Tyler Read online

Ignoring the sage advice his grandfather had raised them with, he raked a hand through his hair and dug deep for a calm he didn’t feel. Hearing his grandfather’s voice in his head all the time was wearing on him. Just like your new job.

  When Jennifer called his name again, Tyler ground out. “Be right there.”

  “So, bro,” his little brother drawled, “she gonna use a short rope on you?”

  Disgusted with himself first and his brother second, he bit back what he wanted to say, the words sliding down to settle in his gut, churning in it until it ached. “They’ve got some extra inventory that came in late today that I didn’t have time to unload.”

  “They got you doing more than stocking shelves?” his brother wanted to know.

  More than you can imagine. “Yeah.” Tyler thought of the new angle in his routine, reminding him of the “test” he’d had to pass before being hired, and the big old girl he would have to haul up from a dead lift later tonight. His tired muscles at the base of his spine were still screaming from a hard day’s work at the ranch. He didn’t even want to think of pulling the move Natalie had planned every night with a different woman… no telling how big or heavy they’d be.

  “Where’re you gonna bunk tonight?”

  The hint of concern warmed his heart. Jesse wasn’t steamed at him any longer. Good thing he was steamed enough at himself for putting himself in this position in the first place.

  He hated lying and detested being lied to. So he told Jesse the one truth he could. “They’ve got an apartment above the bar with a couch.”

  “Hell, Ty,” his brother grumbled. “The least they could do after the night you put in working for them is find you a room with a bed.”

  “Yeah.” But both rooms, and beds, were already occupied with two amazing looking redheads who right now were bruised and battered.

  “I’ll be home in the morning.”

  “OK.”

  “Don’t forget to tell Dylan to leave the plumbing alone; he’ll only make it worse.”

  The string of muffled expletives had Tyler sighing.

  “Too late,” Jesse added a bit too cheerfully.

  He’d have his hands full when he got back to the ranch tomorrow.

  ***

  Emily knew Tyler’d be busy with his phone call and then his upcoming number on stage. She scanned the crowd sitting at the tiny tables they’d set up by the stage and smiled when she noticed Ronnie Del Vecchio sitting beside Mavis Beeton. “Jolene, I’m going to go over by Ronnie and Mavis.”

  Jolene nodded. “I’ll check with Gwen and see how business is doing tonight.”

  Limping but mobile, Emily wandered over. “Hello, ladies.”

  The women both smiled, and the older woman waved to the empty seat beside her. “I hear tell you had a spot of trouble before Ronnie and I got here.”

  Emily sat down and nodded. “Just a bit. Some fun-loving teenager shooting up our new sign.”

  “Are you both all right, dear?”

  She nodded at Mavis. “Just a couple of bumps and bruises. It took us by surprise, and I yanked Jolene down onto the sidewalk.”

  Mavis nodded. “I’d have done the same.” She reached over to pat Emily’s hand.

  Ronnie smiled at Emily. “I hate to change the subject, but you and your friends look absolutely fabulous.”

  Mavis nodded in agreement. “You do sell the nicest things in your shop, Ronnie.” Placing a hand on Emily’s arm, leaning close, she confided, “Did you know that Ronnie has the most amazing lubricant oil?”

  Em looked from the dark-haired younger woman to the gray-haired one and smiled. “Do tell, Mavis.” The two were thick as thieves, despite their age difference, and staunch supporters of The Lucky Star.

  Mavis sipped from her oversized margarita and Emily grinned; they’d special ordered the big glasses with Mavis in mind and named their new signature drink the Mega-Margarita. The woman just loved them. “Ronnie’s such a dear; she special orders it for me.”

  Emily already knew that the owner of Guilty Pleasures offered special order services. “Ronnie’s a smart business woman.”

  “…by the gallon.”

  Struggling to keep her mouth from dropping open and flat out asking what Mavis would need that much oil for, she swallowed and nodded. “I’m sure that comes in handy.”

  Mavis murmured her agreement and sipped. “I just can’t seem to keep enough on hand, so when Ronnie came up with the idea to order the king-size for me, I jumped at the chance.”

  Ronnie took a pull on the longneck and grinned. “Mavis, you are my best customer.”

  Mavis patted her curls and leaned toward Emily again. “Between Ronnie’s shop… especially the back room… and you and your cousin’s place here, a woman could forget about life’s troubles and just kick back for a while and admire the eye candy.”

  Emily smiled at Ronnie and then followed the direction Mavis was looking. Her heart tumbled in her breast and began to beat wildly. He was tall, darkly handsome, and going to be all hers.

  “If I were thirty years younger and hadn’t known that man since he was in diapers, I’d grab him with both hands and never let go.” Draining her drink, she licked her lips and sighed.

  Swallowing a chuckle, Emily signaled and Gwen nodded. “Why don’t you and Ronnie enjoy the next round on us while you tell me about Tyler?”

  Mavis patted Emily’s cheek. “You’re such a lovely young woman. You’d be perfect for him. He and his brothers have always been hard workers, but tough times can harden a man.”

  Before Emily could ask anything, Mavis continued, “I think that gorgeous cowboy is looking this way.”

  Emily turned and her gaze collided with Tyler’s. The heat between them flared high and wild and every last thought in her head evaporated. She could swear she saw the steam. “Yes, ma’am,” she answered.

  Mavis sighed loud and long. “Well, well. I repeat, I think you two are perfect for one another.” Her smile was just this side of wicked, “If you need any ideas… I’ve got a little extra oil you can borrow.”

  Emily knew that Mavis could run circles around her. “Oh I want him.” She smiled at Tyler and had the satisfaction of seeing his step falter. “And I plan to keep him busy for a long, long while, starting tonight.”

  Ronnie snickered, while Mavis simply nodded, turning to reach for the Mega-Margarita Gwen had brought over to the table, she added, “If you need any advice, you just ask, honey.”

  Emily didn’t doubt for a minute that the older woman would have some interesting advice to share. “I will, thanks, Mavis.” Em settled in to watch Tyler do what he did best.

  Her man stood center stage, and her heart nearly pounded its way out of her chest. He was so beautiful. The way he walked, stood, talked… add to that his innate kindness and need to protect, and she was a goner.

  While he wowed the crowd with his moves, a new worry got under her skin like a sliver of wood. Women were clamoring to get closer to the stage, bills clutched in their fists. Anger swelled up from the pit of her stomach as jealousy settled in for the long haul.

  She fought against the overwhelming feeling and realized it would be tricky being a part owner of the club and being involved with their popular headliner without showing the sticky tangled emotions curdling in her belly.

  Shaking free from the feeling, she leaned toward Mavis and asked, “Ever ride a bucking bronco?”

  Mavis laughed. “Honey, my first husband was as wild in bed as he was riding the rodeo circuit.”

  Ronnie leaned close. “I didn’t know you were married to a rodeo cowboy.”

  The older woman’s smile was slow and sweet. “Lord, I loved that man.” Her eyes narrowed. “I got arrested for shooting the bull that threw him then stomped the life out of him. But they dropped the charges three days later.”

  Emily didn’t need to ask Mavis what happened; she could figure it out, but her heart still hurt for the woman, knowing she’d lost the man she loved to a rodeo bull. E
mily’s gaze followed Tyler’s movements and her head felt disconnected from her body. Good Lord, what would she do if something like that happened to Tyler?

  “Life can be hell on earth,” Mavis said after taking a healthy swallow. “But if you’re lucky, you’ll find yourself a man to make your time here worth every moment.”

  Tyler strutted toward the front of the stage and hefted the birthday girl as he’d been told to do. The man’s muscles bunched and strained, but he lifted the curvy blonde with an ease that had Emily wondering if he enjoyed this particular part of the routine.

  As if she’d read her mind, Mavis warned, “You keep on ignoring that green goddess swirling inside of you, dear. Your handsome cowboy isn’t going home with Cindy Hamilton.”

  “You know her?”

  Ronnie nodded. “Mavis knows everyone in Baylor County.”

  Emily sighed. “Was I that obvious?”

  Ronnie and Mavis looked at one another and then the women around them. “Only to us, everyone else is too busy trying to catch that big man’s attention, while you already have it.”

  The smile started on the inside of her. Emily knew that her friends were right. She did have Tyler’s attention for the next little while. If she had her way, she’d stick, then maybe if she were really lucky, Tyler’d be around for more than just a few night’s worth of tangled, sweaty sheets.

  She was suddenly exhausted and needed to rest up before Tyler’s shift would be over. She’d miss the finale, but heck, if Tyler was a man of his word, and she’d bet on it that he was, they’d be sharing their own special finale later. Wouldn’t they? He wouldn’t change his mind just because of what happened outside earlier, would he? It was just a bum knee, they could work around it. “Ladies, I’m beat.”

  “You rest up now, dear.” Mavis patted Emily’s hand.

  “See you tomorrow,” Ronnie called out over the raucous crowd.

  A quick look over her shoulder satisfied her that there were no problems in the club at the moment and that Jolene was chatting with Gwen. “See y’all tomorrow.” Emily walked over and said, “I’m going upstairs for a little while.”

  “You want company?”

  “Maybe,” Em told her. “Come on up when you’re ready, and I’ll make us a cup of tea. We never did have a chance to have one before.”

  It took longer than normal, but she made it up the stairs without a hitch. Busying herself with the mundane task of heating tea water, she opened the cabinets and gathered mugs, the tin of Earl Grey, and honey for her, sugar for Jolene. Settling down to wait for the kettle to whistle, she noticed the tiny under-the-cabinet microwave and snorted. As if she’d use ever use that to heat tea water.

  “Doesn’t taste the same,” she muttered aloud.

  The steady beat of the country music she loved eased the tension between her shoulder blades. That first sip of hot tea soothed the tightness in her throat.

  “Don’t borrow trouble,” she told herself, hoping the stern tone of her voice would keep the worry Jake and Tyler had planted in her brain from growing out of control.

  Her cousin walked in and all Emily could think was that Jolene looked like something the cat dragged in.

  “You should sit, Jolene. You don’t look so good.”

  “News flash, Em,” Jolene snipped, “you don’t either.”

  Emily chuckled. “Jolene Langley, I swear—”

  Her cousin snorted with laughter. “I know you do, honey, but we can work on that sad trait.”

  Emily couldn’t help it; she laughed. And from the look on Jolene’s face, it was just what her cousin intended.

  “We’re in sad shape.”

  “Been worse off,” Emily admitted. Busying herself, making her cousin a cup of tea, she said, “We’ve been through a lot since grade school.”

  Jolene eyed her over the rim of her mug. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Did you ever wonder what would have happened if we hadn’t stuck up for each other?”

  “A pair of smart-asses like us?” Jolene asked, making Emily smile again.

  “We were, weren’t we?”

  “If we could have kept our mouths shut,” Jolene drawled, “we might not have ended up starting so many fights.” Jolene sipped from her mug and Emily did the same.

  “Not in our nature though,” Emily admitted. “Is it?”

  “Nope.”

  Sharing a cup of their favorite tea helped them both to relax for the first time since Emily’d heard the roar of that engine.

  “So,” Jolene began, “do you think that hardheaded fire marshal and my newest headliner are really going to spend the night?”

  Emily sipped and nodded. “Absolutely. Didn’t you see the hard look in Tyler’s eyes?”

  Jolene shook her head. “I wasn’t looking at him, exactly.”

  “Why, Jolene Langley,” Emily drawled. “Are you stuck on the big bad fire marshal?”

  “His name’s Jake.”

  “You know, I don’t believe I was ever properly introduced. Does handsome Jake have a last name?” Emily asked.

  “Turner.”

  “Is he married?”

  “How would I know?” Jolene protested just a bit too strongly.

  “Hmmm…” Emily watched Jolene closely and murmured. “He’s single then.”

  “Oh for God’s sake, Em—”

  Emily leaned across the table and snagged her cousin’s hand. “Not his sake, Jo… yours. You’ve got to forget about your ex—”

  Jolene shot to her feet, upsetting the chair. It cracked against the hardwood floor. “I do not want to talk about it.”

  Emily’s temper spiked, shooting straight to boil—an even match for Jolene’s. She shoved her chair back so hard it hit the cabinet behind her, rattling the plates and cups inside.

  Before she could blast her cousin, the door to the apartment flew open and Jake burst inside. “What the hell’s going on up here?”

  The door banged against the wall and swung partway closed. His gaze swept the room before coming to rest on the two of them.

  Before Emily or Jolene could answer, Tyler shouldered his way through the half-closed door. “What’s—”

  He looked from one woman to the other and sighed. With a glance in Jake’s direction, Tyler summed up the situation enough to have him fisting his hands at his sides and rounding on Emily. “You scared the shit out of Jennifer and Natalie,” he said to both women through tightly clenched teeth, but he was glaring at her.

  Of all the things he could have said, he picked the one thing that left Emily feeling guilty.

  “I—”

  “Don’t you think you’ve given them enough to worry about for one day,” he said, definitely on a roll, “without having to worry that someone was waiting upstairs for the two of you to finish the job?”

  “Oh, leave her alone, Tyler. Everyone’s blowing things out of proportion. You men need to settle down and stop spoiling for a fight to satisfy your need to pound on something since you weren’t there to catch the kids who did this.”

  Tyler turned slowly. “Hell.” He turned toward Jake. “Anyone else up here besides these two?”

  The other man shook his head. “I don’t think so, but now that you’re here, I’ll check the bedrooms.”

  “Like I said, Em,” Jolene drawled, “the men are blowing this way out of proportion.”

  “Would the two of you sit down before you fall down?”

  Tyler’s exasperation and frustration came through loud and clear in the set of his broad shoulders, deep grooves etched between his dark eyebrows, and jerky movements.

  The man was fit to be tied. And didn’t that just bring that earlier image back to mind? Tyler tied to the bedposts with silk scarves… his velvety brown eyes blazing with desire while he twisted against his silken bonds, his abs, pecs, and biceps bunching and bulging beneath his sun-browned skin, drawing her attention to his…

  Emily couldn’t look away; the image in her mind was too real. The man she wanted
in her bed was too sexy to be ignored, even if he wasn’t on the same page at the moment and looked ready to kick ass and take names. Hell’s bells, when did the prospect of an ass kicking become such a turn-on? Tyler had her tied up in knots of sexual tension until she couldn’t think straight. Jeez! What a time to lose her mind.

  “Jolene,” a deep voice rumbled, “would you please sit down?”

  Emily turned toward her cousin and saw that Jake was trying to get her back into the chair.

  Taking pity on the men who were only trying to help them, Emily rasped, “I’m sorry, y’all were worried. Jolene and I were just having a discussion.”

  Jolene snorted. “You could say that.”

  “Sounded like an argument to me,” Jake ground out.

  “Heated discussion,” Emily said, her lips twitching to keep from smiling. “I’m sorry, Jolene, and I won’t bring up the subject again.”

  Jolene glared at her, but after a quick glance at Jake and then Tyler, she nodded and sat down in the chair Jake had righted.

  “Now,” Jake said, eyes hot and dangerous but hands gentle as he eased Jolene down onto the chair, “you want to talk about it?”

  Jolene shook her head, and Tyler threw his hands up and uttered a comment that had Emily seeing red.

  “You’re either a very brave man, Tyler Garahan,” Jolene began, a satisfied smirk on her face, “or a very stupid one.”

  Jake’s face broke into a smile, and Emily noticed that her cousin was noticing too.

  “Are you two going to stay up here away from the crowd and rest up?”

  “It’s not resting if they’re going to be throwing chairs at each other—” Jake began.

  “My chair tipped over,” Jolene grumbled, “when I got up too fast.

  “And I stood up too fast and hit the cabinet behind me by accident.” Needing to do something with her hands that wouldn’t get her into more trouble—like grab a hold of the delicious, dark-eyed cowboy staring at her with growing desire and testing each and every muscle in the man’s amazing body—Emily smoothed her hair back over her shoulders, hopefully hiding the fact that they were shaking with need.

  From the way the men were staring at them, she had a feeling they had a very good idea of just what had happened before they’d come running to the rescue. She and her cousin had trouble tolerating stupid people… especially if those people were men. “Um… thanks for coming to the rescue—” Emily began only to be interrupted by her cousin.