The Cowgirl’s Chosen Love: The Colemans of Heart Falls: Book 3

by Vivian Arend

  She hesitated before he could tug her from the pub. It took a sharp squeeze on his fingers to get his attention.

  He curled himself around her so he could hear her words.

  “People need to see us,” she insisted.

  “Some people need to not see us until I know what the hell is going on,” Zach insisted. “Talk first.”

  She let him lead her, glancing over her shoulder to try to see if any of the key gossips of the community had spotted them.

  Her gaze fell on her sister’s fiancée. Finn Marlette’s alert gaze followed her and Zach, and a rush of oh shit arrived.

  She had damn good reasons for what she’d started, but she hadn’t thought this through before acting.

  At this point the only choice was to go forward. She ducked her chin and slipped out the door at Zach’s side.

  The ice-cold wind stole her breath and sent goose bumps rising over her heated skin. A second later a warm, soft jacket settled around her shoulders, right before Zach grabbed the lapels of the coat—his coat that she now wore like a shawl—and tugged her to face him.

  “Why?”

  A man of few words. She could work with that. Only when laughter rang from the front entrance barely fifteen feet to their right, Julia paused before diving into her explanation.

  A group of three women were staring at them, gazes darting up and down. Were they the ones Julia had overheard? She supposed it didn’t matter, except for the fact she had to sell this bit of bullshit with everything in her.

  She turned her focus on Zach, draping her arms over his shoulders and pressing their torsos together again. “I swear I will explain, but right now you need to lose that frown.”

  “It’s hard to look like everything’s peachy keen when I don’t know what’s going on,” Zach said, but his lips curled upward, and his hands wound around her waist again.

  Big hands, strong and controlling—

  A shiver that had nothing to do with the cold evening air shook her from top to bottom. Julia fought the fear inside her and nodded briskly even as she let her fingers drift up to play with the curl of brown hair that had fallen over his forehead.

  “Someone was gossiping. Really mean shit. Maybe even those women, and I guarantee you will agree to help when you hear the whole story. But for now, trust me?”

  He didn’t answer. Then she couldn’t ask again, because his lips were on hers once more, the kiss making teeny electric zaps fly up and down her spine.

  Her body liked this man. Which was a weird thing for her to acknowledge, all things considered.

  At her back, footsteps echoed on the boardwalk. Feminine giggles rang as the group of ladies passed by.

  Zach teased his tongue against hers, and a moan escaped. Honestly escaped, because the last thing she wanted him to know was how much being pressed against him affected her. Although—hello—the thick length of a healthy erection pressed against her belly.

  So. She wasn’t the only one reacting to their little tête-à-tête.

  Julia broke the connection between them this time, pressing a hand to his chest to open up enough room so she could gasp for air.

  Under her fingers, his heart pounded.

  His bare biceps flexed as he caught hold of her elbows. “Enough. We need to talk.”

  “My place?” Having him come under her roof had the added benefit of adding fuel to the rumour mill if anyone saw them. Which, considering where she lived, chances were high.

  He didn’t argue. Just wrapped that big hand around hers again and guided her down the boardwalk to the corner where they turned to the west.

  They moved quickly. Zach remained quiet and didn’t ask any more questions, which was good, because although she intended to make everything clear…

  Her brain whirled. How had this evening gone from amazing to hell and then to being kissed senseless by Zach Sorenson in such a short period of time?

  He stopped at the front door of her apartment building before swearing softly. He turned on her almost accusingly. “Why is there no security?”

  Her snort wasn’t very ladylike. “Gee. Not sure. Maybe because this is the cheapest place in town, and things like a doorman or a security system are low on their priority list?”

  Zach’s blue eyes flashed for a moment, but he opened the exterior door and gestured her past him.

  Across the street on the bench outside Connie’s Café, a couple of young guys whistled and shouted rude suggestions. Julia ignored them like usual.

  She took the stairs to the second floor, automatically stepping around the worst of the stains on the carpet. It was impossible to tell which were old and which were new, and after one misstep into a fresh pile of vomit, she’d learned avoidance was simpler.

  Key already in hand, she had her door open in seconds, this time waiting for Zach to enter first.

  He put a hand on her back and guided her ahead of him, his silence growing louder. Which was fine, because all the voices in her head were shouting at the same time. What she really wanted was to make a cup of tea and sit in the dark for a while to let her world settle down.

  What she wanted would have to wait.

  She twisted toward him instead. “Explanation. Okay.”

  He folded his arms over his chest, biceps bulging in that position. He examined her from top to bottom then shook his head. “Dammit, Jules, you look like shit. What the hell?”

  There was no anger in his tone, just very controlled annoyance, but on top of everything else, it was the last straw.

  Tears arrived as a sob burst from her lips.

  2

  Great move, asshole.

  Zach stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Julia. He cradled her carefully, so he wasn’t smothering her but at the same time offering as much support as possible.

  Tears poured out of her as if he’d somehow turned on a tap with his words, and, dammit, he wished like hell he could take them back.

  And yet he was floored to see her react like this considering what he’d learned about her over the past months. He’d expected a snarky comment or, worst-case scenario, for her to kick him out of her place for being an ass.

  Her shoulders shook as she buried her face harder against his chest, arms squeezing tight around his torso.

  Zach stroked the top of her head for a moment before realizing if she did snap out of it, petting her like a puppy was probably not a wise move. Instead, he rubbed her back and took horrified stock of her apartment.

  It was clean. Empty to the point of a monk’s cell sparseness, the few personal touches were limited to some bright throw cushions and a couple of pictures on the wall.

  The place was also extremely small. Four walls and one other opening that led to a tiny bathroom. A couch sat across from an old travel case. The kitchen ran the length of one wall. That was it. No bookcases, no frilly curtains or plants. Austere to the extreme.

  It didn’t make him think of Julia at all.

  Behind him, the doorknob rattled before the hinges creaked and a man stepped into view. The stranger wore a dirty T-shirt half tucked into his pants, half stretching over the round of his beer belly. He drew back with a curse upon spotting Zach, hands rising as he retreated to the landing. His sprint down the stairs was impressive considering his loose paunch.

  When the door opened, Julia had jerked to attention. She stepped in front of Zach to shout at the vanishing intruder. “I told you to never do that again.”

  Fire flared inside, and the only things that stopped Zach from running after the man were Julia’s fingers now tangled in his T-shirt.

  “What the hell is going on?” he demanded again.

  She pressed her free hand to her head as if trying to keep her brains from spilling out. “One thing at a time. Just…sit down and I swear I’ll explain.”

  It took everything in him to ease away. Two steps brought him to the small dining table, and he settled into the wooden chair on one side.

  He fought down a growl as she too
k the second chair and jammed it under the front doorknob.

  Unbelievable fury roiled in Zach’s gut.

  Somehow, he kept his cool as she turned to face him. Tear lines streaked her cheeks, but she straightened her spine. “I was in the bathroom at Rough Cut and overheard some women gossiping. There’s a rumour going around Heart Falls that I’m having an affair with Brad Ford.”

  Even as pissed off and in hyperprotective mode from everything that had happened over the last few minutes, her words floored Zach. “Someone thinks you’re having an affair with your boss? The guy who just got married a month ago and who is obviously and stupidly in love with Hanna?”

  His disbelief must’ve rang clear because Julia nodded. “Isn’t it absurd? But you know what small town rumours are like. Somebody’s going to find something to prove it—the fact I came to Heart Falls to mentor under him because we met each other a couple years ago at the EMT training center could be enough to get some people to believe.”

  Okay, Zach hadn’t known that part. It added a layer of concern to the situation. Not that he thought she and Brad were doing anything wrong, but it would give the mean-spirited gossips something to chew on. “So you kissed me…?”

  A little bit of her bravado faded. “I kind of panicked. I heard them talking, and the only thing in my brain was to make sure the rumours don’t continue. And maybe if I had a boyfriend already, that would stop the stupidity in its tracks.”

  He wasn’t sure if the fact she picked him for this honour was a good thing or an insult.

  Being a glass half-full kinda guy, he went with it being a good thing. “You’re saying I’m a convenient boyfriend?”

  She hurried to explain, stepping forward to finish even as she wiped her eyes and tried to pull herself together. “Temporary boyfriend. It’s just for a short time. My trainee position is done at the end of October, and then I’ll be gone. But yeah, if people think we’re together, they won’t think I’m fooling around on the side with Brad.”

  This was getting messy. “Yeah, I can see how all that works. Great. Fine.” He met her gaze straight on. “What about your sisters? And my friends? What are we going to tell them?”

  She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, and in spite of the tension in the room, he had to admit to being slightly charmed. She was damn cute.

  The impulsive thing had caught him off guard, but her heart was in the right place and considering his long-term goals, being offered guaranteed time with the woman had to be counted as a win.

  Julia’s nose twitched. “Umm. I haven’t thought about that. Like I said, I didn’t really think any of it through. I just reacted. I was doing triage before the situation bled out.”

  “Yeah, I can see that. But we have to come up with a different spin to the story. Because as much as my friends love me, if they think I screwed around then dumped you, I’m the one who’ll be bleeding.”

  She looked confused. “You won’t be dumping me. And I won’t be dumping you. It’s just a little… I don’t know, a short-term thing.”

  “Short-term?” He eyed her, making sure he didn’t let his gaze linger too long where it shouldn’t. “Yeah. You mean like a one-night stand? Because I can see your sisters hanging me by my nuts if I had the crassness to try.”

  Her cheeks flushed. “We’re not having a one-night stand. The whole point of this is to make it look as if we’re involved enough that Brad is clearly out of the question.”

  “Great. We’ll fool around from now until the end of October when you leave. Then your sisters, who will still be here, will kick my butt every time they see me. Which, considering one of them is deep in cahoots with my best friend, means every damn day.”

  Julia shook her head, the crease between her brows forcing him to fight to keep from smiling. “They won’t be mad at you. We’ll explain. Just to them, and Finn and Josiah, of course.” She paused. “And maybe Tamara as well.”

  That last part wasn’t said with as much confidence.

  “So what you’re asking me to do is either lie to my friends or lie to some of my friends.”

  She looked a little more uncomfortable but stuck to her guns. “Please. We have to find a way to make this work because Brad is a good friend and I can’t let him be hurt. Not him or Hanna. I owe him too much.”

  Another layer of mystery added to the situation. What had happened at that training school to connect the two of them so tightly?

  She headed to the counter and plugged in the kettle, glancing over her shoulder. “I need a cup of tea. Want one?”

  It wasn’t the whiskey he was looking forward to, but it would have to do. “Sure.”

  He waited and let her fuss at the counter for a few minutes. Meanwhile, his gaze kept returning to the chair blocking her doorway. This entire mess would take some time to untangle, but the one thing he knew for certain?

  She was not staying one more night in this damn apartment. It clearly had major security issues. Zach kicked his own ass for not finding this out sooner because the thought of her being in the apartment alone while someone marched in on her—

  He took a deep breath and concentrated on pulling his temper back to normal levels.

  A couple minutes later, she placed two cups on the table along with cream and sugar before settling across from him.

  The three-legged stool under her was shorter than the chair he sat in. It put her chin about four inches above the surface of the table, and she looked like a little kid having a tea party.

  Anger returned. “You want to discuss why you’ve got a chair in front of your door?”

  A soft sigh escaped. Julia lifted her gaze but didn’t meet his eyes. “The locks don’t work very well. I drag the trunk in front of the door before I sleep.”

  That comment only strengthened his resolve. “I see.”

  He drank the tea without tasting a thing. He returned the cup to the table surface then placed both palms on either side of it. “We have some problem-solving to do. Pack a bag. You’re coming home with me.”

  Her eyes widened. “I can’t do that.”

  “My place or one of your sisters,” he offered. “But considering we need to talk about the dating thing…” Zach kept as still as possible, but his usual easygoing nonchalance had vanished sometime in the last minute. “I swear nothing will happen that you don’t want, but I need to get you somewhere safe before another person comes through the door and I hurt them.”

  He said it calmly. Peacefully, even, but Julia’s eyes widened.

  He had to assume that it’d been a hell of an evening. Julia was a caring, kind woman, and even though she was tough enough to be a damn good EMT, everything that happened tonight was breaking down the barriers.

  And as good as his control was these days? He wasn’t kidding about the need to protect.

  Julia took a final swallow of her tea before placing her cup beside his. She rose to her feet, pressed a hand on top of his briefly, then moved to pack as ordered.

  There wasn’t a whole lot of talking going on. Zach had grabbed the duffel bag she’d filled, thrown it over his shoulder, and then firmly taken her hand in his as he guided her back toward the parking lot outside Rough Cut.

  His strong fingers wrapped around hers were comforting after the chaos of the evening.

  The start of the trip between town and the dude ranch Zach and Finn were setting up passed in silence. Julia barely registered she was getting a ride in Zach’s famous convertible, her brain scrambling to find a solution for what came next.

  Impulsively tossing Zach into the mix had been brilliant and yet totally wrong. Annoyance crawled up her spine. Trying to do the right thing and still having things backfire was exasperating.

  The cold stone in the pit of her stomach that she hated with everything in her grew heavier again. Fear didn’t always make sense. What triggered it, what caused the memories to return.

  This wasn’t going to be the same, she told herself. She knew better what to watch for, and
she had a whole lot of support in the form of her newfound sisters.

  Sisters who would wonder what the heck was going on when they heard through the grapevine that she was seeing Zach.

  Shoot. She rested her head in her hands and listened to the tires bump against the uneven highway asphalt.

  “Stop tormenting yourself.” Zach’s deep rumbling voice slipped over her like a warm blanket. “We’ll figure this out. I mean that.”

  His strong features were clearly visible in the light from the dashboard. His expression was a lot harder than usual. As if all the easygoing fun that she’d seen in him over the past months was boxed up and contained.

  “I’m sorry.” She said it sincerely, even as she knew the apology wouldn’t change anything.

  The honest truth—if she had to temporarily screw up her life and somebody else’s to save Brad Ford a world of hurt?

  She’d do it in an instant.

  That wasn’t something that she could up and say, though, without complicating the situation even more than it already was. But considering she owed Brad her life, a little emotional upheaval, even within her newfound family—

  Just the thought of that truth made her pause. She had family again.

  Lots and lots of family, and while on one level she was thrilled, there was another part of her that remained in denial.

  Zach once again caught her fingers in his, squeezing them tight. Which was nice and reassuring, but when he didn’t let go and let their linked hands rest on the seat between them, Julia’s pulse kicked up a notch.

  She liked the man.

  When she’d come out of that bathroom, struggling to come up with a solution, seeing him had felt as if she’d rounded a corner into an ocean inlet and left behind the rough waves. Calmness had wrapped around her and let her take a full breath.

  Holding hands seemed far too natural considering how unnatural it was. Up until now they had always been a part of a group. Activities with her sisters, dancing at the pub, that kind of thing.