Maisey Yates - Smooth-Talking Cowboy

“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.