“Actually,” Cassie said after clearing her throat. “I delivered the calf. And what’s all this fuss about? Why are you calling him Rhett the Jet? How do you know each other?”
Now it was Rhett who wouldn’t look her in the eye. “Cassie, I should have told you…”
“Oh? She doesn’t know?” Judy’s eyes grew large as she looked from Rhett to Cassie and back again. “I’ll just go check on Maybel. Bye, it was so nice to meet you.”
Cassie raised her hands to her hips and waited until Judy was out of earshot. “Okay, what’s going on?”
“Cassie, I didn’t mean to keep anything from you. It’s just that I really wanted to get the chance to know you, and sometimes my reputation precedes me. I didn’t want you to write me off without first giving me a chance.” He tried to put his arms around her, but she pushed him away.
“So you lied instead? And I still don’t get it? Who are you, Rhett? Who are you really?”
“I’m me only better when I’m with you. You do something crazy to me, Cass. I never knew I could fall so hard. I never—”
She stomped her foot like an angry steer. “You still haven’t answered my question. Who are you?”
“Like I said, everything I’ve told you is true. Everything I’ve been to you is true. My name is Rhett Rockwell, and I play football for the San Antonio Bombers.”
“Football? Like you’re a professional athlete?”
“Yeah, I guess I am.” He grabbed the back of his neck and kicked at the hay on the barn floor. He looked even more handsome now that he’d had all the wind knocked from his sails. No, she couldn’t focus on that. She was angry, livid, and she still needed answers.
“I don’t like that you kept that from me, Rhett. It feels like you were trying to trick me. It cheapens what I thought we had. You just—”
“Ex-excuse me, Cassie?” Judy reappeared, walking slowly toward them. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but can you come see Maybel with me for a second? I need to go over her care with you.”
Dutifully, she followed Judy to the other end of the barn, and squatted down beside Maybel who was still resting. She expected Judy to start ticking off a long list of instructions, but instead her friend pinched her in the arm.
“Ow, what was that for?”
“Are you crazy?” Judy whispered, but her face contorted as if she really meant to scream.
Cass sighed. “I’m starting to think this isn’t about Maybel.”
“Darn skippy, it’s not. Maybel’s just fine. It’s you I’m worried about. That man is obviously crazy about you, and he’s freaking Rhett ‘the Jet’ Rockwell. Why are you giving him such a hard time?”
Cass turned away, her voice soft. “He lied to me.”
“So, he withheld information to get sex, big deal. Men do that all the time, famous or not. He’s still here, isn’t he?”
“Actually, he didn’t. I mean, we didn’t. We haven’t slept together. I’m not like that, and I don’t think he is either.” Was she blowing this whole thing out of proportion? Or was Rhett justified in keeping the truth from her? It had only been a few days after all, and they’d mostly focused on the ranch in their time together. Football hadn’t really come up.
Judy grabbed both of Cassie’s wrists and pulled her close. “Then what in the heck is the problem? He didn’t want you to write him off if you found out about his fame and fortune. That makes sense to me. Would you have knowingly dated him if you knew all that beforehand?”
Cass shook her head. “No, definitely not.”
Now the vet smiled at last. “See? Seems like he did the right thing to me. Give him a break, will you?”
“But, Judy…”
“But nothing. He hasn’t really done anything wrong, but still here he is trying to make it right. And I know you, you would have lost your head if he hadn’t been here to help with the delivery. He very well saved Maybel’s life. From what I can tell, he’s a good man, one who’s smitten with you.”
“Maybe. I just don't know. I have so much on my plate already. I need to look after Maybel, to work on making the ranch profitable again so that we don’t need to sell it.”
“You also can’t keep running on empty. You give so much to the animals, to this place, and you’re amazing for it. Have you ever heard the expression you can’t serve from an empty vessel? What are you doing to fill yourself up these days, Cass? Seems to me your well’s been empty for a long time. And take it from someone who’s known you for a long time, who wants what’s best for you. You deserve happiness, but to find it you need to first step out of your own way. Give him a chance. If it doesn’t work out, you can blame me later, all right?”
Chapter 8
Oh, man!
He’d done the wrong thing with Cassie… again.
This love stuff was a whole lot harder than he’d always assumed—especially when earning their affections had always been so simple in the past. Now that it mattered to him, he was one giant walking mistake.
He needed to win Cassie back over, to prove to her she could trust him, but how?
He heard her speaking to Judy in hushed whispers and realized that if Cassie did decide to give him another chance he owed a certain Bombers fan season tickets. As the women chatted, he returned to mucking out the stalls. After several more minutes, Cassie returned and gave him a funny look. It seemed she had been watching him for a while without him knowing.
“So you’re kind of a big deal?” she said at last, her arms crossed over her chest.
He decided it was best not to say anything, and she laughed nervously.
“I don’t get it, Rhett. You could get any woman you want. Why me?”
He dropped the shovel and focused his full attention on her. “Because you call me on my crap, you show me that a woman can be so much more than a pretty thing on my arm. You challenge me, you teach me, you’re the only person I’ve ever met who works harder toward her dream than I do.”
Taking a chance, he drew near to her, looping his arms loosely around her waist. He could tell she wanted him to bend down and kiss her, but as much as he wanted to, he didn’t.
“We’ve already lost half the morning, but I reckon if we both give it our best, we can be through with the day’s chores in time for dinner.”
“You reckon? Since when do you talk like that?”
Now they both laughed. “Since trying to prove to you that I can keep up. If we can get everything done by tonight, will you let me stay and cook dinner for you?”
“I reckon I might could.” She kissed him on the cheek, allowing her lips to linger a fraction of a second longer than they might otherwise. She smelled of body scrub and a citrusy perfume he quite liked. “Thank you, Rhett. Really.”
“Hey, no big deal, but you better stop distracting me. I’ve got a lot of mucking to do, and I’m kind of working on a deadline here.”
Cass grabbed her straw hat from a nearby hook and tipped it his way. “You’ve got it, cowboy.”
Cowboy. He liked the sound of that. Although he’d never in a million years want to play football for Dallas, he’d love the chance to woo this special cowgirl who had moseyed on into his life and taken it firmly by the reins.
Feeling energized now, Rhett mucked like his life depended on it, and it kind of did.
When he’d finished that chore, Cassie had him stack hay bales, and when he finished that he had fence sections to repair. By five o’clock, she’d run out of chores to assign him, so he finished up the last one and then headed to his car to retrieve the shopping bags he’d packed with dried goods and spices earlier that morning with hopes that they’d get to this point—along with hopes that Cass would have the remaining ingredients he needed to make his famous chicken carbonara.
In the end, he’d needed to make it without the bacon, but it still turned out pretty danged good. Cassie made all kinds of mms and aahs as they ate together on her large wraparound porch, watching as the stars began to climb out of the darkness and light up the
night sky.
“Since when can you cook?” she asked in disbelief.
“Since always. My mom got home late most nights from working second shift, and I liked to make sure she came home to a warm meal every now and then.”
“So you’re a mama’s boy?”
“No, I’m a boy who appreciates strong, hard-working women—women like you, Cass. You looked so irresistible today as you tended to the cattle and wielded that pitchfork like it wasn’t nobody’s business.”
Cassie laughed. “Stop trying to talk Texan, it isn’t working. Besides I like the real you just as you are.”
“Really? Just as I am?”
“Yup.” She took another bite of pasta, and a tiny bit of the cream sauce stuck to her lower lip.
Rhett swooped in to kiss it off.
“Don’t you think you might like me better if I say…took off my shirt?” He slowly unbuttoned his flannel and dropped it to the porch below them.
A nervous smile tugged at her lips. “I thought I told you already. I’m not that kind of girl.”
“And that’s precisely why I like you so much.” He leaned forward to kiss her, placing a hand on each of the arms of Cassie’s wooden rocking chair so they wouldn’t roam away and get him into trouble. “Relax, I’m just trying to cool off after a hard day’s work.”
“You did work pretty hard out there. Best free labor I’ve ever hired.”
“Now remember that when I come back for work tomorrow.”
She searched his eyes. “Why do you like me, Rhett?”
He chuckled softly. “This again? I already told you, and I’ll keep telling you until you believe it. Because you’re incredible, and I’ve never met anyone like you before.”
“But what do you—?”
“Hey, that night we met, there was a song. You said I didn’t belong in Texas since I didn’t know it.” He sank back into his chair and took another big bite of the chicken carbonara. Rhett wished she would stop questioning herself, wished she would believe in herself the way he already believed in her.
She sighed. “I didn’t say you don’t belong, only that you’re obviously not from here.”
“Teach me the song? It had something to do with the stars, right?”
She laughed, and he took the opportunity to grab her hand and hold it tight.
“The stars at night,” she sang softly. “Shine big and bright…Deep in the heart of Texas.”
“That’s it?”
“Well, that’s all you really need to know. Easy isn’t it?”
Rhett repeated the lyric, bringing his mouth close to her ear so she’d feel his breath with each word. “So now do I belong?”
“In Texas?” she said with a look of pure joy on her face.
“In Texas. With you. Wherever.”
Cassie laced her fingers through his and rested her cheek on the top of his head. “Yes, it seems you do.”
“Cass, I…”
“What?”
“I don’t want to run away.”
“Then don’t.”
“I mean it. You may end up stuck with me.”
“I don’t see that as a problem.”
She smiled, and his whole world felt as if it were snapping into place. Perhaps he didn’t have to run to feel safe or even to feel the thrill of living. Sometimes slow was good. Slow was perfect. Slow was a freaking miracle. They sat together for a long time watching the stars and enjoying the remnants of his home-cooked meal.
“You’re cold. Let’s go inside. Maybe you can show me some of your games on Netflix, so I can see you on action.”
Rhett laughed. “That’s not really how it works, but let’s go see what we can find.”
On the couch, Cassie cuddled into his chest, covering them both with a blanket as she flicked through the channels in search of the latest Bombers game.
Luckily, ESPN was showing highlights from their weekly highlights, and Cassie was able to see Rhett’s winning touchdown from the night they had first met at the Alamo. She shouted, gasped, and made all the noises of a true sports fan—and he loved it.
And as he watched her watch him, he knew that he wasn’t falling in love with Cass. Not anymore.
He’d already fallen, hard—and he didn’t want to get up.
Wow, so Rhett really was a big deal. Cassie had never been into pretty boy athletes before, but seeing Rhett do what he loved before a crowd of cheering fans made her ridiculously excited.
Sure, she’d had boyfriends before, but none had made her feel the things Rhett could. He was a constant mystery to her. Just when she thought she had him figured out, he’d flip the script and reveal a whole new side of himself. Despite the whole not-telling-her-he-was-a-pro-athlete thing, he’d been perfectly upfront with her about everything else and she’d enjoyed each surprise as it was revealed.
When the sports show ended, she placed a kiss on his neck and then another on his cheek… His eyes… his lips.
Suddenly, the overhead light beamed bright overhead.
“Cassie! What is going on here?”
She had to squint to make out the silhouette of her sister in the doorframe.
She shot away from Rhett, embarrassed despite having done nothing wrong. This was her house, her life.
“Jenny, it’s late! What are you even doing here?”
“What is he doing here? Honestly, Jenny, you don’t even know this guy and you’re letting him creep around your house late at night? If that’s the case, you’re not who I thought you were.” She shook her head supposedly in disappointment, her blonde hair swishing back and forth against her neck.
“How dare you? First you want to take my ranch, then you want to scare off my boyfriend. He was invited. You were not.” Not technically true, but she was on a roll now. “You just showed up unannounced. And now you should leave the way you came. Bye, Jenn.”
The sisters studied each other in stony silence until Rhett finally spoke up.
“Look, I have to get a good night’s sleep for my big game tomorrow anyway. I’ll be back the moment it’s over. Is that okay, Cass?”
Cassie nodded, a bit miffed that Rhett wouldn’t stay to defend her against Jenny, but this was her battle to fight—not his.
“Could you maybe give me a moment?” he asked Jenny. His voice held a sexy hoarseness that made Cassie melt.
Jenny turned away, easing the door closed behind her. “I’ll be waiting on the porch. Don’t leave me there too long.”
“Are you going to be okay?” Rhett asked when the door had clicked shut, leaving the two of them alone.
“I can handle Jenny. I’d just prefer not to. I hate that she ruined our evening like this.”
“You can take her if it comes down to it.” He winked. “But if you need anything, just call, okay?”
Cassie sighed and fell back against the couch. “You said you’ll be back tomorrow. Is that a promise?”
“Do you want it to be?”
She shot him a sarcastic smile. “Uh duh.”
He chuckled, then leaned down and gave her another kiss. When he pulled away, he must have noticed the worry that still wracked her mind.
“You can handle your sister.” He locked his eyes on hers. “Don’t let her intimidate you. I’m sure whatever it is, you can find a way to sort things out. You’ve got this.”
She forced a smile. It really was sweet that he wanted to help so badly. “Thanks for the pep talk.”
“Hey, it works in football. Why not family crises?”
She smacked him on the backside playfully. “Get outta here.”
Once Rhett had departed, Cassie took a moment to gather herself, then slipped into a pair of chaste flannel pajamas and joined her sister on the porch.
Jenny sat on one of the rocking chairs, taking slow sips from a bottle of water. “I know you think I’m the devil,” she said without looking up.
“You’re not clever enough to be the devil, but you have been making my life pretty miserable lately.”
/>
Her sister sighed. “You haven’t exactly made mine a walk in the park either, you know. I’ve been so mad at you, wondering how you could be so selfish about this, but then—”
Cassie couldn’t let that slide by. “Me? Selfish? Really, Jenny? So you did come over here to yell at me. I’m doing everything I can, and you don’t even—”
Instead of opening her mouth to argue, Jenny’s mouth pressed into a tight line. Next thing Cassie knew her sister broke out into sobs right there on the front porch.
As pissed as she was about all this, Cassie still loved her sister and hated to see her cry…especially when pregnant.
Instinctively, she rushed to Jenny’s side and rubbed her shoulder. “I’m sorry. You know I’ve been under a lot of pressure lately. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”
“No, no, it’s my fault. Just let me explain…” Jenny took in a shaky breath, eyeing her sister hesitantly.
“Go ahead.” Cassie sat down in the other rocker and braced herself for whatever came next. Crying or not, Jenny had always known how to dish it out—and Cassie almost always found herself on the receiving end.
“So, I’ve been super mad at you, wondering why you’ve been so oblivious to my problems, but then I realized that’s because I haven’t told you. Jeff has too much pride to say anything and I didn’t want the kids to worry, so I said we were out of ice cream and that I desperately needed some mint chocolate chip, then snuck over here instead so we could talk.”
Suddenly all of Cassie’s anger melted away. Now she was filled with only concern for her poor sister and… Oh, God.
“Jenny, is the baby okay?”
“Of course, the baby’s okay, but Jeff and I aren’t.”
Cassie swallowed a mouthful of yogurt, doing her best not to choke on it. Such was the shock of this revelation.
Jenny and Jeff weren’t okay? How was this even happening, and how come Cassie hadn’t noticed without having to be told?
Jenny and Jeff had always been the picture-perfect couple, so in love that they couldn’t stop popping out one child after the next. They were the model husband and wife with the model family, in the model suburb, living the model lives that everyone aspired to. How could they possibly be having problems?
The Alaska Sunrise Romances: A 9-Book Sweet Romance Collection Page 40
