Page 20 of Wrangling a Wild Texan

He took a step back and cleared his throat. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Are you okay? My insurance will pay for any damage to Jesse’s truck.” Although he figured that was unlikely given the huge push bumper on the front of the truck. The only things damaged were the flattened weeds.

She blinked those big brown eyes. “Did big bad Reid just apologize?”

He scowled. “Are you okay or not?”

“I’m fine.” She glanced down at the cellphone in his hand. “But I now know where Sophie got her texting while driving. Cute pink rhinestone phone case, by the way.”

He felt his cheeks flush. “It’s not mine. It’s Sophie’s. I got distracted reading her texts.” And then even more distracted by a redheaded Daisy Duke. What was the matter with him? He had no business letting his libido sidetrack him from the problem at hand.

“You were reading her texts?” Sunny stared at him with horror. “You can’t do that. That’s like reading a girl’s diary.”

He glanced down at the phone. “Well, if it’s any consolation I didn’t understand a word of it. Do you know what johnnies are? Are they drugs?”

“Umm . . . no. They’re not drugs.”

Reid heaved a sigh of relief. “So what are they?”

Sunny hesitated. “Condoms.”

His relief evaporated. “What!”

“I could be wrong. I’m not up on teenage texting lingo.” She held out her hand. “Let me see what context they were used in.”

“I thought you were appalled at me for reading Sophie’s texts.”

“Well, that was before I knew what she was texting. She’s too young to be texting about condoms. Now let me see.”

He handed the phone to her. “Maybe it’s a joke. Maybe it’s just her and her friend JC joking around.”

Sunny read through the texts. “Nope. This doesn’t sound like just joking around to me. It sounds like she has plans to meet this person tonight at Cooper Springs.”

“Well, she can’t. She’s on restriction.”

Sunny glanced up from the phone and shook her head. “Wow. You really are clueless, aren’t you? I got in the most trouble on the nights I was on restriction.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean Sophie is obviously going to sneak out and meet JC.”

“Like hell she will!”

“And how are you going to stop her? Are you going to lock her in her room? Stay up all night every night? Because I can tell you from experience that the more you try to stop a strong-willed teenager from doing something, the more they’re going to try and do it.”

He pushed back his hat and released an aggravated huff. “Then what am I supposed to do? Just let her have sex with some random guy when she’s still struggling with losing her mama . . . and being stuck with an inept uncle who doesn’t know shit about raising a teenager?”

“You don’t have to do it alone, you know? Mimi and the Holiday sisters wanted to help.”

“Thanks, but I’d just as soon not have my bosses in the middle of my family issues.”

Sunny studied him for a long moment before she spoke. “What about me? Would you take help from me?”

He drew back. “What kind of help?”

She smiled slyly. “The kind of help that only a woman who understands wild teenagers can give you.”

Chapter Eight

“This is ridiculous.”

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