by Talty, Jen
It coated JD’s ears like melting milk chocolate wrapping around a plump strawberry.
“JD asleep on the sofa with a toddler in his arms.”
“Only one of us is sleeping since you can’t be quiet,” JD said while patting Tony’s back. JD blinked open his eyes and pulled his feet from the far end of the couch. “Have a seat.”
Annette took her brother’s hand and eased onto the opposite end of the sofa. “Thanks.”
“What did the doctor say?” JD asked softly.
“I’ve got a broken wrist.” She waved her arm in the air which sported a brace of some kind. “And a sprained ankle.” She showed off a boot that went up the middle of her calf.
“Which is really lucky considering,” Luke said. “But she also has some weird ligament injury in her foot.” Luke set some paperwork down on the coffee table. “It’s not a big deal, according to the doctors, and will heal as long as she stays off it.” Luke leaned over and lifted Tony into his arms. “I’ll go put this little fella into his crib.”
“Thanks,” JD said. “He wore me out, and I just couldn’t make it back up the stairs.”
“He’s a little energizer bunny,” Annette said.
“That’s no lie.” JD sat up, making more room for Annette. Gently, he lifted her bad leg and rested it on his thigh. “At least you don’t have a cast and these boots are really protective.”
“They said I don’t have to stay in this but a couple of weeks. And I’m glad they gave me a removable thing on my arm, but they told me I’m not supposed to lift Tony. How the hell am I supposed to take care of him?”
“I told you. I’ll move back in,” Luke said as he jogged down the stairs.
“That’s not necessary.” No way was JD letting anyone else take care of them. “I’ll be staying here so I can handle it.”
“Excuse me?” Luke and Annette said at the same time.
JD adjusted himself to a sitting position. “Not only will you need help with Tony, but we have some work to do regarding the ranch as well as figuring out what the hell happened.” He tapped her leg just above where the boot ended. “And until we know what happened, you shouldn’t be alone.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Luke said. “You could also move into the bull-riding school.”
“I’m not doing that,” Annette said with a wave of her good hand. “But I don’t want to put JD out.”
“You’re not, so don’t worry about it.” JD stretched, working out a kink in his back. If memory served him correctly, the bed in the back guest room off the kitchen wasn’t that great. He might have to order a new one and have it delivered tomorrow.
“In that case, I’m going to get home to my girl. JD? Walk me out?” Luke asked.
“Sure thing.” JD scooted to the end of the sofa and planted a wet kiss on Annette’s mouth. Daringly, he slipped his tongue between her fiery lips. A soft moan vibrated from her throat to his. He pulled away and stood. “Don’t get off that sofa.” JD made his way out the front door, ignoring the scrutinizing glare coming from Luke.
“Did you seriously just suck face with my little sister?” Luke asked.
“Suck face? What are we, twelve?” But JD hadn’t even realized he’d kissed Annette so passionately and romantically until Luke pointed it out. It was as if the kiss was something he did on a regular basis with Annette. An involuntary action, like breathing.
Luke laughed. “I don’t know if I’m more shocked or my sister, but she’s still sitting in there with her mouth hanging open.”
JD glanced over his shoulder and peered into the window. Sure enough, that’s exactly what Annette was doing, only she’d raised her hand and traced her lips with her index finger. “You asked me out here to talk about something. What was it?”
“For starters, I want to know where you get off randomly kissing my sister?”
“That’s none of your business,” JD said.
“Right. And me kissing your sister was none of yours.”
JD waved his hand in the air. “It’s certainly not now, so can we please move on?”
“I’ll just ask her about it,” Luke said.
JD searched his pockets for a toothpick. He finally found one and plopped the wooden stick between his teeth. “I don’t need to tell you that your sister is something special. Since she’s walked onto this ranch, I’ve done things differently. Outside of that, I have no idea what the hell that was or where it came from other than it most likely will happen again, unless she tells me not to.”
Luke slapped JD on the back. “I’ve been where you are. Don’t think about it too much and just let it happen.”
“I can’t have this conversation with you.” JD sat on the front steps and stared out at the starry sky.
“Why?”
JD opened his mouth to give some bullshit explanation about being private and wanting to talk with Annette about the kiss, but Luke continued babbling on about all the shit that flapped about inside JD’s head, things he didn’t want to put out in the universe.
“Because you think you’re not relationship material? Because she has a son and you don’t do kids, which by the way, you did very well.”
“Shockingly well,” he admitted. “But no. None of that is why I don’t want to have this conversation with you.”
“But it’s all true.” Luke joined him on the steps. “This is going to be the kettle calling the pot black, but if you’re going to pursue my sister, you might want to fill her in on what happened.”
JD let out a puff of air through his nostrils and closed his eyes for five seconds. “You mean be honest about the past, like you were from the start with Georgia Moon?”
“I deserved that,” Luke said with a slight laugh. “But you weren’t given a choice tonight when it came to taking care of Tony. You had to stay behind and deal with the police, which meant I had to go with my sister.”
That was all true, but he could have handled the bull-riding school as well as his sister, and Georgia Moon was excellent with kids. Someday, she’d make a great mother. But by the time JD figured out how Georgia Moon had backed him into a corner, he was saddling up Jax and heading to get Tony.
“And Tony isn’t a newborn baby,” Luke continued.
“All right. That’s enough. I’ve humored you enough for one night.” JD waggled his finger. “Don’t get used to it either. Just because Georgia Moon says you’re her one and only and she’s requiring us to welcome you as family, doesn’t mean we’re going to bond on a regular basis.” JD didn’t need his sister to ask him to treat Luke like a brother. Even if she hadn’t been smart enough to fall head over heels in love with the man, JD still would have felt as though Luke were family.
“Fair enough,” Luke said. “I wanted to talk about the horses and what happened.”
“I haven’t had a chance to go through it all, or compile a report and send it to everyone, but Heather and the doctor did confirm that Patch was sold to Bella.”
“Bella? Not her father’s company?” Luke asked.
JD nodded. “That is correct and odd. So, I did a quick search and found that Bella bought four mustangs in her own name, all before she started dating JW.”
“Why? Bella doesn’t handle money. All she knows how to do is spend in the name of her father or whatever sucker she has on the line.”
“Don’t let JW hear you call him a sucker,” JD said. “But I recall signing off on the sale of Patch, and he was supposed to be a gift for a boyfriend. I just don’t know who the hell she was seeing back then. It would have been maybe a year before my brother.”
“I can’t say I paid much attention to her love life, but I bet the tabloids most likely did,” Luke said.
JD rolled the wooden stick around in his mouth. “A quick Google search should handle that. But none of this answers the question of who shot at Annette and why, because not a single bullet came anywhere near me.” JD slammed his fist on the step. “I’ve put extra security around the ranch, and the cops are goi
ng to make sure they have a presence near all the entrances and weak spots of the ranch.”
“Detective Miller came by the hospital. They have someone sitting in front of Ron’s place, waiting for him to return home so they can question him.”
“What about his kids? Anyone talk to them? Ask them where their father might be?” JD rubbed his throbbing temples. He knew all these questions had already been asked and answered. “I find it really fucking odd that Ron is still sending me threatening emails about his retirement package, and yet, no one can find him.” JD pushed from the steps and turned. “Ron has always been a little off, but never would anyone call him violent. His kids were jealous of us growing up, and Veronica could be a bit of a bully, but we all got along for the most part.”
“I dated Veronica for like five minutes,” Luke said. “She’s a whackadoodle and higher maintenance than Bella.”
JD laughed. “JB’s going to kill me for this one, but he lost his virginity to Veronica back in high school.”
“I don’t even want to know how young JB was when he started,” Luke said, shaking his head.
“He actually really liked her. Took her to his senior prom, but she dumped him for some hot cowboy that was training with Robert at the time.”
“Veronica is certainly a fickle one,” Luke said. “I was shocked to hear she got married to Ashcott, the jeweler.”
“I’m sure there is a pool on how long that marriage will last, but I don’t believe Ron is close with his kids.”
“He’s pretty tight with his son these days. Or at least they hang out at the pool hall regularly.” JD planted his hands on his hips and stared into the picture window. “I’ll feel a lot better when someone has eyes on Ron.”
“I’m still struggling with the idea that he could do any of this, but who else could it be?” Luke asked with an outstretched arm.
JD took his hand and shook. “It can only be Ron. I’m for sure sold on that now.”
“Watch your back and take good care of my sister, or I might have to punch you.”
“Flip that statement and turn it back on yourself.” JD waved a hand over his head and jogged back up the stairs with his heart pounding in his gut, sending butterflies all over his system.
He was about to spend the night alone in a house with Annette.
It would be a sleepless night.
7
Annette settled herself at the small desk in the den after JD had made a magnificent breakfast with all the fixings. And then he’d been nice enough to agree to take Tony to daycare.
It amazed her how quickly Tony seemed to bond with JD and how JD took to being the caregiver of a toddler, especially since everyone warned her that he was horrible with kids.
Something she’d witnessed firsthand a few times when they’d first met, but in the last twenty-four hours, JD had become a completely different man when it came to children, and Annette was very grateful for his help. Only, JD spent all his time and attention on Tony, or the shooting and trying to find Ron, and very little attention on her, except to make sure she had food, water, blankets, and ice.
Wait until she asked him to wash her hair tonight.
She laughed at her own thoughts. As if she’d actually ask him to do such a thing.
She lifted her leg and adjusted the ice pack. Time to go through the files JD brought from Ron’s old office. She thumbed through the first one. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Of course, she wasn’t exactly sure what she was looking for, other than strange tagging of wild horses and specific sales to Robert Brothers and Bella.
A tap at the door startled her. She snagged the cane and hobbled toward the front door with her heart hammering in her chest. Pulling her phone from her back pocket, she made sure it was unlocked and ready to hit the panic button. Through the side window, she caught a glimpse of Ellie.
Annette groaned.
Ellie was the last person she wanted to see.
Jealousy wasn’t an emotion that Annette wore well, and it was rearing its ugly head right now.
She pulled open the door. “Can I help you?”
“Sorry to bother you, but I’m looking for JD, and I was told he might be here?”
“He’s not at the moment, but I’m happy to give him a message.” Being passive aggressive wasn’t a pretty look on her either, yet she was going to try it out anyway. What JD saw in this woman, Annette had no idea.
“Just tell him Ellie stopped by, and I’ll meet him at his place tonight.”
“Oh, well, I’ve got some bad news for you. JD won’t be there. He’ll be here.”
Ellie’s jaw slacked open. Quickly, she snapped it shut and narrowed her eyes. But she didn’t get a chance to say anything since the sound of a horse galloping across the land caught both of their attention. Ellie turned on her heeled boots and stomped off down the steps.
If Annette were any other woman, she’d kick Ellie on the backside and watch her tumble into the mud that her son had made on the side of the porch before being taken to daycare. Annette could actually visualize Ellie with mud caked in her platinum blond hair.
“Ellie? What are you doing out here?” JD asked as he jumped from Jax and tied him up around the big tree out front.
Annette really should step inside, close the door, and ice her foot, but she desperately wanted to hear this conversation. JD had been sending her mixed messages for days. But he’d kissed her, good and hard, in front of Luke, and then again right before she’d gone to bed.
That had to mean something.
Unless he was more like JB than anyone wanted to admit.
Ellie glanced over her shoulder and then said something that Annette couldn’t hear.
JD planted his hands on his hips. “I texted you two days ago and canceled.”
Ellie had the audacity to lean in and rest her greedy little perfectly manicured hand on his perfect chest. “You could make it up to me tonight.”
When he took Ellie by the wrist, Annette half thought he was going to tug Ellie close and give her a little lip action, something he did so well that thinking about it made Annette go weak in the knees.
Thankfully, he dropped her hand and took a small step back. “I also included in that text message that I couldn’t do this anymore.”
“You don’t break up with a girl in a text,” Ellie said with a pouty voice. “Besides, we’ve got a good thing going, you and me. No pressure. No strings.”
“I’m sorry, Ellie, but it’s over. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a lot of work to do today.”
“All work and no play makes JD a very dull boy.”
JD yanked his Stetson off his head and raked a hand through his thick, dark hair. He tipped his gaze toward the sky. “Take care, Ellie.”
“I give you two weeks tops. And then you’ll be texting me. You always come back.” As she walked by, she ran her fingers over his shoulders.
He stood there until her pretty little convertible backed out of the driveway. “I’m so sorry she showed up here.” He all but ran up the stairs and lifted Annette into his arms.
“Whoa. Put me down.”
“You shouldn’t be standing on your foot. I read those discharge papers, and you’re supposed to stay off it for at least five days, even when you’re wearing the boot.” Gently, he set her butt on the chair in front of the desk. Lifting her leg, he placed her foot on the pillow and molded the ice wrap around her ankle.
“You’re just trying to avoid discussing your missed booty call.”
He let out what sounded like a nervous laugh. “Well, there’s that.” He turned his back and tossed his hat on the chair that was tucked in the back corner of the den. “I’m pretty embarrassed by what just happened.”
“Don’t be. You’re just lucky your girlfriend wasn’t more upset over being stood up.”
“I didn’t stand her up, and she’s not my girlfriend. I think you just heard what casual fling we had is officially over.”
“But that was supposed to be a bo
oty call last night.” Stop. This conversation isn’t going to do anything but upset her, or him. “Right?”
“I was supposed to go to some restaurant opening with her last night. She asked me like a month ago. I haven’t seen her since we made those plans, and I canceled a few days ago.”
She snapped her fingers in the air. “Like I said. A booty call.” Oh hell. She twisted in the chair. She might as well go for broke. “I’m not judging. You’re a full-blooded male with needs. She’s sort of attractive.”
He turned, catching her gaze with an arched brow. “Sort of?”
“Well, if you like flashy and glam, but she reminds me of Bella. Strip her of the designer clothes and all that makeup, and she’s got no substance.” Not to mention those boobs had to be fake. “No offense, but she doesn’t seem like your type.”
“You’ve spent all of five minutes with Ellie, and you’ve decided that we’re not compatible?” He lifted her foot and sat down on the stool, resting her bad leg over his thighs. He held the ice to her ankle and gently massaged her calf all while staring off across the room at God only knows what.
However, what she really wanted to know was why did he feel the need to give her a little rubdown?
She cringed at her poor choice of word thoughts.
“You even said you were embarrassed by her coming here. Why is that? Because if you and she were really a good thing, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.” She tapped her lips a few times. “Oh, wait. You kissed me. So is it guilt that’s eating at you and you’re just embarrassed—”
“Oh, just stop. She’s not my girlfriend and never was. We were both free to see whoever we wanted, whenever we wanted, so I don’t feel guilty at all for kissing you. Now you’re just trying to pick a fight with me. Do I detect a little bit of jealousy?”
“Nope. But I am trying to figure out what it is about women like her that manage to rope in men like you. I mean, how different is she from Bella?”
He ran his hand up under her knee. “Not much,” he said, laughing. “Well, Ellie isn’t out to destroy anyone or find a rich husband. And I’m not her only booty call, trust me on that.”
