The Trouble with Texas Cowboys (Burnt Boot, Texas #2)(71)

“Oh, yes, you do.” She rolled up on her toes and kissed him. “Holy shit, Sawyer!”

“What?”

“Wet kisses are downright…well, they shoot desire through a body like adrenaline in the flight-or-fight mode.”

He chuckled. “You going to fight or run?”

She giggled. “I’m not going anywhere but to the barn for hay, cowboy.”

“Not to bed first with that burst of desire?”

She handed him the conditioner. “The cattle would starve plumb to death if we went back to bed, because we wouldn’t get out of it all day. Now when summer gets here and they’re put out to pasture on green grass and we don’t have to feed twice a day, that’s another story.”

“But then”—he turned her around so the shower could rinse the conditioner from her hair—“we’ll have plowing, sowing, clearing land, and all that.”

“And then, like you said, we’re going to hire some help. Got any relatives hiding down south who might want to move to Burnt Boot?”

“For ranchin’, or for the store and bar?”

“Ranchin’, and maybe some evenings in the bar,” she answered.

“I’ll check around. That reminds me, I never did get around to callin’ my folks. Did you?”

She smiled up at him. “I’m naked in a shower with you, and you think of your mother? What’s wrong with this picture?”

“You mentioned relatives. My mind went to some cousins who might be interested in a job, and then I thought about what their mamas would think of them coming to Burnt Boot. My mother sent me up here to spy on Finn. She didn’t expect me to stay.”

“Neither did mine when I told her I’d moved here.” Jill stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body. “And, darlin’, my mama was the last thing on my mind last night. When we get near a bed, I don’t think of anything but you.”

He chuckled. “Well, then I will always remember to keep a bed right handy.”

*

On Monday morning, Polly said if she had to stay in the house one more day she was going to climb the walls. So Gladys loaded her up in the truck, took her to the store, and told Sawyer and Jill they didn’t have to come in until after lunch.

“Aunt Gladys, why don’t we come on in when we finish feeding, and you can take Polly for a ride?” Jill asked.

“Give me that phone,” Polly said loudly.

“I could hear what you said, girl. I don’t want to go for a ride. I want to talk to people. I want them to come in the store, and hell, I don’t even care if they get into a knock-down drag-out fight right here,” Polly said. “I don’t like this getting-old shit.”

Jill grinned. “Well, Auntie, it’s not for wimps. Only the strong get to do it.”

“You always could out argue a stop sign. But it won’t work today. You and that handsome Sawyer spend the day together. After lunch, my ass. I’m staying right here until closing time, whether Gladys likes it or not. I hope everybody in town knows I’m here and comes in to visit.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m not arguing anymore,” Jill said.

She visualized a long, lazy afternoon in the bedroom, but it didn’t happen. Right after they finished their morning routine, a heifer decided to give birth to a calf that was too big for her. That required an hour of getting her into a barn out of the cold, where the calf would have a better chance of living, and then pulling the bull calf out when he was born butt-first. They’d barely gotten their hands cleaned up and made sure the new little fellow could stand and nurse when the phone rang.

Jill fetched it from her pocket and answered without checking the ID.

“You win,” Polly said. “I’m pooped, and if I have to hear another person tell me how their great-aunt or uncle or neighbor’s kid broke their leg, I’m going to throw them through the plate glass window. Gladys made me call you. Some friend she is. She wouldn’t even do it for me, since I threw such a fit. If you and Sawyer will come on to the store, I’m ready to go home and get a nap.”

“We’ll be there soon as we go home and get the blood off us,” Jill said.

“Shit, girl! Who’d you kill, a Gallagher or a Brennan?”

“Neither one. We just pulled a calf. Tell Aunt Gladys it’s a bull, and mama and baby are just fine. We’ve got them in a stall in the barn for the next few days, though, with this cold weather,” Jill answered.

“Take your time but not too much. I’m worn plumb out,” Polly said.

*

Sawyer spent most of the afternoon dozing with his hat over his eyes. Jill got bored with chatting via her tablet with her mother and went to the kitchen to bake cookies. At four, she waved a paper plate with half a dozen chocolate chip cookies under his nose.

“Wake up and smell the goodies,” she whispered.

He grabbed her arm. The two front chair legs popped down on the floor, and he pulled her into his lap and tossed his hat on the counter all in one movement. “I’d love fresh-baked cookies, but I’d give them up for a kiss.”

“Today is your lucky day, cowboy. You can have both.” She set the cookies on the counter beside his hat and plastered herself to his chest.

The temperature in the store jacked up at least ten degrees when their lips touched. He forgot about cookies. She couldn’t think of anything but the burning desire for more than kisses.