Page 8 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

~ ~ ~

Shayna finished wiping down the bar then braced her hands on it and let her head droop. It was late; it’d been a busy Friday night at The Boathouse, she was tired, and she was ready to go home.

“You okay?” Kenzie asked as she passed her. “We’ll be out of here in a few. I’d tell you to go now, but I want to follow you and make sure you get there okay.”

“It’s fine, Kenz, honestly. I don’t mind staying till we’re done, and you don’t need to follow me home – I keep telling you that. I appreciate it, but I don’t think it’s necessary anymore.”

Kenzie held her gaze for a long moment. “You might be right. It’s different now that you’re living at Davin and Alexis’s place. I know that you’re safe once you get there – it’s not like your old house. But … tell you what, when Davin says he doesn’t think it’s necessary, then I’ll quit following you home.”

“Okay.” She knew that some people might not like that idea – they wouldn’t want anyone else to have the final say over what they did. But it wasn’t like that. Davin and Alexis had taken her in – treated her as family. They looked out for her, and it gave her the warm and fuzzies.

“Shoot, what do these two want?” Kenzie said in a low voice. “I love ‘em to pieces, but I’m not serving anyone else tonight, not even Chance and Hope.”

Shayna watched them approach the bar, wondering what they wanted. Some of the tourists, and some of the locals for that matter, would try to get another drink even when it was obvious that the bar was closed, but Chance and Hope weren’t the type.

Kenzie grinned at them. “You’re out of luck, cowboy. Not another drop of booze is crossing this bar tonight.”

Chance frowned, and Hope smiled and said, “That’s okay. We’re not after another drink.”

Shayna’s breath caught in her chest when Chance looked directly at her and said, “We want a quick word with you when you’re finished.”

Her heart started to pound. Why would they want to talk to her? “What …?”

“She’s finished now,” said Kenzie. “Have at it, I’ll be back in a minute.” She went into the back, leaving Shayna eyeing Chance and Hope warily.

She relaxed a little when Hope smiled. “Don’t look so worried. It’s nothing bad – in fact, it might turn out to be something good.”

“What might?” She didn’t have a clue what was going on.

Chance’s lips turned up in the hint of a smile. “Have you heard from Tyler yet?”

“Tyler? Oh!” It’d been a busy night in The Boathouse; she hadn’t had a minute to think about the mysterious cowboy in Montana or the message that April had sent him. “I …” She held her hands up. “No. I don’t think so. I’ve been working all evening, I … why?”

“He saw the message that April sent, and he was curious. He called me, since he knows that I’m here this weekend. At first, he didn’t know if it was a set up – if we were messing with him somehow. When I assured him that you are in a fact a real person, he wanted to know what I could tell him about you.”

“I see.”

Hope smiled at her. “I hope you’re not mad – I think I might be mad about everyone interfering if I were in your shoes.”

Chance turned to look at her. “You would?”

“Yes. Think about it. Shayna doesn’t know us, she has no idea who Ty is, all she knows is that April sent a message from her account and now she has a bunch of strangers trying to interfere in her dating life. Sorry, Shayna.”

She had to smile; she was grateful that Hope understood.

Chance nodded slowly. “Yeah. Sorry. I didn’t mean …”

“It’s okay – really. I don’t know you guys that well, but I know that you mean well.”

“We do.”

“So, what exactly did you want to talk to me about?”

Chance shrugged. “Just to tell you that if you hear from him, you might want to give him a shot. He’s a good guy.”

“And he’s hot!” Hope said with a wink.

Chance narrowed his eyes at her. “He is?”

---