Taming a Texas Tease (Bad Boy Ranch Book 7)

by Katie Lane

“Okay, so what’s going on?” His gaze narrowed on his mother. “Let me guess. You and Dad are getting a divorce.”

  DeeDee’s eyes widened with shock. “Of course not.”

  “Where would you get a crazy idea like that, son?” Dean asked. “Your mother and I love each other and would never even think about divorcing.”

  Boone hesitated for a moment before he shrugged. “My mistake. So why did you invite me and Emma here?”

  The parents exchanged looks again before Dean spoke. “We’ve decided to move to South Padre Island. We’ve been thinking about it for a long time. Mike and I want to do some fishing. And the girls like to wander around on the beach.”

  Emma looked at her parents in shock. “You’re moving too.”

  Her mother stood and started collecting the plates. “It’s a very nice retirement community right on the water with plenty of activities for the residents. And since there’s no real reason for us to stay here, we thought—”

  Emma stared at her. “There’s a reason. Your daughter.”

  Her mother stopped cleaning up. “A daughter who is grown and rarely comes to see us.”

  Emma wanted to argue, but she couldn’t. She hadn’t spent a lot of time with her parents lately.

  “I’ll come to see you more,” she said.

  “It’s not just that, Emma,” her father said. “There’s not much to do in Simple and we’re young enough that we want to enjoy our retirement.” He paused. “But us deciding to move isn’t the main reason we called this meeting.” He cleared his throat. “We’ve decided to sell the hardware store.”

  Emma was too stunned to speak. Her father had always wanted her to run the store and spoke often of his grandchildren doing the same. Since he had no extended family left, he thought of the hardware store as his legacy. Which was why Emma worked so hard at trying to make it successful. And now he wanted to sell it? It made no sense. Boone didn’t think so either.

  “What are you talking about?” He stared at her father. “You and my dad gave the store to me and Emma.”

  “We gave you the business to run,” Dean said. “We never officially signed over anything.”

  Boone snorted. “Funny, but you always told me that a man’s word was good enough. Now you’re going back on your word? What kind of bullshit is that?”

  “Watch your mouth,” Dean snapped.

  “No, he’s right, Dean,” DeeDee said. “We shouldn’t have acted like we were going to give them the hardware store.” She looked at Emma with sad eyes. “We just thought that if we put you two together, you would get everything figured out and go back to being close. But our plan seems to have backfired. Instead of becoming friends, you’ve become the worst enemies.” Tears filled her eyes. “And we just can’t stand to stay and watch it. Nor can we let you continue to ruin your lives.”

  Gina sat down and nodded. “Dee is right. It’s heartbreaking to see our kids frittering their lives away with hate. We want our children to be happy—to fall in love and start families. But no single person in town is willing to get in the middle of your feud. And enough is enough. If you two don’t have the hardware store to fight over, you can both move on. You’re young enough to start over somewhere else.”

  “But I don’t want to move on,” Emma said. “I love Simple. This is where I grew up. Boone can move and leave me the store. He doesn’t even like Simple. After college, he didn’t even come home. Instead, he traveled around like some vagrant bum.”

  Boone snorted. “Just because I choose to take a little time off and travel doesn’t mean I don’t love the store . . . Emmie.” He leaned closer. “And seeing how it was my mom’s dad who opened the hardware store in the first place, I’m the one who should get it and you’re the one who should leave.”

  That got her dander up and she jumped to her feet. “My father worked his butt off to make the hardware store what it is and so have I. I’m not handing it over to a smug, irresponsible, insufferable—”

  “That’s enough!” Her father slammed his hand down on the table, rattling the stack of dirty plates and causing her mother’s wine to spill. Since her father rarely raised his voice, Emma shut up and turned to him.

  He sighed and ran a hand through his thinning salt and pepper hair. “We aren’t asking you what you want. We’re telling you what we’re doing. And we’re selling the hardware store. As of now, Boone Murphy and Emma Johansen’s ongoing feud is over.”

  Chapter Two

  Boone felt completely blindsided. When Michael Johansen had called and asked him to dinner, Boone had known something was up. And he’d thought he’d known exactly what that something was. For the last eleven years, he’d expected the divorce bomb to be dropped and had prepared for it. But he hadn’t been prepared for his loving parents to sell the hardware store out from under him. A hardware store that had been in his mom’s family for over sixty years. Boone’s mom’s father had started the store and then sold it to Boone’s father and Michael when he’d been diagnosed with lung cancer. Grandpa Sims had passed away before Boone was born, but DeeDee had talked often about how proud her father would’ve been to have his grandson running the store he started.

  Boone wasn’t about to let the store go to some stranger.

  “Then I’ll buy it,” he said. “I’ll sell Grandpa Murphy’s ranch and buy it with the money.”

  “No, I’ll buy it.” Emma jumped in. “I can get the money.”

  The fathers exchanged looks before Boone’s dad spoke. “They only way we’d agree to sell the store to one of you is if the other one decides they don’t want it. And it doesn’t look like that’s the case. So we’re not going to sell it to either one of you.”

  Boone stared at his father. “That’s it. You’re just going to sell the store to a complete stranger?”

  His father nodded sadly. “You haven’t given us any other choice. Our kids are more important than a store.”

  “When?” Emma asked. “When are you selling it?”

  “We’re leaving for South Padre in a few days. We planned to put our houses and the store up for sale before we leave. But if you or Boone would be willing to give up the store to the other one, we could wait to sell it until we get back at the end of the summer.” Dean glanced at Michael. “What do you think, Mike?”

  Michael nodded. “That will give Emma and Boone three months to figure out what to do.” He got up. “Come on, Dean. I’ll show you that fishing boat I’ve been looking at online.”

  When the fathers were gone, Boone turned to his mom. Tears brimmed in her green eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Boone,” she said. “You have to know it hurts your father and I more than it’s hurting you. But things have gotten completely out of hand between you and Emma. Everyone in town has bets on who is going to kill the other one first.”

  Gina Johansen placed a hand on DeeDee’s shoulder. “It’s a funny joke to the townsfolk. But to your parents, it’s heartbreaking. We want our children to be happy and you’ve proven that you can’t be happy together. So it’s time to accept that. For your sakes and for ours.” She got up and she and his mother started collecting the plates and glasses.

  After they left, he turned to Emma. When they were kids, she had worn her light blond hair in pigtails with bows that made her look like a cute puppy. In high school, she had worn it in a high ponytail that swung from side to side as she strode the halls in her purposeful walk. Now she wore it shoulder length and curled in loose waves that reminded Boone of the freshly churned butter Grandma Sims had always served with her homemade bread.

  The curls framed a face that was as familiar to him as his own. High forehead, arched brows a shade darker than her hair, robin’s egg blue eyes with short lashes that she’d constantly complained about in high school. A slender nose with a slight tilt at the tip. And a wide mouth with full lips and a set of perfectly straight teeth that had once been covered in braces. He could still remember the smile she had flashed him the day she’d gotten those braces off. It h
ad lit up the world. Or maybe just his.

  She wasn’t smiling now.

  He expected her to blame him for their parents’ decision. She blamed him for everything. But Emma was as unpredictable as Texas weather. Boone hadn’t been able to forecast her moods since grade school.

  “I need a drink,” she said. “You want to go to Cotton-Eyed Joe’s?”

  Alcohol and Emma wasn’t a good idea. It had been a long time since he had mixed the two. But he needed a drink in a bad way, so he followed her to the bar on the outskirts of town. He pulled his truck into the spot next to her Civic and got out. They didn’t speak on the way to the door. He held it for her and she accepted his courtesy with a simple nod. Once inside, they showed their IDs to the doorman, then Boone led Emma to a high-top table in a corner far enough away from the DJ booth so they could talk. Rather than wait for the waitress, Boone decided to head to the bar and get their drinks.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said.

  “I want a margarita on the rocks with—”

  He cut her off. “A splash of olive juice and three olives.” When she looked surprised, he shrugged. “Everyone in town knows the weird dirty margarita you drink.” When he reached the bar, he was shocked to find Cal Daily tending it. “Hey, Cal. When did you start working here?”

  “Tonight is my first night. I’m working nights hoping to save up to buy the old gas station.”

  Cal had become the resident mechanic in Simple. He was a hardworking man who’d had a string of bad luck. His wife had left him. His mother had just recently passed. And the mobile home he and his teenage daughter were living in had burned to the ground. Boone had offered him a loan until he got back on his feet, but Cal wasn’t one to take charity.

  “I thought you were going to get a loan at the bank for the gas station?” Boone said.

  Cal shook his head. “Miss Applegate turned me down flat. And I can’t say as I blame her. My credit isn’t that great. What can I get you to drink?”

  Boone wished he could offer another loan. But if he could talk Emma into letting him have the store, he would need the money in his savings—along with whatever he made on his grandparents’ property—to buy the hardware store. Although that was a pipe dream. Emma would never let go of the store. Even if just to spite him.

  After paying for the drinks, Boone headed back to the table. He stopped short when he realized the Taylor Swift song the DJ had just started playing. “Love Story” had been Emma’s favorite song their senior year of high school. She’d squealed whenever it came on the radio and requested it at every dance they went to that year. But now she hated the song. Whenever it came on the radio at work, Emma would always switch the station. Boone knew why. Emma’s Romeo had turned out to be a real asshole. Her hatred for the song was confirmed when he reached the table and saw the scowl on her face. She took the margarita from him and downed half of it before he could even take off his hat and sit down. They didn’t talk until the song was over and his bottle of beer and her glass were empty.

  “South Padre?” he grumbled. “Where did that come from?”

  She nodded. “I’m not buying that my mom loves the beach. Remember when we went to Disneyland that year and we all went to the ocean? After we got back to the hotel, all she could talk about was how sand had gotten everywhere and how the ocean salt had dried out her skin.” She paused. “But Daddy does like to fish.”

  “Which is why this is probably his stupid idea.”

  Emma’s eyes narrowed over the rim of the margarita glass she was sucking dry. She lowered the glass. “Are you calling my dad stupid?”

  Her dad wasn’t just stupid. But Boone had kept that secret for years and he wasn’t about to reveal it now. Or ever.

  He checked to see if any beer was left in his bottle before he spoke. “I just want to figure out what got into their heads to move to South Padre Island. They love Simple and always have.”

  “They loved Simple when their kids weren’t the center of gossip.” She stopped stabbing the olive in her glass with the cocktail stirrer and lifted her gaze. Her eyes held sad resignation. “We did this to ourselves, Boone. Our inability to get along has made us the laughingstock of the town. I’ve never given much thought to what people say—and I know you don’t. But now I realize how hard it’s been for our parents to go to the grocery store for milk and get to hear about their kids’ latest fight.”

  “And whose fault is that?”

  She paused with the olive an inch from her mouth. “Are you saying I’m the one who starts all our fights?”

  “Most of them. Everyone knows I’m easygoing.”

  Just like that the hate was back in her eyes. Funny how it made him feel more comfortable than the sad resignation.

  She dropped the olive back into her glass. “That is such bull crap, Boone Murphy. You start just as many arguments as I do with your smug, gloating attitude. We both know you hate accounting and yet you’ll argue with me about how to do the books. Just because you got your master’s in business at Harvard while I only got my bachelor’s at Texas Tech, doesn’t mean you’re smarter than I am. The only reason you went for your master’s was because you wanted to stay in college raising hell for two more years on your parents’ dime instead of coming back to Simple and working like I did.”

  She was right. He had stayed in school just so he didn’t have to come back to Simple. But not because he didn’t want to work. He just hadn’t wanted to face the truth that his perfect life wasn’t so perfect. So he’d stayed at Harvard and gotten his MBA. Then after getting his degree, he’d decided that maybe he didn’t ever want to come home. For another year, he traveled around working odd jobs until he’d finally grown up and figured out that life wasn’t perfect. Now he was back where he belonged and had settled into a life that wasn’t the dream he’d once had, but it wasn’t so bad either.

  “At least I experienced life,” he said.

  Her eyes widened. “I experienced life. I went to college.”

  “Yeah, a college that was only a few hours away so you could come home every weekend to work in the store with your daddy. You are such a daddy’s girl.”

  “It’s better than being an ungrateful son who didn’t even call on his mom’s birthday or Mother’s Day. And you’re right. I did come home every weekend in college to work in the store. Which is why I should get it.”

  He placed his arms on the table and leaned closer. “You don’t even like hardware. You only want the store because I want it. You’ve always wanted what I want. And I have a scar on my forehead to prove it.”

  She glanced at his left eyebrow. “I had the Tonka truck first.”

  “But it was my truck. You gave it to me for my third birthday and then didn’t even give me a chance to play with it. When I tried to get my turn, you bashed me in the head with it.”

  “This isn’t the same thing.”

  “It’s the exact same thing. You want everything, Em. And when we were kids, I always gave in. Well, I’m not giving in now. I deserve the store just as much as you do. Admit it. You’d rather pick up a book than a hammer.”

  She glared at him. “You don’t have to like hardware to sell it.”

  He held up his hands. “Fine. Then what are we going to do? If we can’t figure out who gets the store, we’ll both lose it. Maybe we should flip for it.”

  “You want our lives controlled by the flip of a coin?” She rolled her eyes. “That is so you, Boone Murphy.”

  “So what do you want to do, Emma? You always have a plan.”

  “And you always fly by the seat of your pants.”

  The waitress arrived while they were glaring at each other and they ordered another round. After they emptied those, they ordered another. Halfway through her third margarita, Emma suddenly straightened and a sparkle entered her eyes. A sparkle that Boone knew all to well. It had gotten him into enough trouble over the years that he was instantly wary.

  “My mom is right,” she said. “We have bee
n frittering our lives away. One or both of us should be married by now—or at least in love. It’s pathetic that we’re not.”

  The wary feeling intensified. “There’s nothing pathetic about my life. Yours, on the other hand, is the definition of pathetic. If you’re not at work, you’re holed up in your house reading or going out on a date with some loser.”

  Her scowl grew meaner. “At least I date. You just hook up with every single woman in Simple.”

  “Not every woman. I’m scared of Miss Gertie.” Miss Gertie was over ninety and owned Dixon’s Boardinghouse with her niece, Reba. The woman looked like a shriveled old apple and was meaner than a rattlesnake.

  “I’m serious, Boone,” Emma said. “Don’t you want a family?”

  He had. He had wanted a marriage exactly like his parents had. But that dream evaporated a few nights before his senior prom. Now he just wanted . . . hell, he didn’t know what he wanted. He just didn’t want to lose what he had.

  When he didn’t answer, Emma spoke. “Well, I want a family. I want a husband who loves me and kids I can spoil.”

  Boone knew this. Getting married and starting a family was something Emma had mentioned often when they were teenagers. She wanted four kids. Two boys and two girls. She had made an entire list of names to choose from. He was glad he had never had to choose . . . and also more than a little sad.

  “And you need to grow up and settle down too, Boone,” she continued. “Which is why I think the first person to get engaged should get the hardware store.”

  His stomach felt like it had when she’d talked him into going on the roller coaster ride at Six Flags amusement park after eating four churros and a super-sized cherry slushie.

  He stared at her. “Are you crazy?”

  “Crazy smart.” She rested her arms on the table and leaned in closer. So close that he got a whiff of herbal shampoo and tequila. “It makes perfect sense. Why should we stay here if we can’t find anyone we want to spend the rest of our lives with?”

  “But our parents are planning on selling the store in three months. You expect us to find someone to fall in love with that quickly when we haven’t found someone in our entire lives.”