Smooth-Talking Cowboy

“You want to talk about it?” Which was the world’s most ironic question since nobody knew everything about Luke, and he aimed to keep it that way. But Bennett was truly like a brother to him.

“No. If I talk to anybody about it, it has to be Olivia.”

“Then talk to her, bonehead.”

Bennett gave him a strange look. “Stay out of our relationship, Luke.”

“You asked me into it, Bennett. You asked me what I knew, I gave you my opinion.”

The expression on Bennett’s face turned hard. “I asked you if there was anything going on with her.”

“You did. That doesn’t mean I owe you an answer.”

He shook his head and turned and walked away from Bennett. He wasn’t going to get in a fistfight with the guy over a girl he had barely ever touched.

He figured he would go muck some stalls. At least that would clear his head. Shovel shit to clear the shit and all that.

He walked into the barn and grabbed a pitchfork from the hook on the wall.

As he started on the first stall, he kept thinking of the comment Bennett had made about Olivia’s father. About how Cole Logan was the one who wanted them together. Not exactly a declaration of passionate love, but Olivia said she loved Bennett, though as far as Luke could tell they didn’t have enough chemistry to light a birthday candle.

But if Cole Logan wanted them together...

He shook his head, and shoveled another pile of manure up out of the stall, chucking it into a wheelbarrow.

He had some decision making to do.

He really hated change.

But it was starting to look like it was time to make one.

* * *

IT WAS LATE and Olivia was tired and cranky, feeling more than a little burned out after a long day at Grassroots. She missed having Bennett come pick her up. It had made her feel important, that she had a boyfriend who would come get her after work. That he was so solicitous and protective of her.

She missed it a lot.

She had missed it especially today when she had gotten into the car feeling exhausted and put upon, with the drive back to Gold Valley ahead of her. And now she had to make a stop at Get Out of Dodge.

Lindy had checked that it was okay. But Olivia hadn’t seen the point in being difficult about it. It was late, and Bennett probably wouldn’t be at the ranch anyway. He would either be at home or off on some veterinary emergency. Or, out at the bar. But it was very likely that the only person at the ranch would be Jamie. Even though things with Jamie were a little bit awkward, they weren’t insurmountable.

Lindy wanted pamphlets dropped off, and for Olivia to nudge Wyatt about what he was thinking about the partnership with Grassroots. Once Lindy got something in her mind, she was headstrong. She was incredibly independent. In Olivia’s opinion, the way that Lindy had left her husband and taken control of the winery, started from scratch, was admirable.

Not something that Olivia was certain she would have been able to do. She valued security and the opinions of other people too much.

She knew that Lindy’s divorce had impacted how people thought of her. Which wasn’t fair. Her ex-husband, Damien, had been cheating on her with one of the winery employees; it was hardly Lindy’s fault.

But people were hard on women. Exceptionally hard.

Olivia took a deep breath as she turned into the familiar drive that led up to the ranch. She had been up here countless times. As a family friend, and then as Bennett’s girlfriend. And it felt different now. Because it didn’t feel like it was part of her anymore. Didn’t feel like it belonged to her in any way.

It had. Like she was going to be part of this family. Part of this ranch that they had here. This legacy.

She felt sad about that.

There was a light on in the barn, and she stopped there. Jamie was probably putting the horses away.

She grabbed the pamphlets that Lindy had sent with her, clutching them in her hand as she headed into the red building.

When she saw who it was inside, she froze. It was not Jamie. Instead of her feminine, wiry frame, it was a masculine, broad-shouldered body. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, dark blue, and those sleeves were pushed up, which was providing her with quite an interesting show. He was bent down, the muscles in his forearms flexing with each pass of the push broom over the cement floor.

There was a black cowboy hat hanging on a hook, over the top of a bridle and lead rope.

She knew exactly who she was looking at. Because she had been fixated on those hands last night.

Her throat was dry. She couldn’t remember why she had come in here in the first place.

She looked down. Right. The pamphlets.

“Luke,” she said, his name coming out scratchy.

He stopped, midsweep, and then looked up at her, his green eyes hitting her with the force of a punch to the stomach. At least she assumed it was a similar sensation, though she had never been punched in the stomach before. But then, she had never felt anything quite like this before. Not since the last time he had looked at her, anyway.

“Are you looking for Bennett?”

“No,” she said. “I was looking for Wyatt.”

“I think he went out. Trying to drag Grant out of his hermitage, or something.”

Olivia nodded. She worried about Grant. But she also wasn’t surprised that he was still alone, even after all this time. She couldn’t imagine him with anyone other than Lindsay. They had been together for so long. She had been the love of his life. She didn’t know how you moved on from something like that.

She frowned. Was Bennett the love of her life? What if she didn’t get him back? Was she also never going to be able to move on? Well, it wasn’t like Bennett was dead. He was just not her boyfriend. That wasn’t the same thing.

“What did you need?”

Luke’s question dragged her out of her swampy thoughts. “Oh. I just... Lindy asked if I could bring these by.” She thrust the pamphlets out toward him.

He just looked at them. “Okay.”

She took a couple of steps toward him, with the pamphlets still held out. “Because she thought Wyatt might want to see these. You know, because I know that Lindy’s brother had mentioned to him that Lindy was interested in doing some kind of a... You know, mutual promotion thing...”

“Wyatt mentioned as much,” Luke said, propping the broom up and leaning against the handle. “He also said he wasn’t sure about working with the ex-wife of a friend.”

“Is he still friends with Damien? Because Damien is a cheating louse.”

“Bros—”

“If you say bros before hos, so help me God, Luke, I will give you a paper cut with one of these pamphlets.”

His green eyes glittered with wicked humor. “I wasn’t going to say that.”

“You were.”

“I will take your pamphlets,” he said, reaching his hand out, but not making a move toward her. She swore he was trying to be agitating.

She closed the distance between them and placed the pamphlets in his outstretched palm, her fingertips brushing against his bare skin.

She ignored the little zip that raced down to her stomach. “Thank you. Just make sure Wyatt gets them. For the record, I’m not sure that Lindy is thrilled at the idea of working with a bull rider.”

“Why is that?” Luke asked.

“Pretty sure she hates everything associated with the rodeo, given her husband works PR for them, and also, bull riders specifically since he used to hang out with them. And, more specifically, Wyatt.”

“Fair enough. Now, I don’t know that I’m the best person to judge, considering I don’t know that I’m a candidate for fidelity myself. But I’ve also never tried. And never promised it.”

“Great. Congratulations on being slightly less disgusting than my friend’s cheating husband.”

He looked around as if he were searching for something. “Is there a badge for that?”

In spite of herself, Olivia laughed. “I’ll have one made.”

“I’ll hold you to it.”

“See you later, Luke,” she said, turning on her heel and taking a deep breath as she started to walk back toward the barn door, trying to get a handle on her electrified nerves.

“Hey,” he said.

She gritted her teeth. “Hey?”

“Yeah.”

She turned around again. “What?”

“Your dad is still selling that plot of land out of town?”

“I guess. He turns down offers all the time. He has some very particular idea about who should have it.”

“I’ve heard that,” Luke said. “I want to buy it.”

Olivia blinked. “How are you going to buy land?”

As long as she had known Luke, he’d lived modestly. Until he had been in his midtwenties he’d lived at Get Out of Dodge. Now he lived in some ramshackle cabin way out of town in the middle of the woods. He didn’t scream financially sound.

“Don’t worry about the how, kiddo,” he said. “From a financial standpoint I’m not concerned at all. It’s that purity testing he seems to be so fond of that worries me.”

“My dad is rich enough that he doesn’t need money. And that makes him a little bit eccentric.”

“So it seems.” Luke looked down at the pamphlets for a second, then back at her. “He really wants you and Bennett together.”

“Why do you say that?” His assessment made her feel uncomfortable. She didn’t even know why it bothered her, just that it did.

“Just saying. I doubt you would have been with Bennett if your dad didn’t approve. You don’t seem like the type.”

Those words, so unerring, so accurate, sent icy little pinpricks down the back of her neck, all the way down her spine. She had no idea how a man who really didn’t know her seemed to know her so well.

“Okay. So, say that my dad does want me to be with Bennett. What does that have to do with anything?”

“You want to be with Bennett, too,” Luke pointed out.

“Obviously. I told you that. I told you that I loved him.”

“And I told you that you didn’t care, but you’re sticking with your story. I respect that.”

She gritted her teeth. “Because I know my feelings better than you do.” Given her observation from a moment earlier she felt a little bit like she was lying, which was ridiculous. But it also made her feel guilty.

“What if I help you with Bennett? And you put in a good word with your dad. How about that?”

“How are you going to help me with Bennett?”

“He didn’t like us talking last night. He didn’t like me touching you. I have a feeling it’ll only take a couple things like that to force him into making a decision. The problem is he’s too certain of your feelings. Not certain enough of his own.”

“Did you talk to him?” she asked, her stomach sinking. The last thing she wanted to hear was that Bennett had made it plain that he didn’t know how he felt about her.

“Yes,” Luke responded, giving absolutely no quarter to her fragile feelings.

“Oh,” she said.

“He was asking about you. You and me. And he wasn’t happy.”

Heat streaked through her. “How could he possibly...” It didn’t make sense. Bennett knew her. In the year they had been together they hadn’t done... Anything. They had kissed, of course, but she had been holding out for a ring before they took things any further. He thought there was something going on with Luke? As if a guy like Luke would have any patience for her wanting a commitment before sex.

And that derailed her thoughts. Absolutely. Completely. Because thinking about Luke and sex in the same sentence turned her brain inside out and backward.

“Because he’s jealous,” Luke said. “Jealousy doesn’t require logic.”

“I don’t...” She cleared her throat, blinking. “He really thinks you and I might be...”

“He’s worried.” Luke took a step toward her and her pulse sped up. “I think it’s in your best interest to keep him worried.”

The idea of tricking Bennett—tricking everyone—felt wrong. It made butterflies take flight in her stomach. Made her feel a strange, dull ache down low. Adrenaline. Excitement.

She didn’t like it. She didn’t like it at all.

Mostly because part of her kind of did like it. And that wasn’t right. It wasn’t who she wanted to be. It wasn’t who her parents needed her to be.

Bennett was her goal, had been for a long time. And maybe, just maybe, if her end goal was good, the method to getting there didn’t exactly have to be. Maybe.

“What do you have in mind?” she asked.

A smile curved his lips. “I hear you’re damn good at playing darts.”

CHAPTER FIVE

SHE DIDN’T NEED the reminder text that morning from Luke, letting her know that they were supposed to go to the saloon that night. That they weren’t meeting there. That he was going to pick her up and drive her to create more of a spectacle. She remembered.

It was all she’d been able to think about all day.

It had been a slow day, which hadn’t helped. They didn’t have the farm-to-table dinners during the colder months, and weddings weren’t particularly popular through January. They’d done a gorgeous Christmas wedding in one of the old barns, with white lights and holly boughs, a magnificent tree at the center of the massive room. Not that Olivia had enjoyed it since it had come on the heels of her breakup with Bennett and she’d been feeling more than a little Scroogey.

Right now the vast dining area was empty. She had a feeling that people would start to filter in sometime around lunch. There were always groups of friends who lived in between the towns who found it the perfect central meeting location for afternoon luncheons, fruit and cheese plates and a bit of wine with their conversation.

There was always something to do. There just wasn’t enough. In fact, in order to fill her time Olivia had resorted to picking at her manicure, and she never did that. She had a date tonight; she really needed her manicure in good condition.

Her stomach felt like it dropped a couple of inches. She did not have a date tonight. It wasn’t a real date. Nope.

“You seem distracted today.”

Olivia looked up to see that her boss, Lindy, was staring at her speculatively.

“I’m not distracted,” she said, the back of her mind blaring Luke’s name like a neon sign. Calling her a liar.

“Did you give Wyatt the pamphlets?”

“He wasn’t there. But I left them with Luke Hollister. I’m not sure if you know him.”

“Is he the guy that brought you in the other morning?” Lindy asked, her tone suggestive.

Olivia didn’t understand why just being with Luke would make Lindy think something was going on with him. Olivia didn’t understand the rules to casual relationships and hookups.

She hoped Luke did. He seemed confident enough. In absolutely everything.

Except his ability to convince her father to sell him that property without her input. She had been turning that bit of information over for the past fourteen hours. It was difficult to imagine Luke being uncertain. It was easy to imagine him walking up to her father and sticking out his hand, shaking it. Giving him that cocky grin and saying, Cole Logan, I want to buy that plot of land you have for sale there.

Yes, that was startlingly easy for her to imagine.

She cleared her throat. “I’ve known him for a long time. He’s very good friends with Bennett’s family. You know, the Dodge family. The family that we were just talking about.” She was rambling. And she did not ramble.

“Yes,” Lindy said. “I do know the Dodge family.”

“You don’t like Wyatt very much, do you?” she asked.

Lindy frowned. “I don’t know Wyatt that well. It isn’t that I don’t like him. It’s that I have a strong suspicion of bull riders as a species. Cocky, arrogant assholes. Every last one of them. And the only man worse than a bull rider is the man who sells them as decent human beings. Damien did a lot of work with Wyatt in particular when he did ad campaigns and things. And, since you figure jackasses of a feather flock together, and Wyatt used to flock with Damien...”

“Didn’t Dane used to hang out with them, too?” Olivia asked, referring to Lindy’s brother.

“I suppose so,” Lindy said. “I don’t know. Wyatt is just one of those guys. He’s too... A lot of things.”

Olivia could relate to that assessment. That was kind of how she felt about Luke. He was too much. Too many things. How could one man contain so much? Self-assurance, attitude, a smile that seemed to light up the room and everyone in it. But lit up parts of her that made her flush to think about.

That thought stunned her. And for a full second she couldn’t think of anything to say.

“Are you okay?” Lindy pressed her. She wasn’t doing a good job of convincing Lindy that everything was okay. Mostly because she wasn’t entirely sure that it was.

“I have a date tonight,” she said. “With not Bennett.”

Lindy’s face relaxed, one corner of her lips turning upward. “Oh. And that’s hard? Weird?”

She felt guilty, because of course her boss was associating it with her divorce. With moving on after a long-term relationship. And Olivia hadn’t actually moved on. “I guess. I just... It’s not really a date. I want Bennett to see that I’ve moved on. And for him to not like that.”

“Okay,” Lindy said. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“No,” Olivia said, feeling miserable. “I don’t. But I don’t know what else to do. And when he suggested it...”

“When who suggested it?”

“Luke. When I went to talk to Luke last night, he suggested it.”

Lindy’s eyebrows shot upward. “I see.”

“Do you? Can you help me figure out if I’m crazy or not?”

“You might be,” Lindy said. “But I hear love does that to you.”

The dining room was empty, no customers in sight, so Olivia slumped at the nearest bistro table, propping her chin up on her elbows. “Were you miserable after your divorce?”

Lindy sighed and walked around to the other side of the table. She sat down, putting her hand over Olivia’s. “I was a lot more miserable leading up to it. It’s hard to find out that someone you love isn’t who you thought they were. Or I guess that someone you love is exactly who you were afraid they might be, but you ignored all the signs.”

“Bennett is who I think he is. He’s a good man. I was impatient. I broke up with him because I wanted to have him make a commitment. And now...”

“You regret it.”

“Yes.”

“Olivia, I’m not an expert on love. Obviously. I think everyone knew that my husband was a bad bet. Everyone except me. But what I can tell you about loving someone is that it doesn’t make sense. And sometimes you do the wrong thing hoping that the right thing will come out of it. And sometimes you hurt each other even when you don’t mean to. Because loving someone is scary. So, sometimes you act scared.”

“Bennett is acting scared,” Olivia said.

She wasn’t scared. Commitment didn’t scare her at all. It was what she wanted. It was that end goal. That bright, shining beacon she had been working toward for so many years. She would have that life, that perfect life. A little house all her own, a husband. It was what she had always wanted. There was nothing to be scared of when it came to marriage as far as she was concerned. Her parents had a wonderful marriage. She aspired to that. To that good life that they led.

To being that kind of person.

Scary was the unknown. Scary was having your future tossed high up into the air. It was having no plan. Being aimless. It was how Vanessa lived her entire life, as far as Olivia could see. Her twin sister, the person she had been closest to from birth, was a virtual stranger now.

Her partying, her drug use, had taken everything from them that they used to share. Even their looks. Nobody would think they were sisters now, much less identical twins.

Her sister was so thin. Wasted down to nothing, her skin ravaged, her eyes dull, her hair lank.

That was where aimlessness got you. It was where living for the moment got you. And Olivia had never been that person. No, plans didn’t scare her. Permanence didn’t scare her. It was all those other things in between.

“Well,” Lindy said, “men get gun-shy when commitment is on the table.”

“I’m not scared of getting married. Or having a relationship.”

“But apparently you’re scared of having an honest conversation with the man that you claim you’re ready to marry?”

Olivia placed her hand on her chest, where it felt like Lindy’s words had literally stuck into her like a sword. “I just... I have some pride. I’m not going to beg him. I need him to try and get a better understanding of his feelings. Through... Seeing what his life might be like without me. I want him to understand that he needs me by saying that maybe I don’t need him.”

“But don’t you need him?”

Olivia frowned. “Yes. But I have to have some pride.”

“Okay. So, your version of having pride is trying to trick the man that you say you’re in love with, by pretending to date a different man, so that he’ll feel bad and ask you to marry him?”

Olivia did not like this line of conversation at all. Because when Lindy said it like that, it just sounded sad. And it didn’t sound at all like it did when she thought about it. When it came from inside of her it all seemed logical. Repeated back at her it sounded manipulative and that wasn’t what she felt.

“I’m just saying,” Lindy said. “At a certain point in your relationship you’re going to have been together for a long time. That’s what marriage is. It’s forever. It’s supposed to be. And you’re going to reach a point there where you realize you didn’t practice telling each other the truth. You didn’t practice sharing what was in your heart, what you were feeling, what you had for breakfast. And you’re going to realize that you live with a stranger. And so does he.”

“I don’t think you can compare what happened with you and Damien to me and Bennett,” Olivia said. “And I don’t think it’s fair for you to try and take blame for anything. For you to say that he didn’t know you as if somehow you could have told him what kind of cereal you had that day and he wouldn’t have cheated on you.”

“That’s the thing,” Lindy said. “He did the wrong thing. And he took us to a place where for me... We couldn’t come back from it. But he didn’t take us there by himself. He didn’t get started on the road on his own. As much as it pains me to say it, our divorce isn’t only his fault.”

“I don’t understand how that could be. You do the right thing, and you keep going forward on the right path, and things like that don’t happen. He’s the one that strayed.”

“Yes,” Lindy said. “He did. But why? It’s the answer to that question that sits uncomfortably with me. Just... As I told you, I’m not an expert. I’m thirty-four years old and divorced with absolutely no prospects on the horizon. But I was married for ten years and I do know a little something about that. And about all the things that can go wrong. So just... Consider having a conversation with him? You don’t have to cry or make a fool out of yourself. But... It might not be the worst idea.”

Olivia frowned. “I don’t know what I would say to him.” To tell him that she was unhappy because she couldn’t see where her life was going anymore? To tell him that she loved him and was miserable without him? That settled uncomfortably in her chest, too. Because it felt... Wrong. Like it might not even be true.

“I don’t know,” Lindy said. “Maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about with you and Bennett.”

“It’s not like I didn’t tell him,” Olivia said. “I told him I wanted to marry him. And he said he didn’t want to do that yet. I haven’t been lying to him. I told him exactly what I wanted. I just want him to make a decision. A final decision. I’m the one that broke up with him. And I feel like he’s the one who has to either close the door on it forever or come back. I would prefer that he came back.”

Lindy sighed heavily. “I get that. I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I accused you of not asking for what you wanted. I know that you did. And you know... My marriage didn’t work. So, you probably really shouldn’t listen to me because I’m bitter and cynical, and I feel like I don’t much believe in the power of love right now. So go on, make him jealous. I hope that he sees you with Luke and is overcome by the desire to pick you up and carry you back to his bed.”