One Hot Daddy-To-Be?

by Christenberry, Judy

  But not enough to get involved in a threesome.

  JESSICA SPENT THE WEEKEND wandering around her town house with a yellow pad, making notes for her new project. It was easier to concentrate on her business life than her personal life, which was a disaster.

  Her plan to awaken Cal to her love for him hadn’t worked. He seemed more intent than ever on finding her a husband, even offering to sacrifice his best friends. Which meant he didn’t want her, because she’d been more than obvious.

  On Monday, she began checking out locations. She’d decided to call her restaurant The Last Roundup. When she found a wooden building on the town square big enough to accommodate the kitchen, a large dining area and a second room where she intended to have a live band and dance floor, she contacted the owner.

  Since economic growth in Cactus had leveled off the last few years, the owner was thrilled at the opportunity to sell his property. Jessica called the architect in Lubbock she’d used for her other restaurants, and he made a trip out to Cactus to check out the property.

  Then she took him to The Old Cantina for lunch.

  Jeffrey Lockheart was a talented architect. Jessica had discovered him about five years ago when she’d had a problem with one of the buildings she’d bought.

  “Do you think it will take much rebuilding to bring the place up to standard?” she asked as they dined.

  “Not too much. We’ll need to get the foundation repaired. Of course, a lot of the wood will have to be replaced. I assume you want—”

  “Mornin’, Jess,” Cal drawled from over her shoulder. “Is this a private luncheon?”

  She smiled. “Not that private. Have you met Jeff?” Introducing the two men, explaining Jeff’s presence, Jessica smiled at Cal’s obvious relief. What had he thought?

  “You’re the sheriff?” Jeff asked.

  Cal nodded. “Yeah. I try to keep tabs on everything. I don’t know why I haven’t met you before now.”

  “I didn’t start working with Jessica until her fourth restaurant. All of those were out of town. This will be my first job in Cactus.”

  Leaning forward, toward Jessica, Cal directed his question to her. “So you’re going to go ahead? Is it legal? Didn’t you sign a contract not to compete?”

  “I can’t open a Mexican-themed restaurant. Instead, I’m opening a steak house.” She hoped he didn’t bring her personal life into the discussion.

  “Your new recipe?”

  “Yes.”

  Jeff was staring at first Cal and then Jessica, as if puzzled.

  “What is it, Jeff?” she asked.

  “I’m just amazed. I didn’t realize a sheriff would worry about you breaking your contract. Crime must be really low in small towns.”

  Jessica couldn’t hold back a grin and Cal chuckled. She nodded toward Cal to respond to Jeff’s misconception.

  “There’s as much crime here as anywhere. Jess and I are friends. I wasn’t asking in an official capacity.” He scooted his chair a little closer to Jessica, as if to physically link the two of them.

  Jeff smiled in return. “Still, I think I’ll bring my wife to visit Cactus. I’d like her to see how pleasant it can be.”

  “You’re married?” Cal returned, looking a little happier to have Jeff in his town.

  “Yeah, married with two kids.”

  Cal extended his arm across the back of Jessica’s chair. “Great. That’s a great idea to bring them here.”

  Nita, the waitress who usually served Jessica and her friends, delivered a plate of nachos and drinks for Jeff and Jessica. Noting Cal’s arrival, she promised to bring him a soda, since he was on duty.

  “How are you doing, Nita?” Jessica asked. One condition of her sale had been the new owners’ retention of her staff.

  “Okay. It’s a little different than when you were my boss, but we’re okay.”

  “Great.”

  “What are you doing with yourself? Don’t you miss it?”

  “Yeah, but I’m thinking of opening a different kind of restaurant.” Jessica regretted her words as soon as she said them, but she wasn’t good at keeping secrets.

  “Hey, maybe I could move to your new place,” Nita suggested.

  “We’ll see,” Jessica said, but she worried that the corporation that had bought her restaurant chain might feel she wasn’t holding to the spirit of their agreement.

  Cal’s fingers rubbed her shoulder, as if to soothe her nerves. Somehow his touch did reassure her, but at the same time it electrified her nerve endings, making heat rise in her.

  Cal brought back the topic of her restaurant after Nita left the table. “So where’s this new restaurant going to be located? And what are you calling it?”

  Jeff deferred to her, since it was her project, but Jessica was reluctant to reveal her plans. “I’m not ready to talk about it yet.”

  Cal removed his arm from the back of her chair and stared at her. “With me?”

  She looked away. “Nothing’s settled yet.”

  “You think you can’t trust me?”

  Hearing the hurt in his voice, she turned to look at him. “You know that’s not what I mean.” She leaned forward, drawing imaginary circles on the table.

  “Then why not tell me?” Cal demanded. “Haven’t you already told Jeff?”

  She had, and couldn’t explain why she wasn’t ready to tell Cal. Now she had no choice if she wasn’t going to hurt his feelings. “Okay, fine. I’m thinking of the name The Last Roundup. I’m going to have food and music, with a live band, a dance floor.”

  “Kind of like Friday night,” Cal said, nodding. “Can’t get better than that.”

  He was right about that. Dancing with Cal had made the evening perfect. Somehow she didn’t think dancing with Cal would be a part of her future. He’d spent some time after their dance with Melanie Rule. That was the second time he’d singled the lady out for special attention.

  After they finished their meal, Jeff excused himself, needing to get back to Lubbock. Cal didn’t show any sign of leaving.

  “I thought he was the guy you wanted,” Cal muttered, reaching for another chip. The relief that had filled him when Jeff had mentioned his wife and two children had almost overwhelmed him.

  “What?”

  “One of my guys told me you were wandering around town with a stranger, a good-looking man. I thought he was the man you were pining after.” He’d hit the door in seconds, panic filling him. Panic that told him something about himself he hadn’t wanted to admit.

  Jessica rolled her eyes. “Really, Cal, just because I speak to a man doesn’t mean—”

  Before she could complete her protest, Trevor Heywood stopped by their table. “Hey, Jessica, didn’t think I’d see you here.”

  “Why not? The Old Cantina is still the best restaurant in town,” she replied, smiling coolly.

  “True. Say, how about dinner one night this week? We could discuss your investments, your future. And maybe each other,” he added, his face flushing.

  “Thanks, Trevor, but I’ve got another project going and it’s going to take up all my time.” She continued to smile, as if Trevor’s disappointment didn’t bother her.

  Cal was pleased.

  “Gee, thanks, Cal. Trevor pursuing me is all I need.”

  “Hey, you approved the list. And I was only trying to help.” But not anymore. He turned around as someone called out his name.

  Cal almost groaned. The only man on the list he hadn’t tried to interest had just come into the restaurant. Richard West had established himself as a leading builder of basic functional houses in the area.

  “Richard, how are you?” Cal asked as he stood and shook hands. “You remember Jessica Hoya, don’t you?”

  “Of course I do. Who could forget a beautiful woman like Jessica?”

  Jessica smiled and shook hands, but she didn’t appear flustered by Richard’s lavish compliment.

  “Why don’t you join us?” Cal asked.

  Jessica
abruptly stood. “I’m afraid I have to talk to Nita, if you’ll excuse me. But it was nice to see you again, Richard.”

  “Then join me,” Cal said to Richard, having no choice. The man was an old friend. He couldn’t be rude to him.

  He regretted his friendliness at once.

  Richard leaned forward and said softly, “I hear Jessica is free and looking.”

  Cal froze. He hadn’t expected a direct question. “Uh, I don’t know.”

  “Come on, Cal, who would know if you didn’t? You two have always been tight.”

  Scowling at his friend, Cal finally said, “You’ll have to ask Jessica.” And he hoped she sent Richard packing as fast as she had the others.

  When Jessica returned to the table a few minutes later, Richard had already excused himself and disappeared. Cal watched her cross the restaurant, his mind teeming with questions.

  “Obviously the man you’re interested in isn’t Richard,” he said as she sat down. “So, tell me who it is.”

  “It’s a new restaurant, remember?”

  “A new restaurant can’t give you a baby. It won’t keep you warm at night, or love you for the rest of your life.” As he wanted to do. He wanted to hold Jessica in his arms for the rest of his life. He wanted to be one with her, to give her those babies.

  Jessica looked away, her lashes beating almost as fast as a hummingbird’s wings. “My, my, you sound almost like a poet, Cal. Maybe you’re the one who should consider marriage instead of me.”

  “Maybe I should.”

  Chapter Ten

  Cal spent a lot of time thinking. Everything around him seemed to have changed. Particularly Jessica. Now that he’d been forced to realize that Jessica wasn’t a child anymore, he knew she was right. She should marry and have children.

  The most startling realization, however, was that he wanted to be the father of her children.

  Though it was a ridiculous comparison, he felt like Sleeping Beauty, awakened with a kiss from Jessica. Had his protection, all these years, been jealousy? Had his shooing away suitors been a selfish act?

  He didn’t know.

  All he knew now was how much he wanted Jessica in his life. How much he wanted her in his family. How much he wanted her in his bed.

  After all these years of refusing to think of marriage, it was all that occupied his mind these days. Marriage and Jessica. A sharing of their lives.

  How appropriate when they’d spent their first years together, sharing the joys and pains. Jessica’s first birthday after their meeting, when she turned five, was a special memory. Mabel had baked a cake and Cal had worked hard to make Jessica a small leather coin purse.

  He’d learned to carve leather in Boy Scouts and he’d done her initials intertwined with flowers. When her green eyes had glowed with pride, his heart had almost burst. His father had given her some coins to put in the little purse, and she’d carried it with her everywhere.

  When he’d broken his arm three years later, she’d spent a lot of the summer comforting him, reading to him, letting him teach her about ranching. He’d gotten so distracted by her earnest questions, he’d forgotten the pain and boredom that bothered him.

  He was looking at his future with the same pain and boredom without Jessica. Life without Jessica in Cactus, or anywhere else for that matter, had no meaning.

  Cal had always been an action kind of guy. Now he was forced to think about what he intended to do. How was he going to convince Jessica that he was the perfect one for her plan? The perfect father for her babies. The perfect man to make those babies.

  And that thought, one he arrived at regularly, halted all rational thinking. Because his mind would drift off into pictures of the two of them entwined, their bodies slick with perspiration and sated with pleasure.

  He could almost feel her silken hair, his fingers wrapped in it. Her scent filled his nostrils even in the barn because he was thinking of her instead of the animals. He saw her glowing eyes rather than the stars at night.

  He was still debating how he could convince Jessica, especially since she seemed to be avoiding him, when she stormed into the barn the next Saturday morning.

  His friends, Mac, Tuck, and Spence, had come to help him unload hay he’d purchased for the winter. Tuck and Spence were on the truck, tossing down the bales, while he and Mac were stacking them in place in the barn.

  “Cal Baxter!” she exclaimed, standing in the entrance to the barn, her hands on her small waist. Her tone more than the words was a call to attention. Something clearly had her dander up.

  “Hi, baby. What’s up?”

  “Cal, I am going to kill you!” she raged, not moving.

  “Well, baby, you picked a great place. There’ll be lots of witnesses to your crime,” he assured her, taking in his friends’ amused looks. “Excuse us, guys, but I think Jess needs to talk to me in private.”

  “Spoilsport,” Tuck called with a laugh.

  “I don’t mind having this discussion in front of them. After all, they’ve been involved,” she stormed at him, her chin in the air.

  He shook his head. “No, thanks. We’ll go outside.” He took her arm and led her outside and around to the side of the barn before he asked, “What have I done this time?”

  “As if you don’t know! I asked you not to encourage any of those guys.”

  “I didn’t,” he protested. “I mean, I haven’t.” His gaze roved her body as she stared at him fiercely. Her hair was twisted into one long braid, but small dark wisps had pulled loose to dance around her oval face. Her cheeks were flushed and her green eyes sparked with anger.

  “Then why are they still calling me, following me when I go out? Suggesting I should consider marrying them?” She reached out and poked her finger into his chest. “It smacks of your shenanigans, Cal.”

  “Well, you’re wrong. I got the message. I haven’t even talked to any of those guys, much less seen them, since we saw Richard at the restaurant.”

  After glaring at him, she turned and began to pace back and forth in front of him. “If that’s true, then I don’t understand why they haven’t given up. I even got a call or two from some other men not on the list. Like suddenly it’s open season on me.”

  Cal cleared his throat. “Maybe word got out that I was, uh, encouraging others to...you know, get friendly.”

  Jessica sagged against the barn wall. “I think I didn’t appreciate the protection you’ve given me in the past. I can’t get anything done with all these interruptions. I’m going crazy!”

  He stepped closer and brushed back a sprig of her hair, his fingers trailing across her flushed cheek. “What can I do to help?”

  She gave him a halfhearted smile. “I don’t know of anything that can be done. I guess they’ll give up eventually.”

  He hated her sounding so down. At least, he told himself, that’s why he came up with his next suggestion. He knew for sure it would work. “There’s one way to stop all of it at once.”

  Surprised, she stared at him. “I don’t see how.”

  “It’s simple. We get engaged.”

  JESSICA’S GREEN EYES widened and she stared at him as if he’d suggested she leap off a cliff. “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope. It would work. It’s what half the town has been expecting all along. Everyone would believe it immediately, and none of those guys would dare bother you.”

  She was having difficulty believing her ears. Her greatest wish in the world was being handed to her. She wanted to pinch herself to see if she was dreaming. “Y-you want to marry me?”

  Reality returned. He backtracked, stomping on her hopes and dreams.

  “Pretend. We’d be pretending until you got your restaurant launched. Then we could break it off, tell everyone we’re too close to marry.”

  ‘“Too close to marry,’” she repeated, with no inflection. Her heart was breaking. But she couldn’t let Cal see how distressed she was.

  He straightened and shrugged his shoulders. “It�
�s just a suggestion. After all, I helped cause the problem.”

  She turned away from him, her arms wrapped around her middle. How should she respond? Could she pretend to love him while hiding that she loved him? Was this her only chance to get Cal to see her as a woman? Could she do anything but agree? No.

  “All right,” she suddenly responded, turning to face him.

  “All right?” he repeated faintly.

  She wondered if he was about to pass out. Maybe he hadn’t expected her to accept “Unless you didn’t mean it.”

  “I meant it,” he hurriedly assured her.

  “Okay.”

  They stood there, staring at each other, but Jessica didn’t know what to say or do. Suddenly she was engaged to Cal, the man she now realized she’d loved since she first met him twenty-three years ago, when he was eight and she was four.

  “Uh, what do we do next?” she asked.

  “Well, I reckon we need to buy a ring.”

  “Buy a ring? But it’s not...not real.”

  “If it’s going to work, it has to be real for however long it lasts. And going to Mr. Anderson’s store and buying a ring will announce it to the entire town. You know how quick the gossip chain is.”

  “All right, but I’ll pay for the ring.” She felt guilty enough luring him into the engagement. She didn’t want him to be out a lot of money, too.

  He seemed to take exception to her thinking, taking her shoulders again and giving her a little shake. “Don’t be ridiculous. I buy the ring.”

  “O-okay.”

  He nodded, seemingly pleased with her agreement. He stared down at her mouth, as if he’d lost track of what the next move should be. All she could think about was wishing he’d kiss her.

  When he didn’t, she asked, “When? When should we go?”

  “Go?” he asked, leaning toward her.

  “Go buy the ring. You know, like you said. When should we go to Mr. Anderson’s store and buy the ring?”

  He stepped back, breaking the intimate moment. “Oh, right, Uh, let me see.” He closed his eyes, as if to concentrate. Then he opened them and said, “Let me check with the guys.”

  “Are you going to tell them?” she asked, suddenly breathless. Telling his friends would make the engagement seem real.