by Kadie Scott
Awareness fizzed through her as those strong arms gathered her even closer now.
Quit!
Her body ignored her command.
“So, Taylor and Eric, huh?” he murmured, breaking into her mental debate with her body.
Rather than anger, defeat dragged at her shoulders. “Don’t you start with me, too. I don’t need any more of your opinions. I left the guy, didn’t I?”
He raised his eyebrows. “What did I say?”
Jennings played up the wounded bit, using his intense, deep blue eyes so well she almost believed him. Ashley sighed. Might as well get this over with. Although, of everyone from her hometown, he was the least likely to take her at her word. “Yes, I’m happy for them. No, I don’t miss Eric. Yes, they’re a great couple. Yes, I’m thrilled to be the maid of honor at their wedding. No, he and I never discussed marriage.” Not once in eight years, but he’d proposed to her sister in less than two. What did that make Ashley? “Yes, I moved on. No, it wasn’t a surprise to me. Any other questions?”
“Thrilled, huh?” He studied her quietly until she wanted to glance away or shift uncomfortably. Not that she’d give him the satisfaction.
She stuck to her guns and smiled. “Yes, thrilled.”
Jennings had always seen past the “I have my shit together” image she liked the world to see. A fact that had made them close friends once upon a time, and bitter foes for longer than she cared to acknowledge.
The friendship she still missed. The constant barbed comments, not so much.
“I’m glad to hear it,” he finally murmured.
Ashley blinked. He was letting her get away with that? No prodding her to own up to her mixed up emotional state? No lectures about how he’d seen this coming?
“You’ve got enough speculation aimed your way, Ash. You don’t need it from me.”
Damn, the guy could read minds. “I’m surprised you’re passing up on the opportunity to rile me,” she sniped.
That dimple teased her as his gaze slipped from her eyes to her lips. “I wouldn’t say that.”
She tried not to squirm at the unwelcome heat that lit inside her.
“I hear you’re a high-powered accountant in Dallas now,” he said.
Ashley took a second to catch up with the change in topic. While she’d been struggling with an unaccustomed wave of lust, apparently he’d been thinking of something polite to say, which put her firmly in her place.
She cleared her throat. “Yes.”
“You always were good at math.”
She shrugged. “Numbers make sense to me.” More than people did most of the time.
He used to tease her about it when they were kids, calling her a nerd and a weirdo. Only then, it hadn’t bothered her because he’d said all those things with affection, maybe even a small amount of respect.
He squeezed her hand. “I know.”
Ashley eyed him suspiciously, waiting for the zinger.
Jennings raised his eyebrows. “How long are you in town?”
Okay. Maybe he had changed? “Not long. I go home after the New Year.” Too bad life didn’t come with a fast-forward button, because she’d totally be using it.
Jennings cleared his throat, suddenly seeming a bit…uncertain. Very un-Jennings-like. “Do you think…”
What on earth could have him so hesitant? In the middle of a bar? “What?”
He spun them in a tight series of circles “Do you think you might be able to squeeze in time to take a look at the ranch finances?”
Again, she needed to catch up. Was that why he wanted to dance with her? Disappointment sat heavy in her stomach. “You mean as an accountant?”
His lips kicked up at the corner. “No, as a dinosaur herder.”
She ignored his sarcasm as wheels engaged in her mind. “Don’t you have an accountant?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged his broad shoulders and her hand at his neck brushed against his hair, soft and silky against her fingertips. Distracting.
“Then what do you need me for?”
He glanced around, as if checking for eavesdroppers, then leaned in to whisper in her ear. “I’m afraid I’ve stumbled on a case of fraud with our current bookkeeper. I’d like a second opinion.”
His warm breath tickled her neck now, and a quiver of reaction shimmied down her spine as he drew back.
This is Jennings Hill. Reminding her body of that fact had zero effect though.
“I’ll pay you for your time, of course,” Jennings interrupted her mental battle.
Ashley bit the inside of her lip. Fraud could be tricky to prove. In these parts, where everyone knew everyone else, getting an outside opinion would mean going to a costly accountant far away. Besides, she didn’t like the thought of anyone being taken advantage of. Especially Jennings’s family. The Hills had been like a second family to her once upon a time.
However, helping Jennings also meant spending more time with him. As if this holiday wasn’t hard enough to begin with.
Dang.
“You’re lucky I have a good heart, Jennings Hill,” she groused.
He chuckled, and the warm sound tripped her heart into overdrive again. What the heck was with her tonight? It had to be the wedding-slash-homecoming one-two punch she was grappling with. At the same time, dealing with Jennings was better than dealing with all the wedding stuff, and Sunday loomed unscheduled for her.
She sighed, already regretting what she was about to say. “Does Sunday work for you?”
His eyes lit up, but he remained serious for once, nodding slowly. “I can make it work. Noon?”
“I’ll double-check with Taylor and let you know.”
“Fair enough.”
The song ended, changing to a faster two-step, and she extricated herself from his arms, happier than she should’ve been to gain some space. He let go without protest, but still escorted her back to the booth, his hand at the small of her back taking every ounce of her focus.
“Who’s your friend?” Lacy, one of Taylor’s college roommates, eyed Jennings like the last piece of chocolate in a candy store.
Teeth gritted, Ashley introduced him to Lacy and Molly, Taylor’s other roommate. All the other bridesmaids were from around here, so they already knew him. They wouldn’t mind some alone time with him either, if the drooling and attention-seeking comments were anything to go by. Yup. Those rumors about Jennings being the last Hill standing and the ungettable-get in town were proving to be valid.
Not surprisingly, he asked Lacy to dance—coincidentally, the blonde Ashley had told him was easy, not that she was. Although the conspiratorial wink he shot Ashley as they walked away said he’d followed her train of thought all the way to the station.
Not funny. Except she had to keep her mouth from twitching.
The accompanying pang in her gut definitely was not jealously. It had to be annoyance. Forcing her gaze away, she grinned at the ladies still at the table. Taylor watched her with a speculative light in her eyes.
She pasted a bright smile to her lips. “Another round of shots, girls?”
Chapter Two
After dancing with the blonde, Jennings deliberately kept himself on the other side of the bar from Ashley and the bachelorette party now in full swing. He needed the distance, or he’d be tempted to do something stupid. Always had been when it came to Ashley Hughes.
While she and Eric were together, keeping away had been…not easier exactly. The second she’d started dating Eric, that was all she was interested in. The comfortable friendship Jennings and Ashley had shared since preschool had gotten pushed to the side with a disregard that, at fifteen, he’d taken badly. Angry, he’d cut her out of his life.
So, her irritation, as adorable as she was when she scowled at him, could be considered warranted. Then again, so could his.
The thing was, she’d stayed with Eric. For years. Jennings had watched from the sidelines, frustrated in a futile way, as his best friend abandoned him and changed her lif
e, her choices, her dreams—all for a guy.
Not the right guy.
Even now, he wanted to shake his head at her. Eric Lanning. Sure, he was a quality human being, but the way Ashley had changed when they became an item told him Eric wasn’t the guy she should be with. She needed someone to stand beside her, behind her, and even make her stand up for herself now and then. Jennings had tried to point that out, granted with a lack of finesse only a teenage boy could show, and only succeeded in pushing her farther away.
Just now, Ashley had insisted she’d didn’t miss Eric, that she was over it, but a brittleness shadowed her smile tonight in a way Jennings didn’t like. Taylor didn’t either, if the little glances she snuck her sister were anything to go by. Not to mention the decent amount of alcohol consumed. No more than the other ladies, but she’d always been a lightweight.
Irritation prickled under his skin. Why’d he care, anyway?
Deliberately, Jennings turned his back on her and concentrated on his game of pool with his brother. Ashley was none of his business, and hadn’t been for ten years, as she’d made perfectly clear.
“Ashley Hughes is looking hot tonight.”
Damn. Can’t escape her even when I try.
Jennings gritted his teeth at Mason Bastion’s drunken slur, a comment along the lines of ones he’d overheard frequently since they hit puberty. The Hughes twins—the only other set in the county, at least for their generation, in addition to his siblings, Cash and Carter—were identically lovely, with their long dark hair, eyes a striking shade of gray, and the most kissable lips. Not to mention curves in all the right places. The twins had always been a source of male interest in their small community. But with Ashley unavailable—quieter, more reserved, and permanently spoken for by Eric for so long—Taylor had ended up as the twin the single guys focused on.
Not that Taylor had ever done anything for Jennings.
Still, the tables had turned now and all the focus had shifted to Ashley. Available, beautiful, and hiding a vulnerability that made his heart hurt.
“I think I’ll go ask her to dance,” Mason announced before heading that direction.
“Your shot, man.” A frustrated voice interrupted Jennings’s eavesdropping. He glanced at his brother, whose booted toe tapped the weathered wood floor. At a guess, Autry had been calling his name for a while.
Autry’s eyebrows lowered as soon as he got Jennings’s attention. “With Beth and Dylan shopping with her sisters in San Antonio, I’d like to actually play pool tonight. Not just stand here looking at the table.”
His brother, just married and with a new foster son they were trying to adopt, had changed his spots so much, it bordered on ridiculous. The man had been the troublemaker of the county until last spring. Now the leopard had turned into a house cat.
Not that Jennings blamed him. Beth and Dylan were great. He just hadn’t seen this coming for the wildest of the five Hill siblings.
“Sorry,” Jennings muttered, and forced himself to focus yet again on the game, tuning out the clench of something dark in his gut at the idea of Ashley dancing with Mason.
“Six in the corner pocket,” he called his shot. Carefully, he sighted the line, set up, and struck.
The six ended up bouncing off the bumper, nowhere near the corner pocket, and rolling behind one of Autry’s balls.
Damn.
After missing his shot, Jennings moved to the tall round table in the corner. A long swig of cold beer settled him while Autry took his turn. However, from this vantage point, watching Autry meant he could see the dance floor where Mason and Ashley were now. Twice, Ashley had to reach back and adjust Mason’s hand up from her backside.
Jennings put his beer down for fear he might break the glass bottle from squeezing it so tightly and refused to interfere in Ashley’s life. None of his business.
He missed his next shot too.
“Your head is not in this game,” Autry complained as he moved around the table, studying the layout.
“Sorry.” Jennings ran a hand around the back of his neck. “Rough week, I guess.”
At least his excuse rang true, though Autry’s glance in Ashley’s direction and accompanying smirk said he wasn’t buying it. Still, he could talk a good talk. His suspicions about the accountant keeping the books for their ranch were a major source of concern he had yet to share with his family. He wanted to be sure before accusing anyone. Hopefully, Ashley would be able to put his fears to rest in that quarter. Numbers had never been his strong suit, not to this extent at least.
The song ended and, with zero intention to do so, he tracked Ashley’s progress as she threaded her way back to the table with Mason dogging her steps. She managed to squish herself to the middle of the booth, with girls on either side as buffer, but the man didn’t take the hint. From across the room, it looked as though she’d pawned him off on Charlotte Trainor, with whom the Hughes sisters had been friends for years.
As Charlotte led Mason away, she made a face at Ashley, who mouthed, “I owe you one.” And Jennings had to contain a chuckle.
As soon as Mason cleared out, Ashley slipped out of the booth and made a beeline for the exit, lips pressed in a thin line. Did the woman have no sense? She’d freeze out there in her undeniably sexy, but certainly not December weather appropriate, outfit.
Not your friend anymore to protect or help.
Her small wobble at the door had him concerned, but he let her go. His was the last face she’d want to see right now anyway. He didn’t need another round of banter guaranteed to both aggravate the tar out of him and have him hard as a rock in his jeans. A few minutes later, the song ended, and Mason headed outside himself, abandoning Charlotte on the floor rather than walking her back to the table.
Jennings shoved his pool cue at Autry, whose jaw dropped in surprise. “I have to go deal with something.”
“Hey!” Autry called after him, but he ignored his brother’s protest.
December in this part of Texas typically tended toward chilly and drizzly, but tonight was an exception. Clear skies twinkled with millions of stars. The bar was situated several blocks from the town square, but the glow of white Christmas lights adorning the distant historic downtown buildings shed light over the parking lot. His first glance showed him no one else was out here, so he paused and took a closer look.
“No, thanks, Mason. I’m going inside now, anyway.” An undercurrent of trepidation snapped in Ashley’s voice and hurried Jennings’s steps as he aimed his boots toward the sound.
“Come on. Taylor won’t notice you’re gone,” Mason cajoled.
“I’m her maid of honor. I can’t just leave her bachelorette party.”
Jennings turned the corner around a large truck jacked up on oversized tires to find Ashley trying to pull out of Mason’s grasp. The guy appeared to have grown a second set of arms because he was all over her.
Fury flashed through Jennings in a heatwave. “I don’t think she appreciates your hands on her.”
“This ain’t none of your business, Hill,” Mason half-slurred, half-growled.
“Seeing as that’s my girl you’re pawing, I’d damn well say it’s my business.” Jennings had no clue what prompted the claim, except experience taught him Mason was the type of man who didn’t take no for an answer unless the woman was taken. Sometimes, not even then.
Mason paused and glanced unsteadily between Jennings and Ashley. “Since when?”
Ashley scooted away from him and latched herself onto Jennings’s side. He settled his arm around her, trying to warm skin already chilly to the touch. “None of your business,” she snapped.
Mason’s face flushed red with anger. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?”
She glanced around as if searching for an answer. “I was trying to be polite.”
He swayed on his feet, as he transferred his glare to Jennings. “Better watch what she wears. If a woman dresses like a—”
As quick as a striking snake,
Jennings released Ashley and landed a hard punch squarely on Mason’s jaw. The man dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes, his beer belly poking out from under his dislodged shirt to hang over his belt.
Damn, that felt good. Although he hadn’t meant to knock the guy out. Just shut him up.
Rubbing his knuckles, Jennings turned to find Ashley, hands over her mouth, staring with wide eyes at Mason’s unconscious form.
She raised her gaze to his. “You hit him,” she said through her hands.
“I did.”
A giggle escaped and her eyes went even wider as though surprised at finding humor in the situation. She dropped her hands to her sides. “Why?”
“He was about to call you something not very nice and not true.”
“But…you hit him?”
Those amazing gray eyes stared at him with something akin to awe, a look he hadn’t seen from her in years. Jennings tried not to puff up over it. “Are you offended?”
She shook her head.
“Is it so hard to believe?” he asked.
“Kinda.”
He crossed his arms.
Her lips twitched and another giggle escaped. Tilting her head slightly, she stepped closer and took his hand in hers, running her fingers over the throbbing knuckles. “Does it hurt?”
A steel band squeezed his chest, and awareness punched through him at the warmth of her soft touch in the brisk night air. “Yeah.”
Shock followed awareness, ricocheting through him, as she laid her lips over those same knuckles before she lifted her head and grinned at him. “My knight in shining armor. Who knew it would turn out to be you?”
He did his best to slam a lid on the desire her innocent touch evoked. He wasn’t the kind of guy to take advantage. “I think you’re drunk, Hughes.”
She pouted and his gaze dropped to her lush lips.
“Why won’t you call me Ashley?”
Self-preservation. “Let’s get you inside.”
