Tough Luck Cowboy

by A. J. Pine

  She rolled her eyes and groaned. “It’s just—I already knew that Walker makes furniture. And that Scully loves to be massaged under his chin and definitely on his belly. I knew the perfect spot on the counter to hide the cake from prying doggie noses, and I knew if I let you go out back first that Jack would probably hand you a beer and put you at ease. Luke, I know your whole family. They welcomed me into their home and gave me some much needed friendship at a really lonely point in my life. I’ve been coming to see your brother for help with the divorce since he got out of the hospital after the car accident. Then Ava and I started getting close, which made meeting with your brother when you weren’t around all that much easier.”

  “I wasn’t easy to be around, huh?” he said.

  She shook her head slowly. “Which never made any sense to me, because you had this reputation of being the life of the party, the guy everyone wanted to be around. I swear that’s the guy I met that night in the bar, but then everything changed. Why?” she asked.

  He blew out a breath, deciding it was time for a little honesty.

  “‘Bring him home in one piece, Luke,’” he said.

  Her brows furrowed.

  “‘He’s got a meeting with investors tomorrow, Luke. Don’t mess this up for him.’”

  She chewed on her bottom lip.

  “And one of my personal favorites,” he added. “‘Tucker’s a grown-up. Try to remember he’s got a wife to come home to and a restaurant to run.’”

  She winced at that one.

  “I said all those things?” she asked.

  He gave her a slow nod. “Maybe not all at one time. But I’ve compiled a nice list over the years.” He forced a smile.

  Her eyes widened. “You didn’t make him think I was a controlling shrew,” she said, recognition in her tone. “I was a controlling shrew. But not with him.” She stood silent for several seconds. “I blamed every one of Tucker’s indiscretions—partying too much, staying out too late—on you.” She shook her head, like she was trying to shake the realization. “I wanted so badly for our problems to be something outside of us, you know? So I could manage it and fix.”

  “Control it,” Luke said.

  “Yeah,” she admitted. “Control it. I’m—sorry, Luke. I was terrible to you.”

  His chest tightened. “It’s not like I did a whole lot to change your opinion of me. I let you assume those things about me because it made it easier.”

  “Made what easier?” she asked, her words slow and careful.

  He’d been mostly telling the truth about why she wasn’t easy to be around. Her assumptions about him stung. That wasn’t a lie. But 100 percent honesty with Lily Green? God, how the hell did he just come out and say it was easier to let her think those things so he had a reason to dislike her—so he wouldn’t have to admit to wanting what Tucker had.

  Not many things scared Luke Everett, yet somehow being completely honest with Lily topped the list.

  He shrugged. “Easier for Tucker, I guess. Figured if I could take the brunt of your disapproval, you’d have less for him.”

  She gave him a mournful smile.

  Shit, he was even more of an asshole than she knew. He held out his hand. She hesitated, and he wondered if he’d read the moment wrong. Maybe Tucker wasn’t the real reason he was holding back anymore. Maybe what they’d assumed about each other these last few years was too ingrained for them to get past it. But then she slid her fingers through his and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, and he led her up the steps to the party.

  He wasn’t good with words, so he kissed her, right there in front of anyone who cared to look, and she laughed softly against his assertive mouth.

  “Now that’s what I call an entrance,” she said when he tilted his head back to look at her.

  “Can we put the past in the past?” he asked, and those cherry red lips parted into a gorgeous smile. “Start fresh?”

  She nodded. “Yes please. As long as the offer still stands.”

  He took a swig of his beer and crossed his arms. “Offer?”

  And damn if that smile didn’t transform into something a little wicked.

  “For you to wear more of my Sinful Cerise later.”

  He brushed two fingertips against his lips. “And here I thought I’d already fulfilled my bargain.”

  She backhanded him on the shoulder, and he leaned down, kissing her right next to her ear.

  “Later,” he said, “I’m going to kiss every damn drop of color from your lips. And then I’m going to kiss you some more.”

  She sucked in a shaky breath. “Is it time for cake, yet?” she asked, echoing his earlier sentiment of skipping the party entirely.

  He chuckled. “Soon, sweetheart. For now we have to play nice and”—he feigned a gasp—“mingle.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Ava was in the kitchen, licking a candle clean of its frosting, when Lily found her friend. Ava playfully slapped Jack’s hand as he pulled the final blown-out candle from the cake, then teasingly held it over the garbage can.

  “Don’t you dare,” she warned her fiancé, then laughed softly as he handed it to her and held his hands up in surrender.

  “I’m going to bring this back outside to cut,” he said. “I don’t trust you to share otherwise.”

  Ava narrowed her eyes. “It’s my birthday,” she said haughtily. “I can eat the whole cake if I want.”

  “Or,” Lily interjected, “I could always bake you another one.”

  And with that Jack escaped out the back door.

  “Sorry,” Lily said. “But I’m on his side when it comes to spreading the love for my triple threat cake. Everyone out there is a potential client, you know.”

  Ava sighed. “Fine. Only because I want your catering business to be a huge success. But all the leftovers are mine.”

  Lily laughed. Tonight was—good. Luke had a family, and it was nice to be a part of it sometimes.

  Ava was giving her a look, that kind of look that said she wanted to ask Lily something but was waiting for the right moment.

  “Come on,” Lily said. “Just say it.”

  Ava grinned—a big, goofy dopey grin. “You came here tonight with Luke. That means something, right? Please tell me that means something. Because I would love it if it meant something.”

  Lily raised brow. “It sounds like you want it to mean something.”

  She laughed then, maybe a little too hard, and maybe a little too forced. Because it wasn’t just Ava who was looking for meaning. Lily was, too. And she wasn’t a fan of looking for things that weren’t there. Certainty was more her style, and she’d been pretty lousy at finding herself some good old certainty these days.

  “I don’t know,” she finally said. “Maybe it does mean something. Maybe it doesn’t. All I know is that I’m enjoying myself. I like being around him. I like being with him. And it feels so weird to say that.”

  “I thought you two couldn’t stand each other,” Ava said. “Not that I mind seeing you guys like this. I like it, actually. And Jack’s pretty happy about it, too. But what happened? What changed?”

  Wasn’t that the million-dollar question? Maybe it was the sex. Good sex could connect two people who didn’t connect before, right? But then there was the fact that he had her come with him for Gertie’s delivery, that he’d spent the day with her afterward—after losing the cow. And now this. Tonight. With his family.

  Lily shrugged. “In some ways nothing. But then in some ways everything. I honestly don’t know what to think. He said he doesn’t do permanent.” Yet at the same time he’d agreed to wanting more.

  Ava raised a brow. “People say a lot of things. The question is, what do you read between the lines? What does he say without the words?”

  Lily snorted. “Since when are you so poetic?” she asked.

  Ava hooked her arm in Lily’s and led her toward the open back door to where they both knew there was cake.

  “I’m an art student,”
she said with a grin. “Maybe I have an artistic way with words, too.” Her smile faded. “I don’t want to say the T word, but it’ll be the elephant in the room at some point if I don’t. Does Tucker know?”

  She shook her head. “And I think it’s sort of eating Luke up that he hasn’t told him. He wants to. He tried. But he caught him just as he got to this no-phones-allowed yoga retreat with Sara, and the call cut out before he could tell him everything.”

  Ava bit back a grin.

  “It’s fine,” Lily said. “I’m over it now. Almost.”

  Ava let a small bubble of laughter escape. “Over almost killing your ex’s pregnant fiancée?”

  Lily shook her head. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Instead she settled on gratitude.

  “Thank you,” she said to Ava. “For sending Luke over that night. I mean, I was pissed as hell—”

  “Because you don’t like people seeing you upset.”

  Lily’s eyes widened. “You knew that?”

  Ava nudged Lily’s shoulder with her own, then nodded toward Jack slicing and setting out pieces of cake on the deck table. “Sure as I know I’m going to marry that man,” she said. “Look, I know it’s hard not having family close by, but we’re family, Lil. Okay? No matter what happens, I’m here.”

  Lily’s heart squeezed. Ava was the closest thing she’d ever had to a sibling. And she was here for her now. But what about when things with Luke went south? How much did she truly stand to lose?

  Jack held out a slice of cake toward each of them.

  “Marry him quick,” Lily said. “He’s got connections to a really great baker.”

  Each woman reached for her slice of cake, but Lily waited for Ava to take the first bite. If there was one thing she loved, it was watching others react to her food.

  First Ava’s eyes fluttered. Then she made something akin to a soft moan. And then she definitely made a loud moan.

  And Lily was satisfied.

  “Come with me.”

  Luke’s voice sounded to her left, and then his hand rested gently on the small of her back.

  “Can I bring my cake?” she asked.

  He chuckled. “Sweetheart, you can bring anything you want as long as you’re with me.”

  Warmth flowed through her like the richest hot fudge, melting any and all of her defenses. Was she supposed to read between the lines?

  “Luke Everett, you are going to have a hard time getting rid of me if you keep saying things like that,” she said, testing the waters.

  He led her off the deck and out into the grass toward the barn. But he stopped when she said this. “What makes you think I want to get rid of you?”

  She dug her fork into her cake, then licked it clean.

  “I like what we’re doing,” she admitted to him. “I like being with you. And maybe, on a really great night like tonight, I just don’t want to think about it eventually ending. Not yet.”

  He shrugged. “Then don’t.”

  So he wouldn’t know he’d stunned her into silence, she kept at the cake for the rest of the walk to the barn.

  “I want you to meet someone,” he said. “The newest member of the Everett family.”

  He opened the door and ushered her inside. Right there, in the first stall, was a beautiful black-and-white-spotted calf.

  Lily sucked in a short breath.

  “That’s…her?” she asked, setting down her fork and her almost empty plate on the first shelf she could find. “I mean, is it a her or a him? Those are udders, right? That makes her a her?”

  He laughed and crossed his arms. “Is it me, or did you take a biology class or two when you were in school?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Funny. You’re really funny.”

  He raised a brow. “I’ve elicited a smile or two.”

  And wasn’t that just the thing? It seemed all this man did lately was elicit smiles from her, and she’d even done the same with him.

  “Want to feed her?” he asked

  Lily’s eyes widened. “Really? I can do that?”

  He nodded. No smart remark. Just a simple nod with a simple grin that could very well melt her heart.

  He strode to the other side of the barn and a couple minutes later came back with a large bottle in his hand, the same one she’d grabbed the day the calf was born.

  He freed the wood slat of the barn door from its fastening and pulled it open.

  The calf was lounging, chewing on some hay. Her head rose to greet them.

  Luke squatted just as the calf stood. He held out the bottle for her to see, and her big black eyes perked with recognition.

  “Just like this,” he said, holding the large bottle with two hands. The calf latched on in a matter of seconds, and the sheer force of her hunger knocked him right onto his ass. Lily snorted.

  “She’s a bit greedy sometimes if she’s really hungry,” he said, not even fazed. “Worst that can happen is she tugs the thing away from you, and you fall down, or she rips the nipple off and you’re covered in milk.”

  Lily eased herself down slowly then asked with a raise of her brows if she could take over.

  “You know the risks,” he said. “You sure you’re ready?”

  Butterflies danced in her belly. She knew he was asking only about the cow. But everything she was doing—not just tonight and not just with Luke but everything, from catering this wedding to answering a question that went much deeper for her—was a risk.

  She was risking her career.

  She was risking Luke’s friendship with Tucker.

  She was risking her heart. And maybe—just maybe—she was risking his, too.

  She held the skirt of her dress over the back of her thighs and lowered herself onto her butt as well. “Maybe I’m done playing it safe,” she told him.

  The corner of his mouth turned up. “Does that mean you’re tossing the paperweight planner?”

  She scoffed. “I said I was maybe done playing it safe. I didn’t say I’d lost my mind.”

  She chuckled and nodded toward the bottle. As soon as her hands were on it, he let go, but he didn’t stand up, just crossed his forearms over his knees and stared at her.

  “Oh my God!” she said as the calf tugged on the nipple and drank. “I’m doing it!”

  He nodded. “You sure are,” he said. “You could do just about anything if you wanted to, Lily.”

  Then he placed his palm on the small of her back, his thumb stroking the ridges of her spine as she continued to feed the calf. And they just sat there, the three of them, in comfortable silence.

  “What’s her name?” she finally asked and saw him shrug out of the corner of her eye.

  “She doesn’t have one yet. You wanna do the honors?”

  Her breath caught in her throat, and she turned to face him, his ocean blue eyes ready and waiting for her to sink to the very bottom.

  “But I’m not—this is your family’s business. I’m just—I’m your brother’s client.”

  “You’re Ava’s friend, too,” he reminded her.

  She waved a hand in the air and almost lost the bottle to a hungry tug. “By-product of being your brother’s client. I got lucky there.”

  And wasn’t that the truth? She’d cut herself off from any sort of social life once she and Tucker had gotten married and opened BBQ on the Bluff. It was just the nature of the restaurant business—up and out early, home late, and then do it all over again. It had been hard to maintain anything more than making sure she got enough sleep to not fall over the next day. Ava had come into her life just as it seemed everything was unraveling.

  Yet here she was, not yet fully unraveled and somehow finding time for more than just what had to be done.

  “You were there,” he said. “You were a part of something big in our world, and I want—we all thought we’d let you put your stamp on it.”

  “What?” she asked, her voice suddenly shaking. “But I thought—I mean, you made it clear you don’t—” She didn’t
want to say the word because that would mean admitting she wanted what he clearly didn’t. Instead she handed him the bottle, then stood and brushed the hay and dirt from her skirt. “I need some air.” Then she hightailed it out of the barn to where she could finally breathe.

  She was part of something big in his world.

  He wanted her to name a freaking cow, but names were permanent. She and Luke were not. And eventually, when the calf had served her purpose, she wouldn’t be either.

  “Hey, Lily.”

  She’d barely had two minutes to collect herself, and there he was, Hey Lily-ing her. God that was so like him. Well, if she couldn’t control what she wanted from Luke, she could at least control the whole Hey-you-wanna-name-my-cow? situation.

  “How much?” she asked.

  His brows drew together. “How much what?”

  “How much for me to buy her,” she clarified.

  “The calf?”

  She nodded. “The calf.”

  “She’s not for sale. Not yet, at least.”

  “Well, I’m not naming her if I can’t take her home with me.”

  He raised his brows, then chuckled. “Even if I did sell her to you, where the hell would you put her? In your backyard garden? And unless you’re raising her for the same reason we are, isn’t it just a little hypocritical? I mean, last time I checked you weren’t a vegetarian chef. Or a vegetarian for that matter.”

  She groaned. He was right. She sounded ridiculous. And yet she couldn’t back down.

  “That’s not it.” Whatever the future held, she wanted to remember what it was like to be a part of something that mattered to him. And if that meant a pet cow, then so be it. “Look, I know it sounds insane, and no. I don’t have anyplace to put her just yet. But maybe, if this catering thing takes off, I can sell the house and get something with more land. Right now, though, I’m just looking to buy a calf.”

  He shook his head and blew out a long breath. “She’d be like Gertie,” he said. “Used for breeding. She wouldn’t—I mean it’d be a long time before—”

  “How much?” she interrupted.

  “A thousand dollars.”

  She opened her mouth, then closed it. Well, at least he didn’t try shutting her up with a kiss this time. Instead he went for shock value, and it worked.