Falling for Texas by Jill Lynn

Author:Jill Lynn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Cash watched Olivia as she carried a pitcher of sweet tea across Jack’s parents’ backyard. She was wearing a bright yellow sundress, and his mouth felt as though he hadn’t had a sip of water in weeks. Though it wasn’t the clothes that presented a problem. Olivia in tennis shoes and athletic gear gave him the same symptoms.

When she stopped to chat with Mrs. Smith, he forced himself to turn away. It had been three weeks since that moment at the homecoming dance. He and Olivia had gone back to friendship, neither of them mentioning the current that had flowed between them that night—and if he admitted it, ever since.

“Hello? Did you hear anything I just said?” Jack punched Cash on the arm, making the lemonade in his hand slosh over the rim of the red plastic cup and drip to the freshly cut grass beneath his tennis shoes. “You didn’t, did you? I try to discuss football with my best friend and he can’t stop drooling over the volleyball coach.”

“Hey.” Cash returned Jack’s arm punch, making his tea slosh, too. “Keep it down.”

The Smiths’ backyard overflowed with parents, students, fall sports teams and anyone else who’d finagled an invite to Jack and Janie’s annual midseason party. They hosted it at Jack’s parents’ because the house and yard had way more room, but Janie and Jack did a majority of the preparation.

Jack shook the moisture from his hand. “I don’t think there’s a person here who doesn’t know you have a thing for Olivia.”

Cash groaned and his friend grinned.

“How many times do I have to tell you that it’s not like that with us?”

“As many times as you look at her that way.”

Cash adjusted the brim of his Billies baseball hat, thankful for the cover. This conversation was not what he needed right now. He didn’t need any encouragement to think about Olivia.

“Hey, brother.” His sister greeted him as she walked past with Val, giving him just the reminder he needed for why he had to resist the pull Olivia had on him. Rachel had improved so much over the last month, and Olivia had a lot to do with that. The girl talked more. She even smiled sometimes. And greeting him in public just now? She wouldn’t have done that a few weeks ago. Rachel and Olivia had buddied up. When Olivia came out to the ranch on Thursdays, she and Rachel chatted the whole time they worked.

Cash watched his sister walk away with a mixture of joy and sadness in his gut. It seemed if he wanted the one to be happy, he couldn’t have the other. He definitely did not want to mess with Rachel’s improvement.

“Did you eat yet?” Jack asked.

“Nope. But I’m about to.” The Smiths provided the meat, and everyone else chipped in with side dishes: plates of corn on the cob, homemade potato salad, green beans, pasta salad, spicy pinto beans, mashed potatoes and fried okra cascaded down the old picnic table like a wedding procession.

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