A big part.
Because yes, Dan was hot. Yes, she found him attractive. And yes, he knew she did. But she had no plans to end up like her mother, ruined by some high-rolling rich guy in her quest for a lifestyle she longed for but couldn’t earn on her own. Jazz’s current lifestyle, achieved through hard work, suited her fine. If she wanted meaningless, no-strings-attached sex, she could find it with a stranger on Craigslist. It would be safer.
“Anything you’ve paid for is yours,” she clarified for him, secure in the knowledge that, regardless of where they got their funding, her paycheck came from the US Forest Service, so she wasn’t setting herself up.
Dan twisted the cap off the bottle of water. “In that case, since everyone else appears to be finished eating, I’ll take sausages, hash browns, and a bagel as well as the juice, and a bunch of those grapes. I wouldn’t mind a cup of coffee, either. I’ve got a long day ahead of me.”
Forlorn purple grapes, ignored by the men in favor of the carbs on the menu, spilled out of a white plastic bowl on the table. She persisted in ordering fresh fruit even if she was the only person who ever ate it. She nudged the bowl toward him. “Help yourself.”
She put on a fresh pot of coffee and dropped two slices of bread in the toaster for herself, then filled a plate with leftover hash browns and sausage and set the microwave for two minutes. She settled into a plastic chair across the table from him while she waited.
“For someone without any training, you took that course like a champ,” she said, watching him as he slathered cream cheese on his bagel.
“Did you say champ or chump?”
She snagged her toast and added it to her plate. “Either way, I’m impressed.”
The microwave chimed. Dan retrieved his sausage and hash browns before she could get up. “It takes a heart attack to impress you? You’re a hard woman, Jazz.” He ate a few bites of his bagel, then accepted the cup of coffee she poured for him. “Tell me a bit about yourself. Where did you grow up?”
Jazz didn’t like telling people about her childhood. While they usually found it exciting, to her, it was normal—and in retrospect, more than a little depressing. She debated saying she’d grown up in Southern California, but she’d already gotten caught in one lie so decided on a brief response in the hopes he might take the hint.
“Vegas.”
“Huh. That explains a few things.”
“Oh, really? Such as…”
“You being so pretty, and yet unconventional. Let’s see how good my profiling skills are… Your mom was a showgirl. Your dad owns a casino and you’re rebelling against entering the family business. You wound up in Montana because you’re fascinated by cowboys—we’re notoriously honest and upstanding. How am I doing so far?”
The light tone of his voice and the way his eyes crinkled around the edges told her he was teasing, so she answered in kind. It didn’t matter whether or not what she said was the truth. He didn’t really expect her to tell him her life story.
“Exemplary, Sheriff. But a bit off the mark.” She held up her fingers and began ticking off his observations. “Yes, my mom was a showgirl. Sorry, I have no idea who my dad was or if there’s any family business to rebel against. My mother used to take me to the world finals for professional bull riders every year when I was little, which was where we both developed a fascination for cowboys.” That was how she’d found out what a buckle bunny was, too, and probably explained where the oldest of her little brothers came from, because while Jazz might be pretty, back then, her mother had been stunningly, breathtakingly beautiful. She still was, in fact. “‘Honest and upstanding’ had nothing to do with it. Those guys were buff. And sorry, but I wound up in Montana because that was how far the only bus ticket I could afford went, not because of its plethora of cowboys.”
That last bit of information came out way too intense. She’d thought she’d come to terms with her family issues. Apparently not.
The grin in Dan’s eyes faded. “I—”
The fire alarm rang, interrupting, and whatever he’d been about to say was lost.