Playing for Keeps (Hope Valley Book 10)

by Jessica Prince

  “Then be sure to put our lunch toward your bail fund for when that happens.”

  She took our orders and had just headed to get our drinks when Layla spoke up, her attention focused on something over my shoulder. “Hey, isn’t that the sexy dude from the club?”

  My back went straight as all the other girl’s interests piqued. “You mean the dude who only comes in to see Charlotte?”

  “Where?” Marin asked, sitting tall in her chair and craning her neck.

  “Holy shit,” Layla breathed.

  “What?” I asked, unable to keep a lid on my curiosity. It had been more than a week since my little “Come to Jesus” with Hayden after Dalton had cornered me at the gun store, and I still hadn’t managed to summon the nerve to do something about those stupid feelings that were building inside of me like a volcano on the brink of eruption. “What is it?”

  I started to turn around when Sloane’s hand shot out and grabbed mine to stop me. “Don’t look,” she hissed on a whisper, her eyes going big.

  “What? Why not?”

  “Oh no,” Marin let out an exhale, her face falling like she’d just found out her high school crush was taking some other girl to the prom.

  “Just trust me on this,” Sloane insisted. “You don’t want to look over there right now.”

  I felt my forehead pucker into a tight frown. “Well now that you said that, I have to look.” Because that was how curiosity worked. Unable to help myself, I twisted my neck and looked behind me, and the instant I did, I wished to hell I hadn’t, because what I saw made my stomach sink right to the floor.

  Sure enough, Dalton was sitting a few tables away . . . and he wasn’t alone.

  I could actually feel the color draining from my face as I watched him lean in toward the woman sitting beside him, his bright white smile shining like a beacon through his dark beard.

  Hayden had been right. This absolutely sucked!

  She was stunning. Her long chestnut hair hung in a thick curtain of waves down her back, she had a straight nose and sharp cheekbones that most models would envy, and her eyes were lined with a thick fringe of long, dark lashes. As much as I hated to admit it to myself—and God did I hate it—they looked exceptionally beautiful together. And I instantly hated them both.

  I couldn’t hear what was being said, but I saw her grinning lips move as she reached up and tugged at his overly long hair, and it felt like the floor shifted beneath my seat, throwing my whole world off-kilter when he threw his head back, his thick, corded throat moving tantalizingly on a deep, rumbled laugh.

  “We can totally get out of here,” Layla insisted. “I’ll get Rory to pack our stuff to go, and we can bail.”

  “Yeah. That’s a great idea,” Marin agreed readily. “Let’s do that. Charlotte? What do you say?”

  My friends waited for me to answer, but I couldn’t seem to find my voice. I was still staring in shock, the blood rushing in my ears, as the woman stood up and headed in the direction of the bathroom, and before I could think better of it, I was on my feet and moving toward Dalton like my feet had a mind of their own.

  My tongue had managed to untangle at some point between my table and his. “You move fast, cowboy,” I spat out, my tone dripping with indignation.

  He turned those slate eyes in my direction, and there wasn’t a single ounce of surprise in their dark depths. Knowing him, he’d been aware of me the moment I walked into the bar. He just hadn’t cared.

  “Charlotte.” His rough, craggy voice rumbling my name in casual greeting lit my body from the inside, which made me even angrier. “You enjoying your lunch?”

  “Well, I was. Until I saw you with your new piece only days after you nearly kissed me.”

  The corner of his mouth trembled, and I could have sworn he was fighting back a smile. I wasn’t sure if a person’s head could spontaneously explode, but I had the feeling I was about to be the first documented case.

  The thick slashes of his brows rose higher on his forehead. “Is that how you remember it goin’ down?”

  “That’s how I remember it because that’s how it happened.”

  “Hmm. ’Cause I’m pretty sure it was you who almost kissed me before you lost your nerve.”

  The aloofness in his tone and the fact that he was basically calling me a coward again made my ire rise to a dangerous level. It felt like my skin was burning from the inside out, and I had no doubt I was bright red from my cheeks all the way down my neck to my chest.

  “You may need to go see your doctor, because it’s obvious there’s something very wrong with your memory.”

  “Memory’s crystal clear, Thumbelina.”

  Gah! He was driving me crazy! “You know, I’m glad I didn’t let myself fall for your shit,” I threw back snidely, officially lost to my anger. “Thinking I came this close to believing the lies you were feeding me makes me sick. Glad I found out what an asshole you really are before I did something incredibly stupid, like fall for you.”

  “Uh . . . everything okay over here?”

  At the arrival of the new voice, I spun around and saw the woman who’d been sitting with Dalton had returned from the restroom, and damn it, but she was even more beautiful up close. She also had killer long legs that put her a few inches over five and a half feet, in other words, a hell of a lot taller than me, so I had to tip my head back in order to make eye contact. Talk about feeling inferior!

  “No. Everything’s not okay. You should know, this man is a raging asshole. I don’t know how long you’ve been seeing each other, but just last week, he tried shoving his tongue down my throat.”

  “That’s not exactly the way it went down,” Dalton threw in, still the very definition of calm and relaxed while I had a wildfire growing inside of me. “If you’ll remember, you were the one holding on to my shirt like you were trying to fuse us together.”

  “Um . . . wow. Okay . . .” The woman blinked in shock.

  “That’s so not what happened!” I cried, shooting him a scowl before looking back at his date. “Look, I’m really sorry about the scene. I just thought you deserved to know.”

  “Jolie,” Dalton spoke calmly just then, drawing my attention back to him, “meet Charlotte. Charlotte, this is Jolie. My sister.”

  Oh shit.

  Chapter Nine

  Charlotte

  His sister?

  Yep. There was no doubt about it. My head was definitely about to explode. Only now it would be due to embarrassment instead of anger.

  It all made so much sense now. The dark hair, those stunning features that all women around the world would envy, the eyes only a few shades lighter than charcoal. Now that the red haze of anger was no longer clouding my vision, I was able to see that the resemblance was downright uncanny. She was basically the beardless female version of Dalton, which was why she was so freaking beautiful.

  “Um . . .” Humiliation seeped from my pores. There was really no way to come back from this.

  “Hi, Charlotte. It’s nice to meet you.” The woman now known as Jolie extended her hand and gave me a stunning, genuine smile, laced liberally with humor.

  Crap, and she’s super sweet too. Well that’s just great.

  I took her offered hand, shaking it woodenly. “Y-yeah. It’s um, nice to meet you too.”

  I couldn’t bring myself to look in Dalton’s direction after letting my anger and jealousy get the best of me and giving way too much of myself away.

  “Sorry for interrupting,” I muttered as I started inching backward. “I’ll just . . .” I threw my thumb over my shoulder in the direction of the table I’d stormed away from a couple minutes ago. “Enjoy the rest of your lunch. The burgers here are awesome.”

  With that, I whipped around, slamming my hip into the table behind me. I let out a grunted curse, but refused to look back at the Prescott siblings as I speed-walked—speed-limped—back to my table, ignoring the wide-eyed gaping from my friends.

  “Did you tell Rory our order’s
to-go?” I whisper-yelled to Layla as soon as I got close enough.

  “Yeah. Got it right here.” She pointed to the two plastic bags with their handles tied into knots. “What’s going on? Are you okay? That looked like it hurt.”

  It did. It really freaking did. “We have to go. Now,” I urged, grabbing my purse and flinging it over my shoulder. Thankfully, my friends followed suit without argument. “That’s not his date. That’s his sister, and I just made a complete ass out of myself.”

  “I know now’s not the time,” Sloane said quietly as the four of us booked it toward the exit, “but just to warn you, I totally plan on laughing my ass off about this later.”

  Dalton

  It was damn near impossible for me to rip my eyes off Charlotte’s ass as she hightailed it out of The Tap Room with her crew in tow.

  I’d clocked her the minute she and her friends had stepped into the bar, but I hadn’t made it obvious. That was a feat in itself, considering how just the sight of her drove me out of my goddamn mind, but with all her long hair hanging loose and wild down her back and those tight black leggings formed to her like a second skin, it took everything I had to keep from going hard as I tried to concentrate on the conversation I’d been having with my sister. But when the sole object of every fantasy and erotic thought I’d had for the past several months was in the same room, she was damn near impossible to ignore.

  Then, of course, there was the fact that the baggy gray sweatshirt she was wearing was cropped so high, a good two inches of her soft, creamy skin showed between the hem and the waistband of her pants. Just that small, silky strip of flesh was all it took to drive me out of my mind.

  When she came stomping over to my table, I’d been pleasantly surprised to see that fire in her eyes. For six and a half months, the Charlotte I’d gotten to know, the fiery, blunt, strong woman I’d developed feelings for when I was put in charge of keeping her safe, had been missing in action. That anger on her face was the first time I’d seen that spark of life in her in way too goddamn long. She’s been walking around in this cloud of sadness for months, like she was unsure of herself and every move she made, and I fucking hated it.

  That fire was a part of her, and seeing it back on her face, even in anger, made my blood heat. When she called me cowboy with all that same attitude she used to give me when she’d called me that in the past, I felt my dick stir. Then she lost control. I could see on her face she hadn’t meant to let all that slip, but that was all I needed to know . . . I was in.

  “That wasn’t nice,” Jolie scolded, pulling my mind back to the present. I looked across the table to see her staring at me with a reproachful scowl on her face. “You didn’t need to let her dangle like that. You could’ve put her out of her misery a lot sooner.”

  “It was a means to an end,” I grunted, taking a sip of my iced tea.

  My little sister rolled her eyes. “It was you being a jerk and getting a kick out of her misery.”

  I didn’t bother denying it or acknowledging that she might have been a little bit right.

  She looked back toward the door Charlotte had just bolted through, her expression a mixture of thoughtful and excited. “So . . . that’s her, huh? The woman you told us about?”

  I lifted my chin in the affirmative. I didn’t make a habit of telling my family about every aspect of my life, but the story about Greg Cormack had been newsworthy, and Charlotte had gotten caught in the crossfire. Reporters were camped out outside the hospital, trying to get the story of the woman who’d almost died at the hands of a maniac who carried a badge, and I’d unintentionally been caught on camera on more than one occasion.

  It didn’t take long at all for the story to work its way through the states to Wyoming, and it was only a matter of days before my folks were blowing up my phone, asking what the hell was going on in my sleepy little town.

  I couldn’t answer all their questions without mentioning Charlotte, and even though I didn’t come right out and admit I had feelings for her, they had read between the lines way too damn easily, piecing the truth together before I could deny it.

  It was one of the curses that came with being from such a tight-knit family. My parents and baby sister could read me like a goddamn book.

  “She’s very pretty.” Jolie’s eyes came back to me, her lips trembling with a smile she was fighting to suppress. “And such a tiny little thing.”

  “Oh, for the love of Christ,” I grunted, rolling my eyes skyward as my sister’s excitement grew.

  “She’s downright pocket-sized.” Her lips tilted upward as she gave a little bounce in her chair. “It’s actually kind of adorable. With her being so small and you being so big, you two look super cute together.”

  “All right. We’re done with this conversation,” I grunted.

  “Oh come on,” she whined dramatically. “When’s the last time you were interested in someone, like really interested? Excuse me for being a little excited that you finally met someone you actually like.”

  My back stiffened a bit at the uncomfortable turn the conversation had taken. I might have been close with my family, but that didn’t mean I was a fan of discussing my love life with my baby sister.

  “There have been other women,” I stated defensively.

  Jolie’s expression told me she thought I was full of shit, and she wasn’t totally wrong. I hadn’t exactly been a choir boy since getting out of the service and moving to Hope Valley to work for Linc’s company, but not one of the women I’d seen had been serious enough to discuss with my family. As a matter of fact, if I’d happened to be dating someone during one of Jo and my parents’ annual trips, I made sure the woman knew I’d be unavailable for the week, not stopping for even a second to consider inviting her to meet my family.

  As I gave that some thought, I realized I actually liked the fact my sister had met Charlotte.

  “You realize we aren’t actually together, right?” Despite my efforts, I thought to myself.

  She leaned in and lowered her voice conspiratorially. “Not yet, but she’s totally got the hots for you, big bro. And I’m so happy I was able to say that without throwing up in my mouth a little bit.”

  “Listen, Jo. I know Charlotte has feelings for me, but she’s got some shit in her past that she’s letting get in the way of being with me. She’s the kind of woman who needs to be handled gently, and you have all the grace of a wrecking ball, so I’m askin’ you not to do whatever it is you’re planning on doing, all right?”

  Her face pinched up in offense. “First off, that’s totally not true! I’ll have you know, I’m full of grace, jackass. And second, I wasn’t planning anything.”

  I gave her a flat look. “You’re so full of shit. I know you, Jo, and I know once you get something in your head, you’re like a goddamn dog with a bone, but I need you to back off, all right? Whatever you’ve got swimmin’ around in your head right now, just let it go.”

  She flopped back in her chair with a huff, crossing her arms over her chest while poking her bottom lip out in a pout. “You’ve gotten boring in your old age.”

  I arched a brow playfully. “You’re only a few years younger than I am.”

  “Yeah, but I’m young at heart while you’ve become a cranky old man.”

  I shook my head on a chuckle and pulled my wallet from my back pocket. Removing several bills, I dropped them onto the table and pushed to my feet. “Well, this has been fun, but I need to get back to work.” I bent low and pressed my lips to my sister’s forehead. “I’ll see you guys later tonight. Try not to get into trouble before then, yeah?”

  Jolie held her arms up, palms facing out, and declared, “I make no promises. I’m on vacation, and Vacation Jolie does what she wants.”

  That was exactly what I was afraid of.

  Chapter Ten

  Charlotte

  I’d been in serious need of some rest and relaxation after the debacle at lunch. My friend Eden was big into all-natural skincare and made her
own products she liked to hand out to her friends whenever she had the opportunity. So I’d headed home, piled my hair on top of my head, drawn myself a nice, hot bath with an essential oil bath bomb, and slathered my face with one of the many masks she’d given me as gifts.

  The cucumber and eucalyptus not only made my skin soft as silk but smelled like heaven.

  I’d tried to focus on some of the deep-breathing, meditative techniques I’d learned from Hayden during one of the many yoga sessions she’d forced me to attend with her and Sylvia, but I couldn’t get my mind to shut off. Every time I closed my eyes, images of Dalton’s sexy face popped up on the backs of my eyelids.

  When that didn’t work, I’d scrolled through my Kindle, looking for a book that would hopefully keep my attention, but that was also a bust. As soon as I got to a smoking hot love scene between the heroine and hero, my mind went straight to the gutter, and I started wondering what Dalton would look like naked and if he was strong enough to pick me up and twist me into some of the positions the dude in the book was pulling off.

  I was pretty sure the answer to that was a hard yes, so of course, that lead to me imagining Dalton lifting and tossing me around a big bed with ease.

  I’d stayed in the tub until the water turned cold and the skin on my fingertips wrinkled into prunes, and with a defeated sigh, I eventually climbed out, taking the time to exfoliate and lotion my body from top to toe.

  I still felt the tension in my muscles like tight, coiled knots, but at least I was baby-smooth and fresh as a daisy by the time I was done. However, there was still a bit of residual jealousy lingering inside me, making it impossible to calm my racing heart since I ran out of The Tap Room like my ass was on fire.

  I knew I was being completely irrational . . . she was his sister, for crying out loud, but seeing him with her today had been something of a wakeup call. There was a voice in the back of my head telling me I was eventually going to run out of time, and I didn’t like it one damn bit.