Page 40 of Second Chance With a Cowboy

Two days later, Leni pulled her car into the Lassiter ranch, happy to see Chevy’s pickup parked in front of the house.

She had worked at the coffee shop the day before, then she and Lorna had spent most of the afternoon recuperating from the festival, napping with Izzy and watching movies with Max. Chevy had dropped by with a couple of pizzas and sworn that he’d just been thinking about how much he’d wanted to see the latest Minion movie. Leni had been impressed that he’d stayed awake through the whole thing.

She’d been even more impressed when he’d offered to put Max to bed while she straightened the kitchen and helped Lorna with Izzy.

Something that had felt a lot like love had come over her when she came up the stairs and heard him telling her nephew what happens when you give a mouse a cookie. The sweet giggles of the five-year-old made her heart want to burst.

She’d stood in the hall outside of Max’s room wondering if she really was in love with Chevy Lassiter again. Or if she’d ever stopped loving him in the first place.

Then he’d come out and asked her if she knew what would happen if you gave a cowboy an aerospace engineer, and she stopped thinking altogether as he carried her into her bedroom and shut the door.

It was Monday morning now, and the coffee shop was closed, so Leni had picked up donuts and decided to surprise Chevy and his brothers with them.

She pulled up next to Chevy’s truck and did a quick lip gloss refresh in the visor mirror, swiping on a new layer of the minty soft pink shimmer. She’d taken a little extra time with her makeup that morning and set her hair in hot curlers to get the bouncy waves that he liked.

Digging through the pile of new summer things she’d bought when she realized she was staying in Woodland Hills longer than she’d planned, she found a white top with tiny flutter sleeves and a little black skirt that showed off the tan she’d gotten since she’d been here and started spending more time outside in the sun instead of inside at her computer.

Under the skirt, she’d put on a pair of black thong panties, not exactlyplanningto seduce him somewhere on the ranch this morning, but hey, if a hayloft proved available…there was a strong possibility she might haul him into it.

She grabbed the pastry box and met Dodge on the porch as she was walking up to the house. “Hey Dodge. I brought some donuts out to say thank you for all the help you guys gave us at the festival on Saturday.”

“That was nothing. We all had fun.” He held his hand out for the bakery box. “But there’s not a Lassiter here that would ever turn down a donut.”

She handed him the box. “Chevy around?”

He nodded absently as he opened the lid and considered his donut choices. “Yeah, I think he just got back. He’s been out with Jolene all morning. She was causing drama—probably jealous of all the time you two have been spending together.”

Leni’s heart stopped, and bile rose in her throat. “Wait. Did you sayJolene? She’s here? Now?WithChevy?”

He’d said he wasn’t seeing anyone.

He lied.

How could she have been so stupid?

I trusted him.

She pressed her lips together to keep a sob from escaping.

He’s gonna break my heart all over again.

“Yeah. I think they just got back from a ride. He’s out in the barn with her—”

But she didn’t hear the rest of what he said as she turned around and stomped toward the barn.

She threw open the door, anxiety filling her chest as she prepared herself to catch the man she’d thought she loved in the arms of the same woman he’d left her for all those years ago.

She marched through the alley of the barn but found Chevy alone standing outside one of the stalls watering and brushing a brown horse.

His face lit as he looked up and saw her. “Leni. Hey. What are you doing here?” He took a step toward her, but she held her hand up like she was warding off a vampire with a wooden stake and a strand of garlic.

“Never mind that. What areyoudoing here?” she asked with barely controlled fury in her voice. She could feel heat burning her cheeks.

He stared at her, a confused expression on his face. “Um, I don’t know what you mean. I’m just brushing my horse. Everything okay?”

“No.Nothing’sokay. I can’t believe I fell for this again. Fell foryou.” She spat the words at him, the anger and humiliation building inside her. “You are such a freaking liar.”

He took a step back like she’d physically slapped him. “What are you talking about?”

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