Tough Luck Cowboy

by A. J. Pine

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by A.J. Pine

  Cover design by Elizabeth Stokes

  Cover copyright © 2018 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

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  First edition: August 2018

  Forever is an imprint of Grand Central Publishing. The Forever name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

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  ISBNs: 978-1-5387-2710-2 (mass market), 978-1-5387-2709-6 (ebook)

  E3-20180718- NF-DA

  Contents

  Cover

  Title

  Copyright

  Acknowledgments

  Prologue

  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

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Praise for SECOND CHANCE COWBOY

  Also by A.J. Pine

  Looking for more Cowboys?

  Newsletters

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to the amazing team of people who let me keep making words into sentences and sentences into books—that have lots of kissing and stuff. Agent-extraordinaire Emily, Word-beautification specialist Madeleine, and sanity-protecting partners-in-crime Lia, Jen, Chanel, Natalie, and Megan. If my cowboys rode flying horses, you’d all be the wind beneath my Pegasus wings.

  Thank you, readers, for coming back for another happily ever after—and for reading the acknowledgments! That’s dedication, and I’m forever grateful for it.

  And always, thank you, S and C, my two most favorite people in the world. I love you infinity times infinity. Plus infinity.

  Prologue

  Three years ago…

  Despite the setting sun and the fact he’d been working since the damn thing rose that morning, Luke Everett wasn’t about to call it a day. He had Cleo saddled up and ready to ride—and only a week left before his first rodeo. His trick riding was good. Real good. He wouldn’t settle for anything less than top-notch. When you excelled at one thing and one thing only, nothing but the best would do.

  He was on Cleo and had barely made it into the arena when the black Audi RS 3 rolled up next to the stable.

  Luke pushed the brim of his hat up, wiping the sweat off his forehead and squinting at the emerging driver.

  “You do like to make an entrance, don’t you?” Luke called over the arena fence. “Still enjoying your graduation bribe, I see.”

  Tucker Green hopped out of the driver’s-side door, and Luke couldn’t help laughing. There was his buddy, dark hair cropped close and neat, a collared shirt and clean dark jeans, and a car that cost three times as much as his truck. Luke glanced down at his faded, dirty jeans and scuffed boots. He gripped Cleo’s reins with rough, calloused hands that boasted fingernails in need of a good scrubbing…or seven.

  “It’s not a bribe if I actually want to stay in Oak Bluff,” Tucker said. “As long as my father thinks he got his way, I’ll take the car and seed money to start my own business. By the way, got any business ideas?”

  Luke shook his head and laughed. He didn’t begrudge Tucker the perks the guy grew up with. They were just so—different—the two of them. Yet his friend had had his back for too many years to count. And Luke would always have his.

  “What are you doing here, Green?” Luke asked. “I got shit to do.”

  “Jessie ended things, and in case you can’t tell, I’m a mess. I could have married her, you know. If she didn’t move back to Ohio after grad school.”

  Luke shook his head. “Why didn’t you chase her?”

  Tucker held out his arms. “And leave all this? You know as well as I do that people like you and me always come back to Oak Bluff. It’s in our blood.”

  Luke couldn’t argue with that. There was something about this place that called you back. Sometimes it was easier to simply not leave.

  “You think every woman is the one that’s going to get you to settle down. But they never are.”

  Tucker laughed. “And you don’t think any woman will get you to settle down.”

  Luke raised a brow. “And do you ever see me crying about a broken heart?” He knew better than that. After seeing what love did to his father and how it almost ruined his brother Jack, too, he wasn’t about to walk down that path.

  “Look, man,” Tucker said, smile fading. “This one stings, okay? I might have even loved her. I can’t sit home with Charles and Judith tonight. I need to blow off some steam, and from the looks of it, so the hell do you.”

  Luke shrugged. “This is how I blow off steam. It’s also how I make sure I’m not gonna get myself killed when I compete for the first time. I’d say that’s a win-win situation.”

  Tucker strode toward the fence, stopping only when he couldn’t go any farther, then crossed his arms.

  “Okay, then. I need a wingman. You can, at the very least, be that.”

  Luke pulled his riding gloves out of his back pocket and slid them on.

  “No can do, my friend. I already have a date with this pretty lady tonight.” He patted Cleo on the neck. “What kind of man would I be if I bailed on her now?”

  Tucker raised a brow. “Drinks are on me.”

  Luke hopped off the horse. “Gimme ten minutes to take a quick shower.”

  “A line dancing bar?” Luke asked when they pulled up in front of the Lucky Star Saloon.

  Tucker put the car in park and pulled the keys from the ignition. “You know who likes to go line dancing, my friend?” He didn’t wait for Luke to answer. “Women like to go line dancing. And you know my favorite way to blow off steam…”

  Yeah. Luke knew. It was one of his favorite ways to blow off steam, too. But there hadn’t been time for that the past few weeks—not with running the ranch, training for the rodeo, keeping his unpredictable younger brother Walker in line, and making sure his ailing father, Jack Senior, ate enough each day to soak up the booze.

  No, Luke Everett hadn’t had the privileged upbringing his frie
nd had. At least, not after his mother died and his father had taken to drinking and raising his hand to Jack Junior. The worst was behind them, but life still had a way of piling up every now and then.

  “You were right,” Luke said as the two men headed toward the swinging doors of the Lucky Star Saloon. “I needed a night off.”

  Tucker clapped him on the shoulder and grinned. “I know, Everett. I’m always right. Now get in there and be the life of the party I know you are.”

  In a matter of minutes Luke had a beer in hand and a barstool view of the dance floor where the line dancing was in full swing. It didn’t take him long to spot her—the pixie-cut blonde in the short denim skirt and green tank top. But it was her smile that nearly knocked him off his stool.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said to Tucker.

  “Are you shittin’ me? You don’t actually know how to line dance, do you? Or have you been holding out on me?”

  “Never done it in my life,” Luke said. But he’d do just about anything right now to see that girl’s smile up close.

  He ran a hand through his blond waves and took a swig of his beer as he made his way onto the floor.

  She was right there in the front line, so he burrowed between her and the woman to her right, a tall brunette with a severe ponytail who crashed right into him as she stepped left.

  Luke expected chastisement from Ponytail. Instead he was greeted with a flirty “I’m sorry” as the woman blushed and smiled.

  He offered her a friendly grin as he cross-stepped to the side, trying to keep in time with the line, not that he had any clue what the hell he was doing. “Not necessary. It was my fault.”

  Luke turned his attention to the woman on the other side of him, the one still dancing without so much as a missed step even as she gave him the side-eye.

  “You look lost,” she said, and they were suddenly moving three steps forward.

  “I beg to differ,” Luke replied. “I’m exactly where I want to be.”

  She pointed at his beer, and they were now taking three steps back.

  “Makes it hard to do all the moves with that. Just an FYI. Though I’m guessing you don’t know any of them.”

  He flashed her a smile. “Oh I know moves, sweetheart.” And because his timing was perfect, that was exactly when he stepped right just as everyone else was stepping left.

  She burst out laughing as he crashed into Ponytail Girl again, causing him to stumble forward and—thankfully—out of the line. Somehow he managed to save his beer.

  His chest tightened at the sound of her laughter, not from embarrassment but from the sheer joy radiating from her, and he was sure the only cure for whatever her happiness was doing to him was to hear it again.

  “You might have some moves,” she said. “But they’re not out here.” She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him off the dance floor, and he followed more than willingly.

  “You got a name?” Luke asked.

  “Lemme have some of that and I’ll tell you.”

  He handed his still-cold bottle to her, and she drew a long, slow sip.

  She licked her lips and offered the bottle back to him. “I’m Lily.”

  “I’m Luke. Buy you a fresh one of your own?” he asked, taking his beer back.

  She reached a hand toward his face, pressing her fingers to the back of his neck and brushing her thumb along his jaw.

  His pulse went into overdrive.

  “You got a little smudge of something…”

  He laughed. Sometimes it didn’t matter how many times he showered after a long day’s work. A little piece of the ranch always seemed to stick with him.

  Her thumb slowed as she felt the scar beneath his stubble.

  “First time getting thrown from a horse,” he said, answering her unasked question.

  “First time?”

  “Sure,” he said. “This one was an accident. The other times I was asking for it.” The corner of his mouth quirked up.

  Lily cleared her throat. “There,” she said, dropping her hand. “All better.”

  Luke raised a brow. “You sure you weren’t just looking for an excuse to get your hands on me?” Her cheeks went crimson, but she held his playful gaze. So he leaned in close and spoke softly into her ear, “I’m gonna tell you a little secret, sweetheart. You never need to make excuses with me.”

  He straightened just in time to spot the ponytailed line dancer he’d almost knocked over twice bounding toward the two of them.

  “Hey, you guys! I was wondering where you went!” She bumped her hip against Lily’s, then hooked her arm through Luke’s. “I think Mr. Sexy here needs some dance lessons. Don’t you agree?”

  Mr. Sexy?

  Lily shook her head and laughed. “Dina, this is Luke. Luke, this is my friend Dina—line dancer extraordinaire.”

  Luke cleared his throat. “I’d shake your hand but—you’re sorta holding it.”

  She’d slid her hand from his elbow to his palm and was now gripping it firmly. She was pretty and sure as hell not shy. But there had been some sort of connection when Lily’s skin met his. And hell if he wasn’t going to see where that led.

  “Is this guy bothering you, ladies? He’s been known to leave a trail of broken hearts wherever he goes, and I’d hate to see that happen to either of you. Just say the word and I can take care of him for you.”

  Luke turned to see Tucker eyeing the three of them with a look on his face like he was ready to kick someone’s ass. And it was pretty damn convincing. Only Luke knew that Tucker Green would never chance messing up that pretty face of his.

  “No!” Lily said. “He was just—wait—trail of broken hearts?”

  Tucker tilted his head back and laughed, and Lily’s lips pursed into a pout.

  “Lily, Dina…meet Tucker.” Luke freed his hand from Dina’s. “Tucker, stop being an asshole.”

  “Fine,” Tucker said, crossing his arms. “Drinks are on me. Anything to keep your sorry ass off the dance floor, Everett. That was painful to watch.” He turned to Lily and Dina. “Shall we, ladies?”

  The four of them headed back to Luke and Tucker’s table, and soon there were beers in everyone’s hands.

  “You both from around here?” Luke asked Lily and Dina.

  “Born and raised,” Dina said. “I’m getting certified to teach yoga at a local studio. My instructor says I’m the bendiest person in my class.”

  Lily coughed as she sipped her beer.

  Luke patted her on the back. “You okay there, sweetheart?”

  She coughed again, then cleared her throat. “I’m great. Just wasn’t aware of Dina’s bendiness.” She pressed her lips into a grin.

  Luke’s hand slid down to rest on the back of Lily’s stool. She was safe from choking on her drink, but he wanted to stay close by—just in case. That was a logical enough excuse without admitting to himself it could be anything more, especially when he didn’t exactly do more.

  “You ladies don’t discuss degrees of flexibility?” Tucker asked. “Because that’s pretty much all Everett and I talk about.”

  Lily lowered her chin and laughed, but there was a nervousness to it. She straightened and smiled coyly as she chewed her bottom lip. Well shit. It wasn’t nerves. She was flirting.

  With him or Tucker? The joke had clearly been about both men, but Tucker was the one who said it. And dammit, when was the last time he’d silently dissected a woman’s behavior to determine whether or not she liked him?

  The answer was never. They’d always liked him. Not being able to read this woman was maddening.

  “We just met a couple weeks ago—me and Dina. She needed a roommate, and I’d just moved here from Phoenix and needed a place to stay, so here we are.”

  “Why’d you leave Phoenix?” Luke asked. He wanted to know, sure. He also wanted to keep her attention, to find any excuse to stare at her emerald-green eyes. Tucker might have been right with his trail of broken hearts joke. But it wasn’t like Luke set out to
love ’em and leave ’em. He just never saw the point in long-term. His brother Jack fell in love in high school and got his heart crushed. Their father had loved their mother something fierce, and look what that did to him. She died, and he all but joined her, letting the bottom of a whiskey bottle kill the man who’d raised them and turn him into a violent stranger. So no, love wasn’t something Luke Everett sought. Yet this girl he’d known for the better part of an hour had him thinking What if?

  Luke shifted slightly on his stool, leaning his elbow on the high-top table and angling more toward Lily. He wasn’t openly ignoring Dina and certainly didn’t want to be a dick. He did, however, want to make his interest clear. In the past he’d found his leaning usually said more than enough.

  Lily smiled at him and then shrugged. “I finished culinary school and needed a change of scenery. And now I need a job.” She laughed. “Sometimes it’s good to wipe the slate clean and start fresh. Leave the past behind and all that. You know?”

  She was playing at nonchalance, the sparkle dimming in her eyes a dead giveaway.

  Hell yeah he knew. He’d had that fresh start back in high school when he and his brothers were removed from their father’s custody after the man almost killed Jack by pushing him down a flight of stairs. But Crossroads Ranch was the family business. He understood why Jack left, but ranching was in Luke’s blood. He could never truly leave his past behind.

  “I get it,” Luke said. His hand shifted, his fingertips accidentally brushing her shoulder. She shivered. “How are you liking—”

  “Wait,” Tucker interrupted. “Wait, wait, wait. Did you just say culinary school?” He slapped a palm down on the table. “I just had a damned epiphany!”

  Luke straightened and instinctively pulled his arm away. The shift in the air was immediate yet noticeable only to him. Whatever Tucker was about to say was going to change everything. It was Tucker’s way—a big personality with even bigger ideas that drew everyone into his orbit whether they wanted to be or not.

  “I just finished business school,” Tucker continued. “And I have this start-up fund that’s sitting in the bank waiting for me to figure out what the hell to start up. You’re a chef looking for a job. It’s all so damned perfect. How do you feel about barbecue? I always thought Oak Bluff could use some good barbecue. Also doesn’t hurt that it’s my father’s favorite. I do like to please my investors.” He raised a brow. “Plus, I know this great ranch nearby, so all recipes would come from locally sourced beef.” He gave Luke a conspiratorial grin.