Page 33 of Her Second Chance Cowboy

He shrugged. “It was fun to have an excuse to get out of the city. Seems like a nice little town. Good for a visit, at least.”

Itwasa nice little town, in a lot of ways. Less nice in others. And she still couldn’t figure out how she felt about it or whether she could find a place for herself in it.

By the time she’d taken care of Jude, the girls were deep into truth or dare in the pool. Nancy could have laughed when she walked up. It was so much like high school that she had a crazy thought about hiding the tequila bottles before Ericka’s mother came home. “Nancy!” Evie called happily. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” she said and sat at the edge of the pool, slipping her feet into the cool water.

“Are you going back to Boulder after the wedding? Really going? Or is there any chance that you’ll stay?”

The question hit her in the gut like a punch, and she gaped at her friend, who quickly realized that she’d stumbled into Nancy’s exact problem. The women around her cajoled her to answer, but when Nancy went to open her mouth, no sound came out. A lump settled in her throat that she couldn’t swallow around. “Excuse me,” she mumbled and hightailed it across the yard and into Ericka’s house.

Two days ago, the answer to Evie’s question would have been that she was going to stay. But after Reagan’s offer and Colin’s weirdness, she was back to being confused. She was considering just sneaking out when Evie came through the patio doors. Her eyes were a little glassy from alcohol, but her expression was serious. “I’m sorry for springing that on you,” she said. “Especially in front of everyone.”

Nancy waved her off. “It’s fine,” she said. “I’ve been asking myself that same question for days anyway.”

“Do you have an answer?”

“I thought I did,” she said, “but what if I choose wrong? Or what if Colin doesn’t want the same thing as I do?”

Evie snorted. “If that boy doesn’t love you again yet, he’s well on his way,” she said.

Nancy wished that she were as sure. She knew that the man wanted her, but loved her? Wanted her in his life? She didn’t know that yet. She checked the time; it was getting late. Nancy grabbed her purse and dug out the box that she had brought to give to Evie. “This is for you,” she said. “If you don’t have something else yet.” Evie opened the box and smiled: it was a turquoise bracelet that Nancy bought on their last girls’ trip. “Borrowed and blue,” Nancy said.

Evie’s smile turned watery. She had always been a bit of a weepy drunk. “Check and check.” She laughed and wiped at a few stray tears on her cheeks. “I’m marrying Nick soon,” she said, almost dazed. “Can you believe it?”

“Yes, absolutely,” Nancy said with a laugh. “Finally.”

They laughed, and Evie hugged her tight. “I love you,” she said. “Thank you for the amazing party.”

“Love you too. Have fun and drink water, okay?” Nancy shooed Evie back to the cackling women outside, and she went out the front door to extract her car from the ones parked in Ericka’s front yard.

Ashlee was dozing on the couch when Nancy got back to the ranch. “How was Bex?” Nancy asked as the babysitter got herself gathered to leave.

“Oh, she’s an angel,” she said. “She loves her daddy very much.” She looked over at Nancy with a kind look on her face. “And you, too. She thinks the world of you.”

That thought carried Nancy upstairs after the babysitter left. Her plan had been to sleep on the couch—she wasn’t sure Colin would want her in his bed while he wasn’t there—but she couldn’t resist the urge to check on Bex and curl into Colin’s sheets. She opened Bex’s door carefully and looked in: the girl was sprawled on her bed, snoring gently—utterly peaceful.

Nancy made her way down the hall to the master bedroom, threw on a shirt from Colin’s dresser, and climbed into bed. She thought she would sleep easier in here, but she couldn’t switch her brain off. What if Bex needed her? She listened to the noises of the house as the time slipped by. It was almost three a.m. when Colin pushed open the bedroom door that she had left cracked. She saw surprise—and then a pleased smile—bloom on his face. “How was the party?” she asked.

He shrugged and toed off his boots. “The guys had a ball—especially Nick,” he replied. “That’s all the matters.” Once he had stripped himself down to his boxers, he climbed in beside her and curled himself around her back. Nancy’s eyes fluttered a little at the heat of his body and the comfort of his arms when they wrapped around her. “They all wanted to keep drinking once the bar closed, but I was tired as hell.” He nuzzled his face into the space between her neck and shoulder. “I’m glad to be home.”

The way he held her implied that she was a part of that home, and she twisted in his grip so that she was looking into his face. She wanted to tell him about the partnership offer; she wanted to ask if he wanted her to turn it down, to stay and build a life with her. She wanted everything out in the open between them. But it was so late, and she could see the weariness in his eyes. So instead, she said, “I’m glad you’re home too. I missed you.” Colin smiled lazily. She moved in and kissed him; she hadn’t earlier, and she’d regretted it all evening. There was nothing in the world like kissing Colin.

He didn’t really respond, and she was worried that he’d fallen asleep on her. Or worse, that she had misread the moment, but then his arms pulled her tightly against him, and she felt his hand cup the back of her head. His lips moved with hers. It wasn’t a chaste kiss, but neither tried to deepen it and turn it into something else. Both were content just to lay together, kissing. She pulled back and pushed him back so that she could curl into the space beneath his arm and rest her head on his chest. If Colin’s happy hum was anything to go off of, he approved of the change in position. “Night, Nance,” he said.

She breathed him in. “Goodnight, Colin.”

TWENTY-ONE

Nancy sat across from Reagan, trying to listen as her boss talked about what a partnership would mean for Nancy and for the firm, but her mind kept circling back to this morning at the ranch. She’d told Colin that she had to go into the city to get some things for the wedding—which she did—but she’d used the excuse of already being in the city to meet with her boss. She’d been gone for hours. Would he notice? Would he say anything when she got back?

“What do you think, Nancy?”

She blinked. What did she think? “Um,” she said and tried to think about what Reagan had been saying. Something about stock options? “That all sounds wonderful, Reagan.”

Her boss smiled, but Nancy could see the false warmth in it. She watched Reagan grab for her bag; she pulled out a stack of papers. “This is the formal contract,” Reagan said, sliding it over. “It includes the amount to buy-in and the earning potential that we talked about.”

Nancy skimmed over the contract, trying to feel excited…and failing. Reagan stared at her expectantly, and she realized that her boss was waiting for to sign the documents in front of her.No, she thought,no, no, no, not until I talk to Colin. “This looks amazing, Reagan, really,” she said, stalling, “but could you wait a few more days? I wouldn’t be doing my due diligence if I didn’t have my lawyer look this over first.”

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