Page 21 of One Lucky Cowboy

“No, um, thanks. Like I said, I’ve got work to do. But thanks for a lovely evening. I’ll, um, I’ll see you around.”

She stood up and he put a hand on her forearm, gentle but enough so she paused and glanced back at him.

“Oh, sorry, I’ll—” She grabbed her wallet.

“No. I’ve got dinner. I just wanted to say I want to. But I want to when it won’t be the first regret you have in Deer Creek.”

“Sure. Yeah, and no biggie. But thanks for dinner.”

“Can we plan a time to meet up and chat strategy?”

She wouldn’t meet his gaze. Dammit. A second ago, he’d been close enough to smell the cinnamon and vanilla soap she must use on her skin and now she felt a continent away.

“I’ll text you after I get my bearings.”

He stood. “Want to at least share a cab back to the ranches? I don’t think either of us is taking our own car home after those last few drinks.”

“No, thanks. I ordered a ride from my phone and they’re outside.”

He waited for her to offer to take him back, but when she didn’t do anything but stare at her feet in front of her, he nodded.

“Okay. Well, I’ll wait for your text. It was nice … this dinner, I mean. Thanks.”

She smiled, but the tension he’d felt between them—not the physical temptation pulsing between their bodies, but the antipathy—was back.

Jill walked out of the restaurant leaving him with the bill and a thousand questions. The most pressing of them was how the hell he was supposed to work with her now that he’d gone and almost kissed the one woman with the power to give—or take away—everything he’d ever wanted in life?

Jesus. Now, on top of everything else, he had to find a way to fix this, and fast. They only had four weeks till the Cattleman’s Association fair, and he’d need every minute to perform a joint miracle of getting back on Jill’s good side and saving his brother’s company so he could leave the ranch, once and for all.

*

Jill sipped her second cup of coffee, determined not to think about the almost-kiss from the night before. Like, put it in the recesses of her memory, locked away forever, her shame tucked away behind a sealed door kind of determination.

“What do you think, Lily?” she asked the snoozing puppy at her feet. “You think he’ll let me forget it?” Lily only purred out a sigh like she was a cat rather than a Cavalier King Charles spaniel. She reached down and pet her sweet girl’s ears.

If Jill could put Jax out of her head, then her arrival in Deer Creek could be counted as a win for two reasons. First, she’d delivered the Steel Born equipment to Steiner’s son, a deal that would do more than put Maggie’s company on the map—it would rewrite the borders of the industry entirely. They’d never ventured into farming equipment before, but with some of the hay balers and feed troughs they already sold, there wasn’t a reason they couldn’t start. She might not love the farm or ranching worlds, but she knew those lines between them were blurred. Which meant that aspect of the Steiner deal was done. Bennett had also called and thanked her for her role in the MBE up sale at dinner the other night.

The deal had come about from the first MBE and Steel Born partnership. Before they’d been married, Bennett had bought exclusive rights to Maggie’s top-of-the-line ranching equipment and in exchange had subsidized over half a million dollars of the next tier of equipment for the local ranchers who needed an upgrade. Steiner didn’t have a ranch, but his son had a farm and the Steel Born equipment would work perfectly for his gap in needs. In return, the Steiner patriarch had gone exclusive with MBE beef. It was all a delicate web of partnerships that could topple with even the slightest breeze. Which meant no stiff winds better be on the horizon.

So far, so good.

Steel Born Inc. became a household name and multimillion dollar business both almost overnight. All Jill had to do was maintain that while Maggie rested up.

Easier said than done. Something Jax said to her the night before—

Before you tried to kiss him? Her subconscious was a snarky little thing this morning.

A ball of anxiety built in Jill’s throat, but she swallowed it back. Her second win was seeing the warehouse she’d designed and built in Deer Creek to house equipment stores for local ranchers’ more immediate needs in person. It was proving a worthy investment, as was her integration of the farming equipment line on a whim, but until they made it through the trade show at the end of the month her success wasn’t a done deal yet.

Which meant neither was her partnership with Maggie. She couldn’t coast through the next month and keep things status quo. She needed to grow the company sustainably and with Maggie’s original vision in mind.

But how?

What about that idea Jax gave you? Find out what the community needs and give it to them? Jill sighed and gazed out Maggie’s farmhouse window, her empty coffee mug teasing her into thinking she might need a third cup of the stuff. The garden wasn’t in bloom anymore, but she knew beneath the fading green vines and drying leaves were fall and winter vegetables that would sustain Maggie and Bennett through the winter. The rest of the yard beyond the garden was darling. Bennett had installed a gazebo as well as an outdoor kitchen with a pizza oven and grill. But who was appreciating all the changes and improvements since Maggie had moved in with Bennett?

She would, but only for a month. Maggie and Bennett had done good work to fix up her dad’s old place, but no matter how cozy or chic it was, this kind of living—slow and meandering through a small town with its gossip and life-under-a-microscope—wasn’t for her.

She needed to find a way to do her job that didn’t mean integrating herself into a place she wasn’t going to stay. Because that wasn’t fair, either.

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