Blame It on the Cowboy (27 page)

Jimena went closer to the desk when it was her alphabetical turn. “I blackmailed Elrond because of his clown sex fetish so I could pay off Chucky so he'd leave Reese alone. Do you want to hear about the other men I've had sex with while I've been in town?”

“Of course,” Marlene said.

“Even if one of them is someone close to you? As in very close?” Jimena's gaze lingered on Marlene's wedding band.

“No, what you already gave me is fine.” Though Marlene did narrow her eyes at Jimena.

Reese knew Jimena hadn't slept with Marlene's husband, Roy. Roy was in his sixties, chewed tobacco and was missing several teeth. Still, it had given the town's biggest gossip a small dose of her own medicine.

It was finally Reese's turn, and she was dreading it. No way could she back down when the others had been so brave, but she suddenly wished Logan was there with her.

And he was.

At that exact moment Logan came through the door, Lucky behind him, and even though there was no room for them, they made room. Lucky went to Cassie, pulling her into his arms, and Logan went to Reese.

“How'd it go?” Reese asked, afraid of the answer.

He gave her a thumbs-up and a kiss. Both were exactly what she needed.

“Is it finished?” Delbert asked. “Did you get Vickie and Chucky?”

Helene asked a variation on the same question except she added, “Are they rotting in jail?”

Logan and Lucky nodded.

“I got Vickie to rat out Chucky,” Lucky continued, “and Logan got Chucky to rat out Vickie. Both have been arrested and will face multiple charges.”

That caused some whoops of joy and some hugs throughout the room. Sometimes, like now, having an identical twin brother came in handy. But Logan and she weren't out of the stew pot just yet.

Reese handed the PI's report to Marlene. “I have a police record, and the details are all in there.”

Marlene didn't exactly start drooling, but it was close.

“What Reese's not saying is that the charges were trumped up,” Logan explained. “Also, she wasn't responsible for Spenser O'Malley's death. He was an abusive dick who got hit by a bus. It was an accident and not her fault.”

Reese felt it again. The L-word. Other than Jimena, people didn't usually stick up for her, and here Logan was doing it even though it could cost him plenty.

But his next admission would cost him even more.

That's why Reese knew she wanted to stick up for him. “My mother tried to blackmail Logan by saying she'd have you print gossip about his parents' death. Gossip and rumors,” Reese emphasized.

Somehow, Claire, Cassie, Lucky and Riley all worked their way to the desk and joined Reese and Logan in hovering over Marlene.

“I'm sure everyone here wishes they could have saved the McCords,” Reese added. “But since it was an accident, no one had control over that. What happened happened, and it's certainly nothing to be gossiped about.”

“Understand?” Jimena added.

Despite barely having her face squeezed between three lethal-looking cowboys and the three determined women with them, Jimena's expression was somehow more fierce than all of theirs combined.

Jimena mumbled something about cat shit in coffee.

And Marlene nodded. “Understood.” She glanced down at the all the notes she'd made. “Plus, I have enough here to last me until I retire.” She paused. “Why exactly did you tell me all these things?”

“So that Chucky and Vickie can never use any of this to blackmail us,” Logan answered, and one by one, they all gave a confirming nod.

The cons had been conned, and when the McCords, Delbert, Jimena, Helene and she all walked out of the newspaper office, they'd be doing it with something they hadn't had when they came in.

A clean dirty slate.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

L
OGAN
WASN
'
T
SURE
Reese would show. Even though Chucky and Vickie were in jail, the whole town of Spring Hill would soon be talking about the tell-all gossip. That could send Reese running for the hills, but Logan was hoping it would send her running for him.

A lofty wish.

He sipped his Glenlivet, not at the “make me forget this shit” pace he'd had the last time he was in the Purple Cactus hotel bar. Tonight, there was nothing he wanted to forget and plenty that he wanted to remember. His family had stood by him and Reese, and while they had personal motives for what they'd done, Helene and Delbert had come through, too.

His phone dinged, and he saw the new text from Lucky.
Anything yet?

As Logan had done with Riley's, Claire's, Della's and Jimena's texts, he answered no. He'd told them all what his plans were for the night. In hindsight, that had been a mistake, since they were collectively texting at a pace greater than that of a teenager. But as corny as it sounded, Logan had wanted their approval.

And he'd gotten it.

Well, he'd gotten it from everyone but Jimena, but Logan was hoping she'd come around if and when Reese came around. And if and when he could put his family's approval to good use.

Logan frowned.

There were a lot of ifs and whens in all of this, and he always liked to deal in sure things. Especially when it was something this important.

He had all the arguments worked out in his head. If Reese said this was a rebound relationship, he could argue that four months was plenty enough time to get over a woman he'd never actually loved. He could admit that to himself now. He'd never been in love with Helene. She'd just been part of that perfect plan he'd had to make that perfect life.

Of course, Reese's other argument would be the effect she could have on his business, and Logan had a comeback for that, too. He could give her data and examples of other storms the McCords had weathered. He had all his ducks and stats lined up. And forgot every single duck and stat when Reese walked in.

Even though his back was to her, thanks to the bar mirror their gazes connected, and she made her way to him. No turtle shirt tonight. She was wearing jeans and a snug red top that he wished he could take off her.

In the privacy of a bedroom, of course.

She slid onto the bar stool next to him. “Jimena dropped me off. If I hadn't agreed to come, I think she would have kidnapped me and brought me here, anyway.”

Logan made a mental note to give Jimena a raise. And offer her the job permanently. He didn't like the idea of living with the cat-shit threat, but Jimena's pluses outweighed her minuses.

Most days, anyway.

“How much tequila is it going to take to make you stay?” Logan asked. And he ordered her a shot.

“To stay here tonight or to stay in Spring Hill?” she clarified.

“Both.”

Reese shook her head. “Tequila won't do it tonight. If I stay in Spring Hill, it could still hurt your business.”

It hadn't taken her long to bring that up. “Business might fall off with the cattle, but Lucky seems to think it'll help with the bull sellers. They tend to prefer selling to someone with a little mud in their past.”

Judging from the look she gave him, he hadn't convinced her, so Logan kissed her. He made it French, and even though it still might not have convinced her, he thought maybe he left her with a nice buzz, one not caused by the tequila, either.

“Let's play the word-association game we played the last time we were here,” he said when he eased back from her. “I'll start. Family.”

Another flat look, but she did respond. “Good.”

Logan smiled and wondered if she knew that four months ago that wouldn't have been her answer. She probably would have said, “Shitty.”

“Sex?” he continued. And he slid her his room key.

She angled her eyes at him. “Isn't it early for that? We went a couple of rounds with the game last time before I offered you sex.”

“True, but you were easing into things.” Clearly, though, he needed to do some more easing.

“All right. Here's another word. Watch?” he continued.

“Grandpa.” Reese drank more of her tequila. “You do know this game sounds like caveman talk?”

He took out the pocket watch and placed it on the bar next to her shot glass. “Jeff from the jewelry store checked the antiques shop, and they had a crystal that was the right size. He fixed it and gave it to Jimena to give to me.”

Reese opened it as if she were handling the queen's jewels. Of course, this was even more valuable to her than an entire treasure trove.

“It's perfect,” she said, and he didn't have to see her eyes to know there were tears in them now. Logan hoped those were happy tears and that seeing the watch fixed and whole didn't trigger any memories of the person who'd broken it.

She kissed him.

So, no bad memories, after all.

“Thank you.” Reese eyed the watch, the room key. His mouth. His crotch. “You're not about to offer me a white picket fence, are you?”

“We're not really the picket-fence types. Actually, I'm just offering you, well, me. You can take that on whatever terms you want. You can keep having sex with me. Or not. You can keep working at the café…”

“Or not?”

He nodded. “You can take Cassie's offer to open your own bakery. Though I'm kind of hoping that won't be an ‘or not.' You could probably get a good deal on that Shirley's Sweets sign.”

Ah, that got a smile from her.

“You could put down roots in Spring Hill,” he added. “Or not,” he mumbled.

She stayed quiet a moment. “You're really offering me just you?”

“Darn tootin'.” Of course, he'd never actually used the term
darn tootin'
before, but he hoped it showed his playful side. “Seems only fitting since I want you to be my…”

Now, here's something Logan had given much thought.

“Lover?” Reese supplied.

“Definitely that, but I'm thinking more. Maybe the right word is
woman
. I want you to be my woman.”

“Sounds a little caveman-ish.” Reese smiled again. “But I like it. After all, we're not the white-picket-fence type as you pointed out.” The smile didn't last long, though. “What I'm about to say is terrifying for me,” Reese continued, “but I love you.”

Yes, that fell right into the terrifying territory for him, too, and it was something he'd never said to a woman other than his mother.

“I hate you for it,” Reese went on before Logan could get his tongue untangled. “In fact, when I first realized it, I called you some really bad names and considered letting Jimena put a voodoo curse on you.”

“Minus the voodoo curse, I had the same reaction.” He let that hang in the air for several seconds before he eased his gaze to hers. “There are a lot of things that can make my life easier, Reese. You're not one of them.”

“Gee, thanks—”

“But there's only one thing that can make my life happier,” Logan interrupted. “And that's where you come in.”

The smile returned, soft and sweet, and then not so sweet when she kissed him. She slipped the watch into her pocket and eyed the key card. “You really got a room?”

“Yep. Two-sixteen. The room we were in four months ago.” Which suddenly seemed like a lifetime ago. It also suddenly seemed as if it'd been a lifetime since he'd had sex with her, and the stirrings behind his zipper reminded him of that.

The stirrings in his heart did, too.

It was good to have a second opinion from two different parts of his body.

They finished their shots together, got off the bar stools, also together, and Logan picked up the key card. In the same motion, he slid his arm around her waist to get her moving. Not that he had to add one bit of pressure. Reese kissed him all the way to the elevator. Groped him part of the way there. Talked dirty to him for the last few steps.

Then blew his mind on his last step. Not with her mouth or hands but rather with something she said.

“By any chance do you love me?” she asked in the same tone of the most skeptical question that'd ever been asked.

“I thought you'd never bring it up.” He flipped over the room key where he'd written, “I love you, Reese.” Except there must have been some water or something on the bar, and it now looked more like ‘I
blob
you, Reese.”

“That's supposed to be
love
,” Logan clarified, and he kissed her again just in case she had any doubts about that.

They kissed the rest of the way to the room, which made it sort of difficult to get the door unlocked. It also didn't help that she was already trying to unzip him. Logan let her do that while he kicked the door shut and maneuvered them to the bed.

“What if three months from now, my wanderlust kicks in and I decide to leave town?” Reese asked.

Since she now had her hands in his boxers, it was a little hard for Logan to think. “Then I can go with you. Or you can promise when the wanderlust runs out, that you'll come back to me for another round of regular lust.”

Her hand froze, and she looked up at him. Logan decided while she was mildly thunderstruck that he would try to get some even ground here. He shoved down her jeans and panties to her knees and kissed his way to the part of her that he'd just uncovered.

She cursed him, but this time he thought it was because she wasn't pissed off about falling in love with him. “If you're going to do that, let's do it together.”

All in all, it wasn't a bad idea. But there was something Logan wanted to do first. No, they weren't the white-picket-fence type, but he wanted Reese to have something to make her understand just how much she meant to him.

He took it from his pocket and slipped it into hers.

“A condom?” she asked.

Logan shook his head. “My father's knife. I want you to hold on to it for safekeeping.”

If he'd offered her the world, Reese couldn't have had a better reaction. Her eyes filled with tears, and she kissed the living daylights out of him—which was the way Logan preferred to be kissed, anyway.

“I really do love you, hot cowboy,” Reese said.

If she'd offered him the world…wait, that
was
the world. “I really do love you, too, Julia Child.”

While Reese blinked back tears and kissed him, she fumbled with his jeans, and for a moment Logan thought she was trying to turn this into a hand job.

She wasn't.

“For safekeeping,” Reese said.

Logan felt around his pocket, and there it was. Her grandfather's watch. A knife and a watch.

Yeah, Reese had given him the world, all right. The only world that Logan wanted, anyway.

* * * * *

When a Texas bride gets jilted at the altar, her heartache pushes her into the arms of the sexy new sheriff of her small hometown of Wrangler's Creek…

Keep reading for a sneak peek at
THOSE TEXAS NIGHTS
by
USA TODAY
bestselling author Delores Fossen.