Wild Cowboy Ways (Lucky Penny Ranch #1)(39)

Deke was already waiting in the yard when Allie arrived in the van. It took some fast work but everything was in the house before snow changed to big cold rain drops falling from the sky in buckets. He and Blake shucked out of their coats and hung them on the rack. Blake headed for the sofa and Deke headed toward the kitchen. “Anyone besides me want a beer?”

“Well, make yourself right at home,” Allie scolded.

Deke landed a brotherly kiss across her cheek on his way to the kitchen. “Don’t gripe at me like I was your little brother. If I can be called on to help a friend, then I can make myself at home, right, Blake?”

“That’s right and so can you, Allie.” He turned around and went back to help her out of her coat.

There it was again when his hands brushed against that soft spot on her neck. An intensified surge of emotions rattling through her body wanting more than a touch, more than a kiss. Then her brain kicked in quite loudly and reminded her that he was wild and wicked and not to be trusted. God Almighty! Which one did she listen to anyway?

“I hate Sunday nights,” Deke said. “They are the most boring hours in the whole week.”

“Why is that?” Allie asked, as breathless as if she’d had an actual argument with someone.

“The rest of the week we need forty hours in a day to get everything done. Friday we celebrate the week ending with a trip to Frankie’s or a good cowboy bar and maybe Saturday night, too. But Sunday night is downright lonesome,” Deke said.

“That’s the gospel truth.” Blake nodded in agreement. “At home at least there was family that stuck around until bedtime.”

“We could make some popcorn and watch a movie and be bored together. It would keep Allie from havin’ to go home.” Deke sighed.

Allie would watch Shooter sleep if it would keep her from having to spend time playing Monopoly or watching the kind of movie Lizzy and Mitch picked out. She wished that Frankie’s was open on Sunday evening. Listening to Etta James and Ray Charles, dancing with Blake, maybe indulging in just one more of those steamy kisses, watching Deke flirt with the women—now that sounded exciting.

“I haven’t got cable yet, but there are a few western movies that I brought along with me and it would be good to have some company,” Blake said. “Y’all want to follow me and we’ll pick one out together.”

“How many did you bring?” Deke asked.

“A boot box full,” Blake answered.

“Y’all choose. I’m going to the restroom,” Allie said. “Meet you back in the living room.”



“Allie is quite a woman,” Blake said. “Beautiful, talented, and smart.”

“Yep.” Deke nodded. “I like this one.” He held up Quigley Down Under starring Tom Selleck.

“That’ll do fine. Between me and you I’d rather be at Frankie’s than doing this.”

“Me, too, but Frankie is religious. He’s closed on Sunday.”

“You’ve got to be kiddin’ me! Moonshine, hookers, and he’s religious?” Blake drawled.

“There’s layers to everyone, my friend. Frankie attends church over there in his community and leads the singin’.”

Blake shook his head all the way up the hall to the kitchen. “So tell me about Allie’s layers.” He found a box of instant hot chocolate in the second place he looked and set three oversized mugs on the counter.

Deke put a bag of popcorn into the microwave. “She is a woman underneath those work clothes. She has a heart as big as Texas. She is a good sister even though she and Lizzy argue all the time. She’s a damn fine granddaughter and the best friend a man could have.”

“I’ve never had a woman for a friend,” Blake said.

“Then start with Allie. She’s the best.”

“Who is the best?” Allie’s big brown eyes looked from one cowboy to the other.

“You are,” Deke said.

“At what?” she asked.

“Being a man’s friend. Hell, you’re even better than my dog, and I really love that dog.” Deke grinned.

She poked him on the arm. “Aww, now ain’t that the sweetest thing a woman can hear. What are we watching?”

“I picked out Quigley Down Under.”

“Never have seen it. Can I help do anything?”

“Not a thing. It’s about ready to take to the living room,” Blake said.

“I call dibs on the end of the couch,” she said.

Deke raised his hand. “I get the recliner for helping unload stuff.”

Allie sat down at the kitchen table and unzipped her knee boots. “I’ve had all of these I can stand for one day.”

Blake took one look at her mismatched socks and chuckled. “Good-lookin’ socks there, darlin’. They make the outfit.”

She held up her feet and wiggled her toes. “I’ve got another pair like them somewhere in the house but I can’t find them. If Lizzy had pushed me toward Grady one more time, I planned to take off my boots in church to embarrass her.”

“You are one wicked lady.” Blake smiled.

“Not me!” Her smile was straight from heaven. “I’m just a carpenter who fixes roofs and does remodel jobs on houses.”