Cowboy Christmas Jubilee

by Dylann Crush

  He turned the key in the ignition and fired up the truck. “Based on recent events, I thought you might want to invite me in when I drop you off tonight.”

  She buckled her seat belt, clicking it into place. “Isn’t my place technically your place anyway?”

  “Good point. My place it is.”

  Jinx twisted a piece of hair between her fingers. “You really want to do this?”

  “What, drive you home?”

  “You know what I mean. I’m not sticking around. I don’t want you to get any ideas.”

  “The only ideas I’m getting are you and me on my memory foam mattress, not bending over some chipped porcelain sink. You with me on that?”

  “Casual. No expectations.”

  Cash reached over and squeezed her exposed knee. “Well, I expect I’ll have some expectations.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about.”

  “Not what I meant. I expect we’ll spend more time awake than asleep.”

  “I sure hope so. You snore.”

  He eased the truck out of the gravel lot and onto the pavement. “Well, I guess you’d better keep me up then.”

  “Oh, I’ll keep you up all right. You’ll just need to make sure you can stay up, old man.” Her smile flashed white in the seat next to him.

  “Old, huh? How old do you think I am?”

  She rolled her eyes. “How old do I think you actually are, or how old do I think you act?”

  His jaw just about dropped. “Wha—both. How old are you, pretty, young thing?”

  “Twenty-three. My guess is you’re about forty, but you act like you’re going on seventy.”

  His jaw did drop at that. Seventy? Forty? Hell, he’d barely crossed the threshold of thirty-five. “Damn, you’re harsh. I’m thirty-five, not forty.”

  “Seriously? Thirty-five? That’s still old.” She shook her head back and forth. Mocking. Teasing.

  When was the last time he’d joked around with a woman? Typically, he didn’t let his guard down enough to crack a smile unless he was talking to Kenzie. Every once in a while, his mom or Charlie could coax a grin out of him. It felt good to banter for a change.

  They made the rest of the drive in comfortable silence. The edge of tension that usually hung between them had dissolved. Probably not for long. If he tended to keep things wrapped up tight inside, then Jinx was like a safety deposit box locked inside a vault in comparison. He still didn’t know much about her: where exactly she’d come from, what kind of life she’d led growing up. She still didn’t even know that he’d overheard her share her real name with Kenzie. Maybe she’d be more willing to share now.

  The truck came to rest in front of his garage. “Need anything from the bunkhouse?”

  “Nah. But promise me you’ll make sure I’m out of here before Kenzie shows up in the morning.”

  “I think that can be arranged.” He stepped out of the truck and walked around to open her door, but she beat him to it.

  Hand in hand, they walked to the front door, and he swung it open. Before he could drop his keys on the entry table and hang up his jacket, she kicked off her boots and started making her way toward the bedroom.

  He followed behind, picking up the trail of clothes she left in her wake. Her jacket. The tank top. The skirt came next, followed by a bra. Last but not least, the boy shorts sat on the floor in the doorway of the bedroom. He tossed the pile of clothing into the chair in the corner and stripped down himself. Then he joined Jinx under the covers in the hopes that she would indeed keep him up all night.

  Chapter Fifteen

  She woke to warm breath on her ear. Cash’s arms wrapped around her, cradling her against him. Whiskers scraped against her cheek as she eased herself out from his embrace. He grunted and readjusted. She tucked her hands under her head and studied him in sleep. His hair, usually hidden under a cowboy hat, stuck out in all directions. Dark lashes rested on his cheeks, and a tiny smattering of freckles splayed across his nose, so faint she hadn’t noticed them before. Sleep erased the barrier he’d constructed, and the man in front of her looked nothing like the hard-nosed brute she’d gone head-to-head with on previous occasions. In cop mode, he seemed invincible, like nothing could touch him. Here, next to her in bed, he looked like a man—a man who could be hurt.

  She didn’t want that kind of power.

  The relationships—if she could even call them that—she’d been involved in in the past stemmed from her desire for one thing: survival. Emotions were never involved. She had no problem spending a couple of weeks warming some guy’s bed for the chance to sleep indoors for a while or, in the case of Wade, a few months taking his shit in exchange for a place to stay and the good tips she managed at the bar.

  But she’d kept her heart out of it. The last time she’d loved someone with her whole heart and soul, he’d died. Since then, she had made a habit out of keeping her feelings buried—deep under thick layers of protection. She’d do anything to avoid the pain and heartache she’d felt when her dad died. Anything.

  Her toes met the cold wood floor as she slid out of bed, grabbed her clothes from the chair, and took refuge in the bathroom for a few minutes. She had to pull herself together. Cash made her want things she’d never thought possible. Things she’d never thought she deserved.

  A few minutes later, she sat on a barstool while she waited for a pot of coffee to brew, tapping her feet against the kitchen island. Her mom had spent her entire life dependent on a man. When Jinx’s dad died, she hadn’t known what to do with herself, so before the grass even started to grow over his burial plot, she’d moved them in with a guy she’d met at a bar. When that didn’t work out, they’d lived in the back of an SUV for a couple of weeks until she met someone else. She had a thing for cops. Thought those who were committed to protect and serve would carry that responsibility through to their personal lives. And so it went. Until the last guy had assumed that Jinx was part of the deal too.

  When she wouldn’t give in to snuggling with her new “stepfather,” he had told her to get with the program or get the hell out. She had chosen the latter option and had been on her own ever since.

  Watching her mom choose a man over her own daughter had taught her a few things. First, she never wanted to put that much faith and hope into another human being ever again. It was a guaranteed path to pain. Second, she must not be worth very much if her own mother would stick with a relative stranger over her own flesh and blood.

  The coffeepot let out a final burst of steam. Jinx poured half the carafe into a travel mug and left the pot on for Cash. She couldn’t afford to get caught by Kenzie at her dad’s place again. That kid was smart, much smarter than Jinx had been at her age.

  She shrugged her jacket over her shoulders and slipped her feet into her boots. With a final look around Cash’s living room, she pulled the heavy wood door closed behind her and made the trek to the bunkhouse. Kenzie had taken to pet-sitting Hendrix overnight on the nights her dad worked at the Rose, so Jinx entered the bunkhouse to a lonely stillness. She changed into her leggings and curled up on her lower bunk, letting the quiet swallow her.

  The fuzzy edges of early morning transformed the inside of the cabin. A dark lump on the bunk next to her slowly morphed into the outline of her backpack. The thin mattress creaked as she flipped onto her back, staring at the bunk above. The stillness hadn’t bothered her before. She’d welcomed it, like a break in a raging storm. But now, compared to the cozy warmth of Cash’s cabin, the bunkhouse seemed barren.

  She punched her pillow and twisted onto her side. This was enough for now. She had a place to stay, a good-paying job, and an apartment waiting for her in New Orleans. That was as much as she could hope for, as much as she deserved.

  * * *

  Jinx sat up straight, jerked from a dreamless sleep by a loud banging noise that came from the front door. She tossed t
he covers aside and stumbled to her feet. The sky outside the wavy paned window gave no hint to what time of day it might be. Gray clouds hung low, blotting out the sun and reminding her that winter in Texas looked a lot different than it did in LA.

  With her sweatshirt pulled tight around her, she answered the door. Cash and Kenzie stood on the front porch. Hendrix nestled in Kenzie’s arms, a tiny Santa hat secured to his head.

  “Well, there you are.” Cash held out a thermal mug of coffee.

  “Of course she’s here, Daddy. She lives here.” Kenzie skipped into the open living area, her little pink boots clunking across the wide-planked floor. “Look what Nana made for Hendrix, Jinx. She said she’ll sew him a coat too. Won’t that be awesome?”

  “Yeah, awesome.” Jinx rubbed her eyes, not sure how Hendrix would feel about being a fashion model, since he barely tolerated a collar when she tried to put it on him.

  Cash grinned, then leaned in and brushed a kiss along Jinx’s cheek as he followed his daughter.

  The contact made her reel backward, and she knocked her head on the door.

  “You okay?” Cash’s brow furrowed.

  The poor man must be getting whiplash, trying to keep up with her mood swings. When she was with him, she wanted to believe there was a chance for her to find a happily ever after. But then reality would set in, and she’d come to her senses. Whatever was going on between them had her head and heart trapped in some sort of spin cycle.

  “Yeah. I’m exhausted though. What time is it?” Jinx closed the door behind them.

  “Nine o’clock.” Cash shrugged his shoulders. “I’m taking Kenzie into town for breakfast with Santa, and she wouldn’t go without you.”

  Jinx groaned. She’d come back to the bunkhouse around six. That meant she’d gotten a total of maybe four hours of sleep. No wonder the backs of her eyelids felt like steel wool every time she blinked.

  “You’ve gotta come.” Kenzie sidled up next to her. “They have cinnamon rolls and juice, and Daddy said they might even have a real live reindeer.”

  “Hmm. Cinnamon rolls and juice. That is tempting.” Jinx scratched Hendrix under the collar. “I didn’t know they had reindeer in Texas.”

  Kenzie leveled her with an eye roll that would have looked more appropriate coming from someone three times her age. “The reindeer is from the North Pole, Jinx. Duh.”

  Jinx bit her lip to keep from laughing and met Cash’s gaze. “Of course.”

  It had been a very long time since she’d been around a kid during the holidays. Back before Wade, she’d worked at a diner. The waitress there had a grandson who’d visited over Easter. But when his grandma suggested they go to the community center for an Easter egg hunt, he’d shaken his head and said he’d rather go hunt for rabbits in the desert with his BB gun. That the Easter bunny was for babies and losers. He was five. Hopefully, Kenzie had a few more years of believing in the magic of Christmas before she became as cynical.

  “So what do you say? Want to join us for breakfast?” Cash leaned against the counter. “It’s not every day you get to meet one of Santa’s official reindeer.”

  “Do I have time to shower?” She still had a layer of salt and sweat covering her skin from her late night at the bar.

  “If you make it quick.” Cash crossed the room and snagged her jacket from the hook by the front door.

  “Five minutes. And I need to brush my teeth too.” Jinx grabbed some clothes and headed toward the bathroom.

  Eight minutes later, she emerged to find Kenzie tapping her foot by the door.

  “We’re going to miss the reindeer.” Kenzie thrust her arms into her coat.

  “Okay, I’m sorry. Let’s go.” Jinx shrugged into the jacket Cash held out for her.

  “For what it’s worth, I’m tired this morning too,” he whispered into her ear as he helped her into her coat.

  “I was up too late. All that talking—”

  “And sex,” he mumbled. “Don’t forget about the sex.”

  She batted his hand away. A low chuckle vibrated through his chest.

  She’d never be able to forget about the sex. Cash took sex to a whole new level. That was a given.

  * * *

  Cash threaded his fingers through Jinx’s on the way into the community center. It felt natural, not like he hadn’t held hands with a woman over the age of seven in more than five years. Entering the room hand in hand would be making a statement. Nothing went unnoticed in a town the size of Holiday. “This okay?”

  She glanced down at their entwined fingers. “It’s your funeral, buddy.”

  His brow crinkled. Why did he constantly feel like he was forcing things on her? Somehow, even though he still felt like there was something off with her, he’d chalked up his feelings of apprehension as fear of getting attached. He’d decided to budge from his adamant stance. Why was letting someone close such a battle for her? “What do you mean by that?”

  Shrugging her shoulders, she looked around the crowded hall. “Nobody here knows me. You’re the one they’ll be talking about. I’ll be out of here in a couple of weeks.”

  Kenzie ran ahead to get in line for Santa, so Cash stopped short and pulled Jinx to the side. “I don’t give a crap about what anyone else thinks. Are you okay with this?”

  She met his gaze. A flicker of vulnerability flashed through her bluish-gray eyes before that familiar hard glint slid back in place. “Just don’t lay one on me like you did at the mini-mart, ’kay?”

  “Hey, you started it.” He grinned. “I’ll do my best to keep my lips off you.”

  “I’d appreciate that, cowboy.”

  “At least until later,” he muttered to himself.

  “Should we go find Kenzie before she eats all the cinnamon rolls?” Jinx raised a brow.

  Cash scanned the crowd, looking for the lopsided topknot in the sea of bows and festive hair bands. Poor kid. He should have thought to dress her up in her Christmas dress for her picture with Santa.

  Instead of locating his daughter, his gaze landed on Dixie King, who sliced through the crowd like a knife through butter, heading their way.

  “Hi there, Deputy Walker.” Dixie stopped short in front of them. She looked down toward their joined hands, then bit her lip before a sly grin slid over her face. “Wasn’t expecting to see you here this morning, Jinx.”

  Jinx rolled her eyes toward Cash. He couldn’t tell if it was a secret gal pal signal or a cry for help, so he waited. “I wasn’t exactly planning on being here.”

  “Kenzie really wanted her to come.” Cash cleared his throat. His voice had come out somewhat squeaky. What the hell was up with that?

  “Mmm.” Dixie nodded in exaggerated agreement. “Kenzie. By the way, where is that adorable daughter of yours?”

  “She’s…um”—Cash scanned the heads of the crowd again—“maybe I’d better go look for her. Will you be okay?” For a moment, he shut out the chatter of the crowd, turning his full attention on Jinx.

  Dixie’s hand landed on his arm. “Of course she’ll be okay. She’ll be with me. I need to ask her some questions about some stuff she’s helping me plan at the Rose.”

  “You know, I’m standing right here.” Jinx slid her hand from his. The sudden lack of warmth made him realize how much he’d enjoyed holding hands with someone for a change. An adult someone. “I don’t need a babysitter. I’ve managed to survive this long on my own.”

  “Get on outta here, Cash. Go rustle up your daughter, and find us some coffee, will you?” Dixie linked her arm through Jinx’s, leading her toward an empty table.

  As they moved away, Dixie chattering like an amped-up squirrel, Jinx laughed. The sound washed over him. She’d giggled and let out a couple of obnoxious laugh-type snorts when they’d been together. But nothing like the sound that poured out of her at something Dixie said. In that moment, h
e vowed to do whatever he could to get her to make that noise again.

  He ducked under a makeshift candy-cane arch and found his daughter wedged between his mother’s knees. She had a hairbrush in one hand and Kenzie’s mass of untamed curls in the other.

  “When’s the last time you worked a brush through this child’s hair?”

  Cash winced under his mom’s disapproving stare. “She likes to brush it herself.”

  “Hi, Daddy.” Kenzie beamed up at him. “Where’s Jinx? I want her to see me sit in Santa’s lap.”

  “You brought Jinx with you?” The hairbrush paused in his mother’s hand.

  “Yeah. We woke her up to come with us.” Kenzie twisted a candy cane around her finger.

  Cash braced himself for the onslaught of questions and comments.

  Instead, his mother focused her attention back on Kenzie’s nest of hair. “Well, isn’t that nice. I bet she’ll have a real good time.”

  What? No interrogation? No loaded remarks?

  “Do you want one braid or two, doll baby?” She bent her head toward Kenzie’s ear. “I brought some Christmas ribbon I can weave through it if you want.”

  “Two, Nana. Can you do two, please?”

  “You bet, sugar. Cash, why don’t you go find your father? He’s supposed to take over the raffle ticket table at ten, and I bet he’s out bending poor Cooper’s ear about growing grapes again. Did he tell you he wants to start making wine? I thought we were going to retire now that Waylon’s taken over.”

  “Sure, Mom. Kenzie, you stay here with Nana while I go find Papa, okay? When I come back, we’ll get in line for Santa.”

  “But first we find Jinx.” Kenzie nodded, confident her grown-ups would bend to her will.

  Cash gave her a wink, not missing the knowing smile his mom cast his way. Women. They spoke a language all their own. He’d been happily oblivious to it for so long. Looked like his time for blessed ignorance had run out.

  He ducked outside in search of his dad.