Wild Cowboy Ways (Lucky Penny Ranch #1)(30)

Instead of taking her back to the bar he kept dancing when the first chords of guitar music started an old blues song, “Ain’t No Sunshine.”

“Do you listen to this music?” she asked.

“No, but my grandpa loves rhythm and blues so I’m no stranger to it,” he answered.

The third song was something fast and furious with lots of horn music in the background. Blake mixed swing dancing with something that she’d never seen or done before. It took all her concentration to keep up with him, and when the song ended she was breathless.

“Time for a sip of peach pie?” Blake asked.



This whole business of settling down might not be so tough after all. He could withstand the temptations of the local women if he could have some time at Frankie’s occasionally. Allie had said she wasn’t interested in any kind of relationship, so they could have good times with no strings attached. By spring he might be completely weaned away from his wild cowboy ways.

When they’d finished their ribs and shots, the bar was full of people. They moved from their stools to dance in the corner where Deke ordered a round of beers. Prissy hugged up to a cowboy and pretty soon they disappeared back behind a beaded curtain as “When a Man Loves a Woman,” played on the jukebox.

“You like this place?” Allie asked.

Blake leaned close to her ear so she could hear him. “It’s different for sure and beats unpacking boxes. What about you?”

“I’m glad I’m not here alone.” She smiled. “Is that Etta James again?”

Blake nodded. “She’s singing ‘Damn Your Eyes.’ Anyone ever tell you that you’ve got gorgeous eyes?”

“Not lately and certainly not anyone I would believe.”

“Something’s Got a Hold on Me,” another Etta James tune, started as soon as the first one ended. Blake hugged Allie tightly to his chest and moved slowly around the floor.

“Do I have a hold on you?” she asked.

“Oh, honey, you don’t have a clue,” he teased.

The music stopped and she hurried to the jukebox. She bent over it to see the song titles better and there was that cute little denim-covered butt just tempting him. His mouth went dry and his pulse jacked up a few notches. He laced his fingers together on top of the table to keep from taking a few steps forward and cupping her fine ass in his hands.

He would not seduce Allie. Not even if he could already feel her body next to his, under him, working with him, and satisfying the ache behind his zipper. He was trying hard to make her his friend and that did not include benefits. She was an important part of his strategy to get past his wild reputation. He really, really needed for the folks in Dry Creek to see him as a responsible rancher, not a bar-hopping cowboy with nothing but a good time on his mind. No one in Muenster would take him seriously, and that had always bothered him.

The jukebox spit out “Lean on Me.” Was she telling him something? She returned to her chair and smiled. “I remember some of these songs from when I was…” She clamped a hand over her mouth. “Granny had some of these on vinyl. I wonder if she was ever here?”

Blake smiled. “Darlin’, your granny has lots of secrets.”

At midnight Deke handed Allie the keys to his truck and said, “Place closes at two. Frankie says y’all can stay long as you want. Leave the keys on the front seat, Blake. I’ve got a lady who says she can make a mean breakfast come daylight.” He grinned and disappeared in a fog of smoke.

“One more dance?” Blake asked.

Allie stood up and moved out to the middle of the empty floor as Sam Cooke sang “Bring It on Home to Me.” She wrapped her arms around Blake’s neck and smiled up at him. “It’s not hard to imagine my granny in her best dress out here on this very floor dancin’ with my grandpa to this song.”

“Who says she came here with your grandpa? Maybe it was with Walter,” he teased.

“I don’t want to think about that.” She leaned back and looked up at him.

She’d said no more kisses but those dark brown eyes mesmerized him. He tipped up her chin and whispered, “Then let’s think about this.”

His lips closed over hers and his arms pulled her tighter against his chest, his tongue finding its way inside her mouth, tasting the peach pie moonshine. Finally, she put her hands on his chest and pushed.

“Blake, I told you about that,” she said.

Her tone wasn’t very convincing so he brushed another kiss across her lips. “I was just seeing if the peach pie tasted better on your lips than it did straight from the glass.”

“Have you always been a charmer?” she asked with a smile.

“I can’t help it when I’m around you. You don’t have any idea how beautiful you are or how you affect a man, do you, darlin’?”

“On that note, I think it’s time for you to take me home.” She blushed, shrugged, and threw up her palms all at once. It was so damn cute he wanted to kiss her again. “I mean, take me to my home, so don’t look at me like that.”

The dance ended and he led her out to the truck. He wished the whole way back through the rutted road and to the county road leading home that she was sitting as close to him as she had been on the way to Frankie’s, and cussing himself for wanting her for more than a friend.