Wild Cowboy Ways (Lucky Penny Ranch #1)(11)

She bypassed the hand, ran her hands up under his jacket, and pressed her body close to his. She rolled up slightly on her toes and kissed him on the chin. “Put that hand away, Blake. I believe in hugs to welcome a person, not a handshake. And the second time I see you, I’ll expect a hug and a real kiss.”

He didn’t even hear the truck coming up the driveway until it stopped beside her van, and there was Allie staring right at him from the passenger window. Mary Jo winked at Allie and hugged Blake one more time.

The window of the truck rolled down slowly. “Didn’t take you long to find a girlfriend.”

Blake propped one forearm over the other against the truck, his face only a few inches from Allie’s. “Just met her ten minutes ago. Don’t think we’ve got far enough to call it a relationship.”

“Hello.” A big man reached across Allie with an open hand. “I’m Deke and I’ll be helping Allie put a roof on your house.”

Blake’s arm grazed Allie’s shoulder when he stuck his hand through the window. He blamed the sparks on the cold weather and a little static electricity.

Deke had a firm handshake and a friendly smile, but it was too cold to stand outside and talk when a warm fire and a pot of chili waited in the house.

“Let’s take this conversation inside,” he said.

Deke nodded.

Blake was careful not to touch Allie again as he pulled his hand back and then jogged to the house. The second the door was open, Shooter raced inside and curled up in front of the fireplace on a worn rug. Blake laid a couple of logs on the embers and the old dog sighed.

He went to the kitchen and lifted the lid from the slow cooker. The spicy aroma of chili filled the whole room. He’d be eating it for a week or else divvying it up into plastic containers and freezing it. The crunch of tires pulling the trailer around back filtered through the kitchen window, but it wasn’t until someone knocked on the back door that Shooter’s head popped up.

Blake slung the door open and Deke, taller than Blake’s six feet by at least four inches, stood behind Allie. He had curly brown hair that covered his ears and poked out around a well-worn cowboy hat. His hazel eyes studied Blake like he was a bug under a microscope. Allie’s husband, maybe? He couldn’t help the twinge that ran through him at the thought.

“Come in.” Blake motioned them out of the cold weather. “I put a couple of logs on the fire so it’s getting nice and warm in here.”

Allie handed him a bill. “This is for the total job. Gray shingles were on sale this week so I got a little better deal than we talked about on the phone. It’s five hundred less than the estimate I gave you. You can pay half now and half when the job is done or pay all now.”

Deke sniffed the air. “Is that chili? Don’t mind Allie’s rudeness. She’s worried about this bad weather and she wants to get this roof done before it hits. And she talks too much when she’s nervous.”

“I was not being rude,” Allie countered with a shove to the tall man.

“Yes, you were,” Deke said. “You didn’t even say hello before you threw that bill on the counter. That’s rude. Loosen up, woman. We’ll get the job done.”

“Sorry if I was rude,” she said. “I’ll start all over. Hello, Blake. How are you today? Can we talk about this bill, now? How do you want to pay?”

Blake glanced at the bill and reached for the checkbook on the top of the refrigerator. “Might as well take care of it all right now. Glad that y’all could take care of it for me this quick. Y’all want to have dinner with me? Mary Jo brought enough chili to feed an army.”

“I love Mary Jo’s chili. Got dessert?” Deke asked.

“Talk about rude,” Allie said.

“Well, I’ve got a sweet tooth that will not be denied,” Deke admitted.

Blake made out the check and handed it to Allie. “Man’s got to speak his mind and if he’s got a sweet tooth, then he doesn’t just want dessert, he needs it.”

His gaze went from Allie’s work boots, past those luscious curves, to her eyes. That line should have worked on anyone, but her eyes said that he bored her.

“That’s right and I will eat with you. Besides I see a chocolate pie and jalape?o cornbread in that box over there on the counter.” Deke removed his coat and hung it over the back of a kitchen chair. “Where’s the bowls? I’ll get them down. I got a six-pack of beer in the truck I can contribute.”

“Deke!” Allie hissed.

“Hey, it’s a hot meal with dessert in a good warm house. I ain’t turnin’ it down for a bologna and cheese sandwich in a cold truck.” He opened the cabinet door that Blake pointed toward. “You stayin’ with us or goin’ out to the truck?”

“I’ve got my dinner in the truck. I’m not eating here. This is a job, not a social visit,” she said.

“It can just be a meal, not a social visit. You can eat without talking and then leave without even cleaning up,” Blake said.

Her hesitation said that she considered it, but then she shook her head. “No, thank you.”

“Good! That leaves more for me. I can’t believe you are turnin’ down a good bowl of chili when I know for a fact it’s your favorite. Are you sick or have you started getting that shit that your granny has?” Deke asked.