3 Days with a Cowboy by Lacy Williams

Author:Lacy Williams [Williams, Lacy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lacy Williams Books LLC

5

Jake stood beside Stevie next to the open barn doors as kids and parents streamed past them. Lily was running around, chattering with her friends and basically spreading excitement everywhere.

The moon was bright and high above them. Light spilled from the open barn doors and from the floodlight in the center of the yard.

He was intensely aware of Stevie at his elbow. Several folks greeted him, and her soft hellos echoed his. Some of them even recognized and hugged her. Some darted looks at her. He hoped they were simply curious.

His heart pounded hard in his chest whenever he thought of the kiss he and Stevie had shared. He thought of it almost constantly.

They'd kissed.

He wasn't kidding himself about what it meant. She'd been seeking comfort. And he'd met her kiss, offering it.

But...

But.

Her words from the afternoon swirled in his head. You have nothing to be intimidated about.

He kept reminding himself that she'd come here to run away from her life—a life that expected her back. She'd been desperate for someone to understand her grief.

That was all.

And again, there was that but...

Two families were getting out of their vehicles, and he figured just about everyone was here when one last pair of headlights turned up the drive. He squinted into the lights, trying to identify the vehicle. It was compact. Out of place, like Stevie's little hybrid had been yesterday morning.

Three little terrors—triplets that belonged to his friend Callum, raced past, and Jake was shaking Callum's hand when the newest arrival got out of the car.

Stevie's sharp intake of breath had Jake turning toward her. Her gaze was fixed on whomever had just gotten out of the car.

Light from the barn spilled behind them, and he couldn't get a good look at the approaching man until he was just a few feet away.

"Zack," she said, and it wasn't a greeting. Her voice was flat. "What are you doing here?"

"You disappeared." It wasn't a real answer.

There was a pregnant pause, as if Stevie didn't know what to say.

"Jake, this is my business manager, Zack. Zack, my friend Jake."

Zack's face swiveled to Jake and, even in the low light, he could read the calculation in the other man's assessing gaze.

Jake shook his hand firmly but didn't say a word. He might not have been an expert on body language, but he could read tension in the set of Stevie's shoulders.

And Jake was also too aware of what he looked like. He'd added gel and mussed his hair until it stood on end in a pseudo-Einstein look. He'd donned a white lab coat from his closet and pulled out the bulky black glasses he'd worn back in college—still held together by duct-tape across the bridge.

"Can you give us a few minutes, bud?" the business manager asked. It wasn't really a question.

Jake looked at Stevie.

"It's fine," she murmured. Her eyes seemed to beg him not to leave her alone, but the words didn't cross her lips, so he walked away reluctantly.

Not far, though. He slipped into the shadows close to the barn door.

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