Maverick (Star Valley Book 3)

by Dahlia West

  Just give us a chance, he begged silently.

  He held his breath until he heard the whisper of footsteps across the creaking floorboards and the soft click of the door that stood just beyond his own. He sighed in relief and crept back to his own bed. Leah was his, at least for one more night. He slept fitfully, though, knowing she was just two doors and barely a dozen feet between between. Their night had been good together, he remembered that much, at least. He recalled laughter and heated looks and a stubborn sense that he’d just happened to take an old friend to bed.

  She was here now, he told himself, and he just had to keep her here. For a lot of reasons, some more obvious than others, but also because of the nagging frisson of heat that rippled through him when he looked at her. Time enough for that, he told himself, and forced his eyes to close. He kept an ear out, though, the way he did when he slept on the range.

  Just in case.

  In the morning, he found her door still closed, considered knocking, but then thought better of it. He’d do her no favors by not letting her sleep. He had enough to do to keep him busy until he could see her again, anyway, so he headed downstairs, grabbed a thermos of coffee and set off for the barn to keep himself distracted.

  Two hours later he finished his morning chores and headed to the tack room to work on placing his worn out reata. The handmade leather rope he’d been using for the last few years was cracked and fraying in too many places. It wasn’t quite a break, but it offered a much needed slow down in his daily routine. Even before Leah had come into his life, his workload had increased exponentially after buying the mine. Between his work up on the ridge and down here on the homestead, Austin was a man without enough hours in the day or hands to work them.

  The familiar rhythm of the braiding nearly put him to sleep, tired as he was from laying awake half the night. Maybe he’d take her into town this evening, try to spend some time alone with her. Anything was better than being permanently on pause. For the first time in his life, he wished his family wasn’t constantly around. Their hovering was getting on his nerves.

  Behind him, the door opened suddenly and he looked up. Leah froze, hand on the polished brass knob. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were in here. Dakota was showing me around, but she had to tend to one of the horses.”

  “Oh, I would’ve done it,” Austin replied quickly. “But you were asleep this morning and I wanted to let you rest. I didn’t mean to make you feel abandoned.”

  “It’s okay. It’s fine. Am I bothering you?” she asked, eyeing his project. “I can go.” She started to back away. “I can—”

  “You’re not bothering me, Leah.”

  Possibly buoyed by his pleasant tone, she took a step closer, farther into the room. “What are you doing?”

  “This is my family’s tradition,” he said nodding toward the worn out rope lying across the couch. “We brought this from Mexico, reatas, roping.” He smiled guiltily. “Our Spanish might not have survived…” He laughed. “Sofia, bless her heart, she tried to teach us after our mom died. But there are some things that we’ve held on to. Come here; come look.”

  He held out the rawhide strips laced through his fingers as she crossed the room for a better look. Her nearness was like a third entity in the small tack room. It might have been a good thing that his hands were busy.

  “It seems so complicated.” She might have been talking about something else altogether.

  He gave her a slight smile. “It’s not,” he told her. And to him it wasn’t. “Here I’ll show you. Like this.” He spread his large hand over hers, unable to stop himself. “Thread them through your fingers,” he said, grasping her hand and laying each thin rawhide strap across her palm. “And then you weave them. But keep each piece flat.”

  I want you to keep touching me.

  Her previous words broke through the hazy, booze-soaked memories.

  A shiver passed over her and he knew she was remembering it, too.

  Kind of sad that she thought a drunken tumble was anything to write home about. It had hardly been his finest showing. And he knew from experience just how inexperienced she was. He should’ve shown her a better time.

  Being alone with her now, he remembered pressing her against the wall, feeling her heat on his own fingers, later with his cock. He remembered liking it, liking her, the way she smelled like citrus and lavender.

  Unable to help himself, he leaned forward just an inch or two and breathed deep. His cock jerked behind his jeans.

  Don’t stop, she’d told him. You can’t stop.

  She’d begged him to start, too, and God he wanted to right in this moment.

  Leah turned slightly in his arms. “Is this right?” she asked softly.

  Probably not.

  Austin’s fingers tightened on the leather. The only sound between them was the stretch of the material. He leaned down further, past her hair, past her ear, trailing that delicate jaw, that jaw that could unleash a fair bit of sass, surprisingly. “Leah,” he said, not intending it to come out as a low, heated rumble but it did, just the same.

  She looked up at him, lips parted in surprise.

  Austin leaned down to kiss her.

  Chapter Eighteen

  ‡

  Leah was frozen, feet rooted to the concrete floor underneath her feet. His fingers were still entwined with hers, the heat from his hand making her skin tingle.

  God, those hands!

  She remembered the slow, deliberate way they’d slid over her at the hotel, pressed into her flesh, made her weak with desire. He moved closer, lips just inches from her own. Why couldn’t it just be like this? No complications, no problems. In this room he wanted her and she wanted him, and she’d give anything to go back to being two people who just happened to be attracted to each other. Though who knew why this half-Mexican God wanted her.

  She parted her lips anyway and took a deep breath. She’d let him do anything to her, anything at all, as long as he never, ever stopped touching her. Could they stay like this forever, with his body against hers? She hoped so.

  Time seemed to stop between them. And she was glad.

  Then the door to the tack room opened and Austin groaned loudly.

  Leah jerked backwards, feeling as though she’d been stung.

  “Hey, Leah?—Oh! Sorry!” Dakota recoiled. “I’m sorry.” She looked at them sheepishly. Caught red-handed. “I didn’t know where you were. Leah, your friend is here. Candace?”

  Leah cleared her throat and turned her probably beet-red face to the rawhide braid. “Um…okay. Be right there.” She disengaged from Austin’s hold and stepped away.

  He said something under his breath, something in the bit of Spanish he must’ve held onto. Leah didn’t know what it was, but his tone matched the way she felt, disappointed, frustrated. She gave him a quick, embarrassed glance before hurrying out the door. She sped across the driveway and up the porch stairs, arriving out of breath and electrified.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Candace asked.

  “Nothing,” Leah said quickly. “I was running.”

  Candace glanced over her shoulder and a smirk formed on her lips. “Oh yeah? From what?”

  Leah turned to see Austin walking across the large, circular driveway, hands jammed in his pockets. He was several yards away and headed toward the side of the house, not the front, where they were standing. He gave them a short, surly nod before he disappeared around the corner.

  “Is he being mean to you?” Candace demanded suddenly.

  “What? No!”

  “Leah, you don’t have to cover for him.”

  “He’s not. I swear he’s not.”

  “Is he being nice to you?”

  “I…he…” She sighed heavily. There was no keeping secrets from her best friend. “We almost kissed.”

  “When?”

  “Just now.”

  Candace scowled. “You need to be careful.”

  Leah laughed. “It’s a little late for
that.”

  “I’m serious, Leah. You don’t know enough about him.”

  “I haven’t done anything wrong, Candace.”

  “I’m not saying that. I just…I just want you to be cautious. The last thing on earth I want is for you to get your heart broken. This was only supposed to be a one-night fling. I’m not saying it can’t be more, but…just be careful. Please.”

  It was impossible to tell Candace not to worry about her. She’d been looking out for Leah since they were kids.

  “I am being careful,” Leah lied, because it felt like the only thing to say. She could tell that Candace didn’t quite believe her but Leah could see the sharp lines of her face soften and knew that, at least for now, her friend was going to drop the subject.

  “You forgot a box at the apartment,” Candace told her, digging into her oversized bag. She produced a small cardboard box with the Bumblebee Baubles business card taped to it. “And I saw Mrs. Finley at the grocery store yesterday. She says she misses you already.”

  “Oh, I miss her, too. I hope she’s keeping the place up without me.”

  Leah opened the flap on the box and pulled out a set of turquoise and amber beads that she’d forgotten she’d made. Every few weeks she swapped out the merchandise on display at the gift shop while also making more pieces that coordinated with the current season.

  “She’ll have another check for you in two weeks,” Candace told her and Leah nodded holding up the necklace and inspecting it for chips or damage. “You should’ve had your own shop,” said the girl.

  “It might still happen,” Leah replied, but she honestly doubted it. Not now. Now with a baby on the way. And that was totally fine. Leah would trade a hundred shops, even a nationally recognized jewelry brand, for the life growing inside her at this moment.

  The front door opened and Leah braced herself to see Austin again, but instead another now-familiar face came through the door. Cassidy’s long dark, hair spilled across her shoulders as she ran her hand through it. “Ugh,” she groaned. “I’m about to go cross eyed looking at that computer screen all morning.”

  Leah still couldn’t get over being this close to someone so beautiful. Even Candace seemed mesmerized by the girl who was, impossibly, their own age.

  “Oh, hey,” Cassidy said to Candace.

  “Hi. I’m just visiting.”

  Cassidy grinned at her. “Came to see if we’d put her to work or started giving her tannis root tea?”

  Candace smirked. “I’m sure you’re not all Satanists.”

  Cassidy laughed. “Just Austin?”

  Leah gasped. “I never said anything like that!”

  “Well, he wasn’t in top form the last time you came to see him,” Cassidy reminded her gently. She turned to Candace. “But he’s getting much better.”

  Candace snorted. “So I’ve heard.”

  “Oooh!” Cassidy chirped. “Do tell.”

  Leah groaned.

  “They almost kissed,” Candace informed the girl.

  Cassidy grinned. “An almost-kiss from a Barlow man is like getting to third base with anyone else.”

  “A-men,” Leah muttered.

  “Yeah, well, I’m still worried about her,” said Candace, glancing at Leah.

  “When he’s not being an asshole, Austin’s perfectly safe,” Cassidy declared.

  “A rousing endorsement.”

  Cassidy shrugged. “They’re not without flaws. Not even Sawyer. He put a snake in my bed once.”

  Both girls gaped at her. “He did not!” Candace squealed.

  “But don’t worry, I’m certain he wouldn’t pull that shit on a pregnant woman. Which means the sooner I get pregnant, I get a nine month reprieve. It hasn’t happened yet, but not for lack of trying,” Cassidy said with a grin. “But it’s barely been a month and he’s been on the range for a week of that.” She reached down and picked up the business card, examined it, then put it down and picked up a necklace from the box. “This is nice,” she said.

  “Leah makes them.”

  “Really? Wow? Why a bumblebee?” Cassidy ran her fingers over the beads.

  Leah blushed. “Um, I just like bumblebees.”

  “Oh. Cute.”

  Candace smirked at her. “Go on tell her the truth,” she prodded, unwilling to let it go at that.”

  Leah’s mouth tightened.

  Candace sighed. “She’s practically related to you. Right?” she asked Cassidy.

  Cassidy shrugged. “More or less. We do live together. So why bumblebees?”

  “They shouldn’t fly,” Leah finally declared. “I mean, they shouldn’t be able to, but they do anyway.”

  “And you shouldn’t have been able to get pregnant,” Cassidy added. Then bit her lower lip. “Sorry. Walker and Austin were talking and I came into the room.”

  Leah gave her a reassuring smile. “It’s okay. It’s true.”

  “Well, let me borrow this,” said Cassidy, lifting the turquoise and amber string of beads. “And these earrings and we’ll see what happens.”

  Leah’s brow furrowed. “See what happens?”

  Cassidy nodded. “I’m going to get my hair done in town.”

  “Um…” Leah glanced at Candace who shrugged. Not wanting to irritate her newest possible friend, Leah handed over the items. “Okay.”

  Cassidy fastened the necklace and walked to her car with a wave. “See you later!”

  “Good God she’s gorgeous!” Candace hissed.

  Leah nodded as she waved. “Yep. She’s the county beauty queen, apparently.”

  Candace gaped at her. “And she lives here?”

  “Well, she lives in the bunkhouse with Sawyer. They’re engaged.”

  “Thank God!” Candace sighed. “Who needs that competition?” She glanced at Leah then, suddenly. “That wasn’t a knock on you, Leah.”

  “I know.”

  “You’re pretty,” the girl insisted.

  “I didn’t say anything,” Leah replied quietly. And she might be a lot of things, but pretty wasn’t one of them.

  “Leah,” Candace growled, because they’d had this conversation way too many times.

  Whatever she was or wasn’t, Austin wanted her, or had tried to kiss her anyway. Leah’s heart sped up at the memory of him leaning in, lips nearly touching hers. “Do you want some tea?” she asked, rising quickly to her feet.

  “No,” said Candace. “Not really.”

  “Sure you do!”

  The brunette snorted and pushed herself out of the chair. “I don’t. But I’ll pretend I do, so you can go on a Cowboy hunt. Just make sure you know who’s doing the hunting.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  ‡

  Austin followed at a distance, trying not to seem as though he was stalking her. When she embraced Candace and they ended up sitting on the porch, there was no good way to hover around and not be out of place. He decided to give the girls some privacy and headed into the kitchen through the side door, still wondering what they were saying about him, if anything at all.

  He found Sawyer at the counter, holding a large box. “Just got back from the post office,” he announced. “I got you a present.”

  Austin pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge and eyed him warily. Sawyer’s gifts were not to be trusted, under any circumstance. Some might explode. Some might embarrass you. All of them were designed for a laugh at your expense.

  Austin refused to take the offered box.

  Sawyer pretended to look hurt.

  Austin knew better.

  “I got you a doll,” Sawyer told him.

  Unable to come up with any interpretation that might be good, Austin replied, “I don’t need a blowup doll.” Though he needed something right about now. He should’ve kissed her when he had the chance, when they were alone together. He should’ve tossed her down on the couch and made her lift her dress again and—

  “Are you sure about that?” Sawyer asked. “You’re looking awfully…tense…at the m
oment.”

  “Shut up. And throw this on the manure pile,” said Austin, chucking the box back at his younger brother.

  “It’s not that kind of doll,” Sawyer assured him, drawing out a pocket knife and slicing the packing tape across the top. Styrofoam went everywhere as he reached into the box and pulled out a small doll, slightly larger than a football.

  “What the hell?” Austin blinked at the plastic thing.

  “It’s for practice,” said Sawyer with a grin. “You feed it, diaper it, hold it when it cries. It’ll wake you up at 2 am, just like a real baby.”

  Austin glared at him. “So I should just start losing sleep now?”

  “Might as well. Here,” he said, picking up a plastic bottle off the counter and sticking it into the doll’s mouth. He passed both to Austin. “Don’t drop it,” he warned. “It knows when you drop it. Or don’t pick it up. And it’ll give you a low score. You don’t want to fail at parenting.”

  “It keeps score?” asked Austin. He took the damn thing but was not at all sure what to do with it. He’d never held a baby before, only calves, and a few chicks when he raised them for the State Fair as a kid. “This is dumb,” he declared looking down at the thing. “I don’t need this.”

  “Because you know all about changing diapers?” Sawyer countered.

  “Well, no but…Leah will do it.”

  “Leah? You’re going to make her do everything.”

  “Sofia can. Or Dakota. I’m not…I don’t…”

  “You’re going to make a shit husband,” Sawyer observed.

  Austin stared at him. A shit husband? A husband?

  “Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it. You’re not going to give that girl your name? Your baby?”

  “I…” Austin stammered. “It was a lot to take in. I just wanted to get her home, to help her out, help raise my kid.”

  Sawyer grinned. “Welcome to diaper duty, Dad. Though I think Leah’s going to want a little more than a glorified babysitter.”