Playing With Fire (Tangled in Texas, #2)(62)

“Well, you should’ve cleared that with me first.”

“I didn’t want you to worry. I told you I’d handle the situation with the Barlow boys, and that’s what I was doing. You don’t have to lose any sleep over them.”

“Look, I appreciate your concern, but you can’t have someone watching my house and not tell me. This gentleman…Junior, is it? He’s scared the devil out of me twice already.”

With wide eyes, Cowboy tossed Junior a dumbfounded look. “Twice? Christ, Junior. Maybe next time I should get Big Jim’s three-year-old twins to ride their tricycles over to her house and keep an eye out. They’re low enough to the ground that she might not have spotted them,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Some f*cking tracker you are.”

Junior’s eyes narrowed and his voice held a menacing tone. “If you want to know what it feels like to be skinned alive, keep talking.”

I shuddered visibly.

“It’s okay, Anna. Junior’s just spouting off. He wouldn’t really do it.”

With a lethal gleam in his eye, the big Indian put his hand directly on his knife at his side and cocked an eyebrow at Cowboy. I don’t know whether Cowboy believed what he said or not, but the color suddenly drained from his face as he gave Junior a weak smile.

Junior wore a stone-cold expression, but it softened as he shifted his gaze onto me. “You didn’t see me twice.”

“Yes, I did. I saw you about a week ago standing at the edge of my property. You were watching me from the tree line.”

“Wasn’t me,” he said, his mouth grim. “Last night was the first time I’d ever dismounted from my horse and approached the house. Had to be someone else.”

Cowboy must’ve believed him because his eyes immediately lit with concern. My heart leaped into my throat and my knees wobbled, but I steadied them. This was not the right time to have a nervous breakdown. Not that there ever was a good time for that.

I glanced around the room, realizing all eyes were on me. Between the threatening notes that had me on edge, the disastrous date gone wrong, and the events of last night’s public embarrassment, I couldn’t take any more. “Cowboy, w-would you please take me home? I think I’ve caused enough of a scene tonight. It’s probably a good idea to—”

“Go back to our house and order pizza,” Emily chimed in. At first, I thought maybe she had something in her eye, but then I realized it was an exaggerated wink. She obviously thought she was somehow helping me out. “We have alcohol,” she whispered. “Lots of it.”

I’d never been much of a drinker, but I was suddenly parched, imagining that this was how it felt to think, “God, I could go for a drink about now.”



Emily stood on the other side of her dining room table, holding up the bottle of white wine. “More?”

“Why not? One more glass won’t hurt.” I pressed my cool hand to my hot cheek and swayed a little in my chair. Nope, I was definitely not hurting…anywhere.

Cowboy grinned. “Darlin’, maybe you should slow down a little.”

“Oh, please!” Emily shrieked. “Since when did you not know how to have fun? Don’t tell me Jake has finally rubbed off on you.”

“Hey!” Jake said, clearly offended. “I’m lots of fun.” He leaned over the table and snagged Emily’s top with one finger, pulling her to him. Then he took a quick peek down her shirt and grinned. “See? Fun.”

Cowboy stood up fast. “Okay, I think it’s time for us to go and let you two have some alone time.”

“It’s fine,” Emily said, waving off his comment. “Floss is keeping Lily until the morning. I pumped breast milk by the bucketful earlier today just so Lily wouldn’t run out in the middle of the night.”

“Still, it’s your first night alone since you had Lily,” Cowboy said. “I doubt you two want to spend it with us.”

“Hold up,” Jake told him. “I wanted to show you our new bay mare out in the barn real quick. Won’t take but a few minutes.”

“All right.” Cowboy glanced at me. “I’ll be right back to take you home.”

The knot in my throat wouldn’t allow me to answer him, so I just nodded an okay and took a large gulp of my wine.

“Don’t be out there too long, Jake,” Emily said with a quick wink. “Since they’re leaving, I have plans for us…something that might involve pickles.”

Jake gave her a quick kiss on the lips and headed for the door, wearing a huge grin. “I’m feeling a little lazy tonight. Might let you do all the work,” he teased.

Emily smirked at him. “So what else is new?”

Cowboy chuckled as Jake stepped out the door, mumbling under his breath.

I waited until the door shut behind them. “Pickles?”

Emily laughed. “Jake won’t allow me to eat pickles in front of him anymore. My entire pregnancy, he swore I was torturing him.”

Normally, I would’ve blushed and stammered all over myself after a sexual innuendo such as that, but the alcohol in my system lent me some perspective. Instead, I broke into a fit of giggles.

“About time you loosened up,” Emily said, smiling. “Now would you mind telling me what’s going on between you and Cowboy?”