Loving You: A Cowboy Romance (Texas Hill Country Romance Book 1) (2 page)

“Rory, stay still, you keep moving the ice. Keep it on the knuckles or they’ll swell up,” Calista said.

They shared a lounge chair, and Annie sat on another lounge chair as Jake came in through the gate with a six pack of beer.

They were in the back yard of the B&B, by the built in swimming pool. The lights were on and music played softly on the radio. It was 11:30 pm and they tried to be quiet so they wouldn’t disturb the guests in the Inn.

Jake tossed a beer to Rory and handed one to Calista.

“You want one, Annie?”

“No, thank you.”

“Right, you hate beer. Do you want a glass of wine?”

“No thanks, between the Cosmos and the dancing, I think I’m getting a headache.”

The gate to the pool opened and in walked Cord.

As he got closer, Jake tossed him a beer. He twisted the cap off and took a sip.

“Everything good?” Rory asked.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s all good, Billy called me. He said they didn’t even call the cops. Those guys picked themselves up off the floor and left. They left a fucking trail of blood, though.” He laughed.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about,” Rory said.

Calista looked at Annie and rolled her eyes.

Annie giggled as she swept a strand of hair behind her ear.

Cord watched her. He wondered what her hair would feel like, because it sure looked soft and silky.

“Who’s Billy?” Annie asked.

“The owner of Roxy’s. He was behind the bar, tending,” Calista said.

“You destroyed that guy’s face, man,” Jake said to Cord. “Your hand hurt?”

“Nah, it’s good,” Cord said as he looked at his swollen right hand.

“Oh my God, Calista, is there more ice in that bucket?” Annie asked.

“Yes. Here,” she said as she handed some ice in a towel over to Annie.

“Sit,” Annie said to Cord as she tucked her feet under her and moved to lean against the back of the lounge.

In one swift move, Cord straddled the chair and faced her, studying her as he took a sip of beer. His action startled Annie for a moment.

“You gonna nurse me?” Cord asked.

Annie shyly looked him in the eyes.
God, those green eyes were mesmerizing.
“Um, oh, no, you can do-”

“No, it’s okay, I want you to, besides my other hand is busy at the moment.” He swung his beer bottle in it and lifted the corners of his mouth slightly.

God, his laugh lines are sexy as hell,
Annie thought. “Okay.” She gently grabbed his hand and rested the towel on it.

“That feels good, thanks,” Cord said.

Annie looked up and saw his intense stare. She smiled and said, “It’s the least I can do. You came to my rescue tonight. Thank you.”

They held each other’s gazes until Jake broke the silence.

“Was Jennie mad I didn’t take her home?”

“Yeah, but I told her Calista was too hysterical to help Rory and she needed you to help him.”

“Gee thanks, Cord. Way to make me feel useless,” Calista said dryly.

“Is your girlfriend okay?” Annie asked. She was fishing but she couldn’t help it.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Cord said to her.

“Oh,” Annie said as her inner self jumped up and down with joy. “Does she know that?” She laughed.

“Yeah… I hope so. She’s just a… um….”

“She’s just a fuck buddy,” Rory said.

Cord’s head swung to Rory, then he looked at Annie, searching for what, he wasn’t sure.

Annie looked at Rory then back to Cord, and Cord noticed a change in her facial expression.

“Rory, you’re an asshole, man,” Cord said, without taking his eyes off of Annie.

Annie started fidgeting. She gently removed her hand from Cord’s.

“Um, I’m going to call it a night. Between the travel earlier today, and the partying tonight, I’m really beat,” she said as she went to get up from the lounge.

Cord gave Rory a disgusted look that did not go unnoticed by Calista, who also gave Rory a look.

“What, what’d I say?” Rory asked.

“Shut up, Rory,” Calista said.

Cord hesitated but reluctantly rose to let Annie pass.

“It was nice to meet you, Cord, and finally to meet you, Rory. Thank you again for tonight, I didn’t mean to cause any trouble. Good night, everyone.” And she left.

“She’s just a fuck buddy? What the fuck, Rory?” Cord said making sure Annie was out of earshot. He shook his head and proceeded to the gate.

“We still white water rafting on Sunday?” Jake asked as he sensed Cord’s mood and tried to change the subject.

“Yeah, yeah, see you then.”

“Cord, where are you going? It’s late. Aren’t you going to stay in the pool house?” Calista asked.

Cord always stayed at their pool house if they were out drinking on a weekend and it was late.

“Not tonight. Good night, C.”

“Corrrd.” She whined, but he kept on walking. “Okay, but be careful driving home.”

Cord got into his Ford 250, started it up, blasted the a/c and wanted to ass tear out of there, but thought better of it. He didn’t want to wake anyone up, it was late.

The whole ride home he thought about Annie. He didn’t understand his attraction to her. He was sure she was attracted to him, too, at least until the asshole, Rory, made that stupid remark. He caught her totally checking him out when they were first introduced.

Still, it’s not like he’d never met girls before, yet, none of them, however, affected him that much. When he saw the guy from Roxy’s pinching her ass, he went wild. Why? He just met her, well in person. It shouldn’t have bothered him, yet one word kept coming to mind-
Mine.
Mine? What the hell did that mean,
and why couldn’t he stop thinking about seeing her again? Would she want to see him again?

Annie crawled into bed.
Comfortable
,
she thought as she tried to get her mind off Cord. A moment later she sighed. Those bright green eyes, those sensual lips, she wondered if he was a good kisser.

That tic, in his jaw, she saw just before he landed the second punch and again when Rory said Lisa was his fuck buddy, was so sexy.

She tossed and turned. Cord was unlike anyone she’d ever met. At least as far as first impressions go, she was intrigued and wanted to learn more about him.

He denied Lisa was his girl. Why? It must be true; he didn’t hesitate to say she was not his girlfriend
.
Annie was not that good with first impressions but she was sure that Lisa didn’t like her. That was fine; she wasn’t fond of her either. Still, she was Calista’s friend though, so she had made a mental note to try to get along with her.

“Annie, are you decent?” Calista shouted as she knocked on her bedroom door.

“Yes, come on in,” Annie replied.

Calista came in and closed the door.

“Good morning, how’d you sleep last night?”

“Good morning, to you, and I slept great, thanks. This bed is very comfortable,” Annie said as she came out of the bathroom in her panties, slipping on an Ed Hardy T-shirt.

“Love the T,” Calista said as she plopped down on the bed, folding her legs.

Annie sat down opposite her. “Thanks.”                             

“Rory feels really bad about last night,” Calista said.

“Why?”

“He shouldn’t have said that remark about Lisa being Cord’s fuck buddy. It upset you and I think Cord is pissed at him. Normally when it’s late, Cord will stay over in the pool house till the morning. Last night, he stormed out of here.”

“Calista, it’s not my business who Cord is or isn’t doing. I just met him. Why would he care?”

“First, let me say, I have never seen Cord be so attentive to a girl, ever. EVER, Annie, and I know him a long time. He’s like a brother to me. He was all over you last night. Couldn’t you tell?”

“Yes, I kind of felt that.”

“You didn’t seem upset, at least till that dumb remark my boyfriend made, and by the way, he is really, really sorry.”

“Well, I’m not going to lie, I was intrigued by him. He’s really cute.” Annie hesitated and looked around the room before looking back to Calista. “But I’m the new kid in town. I don’t want to make waves.”

“With who, Lisa?”

“Yes, and Cord.”

“Lisa has been hanging around Cord, like, forever, and hoping to get his attention for the past two years, maybe more. He has no interest in her, believe me. He gave in and they did it one time, one time, Annie. Just about a month ago and now she won’t leave him alone. Rory said Cord’s kicking himself in the ass for getting involved.”

“Why did he then?”

“To hear Cord tell it, he was drunk, but I think he was feeling lonely. The guy works all the time, he hardly ever has any fun anymore.”

“What does he do?”

“Mainly, he trains horses for riding. He took over running his family’s ranch when his dad had a heart attack about a year ago and decided to take it easy. Cord stepped up his involvement.”

“Wow, that sounds like a huge responsibility,” Annie said as they heard a knock at the door. “Come in.”

“Hey, what’s this, girl talk?” Jake said as he walked in. He sat down next to Annie. “What are we talking about? Boys? Ooohh, dreamy,” he teased.

“And you’re the older brother?” Annie asked sarcastically.

Annie and Calista rolled their eyes and Annie punched him lightly in the arm.              

“No, Jake, do you think Cord likes Annie?” Calista asked him.

“I don’t know, but I do know he was pissed at Rory over the fuck buddy remark.”

“See, I told you,” Calista said to Annie.

“Why, you like Cord?” Jake asked Annie.

“What? Oh, he seems nice. I don’t know. I just met him.”

“Yeah, but do you like him, like him?” Jake teased in a junior high school girl’s voice.

Annie and Calista both laughed, but Jake couldn’t help but notice that Annie dodged the question.

“What are you girls doing today?”

“I thought I’d take Annie around town to get acquainted with her surroundings.”

“Sounds good, and we can shop for a cowboy hat for me. Let me finish getting dressed,” Annie said as she rose and walked over to the bureau and pulled out a pair of shorts.

“Wow, you’ve got a sexy butt, Annie,” Jake said.

Annie wiggled her ass at him.

“Oh, yeah,” replied Jake. “Just like that.”

“Pervert,” Annie and Calista said together, and they both laughed.

Annie and Calista ate a quick breakfast. Annie ate a banana, some honeydew chunks, and a few strawberries. She loved her fruit. Calista ate a bowl of cereal with strawberries.

They helped Joan clean up and then they walked to town.

“Geez, what’s it like, one hundred degrees out?” Annie asked as she pulled her hair up in a pony tail.

“No, only eighty one now, but climbing. Get used to it, you’re in Texas not Alaska.”

They walked two blocks up and one block over and they were in the heart of town. Annie was impressed with the quaintness and the cleanliness of it.

Born and raised in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, she was used to city streets with brick buildings and storefronts on the avenue and overgrown waste baskets on the corners with litter spilling out. This was charming and, well, nice.

Not that she could ever think about not growing up in Brooklyn. She wouldn’t change that for the world. It has a certain appeal. Sure, it’s changed over the years, but still, worth living in. There was so much to do. Visit a museum, take in a movie late at night if you wanted, go out to eat just about any time of day or night and eat anything you crave, stroll the parks, bar hop, club hop, or hop on a subway or bus, catch a play or shop till you drop. Or, just do nothing. And the people. Sure some were rude, but on the whole there were more nice, caring people living in the city than not.

They strolled the sidewalks, window shopping, and caught up with one another’s lives.

Calista introduced Annie to some of the shop owners who were outside sweeping, or just people watching as it was a little too early for the shopping crowd.

They went into a cosmetic store where Annie purchased some of her favorite body scent, White Tea. It smelled fresh and clean, not flowery or fruity.

They stopped and chatted with a police officer Calista went to grade school with.

They went inside ‘Lisanne’s Bakery’ to grab a coffee but not before Calista took Annie into the back and introduced her to Lisanne, the pastry chef/owner. They talked for a while, exchanging baking techniques and recipes. Lisanne invited Annie to come back soon and bake with her.

Annie followed Calista outside to sit at a table in front of the bakery, and they were enjoying their coffee as they talked and laughed about their college days.

“Hi, Calista,” Lisa said as she walked up to them.

“Hi, Lisa.”

Annie noticed Lisa wouldn’t address her or look at her.

“You want to join us?” Calista asked.

“No, I can’t, just running some errands for my dad before he heads to Austin for the day. How did things go after the fight last night? Is Rory okay?”

“Yeah, he’s fine. His hand was a little swollen but it’s looking better now.”

“Oh, good. It looked like Cord busted his hand, too, last night. I hope he’s all right now.”

“Yes, he’s much better today. Annie nursed his hand with ice last night.”

Annie noticed Lisa’s eyes go a bit wide and had to stifle a laugh. She could have sworn there was smoke coming out of her ears.

“Oh.” She looked to Annie. “Thank you for taking care of him.” Then she looked back to Calista without waiting for a reply from her.

“It was my pleasure,” Annie said, and Lisa’s eyes shot back and looked her up and down. Annie, taking a sip of coffee, smiled and shrugged, feeling, but not showing, a reaction to her hard look.

Lisa turned back to Calista. “Are we still on for the picnic Sunday?  You know, meeting the guys after they raft?” She clicked the roof of her mouth. “I don’t know what fun they see in that.”

“Rafting is a lot of fun. Ever try it?” Annie interjected.

Lisa ignored her but not without crinkling her nose and furrowing her brows.

“Yes, we’re still on. Oh, Annie you’re coming, right?” Calista asked.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Lisa blew out a breath as she looked at her watch. “I’ve gotta run, C., see you tomorrow.” Lisa said goodbye to Calista, once again ignoring Annie, and left.

“I’m sorry, Annie. She’s usually friendly, but she could be a bit standoffish at times. Give her time, she’ll get used to you.”

Annie shrugged. “What did I do?”

“Nothing. I think she feels threatened by you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. I told you she has a thing for Cord.”

“Whatever. You done with your coffee? I’m itching to buy a hat.” She smiled wide, doing a little wiggle in her chair.

Calista burst out laughing. “Let’s go, Cowgirl.” She downed the last of her coffee as they got up.