by T. J. Kline
Dedication
For the man who’s the Chase to my Bailey, I love you for letting me be me, in spite of how crazy I might drive you.
Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by T. J. Kline
An Excerpt from Everything She Wanted by Jennifer Ryan
An Excerpt from When We Kiss by Darcy Burke
Copyright
About the Publisher
Chapter One
BAILEY HART WAITED at the U-shaped counter for Dusty to return so she could sign for her cousin’s feed order, trying her best to ignore the two catty women across the room. The last thing she wanted to deal with right now was Kristen Meyers and her ridiculously airheaded friend, Chelsea.
“I heard she slept with Michael Walker,” Chelsea murmured.
“Michael said she tried to give him a b.j.,” Kristen clarified, casting an appalled look in Bailey’s direction. “Poor Blake, he doesn’t even know his girlfriend is cheating on him.”
He wished. The closest thing Michael Walker had come to getting a blow job from her was when he drove her home and asked for one. Right before grabbing the back of her neck and telling her she owed him. And that was only seconds before her fist met with his left eye. Needless to say, he hadn’t asked her out again. In fact, the bruise hadn’t even begun to fade before Kristen had been seen sucking face with him, so who was she to talk?
Bailey was used to Kristen’s gossip and her name being linked with the new “hot doctor” in town, Blake Whitmore. They’d become close friends when he moved to town last year, and he’d asked her to pretend to be his girlfriend several times to fend off some of the more persistent nurses who didn’t seem to take no for an answer. She had no problem keeping quiet when the pair pointed, and it didn’t even bother her when they cut their gaze her way before whispering again, but hearing the word whore was where she had to draw the line.
“I really don’t think you’re one to be pointing fingers. If you’re going to be spreading rumors about me, you should know there’s already one going around that says you’ve got the title of town whore locked up.”
“Excuse me?” Kristen turned and leaned over the counter on her fingertips. “You can’t talk to me that way.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, did you mistake me for one of the people in this town that give a crap about how much money your dad has?” Enough was enough.
“You think you’re something special because you’re a Hart? From what I hear, you’re a cheap slut just like your mom was—whoring her way to Hollywood. Please, tell me you’re really leaving town and that’s not just another rumor . . . ”
“Trust me, that day can’t come soon enough.”
“Well, good morning, ladies. I didn’t expect to see you here this early.”
Bailey’s stomach did a somersault as she turned to see Chase McKee waltz through the front doors of the feed store. The man was walking, talking sex appeal, and his swagger proved he was more than comfortable with the fact. If she hadn’t known him for most of her life, she’d have thought it was arrogance, but his cockiness was born of confidence. He was one of those guys lucky enough to be born beloved by everyone who met him. Despite having left to join the military as an MP nine years ago, he was able to return home a hero and pick up right where he left off. No one talked behind Chase’s back, and it wasn’t just because he was a town deputy. It was because every person genuinely liked him and wanted to be liked by him. People sought out his attention, especially single women.
“Good morning, Chase,” the pair of bimbos across the counter answered in sickeningly sweet unison.
Bailey rolled her eyes and willed Dusty to hurry with the order so she could be on her way. The bullshit was about to get deep in here and she hadn’t worn her boots this morning. It was bad enough that Kristen had outbid Bailey for Chase at the Valentine’s Day bachelor auction, making Bailey look like a lovesick teenager, but Kristen made quite the impression on the dance floor and Chase hadn’t seemed to mind in the slightest. If Kristen ever wanted to change careers, there were probably several strip clubs that would be more than willing to hire her.
Chase moved to Bailey’s side and draped his arm around her shoulders, flipping her long blonde ponytail with his hand as his K-9, Gracie, trotted to her side and nudged her hand. “Aren’t you going to say hello?” She could hear the teasing note in his voice and wondered why he felt the need to make fun of her, especially when most of the town already seemed hell-bent on doing it anyway. “At least to Gracie?”
Her heart began to pound painfully against her rib cage, but she sighed melodramatically and squatted down on the balls of her feet, rubbing her fingers behind the dog’s ears. “Like you need any more female attention?”
“Leave it to you to crush my ego, Bailey,” he joked.
“Just keeping it real.” She shrugged one shoulder as she looked up at him. “I wouldn’t want you to get a swelled head.”
His gaze skimmed over her and for a moment she thought she saw something more than his usual friendliness, making her entire body flush warmly. It was gone just as quickly, and Chase turned toward Kristen and Chelsea.
“We’re still on for lunch tomorrow, right?”
Kristen ducked her chin and looked up at him through her lashes, brushing her hair back from her eyes. “Wouldn’t miss it.”
Bailey felt the bile rise into her throat and thought she might be sick. It took all she had in her not to gag at the woman’s attempt to be coy. Chase walked toward the back office and opened the door. “Hey, Dusty, I’m grabbing a bag of food for Gracie. Can you just send the bill over to the station?”
Bailey heard a muffled voice from the back office as Chase came back to the counter and looked at each of them in turn before focusing in on Kristen. Bailey watched his eyes skim over her slowly and felt the slow burn of jealousy simmer low in her belly.
“I’ll see you later, Kristen.” He turned and glanced at Bailey before lifting a bag of kibble onto one shoulder like it was a sack of feathers instead of a forty-pound bag of dog food. “Gotta go catch a few speeders. Come on, Gracie.”
The dog hurried to his side, trotting beside him toward the patrol car, and Bailey couldn’t help but admire the way he filled out his tan uniform shirt. With the bag on his shoulder, the material pulled tight over his broad back, and she could see the muscles flexing beneath. Her eyes followed the taper to his waist and down to the most perfect round butt she’d ever seen. The man was a fine specimen, there was no denying that.
“You know you’re pathetic, right? Chase has his sights on someone better.”
Kristen’s voice held every bit of the venom Bailey had come to expect from the woman. She wasn’t about to engage in a battle of wits with her, knowing it wasn’t exactly an even playing field, but her smart mouth wouldn’t keep shut. “Oh? I hope I get to me
et her soon.”
Kristen narrowed her eyes and sneered at Bailey. “You already have.” Bailey rolled her eyes and turned her back on the pair. “Don’t turn your back on me.”
“Yeah.” Chelsea took the opportunity to jump into the conversation. “That’s rude.”
“Me?” Bailey laughed and shook her head, still not bothering to look at them. She’d only come in here to help Julia this morning. She didn’t have the time or energy to waste on either of these two before her coffee. She slid her fingers to her temples and rubbed at the ache beginning to form behind her eyes.
“You’re such a bitch,” Kristen muttered, under her breath but still loud enough to make sure Bailey heard.
She was done taking Kristen’s crap. Bailey swiveled to glare at her.
“What are you looking at?”
“Just trying to figure out which of you is the biggest boob.”
“Oh, I do.” Chelsea pointed at her chest, rolling her eyes. “You can tell just by looking at us, geez.”
Kristen jutted her chin out and turned her head slowly toward her friend. “That is not what she said. Just go.” She shook her head and shoved Chelsea toward the door. “We’ll come back later when Dusty has taken out the trash.” She lifted her nose and waved a hand at Bailey as she spun from the counter. She was too busy staring at the ceiling dramatically to see that the corner of the rug was flipped up near the doorway.
“Kristen,” Bailey warned.
“You can go to hell, Bailey.” Kristen stormed to the doors. “Around here, we shoot wild things that get too close. You should watch yourself.”
Dusty came out of the office with several invoices for Bailey to sign and saw Kristen glaring from the doorway. “Brad’s going to load . . . is there trouble?”
“You could say that,” Kristen griped. “You should have some sort of a standard for the people you allow in here. I won’t be back until you do and I doubt Daddy will either.” Her scathing glare could have cut through glass as she turned away from Bailey and left.
“I don’t know what you did, Bailey, but she was pissed and now it’s going to come back and bite me. I need her dad’s business,” he scolded.
Bailey wanted to laugh it off, to make some kind of joke about the entire ridiculous situation, but the fact was, Kristen could make trouble for Dusty, and Bailey didn’t want to be the cause. Dusty had been nice to her and too many people already thought of her as the troublemaking Hart. She didn’t need any more people joining Kristen’s anti-Bailey campaign.
“Don’t worry, Dusty. I’ll make sure she gets over it.”
Damn it, now she was going to have to kiss Kristen’s ass to make this go away.
TODAY WAS SUPPOSED to be exciting, but so far it was just a mess.
Bailey was supposed to be packing to head down to LA and join the rest of her bandmates to cut the album they’d been working on for six months by video chat. She’d waited for the perfect moment to tell her cousins that she was moving to pursue a career in music but, sitting with her legs hanging over the edge of the counter, the heels of her boots tapping lightly against the cupboard as she listened to the argument going on around her, she knew she couldn’t bring it up today. She clenched her jaw, forcing herself to keep the news buried just a little longer, and took another sip of her coffee. There was no sense rocking the boat right now. Instead she let her cousins do what they seemed to do so often lately—dictate her life without even considering that she might have her own plans.
“I really need Bailey to clean the cabins for me.” Bailey could hear the desperation in Jessie’s voice. She was under a tremendous amount of stress now that there were more foster kids enrolling in her program. “I have a group coming in the morning.”
Julia ran a hand over her belly, two weeks overdue with her first child. She looked miserable and ready to burst. “I get it, Jess, I do. But I have sixteen kennels that need to be cleaned, and that’s hardly something I should be doing right now.”
“And the pregnancy card wins again.” Justin threw up his hands in defeat and put his cup into the dishwasher, something she and her cousins had tried to get him to do for years. It had taken his wife, Alyssa, only a few weeks to make a changed man out of him. “You know, once you have that baby, Jules, we aren’t giving in to you anymore.”
Julia’s bright smile belied the cockiness Bailey heard in her voice. “Wanna bet?”
He rolled his eyes at his sister. “Just a friendly reminder, I am the only one who actually pays Bailey for the job she does.”
Bailey sighed and hopped off the kitchen counter, trying to bury her irritation. She adored her cousins and appreciated that they all helped her out however they could so that she didn’t have to take the job her father had offered her at his car dealership, but enough was enough. She couldn’t be at the beck and call of each of them, every hour of every day. The last time she checked, working for them didn’t mean they got to pass her around like a favorite toy.
It was time to get away. Bailey wanted—no, needed—to make a name for herself and shed the reputation that had dogged her since her mother skipped town in the middle of the night. She was ready to do what her mother had never been able to do—find success outside this one-horse town.
In fact, Bailey had come over to Jessie’s this morning determined to finally tell them she was moving. The plan had been in the works for almost a year. The band had headed down early to find an apartment and, so far, they’d managed to write several more songs via the Internet, but now their manager was ready for them to cut the album. There was no more time for excuses. They needed her in LA.
To be fair, Bailey wasn’t really making excuses. Life had taken a sharp right turn toward chaotic and her family had needed her. It had been bad enough that the ranch had almost gone under, but when Julia was kidnapped by her ex, Bailey wasn’t about to turn her back on them. So far, she’d spent the past six months trying to make everything work, but now that her cousins had their lives on track, she wanted a chance to pursue her own future, away from here.
So far, the band had been patient, trying to practice online, but it wasn’t the same and it was beginning to grate on everyone’s nerves. There was nothing more they could do without her present, and the longer she stayed here, the more annoyed the rest of the guys were getting. According to JD, their manager, there had been some grumblings about finding a new lead singer if she didn’t show up soon. Tucker, their drummer, promised her they’d never do that and, while she didn’t trust JD, she wasn’t sure how the other three guys felt and their silence on the matter was making her nervous. She had to get down to LA, sooner rather than later.
Even knowing how much she needed to, Bailey couldn’t bring herself to tell her cousins about her plans now. Justin never tried to hide his feelings about anything, and he’d made it clear years ago that he thought singing was a waste of time. Most of the time she simply ignored his opinionated, macho views. They had enough other issues they’d bickered about over the years. It had been bad enough growing up with him watching her every move, like an overprotective second father, but it had been understandable while she was in high school. She’d spent her entire childhood at the ranch where her aunt and uncle had raised her as one of their kids while her father worked double shifts at the car dealership just to keep it afloat. Her cousins had been more like siblings, but Justin had taken the older brother role to the extreme. Now that she was an adult, unfortunately, regardless of how many times she’d bailed them out, they still didn’t see her as a grown woman.
She hadn’t even bothered to tell them about the gigs she’d been playing at the two country bars outside town for the past six months. They wouldn’t understand and, while Jess and Julia might act happy for her, she knew they would try to talk her into waiting until the end of the year to move, which would only add fuel to the barely banked bonfire of family drama.
Bailey polished off the last of her coffee, buying herself a little time to let her irritation fade
to mild annoyance before attempting any sort of response. “Julia, I’ll clean the kennels this morning, but you said you were going to hire someone else to help you. You can’t do everything after the baby is born.” Julia opened her mouth to protest but Bailey didn’t give her a chance. “Jess, I’ll come over here after I finish with the dogs and do your cabins, but you said you were going to hire Aleta to do it. She’s already agreed to come whenever you need her, and she wants to add it as job experience for college applications next year. As far as helping in the clinic, it’s my day off.”
“So? You’ve come in on your day off before.”
“And I’ve told you that the next time you ask the morning of, the answer is no. What if I have plans?”
“Do you?” Justin tipped his chin and peered down his nose at her. Jerk. He knew she didn’t.
“That is none of your business.”
Justin rolled his eyes and heaved a sigh. “Is this about Michael again? I already told you—”
“This isn’t about him, and I told you to butt out. Who I date is none of your concern.”
“It is when it’s my client.”
“They are all your clients, Justin.” Bailey was sick and tired of being treated like a child. “I will date who I want, when I want. It’s none of your business.”
Julia shot Justin a questioning glance, looking confused. “She actually went to dinner with that jackass Michael Walker.”
Jessie and Julia glanced at one another in empathy as Jessie pressed her lips together. “Justin, maybe you should—”
“Lock her up?” he finished for her. He tipped his mug of coffee in Bailey’s direction. “You know, we can cover for you only so many times, Bailey.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“People talk, and what you do affects our reputations, too. How many times were you at the bar last week? How many different guys were you drinking with?”
“None of your damn business, Justin. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m over twenty-one and not your responsibility.” Bailey silenced him with a withering glare.
They’d been arguing more often than usual lately. For some reason he’d decided that now that Jessie and Julia were settled, it was his duty to become her personal warden. Last week he’d actually tried to insist that she wasn’t allowed to date Michael when the cowboy invited her to dinner. Not that Justin had been wrong, the guy was a total jerk. But Justin had no right to make any designations on her free time. He was her cousin, not her father, damn it. She might be the baby of the family, but that didn’t make her a child.
