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That being said, apparently, she was a glutton for punishment—or she just liked the torture—because Lacey had agreed to go to the Tri-County Rodeo that night with Mandy and Jenna but the Barn Dance afterward she was definitely intent on avoiding. As she scraped off her half-eaten breakfast into the trash, she wondered if their new neighbor Jordan would be there, too.
“Nope, doesn’t matter. I’m not going anyway.”
Lacey ran a sink full of hot water and scrubbed the breakfast dishes while she watched the quarter horses grazing in the pasture across the driveway from the house. Her dad had really made this place a success. She loved all the horses and they’d worked out perfect for the riding lessons she’d been giving all summer, but her favorite was still the paint she’d named Nutmeg. She’d been working with her every day for going on two years and she’d become a part of her heart. Nutmeg and all the other horses were the biggest reason why she just didn’t have time for all the nonsense her roommates tried to get her involved in. She’d worked too hard on following her dreams to screw it up with something stupid. Just like she’d told Jordan, she was ready to start her life, her friends weren’t.
There was probably more to do on the ranch than she and her parents had the time for but somehow they made it all work. Her daddy farmed at least half of the fields with feed corn, hay, and alfalfa for the stock on the ranch plus maintained a lucrative stud service for bulls and quarter horses, and she gave riding lessons to all ages. Her mom kept an exceptionally large garden, baked what she could, and canned everything else in sight. Her younger brother didn’t contribute much as he’d been away full time at the university. With her two older brothers moved out and doing their own thing, everything basically fell on to Lacey’s proverbial plate but she didn’t really mind. It’s what she lived for.
What she minded was that with all that she had to do, why on earth did her thoughts keep drifting back to the fine-looking cowboy named Jordan who’d not only invaded her private space by showing up at her apartment in the middle of the night but then appeared at her parents’ homestead the next day? Who was he? First chance she got, she’d be making a call to Mandy and Jenna. They had to know something about him.
For that moment, she didn’t have time to dally in fantasies about cowboys that she knew were nothing but trouble. She had horses to saddle, and a Paint out in the field calling her name.
* * *
“I’ll gobut I swear to all that is holy, if you get stupid again, I’m gone. Not going through that shit like I did last night.” Jordon shook his head as he listened to Mason on the other end of the line, explaining how the three of them would have a great time at the rodeo and promised not to get shitfaced. Why Jordon said he’d go was anyone’s guess. He did want to go, just not necessarily with them. One day he really needed to stop being that guy—the one that says yes to everyone because he doesn’t want to be mean but then gets walked all over. Those situations never benefited him.
He came to Rock Creek to start over. New house and a new job working for himself. Eventually, his buddies would go back to their own lives and stop torturing him so much. So far, his experiences in the town definitely weren’t the highlight like he was hoping but he was fairly sure he could make it work out okay. For the time being, he just wanted his friends to stay away from the bar so he didn’t have to put himself in any more awkward situations. Alcohol and stupidity seemed to go hand-in-hand. He wasn’t afraid to drink and he did have one occasionally—he just tried to be smart.
Jordon did have to admit, though, he was pretty curious about Lacey, but she didn’t seem to care at all about him. Probably for the best. A new start on his own was the way it should be. He’d tried dating in the past and it always ended badly. He wasn’t a ladies man like his buddies—maybe too shy or horribly homely. “That’s okay, I’ll be just fine on my own.”
After finishing lunch, Jordon set off to the barn. The previous owners had left quite a mess. A shame, really. It was a beautiful place. The barn itself was in great shape, just covered in shit, literally. The horse stalls look as if the horses never made it out of the barn. Hay stacked on manure stacked on hay and more manure. Before he moved in, Jordon had worked on the two stalls closest to the front so he’d have a place for his own horses. Then, once the cleanup was complete, he’d have room for boarders.
After that, the cattle barn would need to be tackled. He had a lot of work ahead of him. Maybe he’d see cattle next year. And only if he were lucky, he’d be so involved he might just accidentally forget and not make it to the rodeo. “Yeah, right. The only way Mason would let me out of tonight is if the guys were already drunk and he just didn’t notice.”
Jordon was so busy talking to himself, he didn’t hear the truck pull up to the barn.
Chapter Five
“Where the hell are you guys?” Voicemail, damn it.I swear this is the very last time I let them talk me into going anywhere with them, ever again. “They insisted on picking me up, which I should not have agreed to. If I had known they wouldn’t show, I would have had time to go back to the apartment and take my sweet time getting ready and then drive myself.” As it was, she’d lost track of time after her last lesson for the day. The sweet girl she was teaching to groom reminded her why she loved horses so much. The light in her eyes twinkled as soon as she saw Sparkle come out of the barn. That kind of love for an animal can’t be faked.
Lacey went to the back door for one last look outside to see no cars then wedged off her boots and hung her hat on the hook. “I’m not waiting any longer. I have episodes of Grimm waiting on the DVR.” She grabbed a soda from her parent’s fridge and signed into her cable account on the television.
“Wouldn’t it figure, I get comfortable, they come knocking.” She supposed that was her dumb luck. Why didn’t she just say no like she kept telling herself to do? “Because they wouldn’t take no for an answer, that’s why. They would hound me like rabid wolves so it was just easier to agree.”
What Lacey found at the door, however, wasn’t what she’d expected by a long shot.
“What are you doing here?”
“Why do you ask me that same question every time I stand at your door?”
“This is only the second time you have been at my door. But anyway, why are you standing at my door?”
“You really don’t know?”
“Seriously, I don’t have time for this. I’m missing Grimm.” She walked away from the door.
“Does that mean I can come in?”
“Does that mean you’ll leave after you do?”
“Is that a trick question?” Jordon slowly opened the door a little wider and entered the house.
A first for him. Last time he left without a fight.
Jesus this guy doesn’t take the hint.
As she stood in her parents’ living room, he’d distracted her from focusing on her TV show so she paused the DVR. “Okay, Jordon. I’ve stopped my show and you have my undivided attention so please enlighten me as to why you are here. You apologized already, so I can’t imagine what else there could be.”
“So, you’re telling me you really don’t know why I’m here?” Jordon’s brow creased and he buried his hands in his jean pockets.
