I watch, almost smiling, as Tanner scratches Patsy under the chin and lets her lick his face. He tips his hat back and leans in through the window to rub her haunches, and in two seconds, she’s showing him her belly. Okay, then. My dog is a slut for this pretty rodeo cowboy.
Pretty is not what he is, though. With his hat tipped back on his head, those deep brown eyes are anything but pretty. He’s got severe, expressive eyebrows and slight crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes. Soulful and serious. Not pretty. Gorgeous.
Unfortunately, that tan is probably from a tanning bed, Casey. Those hypnotic eyes are not for you to stare into.
Because I have my guard up, I explain away my behavior by saying, “Violetta has been trying to get me out of the house and joining in more town activities. I didn’t want to leave Patsy alone for too long in the car, so I came in, did my thing, and left.”
“A woman who knows what she wants. I like you.”
This should not make me feel warm all over.
Just then, a woman dressed in a bar server uniform passes quickly in front of my car, making a beeline for the door of Willie’s. When she glances in our direction, though, I hear a surprised gasp and an, “oh shit!” And then she’s inside Willie’s in a flash.
I turn back to Tanner, who grimaces as he continues to pet my dog. “What was that about?”
He makes a low grunting noise from deep in his chest. “Rachel Springer. Long story. And no, before you ask, she’s not my ex. Not even a former hookup.”
Why he’s so adamant about me knowing that a server at Willie’s Bar & Grill named Rachel is not his ex, I do not know. Nor do I care. Much.
For reasons unbeknownst to me, I try to lighten his mood again.
“So, you couldn’t just let me have my exit?” I ask teasingly.
The flirty grin returns to Tanner’s face with the change of subject. “Ah, but I did let you have your exit as far as anyone who was watching. But I’m also a man who knows what he wants when he sees it, so I came after you.”
Heat pools in my belly. And everywhere else.
I give him the address.
“I hope what you want is to work hard.”
A smirk pulls at his lip as he continues to give Patsy belly rubs. “Seems to me you could hire day labor for a smidge less than a grand per day,” he remarks.
“But then I wouldn’t get to watch a rodeo star shovel shit.”
Tanner backs away as I start the car, and his laughter is about as loud as my engine revving.
As I drive away, that annoying part of my brain says, “Another point for letting you have the last word. Again.”
ChapterFour
Tanner
The ranch house at the address she gave me sits in a snug, wooded valley at the end of a winding road I’ve never been to before.
Having grown up in Darling Creek, I thought I knew every rock, stream, and gravel road within a hundred miles of town. But this is something else.
If I’d ever been here before, I’d remember it. A pretty yellow cottage sits at the edge of the woods as if transplanted from a fairy tale. It looks exactly like the place I would have imagined for someone like Casey.
Patsy is the first to greet me when I pull up in my truck, her tail wagging excitedly at the end of the drive.
I give her a scratch behind the ears and feel impressed she doesn’t jump up on me like most dogs do. Casey had her trained well, which makes her go up an extra notch in my respect.
The front door opens, but the woman who steps out is not Casey. A woman in her 60s wearing an apron and short white hair waves to me from the front porch.
“Tanner Murphy. Long time no see, stranger.”
As I bound up the steps with Patsy on my heels, I recognize the woman. “Mrs…Ms. Kraus?” I stutter.