Page 9 of A Baby for the Texas Cowboy
She shifted her weight. That wordneedhit too close to home for her at the moment.
“It’s not that I don’t want to,” she said, finding it harder to resist his ask than she’d anticipated. August had been a good boss. Organized. Open-minded. No games. Meticulously fair. He expected an employee’s best, but he always gave more than one hundred percent. His company provided good pay and benefits—something she could no longer ignore.
“Here. Read this. Say yes.”
She took the envelope like it was contagious. “Small town in Texas, right?”
“Nothing is Texas is small, darlin’.” August smiled. He had one dimple. Anders had two, plus the cleft in his chin. And Anders’ entire face lit up when he smiled, and he had laugh lines that had flipped Tinsley’s tummy before he’d even said hello to her the first time.
How could she be such a clichéd sucker for laugh lines?
She still wanted to slap herself. Instead she opened the envelope.
“Seriously?” She stared at August. “You’re nearly tripling my salary.” And more benefits, including a retirement plan.
Tinsley’s impulse was to say no. Her mouth even formed the word, but something stopped her. The money and benefits were excellent. She was going to need those very soon. Also the job offered her a lot of independence and creativity. She would be the first tasting room manager. She would create the experiences, build the staff, help to brand the wine and the tasting room, invent the traditions.
She’d worked with August for more than a year, and after their initial meeting where she’d shared her thoughts on how she and the other bartenders should handle the sponsor events, he’d left her alone and given her free rein. She’d started selling the hell out of it, and her bonuses had racked up.
“The position of tasting room manager also comes with a two-bedroom apartment above the tasting room.” August said, clearly trying to read her expression.
One number gave her pause.
“Two-year contract,” she murmured.
“Minimum. Non-negotiable. We need that time to build the brand and the experience and to get a trained staff. And I won’t lie. I’d prefer you think longer term. Verflucht is going to expand. I need someone smart, visionary, someone with incredible people skills, not afraid of responsibility and hard work and kicking ass when necessary.”
“You got that right,” she said.
Her heart fluttered. She didn’t want ties. Limits. But she’d need to find something else soon. And she couldn’t live out of a backpack and a small storage facility forever, especially not with a baby.
But what about Anders?
Would he think she was trying to get something from him if she stayed in his hometown for a few years?
That thought was like a slap to her face. She wasn’t going to live her life worrying about what anyone thought—especially a man who’d just made his lack of intentions abundantly clear.
“I love the open road,” she said slowly to August. “I’ve loved meeting new people. New places. Two years in one small town…” she said to cover up her discomfort.
“I might let you have a day off now and again,” August said drily.
She laughed. She probably seemed like the biggest diva, and while she had cultivated a lot of attitude when she’d been pouring shots, that was work and her “Whiskey Go-Go” persona.
What, if anything, of that girl would she be keeping in the next stage of her life?
It was then she knew she’d made her decision. Eff Anders Wolf. She was going to Last Stand. She was writing the next chapter of her life without him.
Tinsley grabbed the pen out of August’s hand, signed her name, and handed it back.
“When do you want me to start, boss?”
Chapter Four
Where was allthe goddamn air? He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. Where the hell had Whiskey gone? Before he could even process anything—including having a bottle of Jack poured on his head—she’d sauntered off, all but middle finger saluting him. And then it was like she’d evaporated. He’d searched the sponsor tent, but it was cleared out. He’d even paced in front of the women’s bathroom toward the front of the arena, thinking she was avoiding him, and then he’d stomped in, startling three primping buckle bunnies who had recovered from the shock of his appearance more quickly than he had.
“Maybe you should just calm down first,” Kane suggested, not for the first time. “Finding out you’re going to be a daddy is a shock. I know,” he said quietly. “Give it some time to settle and then talk to her.”
“Time?” He whirled on his friend. “If the kid is mine, she’s months along. It was at my brothers’ double wedding in June. She had to know before this, right?”
