Cowgirls Don't Cry(88)

“Would you like a glass of wine?” her mother asked him.

“No, thanks. I’ll let you get back to girl talk.”


Jessie stood. “Actually, I think I’ll head to bed.”


“I didn’t mean to chase you off, Jessie,” Roger said.

“You didn’t.” She swiped her mother’s half-full bottle of beer. “Besides, I think Mom would like that glass of wine.”


“I put your stuff in your usual room.”


“Thanks. Goodnight.”


“See you in the morning, sweetie.”


Jessie wandered into the bedroom. The first time she’d come to her mother’s home after Luke had died, she’d taken one look at the twin bed—a blatant reminder of her single status—and she’d slid to the floor, weeping.

No urge to weep arose this time, but she had gotten used to sleeping with Brandt in the last few weeks, wrapping herself around his warm body after they’d made love and before they drifted off. She’d really gotten used to his unique way of waking her up.

She slipped on her pajamas. Lexie preferred tile to carpet, so she curled up on the floor in the adjoining bathroom.

Jessie slid beneath the sweet-smelling sheets and brought the down comforter under her chin. She turned on her side to get comfortable, squinting at the red numbers on the clock on the bedside table.

Eleven. Was Brandt tucked in bed? Or had he fallen asleep in front of the TV?

Ten minutes ticked away. Then twenty. She heard her mom and Roger moving down the hallway, followed by the click of their bedroom door closing.

Another fifteen minutes passed. Almost midnight. She should be tired. But she was wide-awake.

Her cell phone vibrated on the nightstand. Jessie snatched it and smiled at the caller ID: “Hey. Is everything all right?”


“Yeah.” Brandt cleared his throat. “Didn’t mean to scare ya, I just called because I…missed you.”


Her heart did a little flip. How sweet that he didn’t think anything of calling her up just to tell her he missed her.

“Sorry if I woke you.”


“You didn’t. I was just laying here staring at the ceiling, to be honest. Did you get my text?”


“Oh, was that what the ‘I’m here’ meant? That you’d arrived safe and sound in Riverton?”


“Sorry.”


“How’s your mom?”


“Good. She’s been baking and cooking all day. She’s invited a few people over for dinner tomorrow.”


“Anyone you know?”


Was she supposed to tell him about the single guy her mom had invited? No. Especially when she hadn’t met the man yet. Not that Brandt would be jealous…would he?

Jessie had the perverse impulse to tell Brandt about her blind dinner date, just to see how he’d react.

High schoolish, Jessie.

“Jess?”


“What? Oh sorry, no, I won’t know anyone.”


“Well, I’m hopin’ all her dinner guests are old couples and that she isn’t tryin’ to fix her single, hot daughter up with some guy.”


Gulp.

“You’re such a flatterer, Brandt McKay. Hot daughter. Right.”


“You are hot. Smokin’ hot,” he whispered huskily. “And if you were here, I’d prove just how hot I think you are.”


She rolled flat on her back and adjusted the phone. “How would you do that?”