Page 56 of The Cowboy's Surprise Return

“Well, I might.”

The arm around her waist tightened.

“Are you going to kiss me?” Anything would be better than pouring out her sorrows, because she feared Cole’s kindness might melt her into a puddle. She needed to remain strong.

With torturous patience, Cole lowered his lips to hers and she kissed him.

“That’s better,” she said.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” he asked, when they broke apart after their second kiss, her body feeling tingly and warm.

“I don’t know. What day is it?”

“Friday.”

“Oh, right.” She blinked away the haze from the kiss. She’d come here for work and had become distracted by the fine sight of a cowboy working on the riding ring’s fence.

She reached for the clipboard she’d left on the fence post. “I came to talk to Levi, but your mom said he’s out with a herd. So she said I could talk to you or Hank, or that new guy, Owen.” Jackie gave Cole a bright smile. “I chose you. And not just because I saw you first.”

“Owen and Hank are out with the herd, too.”

“Which explains why I foundyou.”

“So you were bored at work and decided to stop by, to act mysterious and wheedle kisses from me?”

Their eyes met again, and she looked away as she fought a grin. She waved the clipboard stacked with white pages. “I’m an open book.”

Cole snorted.

“What?” She dared him to argue.

He dutifully shook his head, mouth closed.

Good boy.

“The feed store’s supplying supplements for part of the split testing in the college’s cattle breeding study Brant’s working on, so I came to find out what you have on hand.” She gave Cole a sly look that stirred his blood. “I could have called, but you know…” She winked. “Sometimes real life visits are more fun.”

He chuckled, and drank her in slowly, dropping his voice to a friendly growl. “Indeed?”

She relaxed, knowing he wasn’t going to dive into personal territory such as the mess her father’s life was in and how she felt about it. She was safe. He wasn’t going to dive into her life and emotions like he was a real boyfriend.

* * *

Cole was feeling frustrated. Partly because he couldn’t find the mineral supplements in the spot they’d once kept them, but mostly because of the way Jackie kept shutting him down. She kept locking him out of her life as if he was her fake boyfriend.

And yeah, he was. But he wanted to believe he was at least a friend that she could talk to. He’d done a good job of listening to April’s woes the other week, so why couldn’t Jackie trust him with her worries like he had with her?

Cole shoved an open bag of feed aside. Their digging around in the stable’s storage room was stirring up dust and making her sneeze. Not to mention how her sexy black cowboy boots with the white stitching were looking after trekking across the dirt floors.

“Doesn’t Levi just let the to-be-bred herd graze on the rye he planted in the far west corner?” she asked. “I haven’t heard him talk about supplements.”

Cole straightened, adjusted his hat and dropped his hands on his hips. He sighed in defeat. “Shoot, Jackie. I’m sorry. I’m sadly out of touch with the ranch’s details. We used to keep phosphorous in here, as well as breeding records.” He’d been confident he’d find something for her, but so far was striking out and looking like an idiot who didn’t know his own family’s business.

Her expression softened. “I thought Levi was happy to have you back, helping.”

“You’d think.” Cole toed another bag out of his way, knowing he wouldn’t find what he needed on the shelf behind it due to the thick layer of dust. Jackie tossed her clipboard onto one of the large white feed bags, which weighed more than she did. She pulled her phone from her back pocket and sent a text to someone.

Cole scratched his neck. Brant and April were supposed to be straightening out the records. Maybe they’d decided this dusty old room wasn’t the place for them, and had moved everything to the office in the house.

---