not a lot of guys like that in Cotton Creek,” Jo pointed out.
“Maybe Wes,” Annie said.
“Naw, he’s got the hots for Lily,” Jo argued.
“Cooper?” Liz asked.
Callie noticed the way Hannah’s spine straightened as well as the way her hand tightened on her beer mug. “Oh no.” Hannah shook her head. “Cody has a thing for Cooper.”
“A thing?” Cody asked. “I don’t have a thing for him. I just think the man’s nice.”
“And hot,” Annie added.
“Yeah, he is that.”
“And cultured,” Jo offered.
“Yeah, he does have that,” Liz agreed.
“So, you’re interested in Cooper?” Cody asked Hannah.
“Of course not.” Hannah blushed and looked away.
“Okay, cool.”
Callie could see how uncomfortable Hannah was. Cody must not have been paying attention because Hannah definitely had an interest in Cooper. She wondered why Hannah didn’t just tell Cody. Cody didn’t seem to care.
Or maybe she was misreading things. Her head was still swimming from all of the new people she’d met and trying to keep straight who was who and who went with who. She was sure that in time she’d have it, but right now, she was still on the fringes.
Well, not as much now as she had been. That thought warmed her. It had been a long time since she’d had girlfriends and this was nice.
And then there was Jayce. Even now, nearly a week after her picnic in the park with him, she was feeling the aftermath of happiness.
Lily had fallen in love with Jayce. Not only had he swung her, he’d helped her on the slide and seesaw, had chased her around and played with her for an entire hour before they ate. Lily had insisted on sitting with him as they ate, and had fallen asleep on his lap afterwards.
And not once had he complained, seemed put out or uncomfortable. Every minute of that evening was etched in Callie’s mind. Jayce had gone from being the sexiest man she’d ever met to something much more.
She turned at a slight sound from upstairs. A moment later, a sleepy eyed Lily appeared at the top of the stairs. “No want sleep, Mommy.”
“Well, come to Mama, sweet girl.”
Lily bounded down the steps and into Callie’s arms. Callie sank down in front of the couch, holding Lily.
“She’s so beautiful,” Annie said and wagged her fingers at Lily. “Hey pretty girl. Wanna come sit with Annie?”
Lily abandoned Callie and climbed into Annie’s lap.
“Oh god, I’ve missed this.” Annie hugged Lily. “There’s nothing like holding a little one.”
“No, there isn’t.” On that Callie could agree. She might not be able to have a long-term relationship with a man like Jayce, or even be completely open about her past with her new friends, but she had something worth more than anything else in the world.
She had her baby and they were safe.
Chapter Four
Jayce frowned across the table at Kyle Stadler. “What the hell? Again? Your luck can’t be that good.”
Kyle smiled but made no comment. Jayce shook his head and got up to go into the kitchen for another beer. Kyle was the least talkative man Jayce had ever known, and you’d never guess from looking at him that he was an ex-Special Forces soldier, or that he had much of a brain for anything but training and breeding horses.
And yet, Kyle had just won the last six of seven poker hands. The rest of them – Jayce’s brothers JD and Bronson, along with Wes Pursell, had done nothing but lose since they sat down.
“Hey, Kyle, did Liz tell you that Pressley signed on with the oil company and it’s driving Wes and Bronson nuts?” Jayce asked.
“She mentioned it.” Kyle cut a look at Bronson as he answered.
Jayce returned to the table and took his seat. “I heard Wes wasn’t thrilled when she said yes.”
Wes flipped Jayce off as he gathered up the cards and Kyle looked over at him. “You have a problem with your cousin?”
“Aside from her being an overbearing, over-opinionated, pushy woman with a temper like a lit firecracker, who can’t take no for an answer you mean? No none whatsoever.”
“She knows her stuff,” Bronson Weathers said quietly.
“You just want to get in her pants,” Kyle commented.
“Well, duh,” Bronson replied. “She’s hot.”
“That she is,” JD agreed.
“So why haven’t you asked her out?” Wes asked as he shuffled the cards.
“I guess same reason you haven’t asked Lily out but find an excuse to talk to her thirty times a day.”
“She’s our corporate attorney.”
“Yeah, right,” Bronson scoffed.
“You scared of getting turned down?” Jayce asked.
“Well, you’re another fine one to talk.” Wes finished shuffling the cards and placed them in the center of the table. “Seems to me you’ve been eyeing that new gal Callie Williams like she’s the last red lollipop in the bucket.”
“She’s hard not to notice.”
“Amen to that,” Bronson said. “So, why haven’t you asked her out on a real date?”
“I don’t know. I guess I don’t think she’s ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“Dating. She’s really devoted to her little girl and I get the feeling that whatever her last relationship was, it didn’t end well. “
“But she’s not your type?” JD asked. “As in quick to ride and easy to walk away from?”
“I’m not that bad, bro.”
“You’re legendary,” JD argued. “As bad as Kyle before Liz lassoed him.”
“I was never that bad,” Kyle commented.
“You were worse,” Jayce said, then replied to JD. “I just don’t want to push her.”
“Well, I’d call that mature,” Bronson said and frowned at JD when JD looked at him with raised brows. “Come on. You’re the one always saying it’s time for us to stop acting like we’re still in our twenties, so here we are, acting it.”
“Not a moment too soon. So, Jayce, what do you know about this gal, Callie?”
“Not much. Just that she’s from Nashville.”
“Not much to go on,” Wes commented.
“It’s a start,” Jayce replied. “So, I hear you’re looking for a Driller.”
As the talk turned to the oil business, he relaxed. Talking about his love life or lack thereof was not something he was comfortable with. When he’d first met Callie, he’d been attracted to her. Any red-blooded man would be hard-pressed not to notice her.
But she always seemed to be on edge, or alert. It reminded him of a rabbit, always looking around for danger. What was she afraid of?
“Jayce?” Wes’s voice drew him back to the conversation.
“What?”
“Did you hear what Bronson said?”
“No, sorry.”
“I said I spoke with Jaxon Riggs this afternoon about the Driller position.”
Jayce frowned and settled his chair back on four legs. “Riggs. Why does that name sound familiar?”
“Renegade Riggs?” Wes asked.
Of course. Now it clicked. Jayce’s gaze shot over to Bronson. “You know him?”
“Yeah. He wildcatted around here when I was a teenager and was friends with Dad. I guess you were around ten or so. I’ve seen him a few times over the years when he was passing through and you remember – he helped us on the two wells we sunk.”
“I don’t think I ever met him. You think you can get him?”
“I can try, but you know he’s not much for staying in one place too long.”
“So what’s the deal with this Riggs guy?” Kyle asked.
“He’s damn near a legend,” Wes said. “Man has survived three well cave-ins and there’s no one that can handle a drill crew the way Riggs does.”
“So, how do we get him?” Bronson asked.
“By offering him too much to turn down,” Wes said.
“Okay, but is he worth it?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Then make it happen.”
“I’ll try.”
Kyle’s phone rang and he pulled it out. “Hey, sugar.” He listened for a moment before speaking again. “Yep, I’ll head on over.”
He ended the call and slid the phone into the pocket of his shirt. “Seems the gals graduated from beer to whiskey. Liz needs me to pick her up.”
“I guess that means you won’t be coming back?” Wes asked.
“Doubt it.”
“Then I’ll be seeing you.”
“Yep. Drive safe.”
Jayce waited until Kyle left, then asked, “What’s the deal with everyone being at Cody’s house drinking?”
“Girl’s night,” JD replied.
“Girl’s night?”
“Yeah. They all get together, have dinner, drink and talk about men.”
Jayce looked around at everyone. “And that doesn’t make you just a little nervous?”
“Why should it?” JD asked.
Jayce chuckled. “For a roomful of men who profess to knowing about women, ya’ll are some dumb fuckers.”
“Pardon?” JD’s tone revealed a bit of ire.
“No offense, but seriously. When you say they talk about men, you know what that means, right?”
“No, what?” Wes asked.
Jayce leaned his chair back on two legs. “They talk about what you’re doing that gets on their nerves and whether you’re satisfying all their sexual urges.”
Every set of eyes at the table turned in his direction.
“Say what?” Bronson asked.
“You heard me. Women don’t hold back with their friends, bro. You can take it to the bank that if you’re not doing something right between the sheets, their friends are gonna hear about it.”
“Now it bothers me,” JD said.
“Unless, of course, you’re known for always getting it right,” Jayce said and grinned.
“Like you, I suppose?” JD asked.
“Hey, you were the one who called me legendary. Just trying to live up to my rep, brother.”
“Says the man who’s afraid to ask Callie Williams on a date,” Bronson commented, earning a chuckle from JD and a fist bump from Wes.
Jayce laughed it off, but inside he wondered. Did he really think it was just too soon to ask her out or was he hesitating because he thought she’d turn him down?
*****
Hannah felt like she’d been kicked in the head. She should have known better than to let herself be talked into shots. Unlike Cody, who could toss them back all night, Hannah’s tolerance for alcohol was not that high.
Yes, she knew better, but the truth was she was trying to fit into the group of women who had formed a friendship around her sister. She liked all of them and felt they liked her, but she still wasn’t as comfortable around them as Cody.
But then, Cody was rarely uncomfortable around anyone. Hannah envied Cody. She was always straightforward, pull-no-punches, what you see is what you get. Sometimes her lack of filters got her into hot water, but for the most part, the people who knew her loved her for who she was.
The people who knew her. That phrase was at the root of Hannah’s problem. She knew almost everyone in Cotton Creek. She’d spent her entire life there except for her time in college. Aside from those four short years, all she knew about people and life, she’d learned in Cotton Creek,
Sometimes she felt it had been a mistake to move back home after she’d gotten her degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management. She’d been offered a position with one of the larger hotels in San Antonio but had let her own insecurity and a love affair gone bad prevent her from taking it. Hannah had hoped to find work with a large, upscale restaurant that catered to an elite clientele. The hotel job was a starter position that promised upward mobility, but not exactly in the area she wanted.
And the hotel manager had just happened to be her lover. A lover she’d discovered had lied to her. He had not been divorced, or even separated. She’d been broken hearted and angry for being made to feel a fool, and there was no better place to hide from her shame and heartbreak than back home in Cotton Creek.
Now, in hindsight, she couldn’t help but think she’d made a mistake. But as her dad was fond of saying: “The past is done, the future isn’t here so you might as well pay attention to the right now because that’s all you really have.”
Hannah wasn’t so sure the right now was all that great. She worked every other day at her mother’s bakery, and she closed the bar three nights a week. There was always something that required attention at the bar, and while Cody handled a lot, she couldn’t manage the ranch and the bar on her own.
Besides, they were partners in the bar, and Hannah had every intention of pulling her weight. If nothing else, being tired most of the time helped keep her mind off things like her lack of a social life. She had somehow become the good daughter – she’d actually heard people say that. She was the dependable daughter, the good one, the one who never did anything disrespectful, wild, impulsive or out of the ordinary.
Hannah Sweet, the good girl who didn’t have the courage to let loose, get drunk, laugh too loud, dance too provocatively, tell an off-color joke or take a man to her bed. She was becoming a goody-two-shoes old maid and that rankled her.
Look at Cody and her friends.
That thought circled her right back around to where she’d started. Trying to fit in and feeling like a robin at a hawk convention. All the other women were self-assured, strong and seemed to be comfortable with who they were and their place in life.
; Of course, half of those women were either married or committed to men who would walk through fire for them. Hannah wished for that in her life, but not as the wife of a rancher or horse trainer. She wanted a man who appreciated the finer things.
She wanted a man like Cooper Quinlan.
God, even acknowledging that to herself was still hard. Cody was attracted to Cooper and Hannah would never dream of competing with her own sister for his attention, both for lack of confidence and lack of will. Still, she could let herself daydream a bit, couldn’t she? What could it hurt?
However, at the moment, she needed to finish the last batch of fritters, then get home and get cleaned up so she could meet the beer distributor at the bar. Chances were Cody was still snoring on the couch where she’d passed out last night.
Suppressing the urge to sigh, Hannah got back to work.
*****
Cooper had just left the diner where he’d met Bronson and Wes for breakfast when he ran into Jayce.
“Hey, Cooper. How’s it going?”
“Fine. How about you?”
“Can’t complain.”
“Well, business is certainly booming.”
“Yes it is, thanks to the new oil company. Between the new development on the outskirts of town, two convenience stores beyond the city limits, one of those suite motels and now a strip mall between here and Rock Ridge, we can’t hire enough people.”
Cooper knew just what Jayce meant. Things were moving quicker than he’d anticipated with the new company. In fact, he was on his way to the new offices, which were conveniently located across the street. He and his partners had purchased a storefront two doors down from Sweet’s Sweets. The store between them had been his first choice but had sold to a woman from Dallas who owned a string of high-end boutiques. Cooper wasn’t convinced that Cotton Creek was the right location for such a store. At least not right now.
However, as Jayce had pointed out, things were already starting to change since Cotton Creek Oil and Energy had set up shop.
There were people in the world who smelled opportunity, and a strike the size of what he anticipated meant great change for this sleepy Texas town. Already the town council was meeting a few times a week. He’d tried to help by offering information he had on places in his home state that had undergone exponential growth in a short amount of time.
