Page 54 of Loving Her Cowboy Best Friend

She hadn’t specifically asked him to do that, but that was the vibe he got from her whenever he offered to drive in dinner or have something delivered. She always said, “No, Blake, it’s fine. I have something here,” or “You don’t have time for that, and I’d hate to make you come all this way.”

He’d let her put him off, and perhaps he shouldn’t have done that. “What time is it?” he asked.

“No idea,” Todd said around a mouthful of cheese, crust, and pepperoni.

Blake turned and looked at the clock. It was after six already, and he didn’t have time to go implement Todd’s plan right now. He should think more about it anyway and really make a plan of his own before he just showed up on her mother’s doorstep.

“All right,” he said. “Thanks, Todd.”

“Sure,” he said. “I’ll work on Nash and Jesse too.” He dusted his hands of the cornmeal and finished his last bite of pizza. “Now, I have something I have to tell you, and I’d really like it if you didn’t tell anyone else.”

Blake found his old smile as it slid into position on his face. “Oh, I can’t wait to hear this.”

Todd shook his head, no smile or laughter in sight. “It’s not gossip. It’s…” He cleared his throat, his neck turning a shade of auburn Blake hadn’t seen in a while. “I asked Laura to dinner.”

Blake blinked, trying to figure out who Laura was. “Laura…the vet?”

“Yes,” Todd said, his voice stuck way down in his throat.

“What did she say?”

“Is there some rule against me asking her out?” he asked.

“Rule?”

“Yeah, like a ranch rule. Companies have relationship rules and stuff. HR departments. That kind of thing.”

Blake kept staring at him. “Todd,” he said with a laugh in his brother’s name. “This is a family ranch. There is no HR department.”

“So I can go out with her and be her boss?” Todd cocked his head, his frown growing deeper. “What if she claims I did something inappropriate? Or fears she’ll lose her job if she doesn’t go out with me?”

“Did she say she wouldn’t go out with you?” Blake folded his arms, because the world wasn’t always as simple as he imagined it to be.

“No,” Todd said.

“She said yes.”

“Yes.”

Blake grinned at his brother. “Then I don’t think we need to worry too much, Todd. Go have fun. Heaven knows one of us should be seeing the woman they like.”

“Yeah,” Todd said almost absently. He took off his cowboy hat and ran his fingers through his hair before he looked up at Blake with new clarity in his eyes. “By the way, I don’t really believe what you just said.”

“Why not?”

“You don’t just like Gina, Blake. You’re in love with her.”

“No,” Blake said, though he wasn’t sure why he was denying it, especially to Todd. “Fine,” he amended. “Maybe a little.”

Todd laughed this time, the sound rich and full and filling the kitchen. “Can you be alittlein love? I thought it was kind of like bein’ wet. You’re either wet or you’re not. There’s no in between.”

“Oh, that’s so not true,” Blake said. “You can be damp. Clothes can bealmostdry.”

“If they’re not dry, they’re wet,” Todd said, getting to his feet. “Come on, that alarm on your phone’s been goin’ off for a good minute at least.”

Blake reached for his phone, which lay face-down on the island where he’d been sitting to eat. He hadn’t even heard the buzzing of the alarm, which told him it was time to leave the cabin and get over to the stage so he could introduce that night’s band.

Todd walked with him over to the lodge, where they loaded up into a golf cart to go out to the huge open-air barn with a professional stage under the roof. Cowboys and cowgirls were already directing traffic and managing the parking situation, and Blake saw good people everywhere he looked.

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