Page 57 of The Cowboy's Surprise Return

Jackie performed another adorable sneeze, then reclaimed her clipboard and said, “Let’s get out of here before my nose is stuffed up for the rest of day.”

“Levi’s been traveling a lot with Laura,” he muttered. “We haven’t had a chance to connect on everything yet.”

“Hong Kong last week, right?”

He nodded.

The couple had spent eight days visiting Laura’s sister, Ava Ross, who was scouting a location for a music video, since the sisters had missed seeing each other at Christmas. There may have been a meeting or two for Laura’s new perfume business, as well.

“I’m losing track on where those two are and if they’re coming or going,” Jackie said, and Cole appreciated the way she was trying to make him feel better.

“Let’s check the house,” he said, guiding her from the room.

“I never saw Levi as someone to go traipsing across the world, and here he is, filling his passport with stamps,” Jackie stated. “I took Laura to the football game and matched her up with him, you know.”

“Your semi-famous matchmaking skills I’ve been hearing about?”

She nodded.

“You did some matchmaking with all of my brothers at games last season?”

“I did.” She was wearing dark jeans and a thick black vest that brought out the pretty rose color in her cheeks. Her boots were town ones, too fancy for ranch work, sexy and somehow so Jackie. “If you want, I can take you to a game after we’re done with our little thing.” She gave him a wink, and he felt a strong sense of despair, as though being pulled into something that might break him.

“Anyway,” she said, tucking her clipboard against her chest, “I need to get back to work. It was nice kissing you.” There was that smile he adored again. Sweet and slightly devious, and able to increase his heart rate in an instant.

“Always my pleasure,” he said, delighted with how his low growl made her bite her bottom lip, lift up onto her toes and plant a kiss on his lips.

Things might not be working out today with fitting back into the ranch, helping Jackie or convincing her to let him in, but the kisses were worth it.

* * *

“Hang on, I have an idea.” Cole was already marching out of the stable and toward the house before Jackie could react. He paused when she reached the stable door. “You coming?”

She nodded and followed. It wasn’t an unpleasant view. His jeans snugged his back end, and he was still as fit as when he’d competed in the rodeo in his twenties. He had filled out before he left town, but his build was different now, displaying more strength and power.

Though he still walked like a cowboy. She would bet his lower back was stiff every time he stood up.

They entered the house through the patio door, Buckey and Carly’s sheepdog, Sergeant Riggs, following them to the threshold. “Go on now, you two. You can’t come in here. You’re all muddy,” Cole told them.

Buckey whined, but Sergeant Riggs, as though understanding, turned and headed toward the holly hedge that separated Carly’s ranch from Sweet Meadows.

The kitchen was empty and warm, scented with cinnamon. Jackie’s stomach rumbled as she and Cole ditched their muddy footwear, using the wooden boot horn at the door to pry them off.

“Lunch?” Jackie asked hopefully, spying cooling trays of cinnamon buns and two apple pies alongside her BFF, lasagna, on the kitchen counter. She inhaled deeply, savoring the aromas of spicy sauces and sweetness.

Cole shook his head, a man on a mission. Jackie convinced herself to follow the soft padding of his feet and not pause to sneak a bite of Maria’s delicious food.

He turned left, heading down the hallway that ran between the sunken living room and the bedrooms. Her heart lifted when he opened the door to his room. She hurried after him and held her breath, partly in anticipation and partly to brace herself in case there were still reminders of him and April from when they’d been an off-and-on couple throughout their twenties. But as the door swung open, she noted that the room didn’t even have a bed. It was cluttered with a paper-covered desk and bookshelves filled with binders, and in much more disarray than she’d expected in the typically neat home.

“What’s this?” she asked from the doorway.

“Levi turned my room into an office,” Cole said, his jaw clamping shut.

“Then where are you staying?”

“Down the hall.”

She peeked down the hallway at the closed bedroom doors, then back at the dust that covered the office shelves, the binders with loose pages shoved into them. Stacks of books and folders, spiral-bound booklets from the county, unopened mail and piles of catalogs covered the floor.

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