Page 47 of Love’s Silver Bullet

Sheridan caught her breath when her stomach did a little flip, just like it had at the dinner when Clay had smiled and flirted, even squeezing her hand under the table. She shook the feelings off with a nervous jut of her chin, not about to let a few fluttery feelings get in the way of her love for Jake. She arched a brow. “To show Jake other men find me attractive and nothing more.”

I hope.

“Si, but an awfully handsome means to an end, no?” She slowly sucked on her straw while she watched Sheridan closely, finishing her soda with a loud noise before she offered a smile. “And is it working?”

Sheridan paused, thinking how much nicer Jake had been since the Wild West dinner three days ago, sweet and easy-going, almost like his old self once again.

Before the kiss.

A weighty sigh parted from her lips. “A little, I think, because at least he’s not scowling at me anymore, but I’m a long way from his declaration of love, I’m afraid.” She dipped her spoon back into her ice cream with a sad pinch of brows. “And I’m running out of time to make him jealous enough to prove he cares—both to himself and to me. Not to mention how to do it.”

“Wait …” Kathy Jean paused with a wide-eyed blink, a cherry halfway to her mouth. “I thought Maggie and your Aunt Libby were helping you with that. You know, talking your brother and uncle into agreeing to shooting lessons with Clay?”

“Believe me, they tried,” Sheridan said with a wispy sigh. Slouching over her sundae, she poked at the pecans scattered on top as if it were all their fault. “But Blaze and Maggie got in a huge fight over it, and Blaze is just now warming up again, so naturally Maggie’s hesitant to bring it up again. And Aunt Libby tried too, but Uncle Finn didn’t want to talk about it right then, she said, so she’s waiting to broach it again soon.”

Sheridan spooned a mound of ice cream in her mouth and winced, her love life as cold as the brain freeze had been—and just as painful. “In the meantime, I’m no closer to making Jake jealous than I was before, and my time is already half gone.”

Clunk! Both Sheridan and Kathy Jean jumped in their seats when Sophia slammed her soda glass on the table with a heft of her chin. “Well, that settles it, then,” she said, glancing around to make sure no one was listening. She lowered her voice as she bent in close. “You have no choice, chica—you have to kiss him.”

Sheridan’s mouth took a twist. “I already did that, Sophia, and it only made things worse, remember?”

“No, chica, not a kiss for ‘he who shall remain nameless.’” Her lips curled in a sweet smile. “A kiss for ‘the means to an end,’ mi cielo, so ‘he who shall remain nameless’ finds out.”

“Huh?” Kathy Jean blinked.

The whites of Sheridan’s eyes expanded. “What?!” Palm splayed to her chest, she ducked in. “First of all, I’m not that kind of girl, Sophia Lopez”—the memory of lying prone on Jake while she kissed him senseless flashed in her mind and she gulped—“except with Jake. Secondly, in order to kiss someone, chica, a certain someone has to be around, and I haven’t heard a peep from Mr. Morgan since the dinner three nights ago. And thirdly,” she said with a hard swallow, “once the deed is done, how on earth do I make sure ‘he who shall remain nameless’ finds out?”

Sophia scrunched her nose in thought. “Well, first of all, you don’t have to be that kind of girl because we just need you to spend enough time with Clay Morgan for him to kiss you,” she said with a wink. “Secondly, you said he offered to teach you to shoot, so take him up on it by marching over there right now. After all, you’re in town three times a week anyway to spend time with us before you leave, si? That’s plenty of time for both shooting lessons and—”

Sheridan slapped a hand to Sophia’s mouth, stopping the flow of her words. “And your third point? How do we make sure the right someone finds out?”

“Bah! The easiest of all.” Sophia pursed her lips in a satisfied smile. “Since my sister works at the Ponderosa with your brother, I will just tell Lolita, and she will tell Dash, and we both know who Dash will tell, si?”

Sheridan’s pulse stuttered. Yes, there was no question that Dash would tell both Blaze and Jake. A lump bobbed in her throat.

But also Uncle Finn.

“Uh, maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” she said in a squeaky voice, “what if Uncle Finn finds out?”

“So?” Sophia scrunched her shoulders, palms face up in the air. “You tell him you’ve been seeing Clay, and you like him very much.”

“B-But … I haven’t been seeing Clay,” Sheridan sputtered.

“Of course you have, chica.” Sophia winked. “The day you met him, at the barbecue, and at the dinner.” She shrugged. “What can he do?”

Sheridan’s jaw dropped. “Uh, lock me in my room?”

“Would he really do that, Sher?” Kathy Jean whispered, apparently shocked at the idea of Sheridan imprisoned in her room for the rest of the summer.

“Well, he never has before,” Sheridan said with a scrunch of her nose, “but then I’ve never done much to make him angry before.”

Sophia bent to study her with a squint. “Did he forbid you from seeing Clay?”

“Well, no, not exactly … but I don’t think he would like it.”

“Exactamente,” Sophia said, “and neither would Jake.”

Sheridan’s body stilled. No, he wouldn’t, would he? She hesitated, thinking it through. Maybe Sophia was right. After all, hadn’t this been her plan all along? To make Jake jealous? For goodness sake, she knew he cared about her and had loved her from the age of four, but now she also knew that love was coupled with attraction. Wasn’t that worth fighting for?