Cowboy's Barmaid: A Small Town Military Romance (Lucky Flats Ranchers Book 2)
Page 1
Table of Contents
Epilogue
Sierra
Jack
Seal’d To The Cowboy
Prince Daddy’s Nanny
Nanny’s Aussie Billionaire
Home At Last
Texan Tycoon’s Bride
Cowboy’s Baby
A Family By Christmas
bearly desire
Stolen Bride
War Bride
Nanny’s Halloween Down Under
Prologue Daddy’s Fiancee Nanny
Excerpt Dr Daddy Next Door
Excerpt of Fake Fiancée billionaire boss
Excerpt of Cowboy’s Fake Fiancée
Secret Scene, Cowboy’s Barmaid
Also By Piper Sullivan
Copyright 2017 by Piper Sullivan- All rights reserved.
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Cowboy’s Barmaid
A Small Town Military Romance
By: Piper Sullivan
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Also By Piper Sullivan
Daddy's Fiancée Nanny
Prince Daddy's Nanny
Dr Daddy Next Door
Cowboy's Fake Fiancee
Seal'd to Her
Safeguarded
Wrangling the Cowboy
Table of Contents
Sierra
Jack
Sierra
Jack
Sierra
Jack
Sierra
Jack
Sierra
Jack
Sierra
Jack
Sierra
Jack
Sierra
Jack
Epilogue
Seal’d To The Cowboy
Prince Daddy’s Nanny
Nanny’s Aussie Billionaire
Home At Last
Texan Tycoon’s Bride
Cowboy’s Baby
A Family By Christmas
bearly desire
Stolen Bride
War Bride
Nanny’s Halloween Down Under
Prologue Daddy’s Fiancee Nanny
Excerpt Dr Daddy Next Door
Excerpt of Fake Fiancée billionaire boss
Excerpt of Cowboy’s Fake Fiancée
Secret Scene, Cowboy’s Barmaid
Also By Piper Sullivan
Sierra
“I made an offer on my old family ranch.”
I had no idea what I would do with the land. But it had belonged to my family for several generations before it was sold after my parents and my little brother were killed. That land was mine. For the past few years some city slickers had owned it, but they didn’t live there. Which meant the place had gone to shit. And that was before it sat vacant for a few years.
My best friend Sage shrieked, and her eyes widened with surprise. “You did? That’s incredible! But Sierra, are you sure?”
I knew what she was asking, and I nodded. “I know that I have no time, practically no ranching or farming experience, and no one to help. But I’m sure that I want it. I have to get it back Sage.”
I understood why Mr. Winchester had sold the property. As a single father to two rambunctious kids with his own ranch to care for, he had neither time nor the manpower to manage two ranches. Especially after adding another kid to the mix. But I’d always planned to get it back, and now that it was on the market, how could I not try?
“I understand, really I do. But how do you plan to take care of a ranch and a bar full time?”
“That’s the rub. I’m prepared to hire someone, but before I can do that, I have to figure out what the ranch will actually grow. Or raise. Or whatever.”
Sage laughed, rubbing her growing pregnancy belly in slow circles. “Yeah you sound super ready to be a Gentlewoman Rancher, or is it a Ranchess?”
“I kind of like Ranchess, it sounds all dignified and shit.” Lord knows dignified would never be used to describe me. Stubborn maybe, ornery would certainly make the list, and probably loud-mouthed and fiery as well. “Besides I’ll need something else to keep me busy while you’re busy popping out a kid a year.”
“This is only my second baby,” Sage insisted.
“In two years, plus the one that came with the man.”
By spring Sage would be the mother of three, and I would still be a perpetually single bar owner with no prospects. Less than no prospects. The only man I wanted didn’t know I was a woman, and the rest were men I’d known since they were boys.
Sage shrugged, wearing that same blissed-out grin she had whenever she thought about her husband Mason. I was happy for my best friend. She’d been in love with Mason for as long as I’d had a crush on her brother Jack. But years later, fate had given her a chance with Mason and she’d taken it. With both hands.
“We wanted Lily to have time with her siblings while she’s still a child.”
“Yeah sure,” I rolled my eyes at her excuse. “It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you and Mason sneak off every chance you get and make another baby?” I held a serious look for a beat too long and we both burst out laughing.
“Okay fine we’re insatiable! Have you seen how hot my man is?”
Mason Manning was indeed a sight to behold, but in my opinion he was far too pretty. Not like Jack, with his buzz cut and clear blue eyes that I was pretty sure could see down to my soul. When he bothered to look my way.
“Yeah fine, he’s great. Gorgeous. A god among men,” I teased.
“You joke, but it’s true.” Sage stood and tended to her duties as a proper Texas hostess, pulling out lemonade, sandwiches and cookies for lunch. “There is one person I know who can help you with your ranch idea. Jack.”
“Jack has enough to worry about. And I thought he and Tanner were doing the horse training thing?”
The last thing I needed was to give Jack another reason to keep seeing me as the geeky redhead with a flat chest and braces from our high school days. It didn’t matter than I dropped the baby fat and filled out all over, or that the braces have been gone since my sixteenth birthday. The man saw me as some type of sexless creature he had to take care of, much like a little sister, but with extra frustration. “I’ll figure it out on my own.” It was already hard enough having Jack live in the apartment beside mine above my bar, the Double Barrel, but to deal with him on a daily basis would be a recipe for disaster.
“Well since Tanner is the top contender for a buckle, that’s been put on hold.” Mason’s younger brother Tanner was big shit on the rodeo circuit, with several shiny buckles in his collection. On his last visit home, Tanner had thought about staying, but the cash and fame called to him and he was back on the circuit in no time. Putting on hold his horse training partnership with Jack
So, I guess Jack was free. Not for me though, for something else. Anything else.
I shrugged, feeling defeated before I’d even begun. “I’ll figure something out.” Eventually.
Sage sighed and took a long sip of her lemonade. “I know what you’re thinking, and I’m going to tell you what someone really smart, if a little misguided, once told me.
Don’t you think it’s time?”
I laughed. “Hell, I think it’s beyond time I gave up on my little crush. Which is another reason why I won’t be seeking your brother out for help.”
“Fine, but the only person better able to help you is Tanner. And he’s heading back out on the circuit with no plans of retiring now that he’s the golden boy of the rodeo again.” This town had a lot of ranches which meant anyone capable of running one already had a job.
Except Jack. Dammit. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Good, that means we can talk about what we need to do to get this place ready for the Halloween party.”
“What party?” Every year I have a costume contest and a few holiday themed drinks at the Double Barrel and that was it.
“The one we’re having at the M&M. I want a dance floor, a live band, lots of food and free flowing alcohol. Maybe even a costume contest with a gift basket prize, oh maybe something from all the little shops in town!”
“You can’t even drink!” Not to mention that I really didn’t want to help plan any party, never mind one where I’d be required to dress up. “And I’m not wearing a costume.”
“Sure you are. But first we need to make a list of everything that needs to be done. We don’t have much time.”
“Three weeks isn’t enough time for a simple Halloween party? Count me out you crazy pregnant monster!”
Sage laughed and pushed a peanut butter cookie my way. “It’ll be fine, you’ll see.” She produced a blue notepad and pen and started jotting things down with more energy than a pregnant woman should have.
An hour later we had a two-page list and I’d been given my orders for the damn party. In three weeks. “Now that you’ve added to my already huge load, I need to get going. The liquor delivery is coming today and I need time to sort and stack.”
“Fine. But think about asking Jack to help with the ranch.” She wrapped her arms around me in a move that was so nurturing and motherly I had to squeeze my eyes against the faded memories of my own mom. “I’ll see you later hon.”
“Stay off your feet!”
She laughed. “Okay. I’ll just go look online for your Halloween costume!”
I put my truck in reverse and smiled at her. “Remind me why we’re friends again?”
“My sparkling personality?”
“Must be that,” I deadpanned and hit the gas as her laughter sounded behind me.
Jack
I’ve been out of the Army for nearly two years and what do I have to show for it? Jack shit, that’s what.
No pun intended. I didn’t even have my own damn home, forced to rent a place from my kid sister’s best friend because that’s how my life was going these days. Thankfully, Sierra gave me a good deal on rent. I needed to save my money to buy a ranch of my own because I didn’t leave the Army to spend the rest of my life working for someone else.
I could probably have my own spread by now if I was willing to leave the Lucky Flats area. But I couldn’t leave Sage, my niece and my nephew, even though they had my best friend Mason to take care of them. I’d been too far from home for too many years to put more distance between us now. Even if it meant postponing my dreams.
It looked like my sacrifice was about to pay off now that the old Carmichael place was for sale. With a spring in my step, I left my apartment so I could head into town before going to the M&M to help Mason with a section of fence.
“Hey Joe, how’s Mary Beth? She have that baby yet?” Sierra was outside chatting with Joe Wilson, one of the few men in town who didn’t ranch or farm for a living.
His grin flashed wide and proud. “Not yet, but any day now. She says the heat is killing her and sent me out for spicy cheese puffs and chocolate mousse. I had to go three towns over to find anything open at that hour. When I got back home, do you know she ate them together? Together! I’ll never understand pregnancy cravings.” His tone sounded like a complaint, but the man was all smiles.
“Just wait until that little bundle is in your arms.” Sierra looked wistful, which was weird. I never pictured her as the marriage and babies type. She was far too independent and spirited.
“Need some help?” She froze at my words, and looked over her shoulder so her gaze could eat me up. Once, twice they swept over me before landing on my face. That green gaze of hers had a way of sending fire straight down to my cock, but she quickly averted her gaze.
“Nope. I got it. Thanks.”
Damn stubborn woman. I picked up two heavy boxes and followed her from a distance. I could tell she didn’t know I was there by the way her shoulders relaxed and her steps were confident. Sure.
She turned and frowned when she spotted me. “I said I got it.”
“You’re welcome,” I told her and winked, enjoying the way she still blushed around me. Her crush was one of the worst kept secrets in town, but I didn’t acknowledge it because I didn’t want to embarrass her. Still, it entertained the fuck out of me.
“Right, thanks then.” She stared at me, those emerald green eyes looking so intense, so grownup, I couldn’t help but get lost in them. She sucked in a breath and the sound went straight to my cock, jolting me from whatever the hell this was, and I took a step back. She eyed me, and then looked at the door before she turned and shuffled through the doorway without touching me. “See you later.”
“Hey Sierra,” I called after her and she stopped but didn’t turn around. “Did you hear about your old land? It’s back on the market.”
“Yeah I heard.”
That’s it? That’s all she had to say? “I’m sorry. I know that place means a lot to you.” I promised myself I would take good care of her family’s property.
“Thanks for saying that Jack.” She picked up another box without a word. I decided to leave and head into town. The sooner I got my errands done and met with Molly Brown, the realtor handling the Carmichael property, the closer I would be to making my dreams a reality.
***
“Uncle Jack! Uncle Jack!” Lily seemed to have a radar for whenever I was around, and anywhere near my new horse which she refused to call anything but Chocolate Sauce. Now everyone was calling him that instead of Mahogany. His actual name.
“What’s up Lily pad?”
“Can we go riding today?” She looked up at me with big eyes that I couldn’t say no to. Her snaggletooth smile pulling a smile from me too.
“Not today kiddo. But tomorrow I’ll be here as soon as you get home from school and we’ll take off, okay?”
“You promise?”
“I promise. But you’ll have to saddle Butterscotch yourself.”
“Okay!” She squealed with the enthusiasm. “Okay I promise.”
I winked and turned away. “See you tomorrow Lily pad.”
“Bye Uncle Jack! Bye Chocolate Sauce!”
“You’re lucky I love you!” I smiled at the sounds of her giggles. Between Lily and her two-year-old brother Mitch, I felt like I smiled all the time. The kids had so much energy and enthusiasm, curiosity. It was impossible to be miserable around them.
Some days it was still hard to believe that my baby sister was married with children of her own. The part where she’s married to my best friend was still weird, but she’d been in love with him from the moment I brought him home, and he’s the best guy I know. If there would ever be a man good enough for her, it was Mason.
“You gonna hide out here all night, or come in for supper?”
“Shouldn’t you be in the house with your feet up and a glass of ice water?”
Sage stared, then scowled, before she grabbed her belly and laughed. “Ice water does sound delicious. And if my brother wasn’t out here doing who knows what with our horses, maybe I could get some ice water with the dinner that’s waiting. For you.”
“Why is dinner so early tonight?”
She frowned, arms crossed on top of her belly and head tilted in that way that said she was trying to figure me out. “Early? Jack it’s already half past s
ix.”
Shit. I’d been in the barn for more than an hour. “Sorry kiddo, I must have been daydreaming.” I wrapped an arm around her and laughed when she pushed away.
“You stink.” She put a few feet of distance between us and waited until I caught up with her. “What, or who were you daydreaming about?”
I wasn’t ready to share the truth with her, yet so I distracted her. “I was daydreaming about getting laid.”
She stopped and gave me that assessing look I hated. “You haven’t been out of town in what, six months?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not talking about this with you Sage.” A man didn’t talk about his sex life with his sister.
“Does that mean you’re getting some local nookie? Or do you have a secret lover?”
“No, but if you’re that interested, I could tell you about Tammy, she had a set of double D’s and she used to be a gymnast-,”
“Okay fine, point taken.” She fell silent and I knew I was in trouble. A silent Sage was a plotting Sage. “You know who’s gotten hot, Sierra.”
I groaned out loud, and shook my head. “Sage, stop it.”
“I’m just saying she also has a great set of double D’s, and a nice ass and curves for days. If I swung that way, I would be all over that.”
“Now you’re just trying to piss me off.”
She laughed and wrapped her arm around mine. “I’m not, but you really shouldn’t make it so fun. But I am serious about Sierra. You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about it, because if you do I’ll call bullshit.”
Hell yeah, I’d thought about it. Sierra was a fucking knockout, and if it wasn’t for the small fact that she was my baby sister’s best friend, I would have already made a move. But messing around with Sierra would get complicated real fast, and I wasn’t in the market for complicated.