Page 8 of Risking it for the Cowboy

“Yeah.” She chuckled.

“How do you do that? ‘This here’s a daisy. This one’s a lilac…’”

“You just teasin’ me or genuinely curious?”

He leveled a look at her as if affronted.

“What?” she defended. “People never take my flowers seriously unless I show them.”

He shoved the remains of their last taco in his mouth and wiped his hands on his thighs, waggling his brows like the worst sort of flirt. “Show me your flower, baby.”

She rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

“C’mon, I’m serious.” He squeezed her legs with his to punctuate his begging.

“Really? You want to see?”

“Yes.” He notched up his chin, scooped her up off the stool, fingers lacing with hers, and hauled her out the door. “I think I wanna know everything about you.”

Chapter Three

Everything? No, she didn’t share everything. And her heart clenched, because again, that pang of need, to grab hold of something that felt good, to escape with him, was assailing her, and, dammit, she knew better than to fall for a sweet-talking cowboy in a country band!

Her phone buzzed in her skirt pocket.

She yanked it out, panic jolting her. God, if it was bad news…

“Somethin’ on fire?” McClintock said, arching a brow at her alarm.

Heart: “Whoa … U okay? Do I need 2 come kick his ass?”

Her hackles relaxed. She smiled wistfully. Heart had just read her message from earlier.

Charlie: “I think for now … he’s good.” She watched McClintock circumvent the hood in the bar’s porch lights. “We’re headed to my place. I’ll keep you posted. He might be fun.”

Heart: “Fun??? Get it, girl! Try 2 relax about Daisy and actually HAVE fun! He seems so into u! I think he’s in luv lol.”

Charlie snorted as he climbed behind the wheel, his farm-honed muscles torquing and the soft sound of his breathing steady and sure, the thick column of his neck contoured and kissable. He stretched his arm behind the bench seat and craned around to reverse when … he eyed her phone curiously.

Charlie: “Pretty sure he only cares if a girl has a pulse and puts out.”

Heart: “Lol. Those 1s are the most fun! So why are YOU with him?”

Good question. Why was she? A dropout who threw his entire self into chasing both tail and a dream that was never going to become reality? Every red flag she’d sworn to avoid.

Heart: “Just don’t 4get our pact: sisters before misters. If he’s a creep, text me.”

“You plannin’ your escape?” he teased.

But there was something uncertain in his question as once more his eyes dipped to her phone, his words softening like they had when he’d brought up his family’s farm.

Something genuine beneath his grin and cocky swagger. “You don’t, uh, gotta be out with me if you don’t want.”

He thought she was … planning an emergency text.

She glanced at McClintock again, hope hesitant on his brow. Perhaps it was a sign from the universe. Try to have fun and relax. He’d be fun for something unexpected. It wasn’t as if she were signing her life away again—she’d learned that lesson. It had been so long since a man had looked at her and thought she was pretty.

If he could do it for a night, so could she.