Cowgirl Up and Ride (Rough Riders #3)(51)

“Put down the fryin’ pan, AJ. Unless you plan on smackin’ me upside the head with it?”


“What?” AJ looked at her hand and saw she’d been shaking the soap-covered cast iron pan in his face. “Sorry.”


Cord took the pan and rinsed it. He dried it before speaking again. “Would it bug you if the situations were reversed and I blabbed to your sister about everything goin’ on between us?”


Attempting to stay calm, AJ unplugged the sink. Rinsed out the dishrag and twisted it, spreading it out to dry over the edge of the counter before she answered him. “A—I don’t blab; neither does Keely, so you can rest assured no one in the McKay family will find out that you and I are boinking like bunnies. B—If I have to choose between screwing around in secret with you for a few weeks or having Keely as my friend for the rest of my life, then no contest, because she wins. Hands down.”


AJ made it to the door before Cord caught her.


“Wait a minute, that wasn’t fair.”


“You’re right. It wasn’t.”


He stared at her, that brooding expression darkening his handsome face, as if he expected her to say something else. To apologize for something that wasn’t her fault.


“Thank you for tonight, Cord, it was…great. It’s been a crazy day and I’m a little on edge. I’ll see you later.”



She wasn’t particularly surprised he let her go. But she was surprised by how eager she was to get away from him.


Chapter Thirteen


“Where the hell is Colt?” Cord barked at Kade the next morning over the phone.


“Yeah, I know it ain’t your day to watch him. No. I’ll do it myself. I don’t got time to ride over there and haul his drunken carcass outta bed again.”


Cord clicked his cell phone off. “Goddamn, he’s lookin’ to get his ass whupped.” He threw his mug in the sink, noticing he’d forgotten to dry the silverware after AJ had left.


That was another screwed up situation. Things’d been going great guns last night. He hadn’t blamed his sudden tension on AJ’s admission that Keely knew about them. No, doing dishes together was what sent him into a belligerent retreat.


Cooking for her hadn’t been a big deal. But the second she started washing plates, knowing exactly where he kept his dishrags and dish soap, a funny feeling, sort of like hope had spread inside him. Had he tossed her out? No. He’d automatically reached for the dishtowel to dry. Like they’d done that household task together all the time. Like it was natural. Like it was the first of many times.


Damn. That kind of easy camaraderie could get a man in trouble. Big trouble.


Especially when he’d gone out of his way to avoid anything with any woman that smacked of domesticity.


Still, logic made him question how AJ’s thoughtfulness was a fault. She’d been raised that way. No different than her baking cookies and serving coffee to him and his folks at her mom’s place. Cord knew if his ma had been here after supper, she would’ve run a sinkful of soapy water and cleaned up too.


So why did it seem so much…more?


Because you could want more with AJ. She knows you, your son, your ranch, and your family. It’d be easy for her just to slip into your life, swoop into your house and want to play house for keeps.


“Like hell,” he said out loud. “She’s leavin’. End of story.”