by Kate Pearce
“I did not!” Jenna looked up to see both of her friends shaking their heads. “What?”
“You are a terrible liar,” Yvonne pronounced. “But it’s okay. If I’d seen Blue Morgan without his shirt on, I would probably have thrown myself at him and licked him all over.”
Jenna held Yvonne’s gaze. “And you should, because he likes you.”
“I’m not getting in the way of true lust, girlfriend.” Yvonne held out her hand palm up. “You go for it.”
“I’m not going to do anything. We get along fine now, but our relationship is purely professional,” Jenna said. “He doesn’t think of me like that, anyway. I’m just the annoying new vet.”
“You see, there’s your problem. You need to make him think of you like that,” Yvonne said, and January nodded.
“She’s right.”
“How? By accidentally falling out of the hayloft into his arms? I’d probably break my neck.”
“He’d catch you.” January and Yvonne spoke in unison. “You know he would.”
“If he was around, maybe, but knowing my luck I’d fall on Roy and kill him.”
“You’ve got to get rid of the negative attitude, and there’s no need to be so dramatic.” Yvonne pointed one long finger at Jenna. “All you have to do is pay him some genuine attention. You know, really listen to him when he talks, make eye contact, touch him in little ways, you know, like owning him, right?”
Jenna stared at Yvonne. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t do that stuff and Blue’s not stupid. He’d know that something was up.”
“He’d know that you were interested in him.” Yvonne sipped her coffee. “And if you really are interested, then you’ll do those things naturally.”
Jenna sat back, her arms folded across her chest. “Which makes no sense because I’m not doing them, so I’m obviously not that keen on him after all.”
“Stop.” Yvonne rubbed her forehead. “You’re giving me frown lines. Sometimes a man needs a little nudge to stop seeing you as one thing and see you as another, okay? So maybe Blue sees you as the veterinarian, so if you want to change that dynamic you need to help him see you as a woman.”
“A woman who wants him,” January added helpfully.
“I don’t—” Jenna sighed. “Okay, maybe I do, but he’s not interested in me. I get nothing back from him at all.”
“That’s not true,” January said. “He definitely notices you, and he always says very positive things about you when you’re not there.”
“He does?” For a moment Jenna perked up. “I mean, he did offer to teach me self-defense techniques, one-on-one, which was super nice of him . . .”
“Nice?” Yvonne sighed dramatically. “I would’ve demanded my first lesson immediately, and preferably naked.” Yvonne’s cell buzzed and she put down her cup. “I’ve got to get back to work. Think about what I said, Jenna, and try and use some of those feminine wiles God gifted you with.”
January stood up, too, brushing crumbs off her boobs. “Do you want me to put a good word in for you?”
“God no. This isn’t high school.” Jenna buried her face in her hands. “I wish I’d just kept my big mouth shut about those abs.”
“From the sound of it, they are a thing of awe and beauty that should be shared with the female population.” January winked at her. “Maybe I’ll just slip Blue a note under the table at dinner tonight saying ‘do you like Jenna, check box yes or box no.’”
“I need to get back to work,” Jenna muttered. “And stop thinking about abs.”
* * *
Blue finished his turkey sandwich and took a long slug of iced tea.
“Thanks for lunch, Ruth.”
“You’re welcome. No Jenna today, then?”
“She had other stuff to do.”
Ruth was peeling apples, which probably meant pie, which made Blue very happy.
“You seem to be getting on great with her now.”
“She’s good at her job. I like that.” Blue took another sip of tea and tasted the mint Ruth liked to infuse in it. “I like her. She’s good company.”
“Pretty, too.”
Blue eyed his grandmother over the top of his glass. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“Hard to miss.” Ruth cut an apple into quarters and placed it in the bowl.
“You matchmaking here?”
“I wouldn’t dare.” Ruth started peeling another apple. “Just pointing out the obvious.”
Blue thought about Jenna’s big brown eyes and the way her hair glinted red in the sunlight. Her smile was nice, too. They’d been getting on great for the past few weeks. If he’d been in the market for a real long-term relationship, she was just the sort of woman he’d want. Smart, hardworking, and able to stand toe to toe with him and argue her point.
But he wasn’t ready to settle down yet, and she wasn’t the sort of woman who would be happy with the short-term sexual relationships he specialized in when both parties knew what they were getting into and how to get out. She deserved the whole package, the white picket fence, two kids, and all that implied. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever be the man to deliver that little fantasy.
“Anyone home?”
Ruth looked up. “Is that you, Chase?”
“Yup.” Blue’s older brother came through the kitchen door and enveloped his grandmother in a hug. “How are you doing?”
“I’m good.” Ruth kissed his cheek. “Come and sit down and have something to eat.”
Chase obediently sat and nodded at Blue. “You still here?”
“I’m due back on base in two days.” Blue grimaced. “I can’t wait to see how much more paperwork I’ve got to complete to finally be free.”
Chase took some iced tea. “Any idea about the actual end date yet?”
“Not quite. There are all kinds of algorithms to be worked through before we can arrive at anything that straightforward. But I’m hoping it’s less than a month away now.”
“Good. I’d like you to be here as we move forward.”
“Trust me, I’m working on it, bro.”
Ruth placed a grilled cheese sandwich in front of Chase and patted his shoulder. “Eat it while it’s hot.”
Chase sank his teeth into the golden bread, and strands of cheese dripped down from his chin onto the plate. “Damn, that’s good.”
Before Blue could even articulate the thought, Ruth put another sandwich in front of him.
He grinned at her. “How did you know?”
“Because you’ve always wanted what your older brother had.”
“Apart from his stressful tech job and his fiancée?” Blue added. “I’d like his millions, though.”
“Wouldn’t we all?” Ruth agreed.
Chase finished his sandwich and wiped his chin. “Where’s January?”
“She’s in town with Yvonne and Jenna.” Blue answered him through a mouthful of cheese. “They’re having lunch and talking shit about you. She said she’d be back around three.”
“Cool. That gives us time to go over a few things.” Chase retrieved his laptop from his bag and fired it up. “I’ve done a new cost analysis on the overall financial upkeep of the barn and other elements involved in the wear and tear of running a string of horses for guests.”
“Great,” Blue groaned. “Just how I wanted to spend my afternoon, being lectured by you.”
“I bet you’d rather be out with Jenna, wouldn’t you, Blue?” Ruth put two mugs on the table and filled them with coffee.
“Jenna McDonald?” Chase looked up from his spreadsheet. “You’re seeing her?”
“We’re working together on the horses.” Blue gave Ruth a “quit meddling” look. “She’s doing a great job.”
“I know January speaks very highly of her.” Chase’s interest returned to the financials. “I’m thinking we might need a vet permanently on staff if we do this thing right. Do you think Jenna would be interested?”
“I have no idea.” Blue cons
idered the notion of Jenna being at the ranch all the time, and it didn’t scare him one bit. “But I wouldn’t mind if she took the job.”
Then maybe in ten or twenty years’ time, when he’d matured into the kind of man who was ready to settle down, she’d be ready to settle down with him. Blue snorted. Like she’d still be around. She was way too cute and intelligent to be without a man if she wanted one. But he’d started to enjoy her company and looked forward to spending time with her, which was a first for him.
“BB?”
He looked up to find Chase staring at him. “What?”
“You’re not concentrating.” His brother shut his laptop. “How about we take a ride into town, pick up the mail, and meet up with January for lunch?”
“Sounds way better than looking at spreadsheets with you.” Blue stood up and gathered up the plates and mugs. Thank God for Chase’s all-consuming interest in his fiancée. “I wanted to talk to Yvonne about an idea I had anyway.”
* * *
Jenna finished her cappuccino and surreptitiously ate the remains of January’s second chocolate muffin before finally standing up to leave. To her surprise, January was walking back toward her, a huge smile on her face and a tall, dark, and handsome cowboy behind her.
“Hey. Don’t go just yet! Chase is here.”
“I’m sure he’d much rather see you than me,” Jenna said even as Chase Morgan, who had the same bright blue eyes as his brother, took her hand in a firm grasp and shook it.
“Nice to see you again, Jenna. I hear you’ve been doing sterling work at the ranch.”
“I’ve just been helping Blue with the horses.”
“So he said and doing a great job, too.” Chase smiled down at her. He was slightly taller than Blue and his muscles were less well defined, but the resemblance between them was obvious. “Once the ranch is up and running, I might want to talk to you about signing on as the vet on staff.”
“For the whole of Morgan Ranch?”
“Yeah.” He considered her for a long moment. “We’d pay you and everything.”
She grinned. “Pay? Wow, that would be a novelty. My uncle makes me work for nothing.”
He gestured at her vacated seat. “Have you got five minutes?”
She checked her cell and messages and there was nothing urgent. “Sure. As long as I’m back by three I’m good.”
January sat down, too, and Chase hooked an arm out to snag another chair. “Blue’s around here somewhere.”
Jenna looked toward the door and saw Blue talking to Yvonne, his face relaxed, his body language leaning toward her friend as though he was listening intently. Her earlier faint spark of hope that he might be persuaded to become interested in her died. Yvonne was definitely his type—sophisticated, educated, and way more sexually experienced than Jenna would ever be.
Blue patted Yvonne on the shoulder and stood back to allow her to precede him into the shop. She went into the kitchen and he strolled over to their table with his usual smooth grace. He nodded at January and Jenna as he sat down.
“Yvonne’s going to try and join us in a minute as well.”
“Why, what’s up?” January asked.
“Just something I thought of doing that might benefit the community,” Blue said. “Actually, Jenna gave me the idea.”
“To do what?” Judging by the way his eyebrows went up, Jenna thought she might have sounded a bit snappy.
“Self-defense classes.”
“Oh.” So much for her getting some one-on-one time with him. He’d obviously decided to go far wider with his act of generosity.
“I thought we could hold them here one evening a week.” Blue blithely continued as if oblivious to the fact that he needed to shut up right now. “Yvonne thinks it might work really well.”
“What a great idea!” January said. “I’d love to learn how to take a man down, wouldn’t you, Jenna?”
“Oh yes, I’d like that a lot,” Jenna replied. “I’m sure there are a lot of folks here who would benefit from that kind of knowledge. Maybe you could include instructions on how to kill a man.” She grabbed her bag. “Sorry, I have to go. I forgot I promised to help Uncle Ron clip his cat’s claws.”
Blue and Chase automatically rose to their feet and then she had to practically clamber over Blue’s knees to escape. Yvonne was coming toward her, a pot of coffee in one hand.
“Where are you going? What do you think of Blue’s idea?”
Jenna smiled. “It’s great. Hey, you can offer to be his class model or something. Gotta run!”
Yvonne frowned at her. “What about those feminine wiles I mentioned you using? Running away isn’t going to help your cause.”
Jenna executed a slick move worthy of a quarterback stepping outside his box and managed to get past Yvonne and out into the fresh air. Blue’s idea was awesome, and her disappointment that he’d decided to make his abs and strength available to all the females in Morgantown—and she would bet her last dollar that the class would be full—was negligible.
Hadn’t she learned early on in life that there was always someone more interesting and attractive than her around and that stepping back into the shadows was for the best? At least he had no idea that she’d been building some pretty darn unrealistic daydreams around him during the last month or so. She was so glad she’d kept those to herself.
* * *
Blue turned from watching Jenna exit the coffee shop to find Chase shaking his head at him.
“I don’t know exactly what you did, BB, but something made Jenna rush off.”
“Why does it have to be because of me? Maybe she got scared off by one of your stupid spreadsheets or something.”
“Jenna mentioned Blue had offered to give her self-defense lessons.” January squeezed Chase’s hand.
Blue frowned. “That’s right, I did.”
“And now he’s offering to teach every female in the town and surrounding area.”
“So?”
Chase nodded at January. “Jenna probably feels bad about that.”
“Why?”
January sighed as if he was a super-slow learner. “Because you asked her first.”
“Because she inspired the idea. I mentioned that. Are you saying Jenna thinks I’d rather teach a class load of women than her?”
Yvonne had come up behind him and set the coffeepot on the table. “Yes.”
“But the two things have nothing to do with each other.”
“Yes, they do,” January and Yvonne chorused.
Blue rubbed the back of his neck. “I still don’t get it.”
“Abs,” January said, nodding cryptically at Yvonne.
“Yeah, I have abs.” Blue patted his flat stomach. “I also have the ability to teach proper self-defense techniques—something I think everyone should know.”
“So would you expect Jenna to come to this class?”
Blue shrugged. “If she wants to, sure.”
“So your offer to teach her by herself is no longer on the table?”
Blue stared from January to Yvonne and then looked at Chase. “Have you any idea what they are getting at?”
“I think they are saying that Jenna might feel hurt that you enlarged on your original proposal to teach her to include the entire female population of Morgantown.”
“You nailed it.” January kissed Chase’s cheek. “I’m so proud of you right now.”
Chase smiled complacently at Blue.
“But that would imply that Jenna . . .” Blue stopped speaking.
“That Jenna?” Chase repeated. “What?”
Blue stood up. “Can you get a ride back with January, Chase?”
“Why, where are you going?”
January grinned up at Blue. “Don’t worry about your brother. I’ll make sure he gets home safely. You go and do what you have to do.”
Blue nodded, made sure he had the keys to his truck, and went out the door.
* * *
“Stupid, stupid,” Jen
na muttered to herself as she sat down in the back office to catch up on some paperwork. It was quiet for once, as most of the staff was at lunch or on call. She’d flat out lied to Chase and wasn’t needed for at least an hour.
The back door opened, and assuming it was Dave, she didn’t bother to look up until a large shape sat opposite her at the table.
“Big Mac doesn’t own a cat.”
Her head came up and she locked gazes with Blue.
“Did I say cat? I meant rat, his pet ornamental rat.”
His eyebrow went up. “I think you just wanted to get away.”
“Now why on earth would you think that?”
“Because I put my big foot in it.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t notice. I just assumed you wanted to talk to Yvonne about your idea and that my presence was superfluous.”
“And superfluous means?”
“Redundant, unnecessary.”
“So you wouldn’t join my self-defense class?”
“Whatever gave you that idea? I think it’s a great thing to do for the town.”
“So you’d come?”
“Sure!” She picked up her pen again. “You didn’t come all the way over here just to clear that up, did you?”
He was watching her intently. “I got the impression that I might have offended you in some way.”
“You didn’t.”
“Okay.” He hesitated. “Just because I suggested running a class doesn’t mean I don’t want to teach you one-on-one.”
A tingling awareness of dread coalesced in her gut. “Have you been talking to January?”
Now he looked downright uncomfortable. “She and Chase might have mentioned that I might have screwed up here.”
“Did she send you?”
“No, I came by myself once I realized that you might have read more into my offer of teaching you than I’d meant. I like you, Jenna, but—”
She held up her hand. “Stop right there.”
“Before I say what?”
“Before you totally humiliate me and give me your little speech about how you like me and all that, but the thought of anything more makes you break out in hives, or that you’re already married, or you’re off to explore the Antarctic or any of those million and one excuses a person uses when they think someone else likes them a little too much.”
