Page 42 of One Lucky Cowboy

“Did Maggie tell you about our dad?”

She nodded. It was a horrible story of him running their family business into the ground only to die when the boys were teens, leaving them penniless. Bennett had brought them back from the brink of losing the house and ranch, righting the ship so severely he made them all millionaires with his uncanny business sense.

“How about Matt?”

Jill shook her head. “Is he the other brother you mentioned?”

“Yeah. He’s the oldest.” Jax paused. Jill pretended not to notice the water brimming along his bottom eyelids. “Anyway, he and my dad fought tooth and nail; Matt had the same love for the ranch Bennett did but two years’ more experience. Our dad ran him off, and Matt hasn’t been back since.”

“That’s awful,” Jill said.

To lose a sibling because of a parent’s negligence and abuse? Was there anything more heartbreaking? It explained Grace’s sadness the other night. The woman was strong but held an air of grief like a shawl around her shoulders.

There was the shrug again, though it seemed heavier and harder to do this time around. Jax smiled, but it wasn’t his usual laid-back, laissez-faire one.

“Yeah, mainly because if my deadbeat brother stuck around, maybe Bennett wouldn’t need me. I wasn’t the brother he wanted to go into business with anyway; I was the JV to Matt’s varsity.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

“It is, but it doesn’t matter. What’s done is done, and Bennett’s got me,” Jax said, effectively squashing any further discussion. “Maybe if he finds the right person to hire, he won’t care that I can’t do this anymore.”

“You still haven’t told him?” Jill asked. He winced, and she put a hand on his arm. The heat from the sun had warmed it. “Sorry. I just thought you’d said something.”

“No. I kinda wanted to see how the CAF does. Maybe I can find someone there to take my place and it won’t be an issue.”

“I dunno. I think Bennett won’t need that to care about what happens to you. His ranch is his business, but you’re family.”

Another shrug. “Maybe.”

A turkey vulture soared overhead, caught on a thermal as its gaze scoured the terrain for bite-sized rodents for a midday snack. It had a singular purpose, as they all did. Was this Jax’s, or was he right? Was he a stand-in for someone else? If the latter was true, what was his purpose? She’d known he was offered another job, but he hadn’t yet said what that was.

If he never pursued the new gig, he might never know if it was a better fit, but the idea of him not in Deer Creek when Jill came to visit Maggie sorta broke her heart.

She understood him on a cellular level.

On one hand, she empathized with Jax’s need to move, since he’d grown up in a postage-stamp town where not only did the local coffee shop know his order but his business, too.

It was the opposite of Jill’s childhood spent on the road in new places each week. She’d been homeschooled and never made any real friends till Maggie.

On the other hand, she couldn’t imagine leaving a supportive mom like Grace or a brother as devoted as Bennett.

She and Jax were different, but not when it came to the reasons for their differences—their families had shaped them both, for better or worse.

“Family drama aside, this is nice,” she said.

“How’s that?” His lips quirked up in a tentative half smile. “You mean taking in the first bout of good weather we’ve had where we’re not worried about if rain’ll come?”

“Sure. But also talking to you and not tearing at each other’s throats. It’s nice just … I dunno. Hanging out.”

He leaned over and nudged her shoulder with his. His eyes were brighter than the afternoon sun and this close, their gaze burned into her heart. Why did she feel so seen by a man who was so diametrically opposed to her way of life?

“Agreed. Maybe it’s the start of that common ground we were looking for. All we needed to do was sit still and let it come to us.”

Jill smiled.

What was best for her always had. But there was that small flutter in her stomach. Unwanted, unappreciated feelings that couldn’t take root. Ones where she wished she and Jax had met before they’d both been damaged by the cards they’d dealt one another. Or that they’d been playing the same game in the first place.

But that wasn’t life. You didn’t wish on a star in the desert canyon sky and get what you wanted. Jill ran a handful of the cut grass through her fingers, holding back giggles as it tickled her palm.

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