Kissin' Tell: Rough Riders, Book 13 (2 page)

“But I haven’t seen you in Ziggy’s for a while.”

He didn’t mention he was in here every Tuesday night for dart league. “We just got done calving. Now I’m gearing up for rodeo season. Which means I’ll be gone most Friday and Saturday nights.”

She placed her hand on his chest. “Is that your way of warning me off?”

“Nope. Just stating the facts up front.” He shifted against the bar and put his mouth on her ear. “So knowing that… What are the odds that you’ll come home with me tonight?”

“It depends.”

“On what?”

“On whether you still live with your brother.”

His lips nibbled down her jawline to the column of her throat. “My brother was only staying with me temporarily. So it’d just be you and me. I’ll be the only one to hear you moan when I do this.” Tell parted his lips and sucked on the sweep of skin where her neck met her shoulder.

“God. You’re good at that.” She bared her entire throat.

“At what?”

“Seducing me with your mouth and the words flowing from it.”

He chuckled against her neck. “So is that a yes, pretty—”

“Jamie?”

Tell froze. He recognized that smoky voice. Soft, sweet, unbelievably sexy. Been a while since he’d heard it. He lifted his head, but kept his face shadowed beneath the brim of his hat.

“Can’t you see I’m a little busy?” Jamie said crossly.

“I wouldn’t bother you, but Stephanie told me to tell you that your sister has called your cell about ten times. She thinks you oughta call her back in case it’s an emergency.”

Jamie stepped away from him, warning, “Don’t go anywhere.”

“I’ll be right here, waitin’ on you.” As soon as Jamie flounced off, Tell raised his head, looking at the woman who’d starred in his teenage fantasies for three long years. “Hello, Georgia.”

Surprise crossed her face. She stumbled backward and would’ve fallen on her ass if he hadn’t lunged for her.

“Whoa, there.”

“Tell? Tell McKay?
You’re
the hot cowboy Jamie was talking about?”

Tell wasn’t sure if he should scowl because of Georgia’s shock or if he should grin because she’d called him hot. A smile won out. “Yep, that’s me.”

“Wow. You…look amazing.” Georgia’s gaze traveled over his shoulders, his arms, his chest and then landed back on his face. Her fingers tightened on his biceps as if she was testing the merchandise. “Like, really amazing.”

He couldn’t look away from her. Christ. Hot Lips Hotchkiss was still a knockout. Her ebony hair was shorter—shoulder length, rather than flowing halfway down her back in a tangle of black silk. Same lush mouth. Same startling blue eyes. She’d put on weight, which had softened the sharp angles of her face, and added some curves to her compact body.

“You’re staring at me,” she said in that low-pitched voice he’d dreamed about.

“You were staring at me first, darlin’. And I’m pretty sure you can let go of me now, unless you wanna challenge me to an arm-wrasslin’ match?”

“Ah. No. Sorry.” A hint of pink spread from her neck up to her cheekbones and she dropped her hands.

Interesting. Tell couldn’t remember if he’d ever seen her blush in high school. “So what are you doin’ here?”

“Having a drink with Stephanie. You remember her?”

Tell frowned. “Was she in our graduating class?”

“Yes. Stephanie Blackstone?”

“Ah. Now I remember. One of them smart girls. But I didn’t know you two were friends.”

Her eyes turned cool. “I couldn’t be friends with a smart girl because I was a dumb cheerleader?”

Shit. He’d stepped in it with her first thing. He felt the knots tighten in his tongue as that stammering, apologizing, blushing boy from the past made a brief appearance.

No sirree. He was not going there. He hadn’t been that kid for a long damn time. He reached for his beer and sipped. Then he granted her a slow grin. “Georgia girl, you were smart enough to get a boy like me to do your schoolwork, even when you were more than capable of doin’ it yourself. So that snippy response don’t hold true and you know it.”

She laughed self-consciously. “I guess I deserved that.”

At least she could laugh at herself. “I haven’t seen Stephanie in years.”

“Steph moved back to Moorcroft last year but she travels all over the state for her job.”

“I haven’t seen you in years either. What brings you back to Sundance?”

His cell buzzed before she could answer. Normally he would ignore it, but he’d been expecting—dreading—this call. He lifted a finger and said, “Hold on a sec. I gotta take this.” He clicked Answer. “What’s up?”

“Landon has been shrieking since you left him here. He don’t wanna watch a movie. He ain’t hungry. And the little sh— poop kicked my dog. When I put him in time out, he smacked me in the face with his fire truck. Sorry, bro, but I can’t do this alone.”

Perfect fucking timing as usual. “Fine. I’ll be there in fifteen.” Tell finished his beer. He fished out a twenty and dropped it on the bar, signaling to BeeBee. “We square?”

“Sure enough. You’re leaving so soon?”

“Gotta deal with a kid problem.”

BeeBee frowned. “You’ve got Landon this weekend?”

“Yeah, and he’s actin’ up bad enough to warrant a call, so I gotta get. Thanks.” Tell looked at Georgia with serious regret. “Sorry we didn’t get a chance to catch up. Take care.” He slipped on his PRCA jacket and hustled out the door.

Georgia watched the hot cowboy with the black hat disappear into the night. Tell McKay had been cute in high school in that sweet and dorky way. But now? The man was drop-dead gorgeous.

And built. Holy cow. She’d gotten a good grip on his muscled biceps when he’d kept her from making a complete fool of herself.

Now she felt totally perverted since she’d been sneaking peeks at Jamie and him on the dance floor, mesmerized by his fast, sexy, smooth moves. She’d kept watching them when they returned to the bar. Saw him draw Jamie in. He hadn’t given a damn who knew he was seducing her. Jamie had been his only focus in a bar full of people.

Lucky, lucky Jamie.

What would it be like on the receiving end of such potent sexual attention? She’d know if she hadn’t tuned Jamie out as the girl had regaled Stephanie with explicit details of her last hookup with the man she’d referred to as “cowboy hottie”.

What an understatement.

She’d spiraled back ten years when Tell’s eyes met hers. Even back then, she’d felt he saw so much more than other kids their age, which sent her into full retreat. Maybe she’d even acted a little cold to him sometimes because she hadn’t wanted anyone—especially a sweet-talkin’, sharp-eyed McKay—to see that deeply inside her, fearing he’d find her…shallow.

Georgia dodged dancers on her way back to the booth.

Stephanie stirred the ice cubes in her glass and watched her approach. “Jamie had to bail. Issues with her sister.”

At least she wouldn’t have to break the news to Jamie that Tell had left.

“I saw you talking to Jamie’s mystery guy.”

“So you didn’t know the hot cowboy Jamie was going on about…was Tell McKay?”

Stephanie’s eyes became enormous behind her purple glasses. “Seriously? Jamie never said his name.” She groaned. “Then again, she did say she wasn’t the type to kiss and tell.”

Georgia choked on her vodka tonic.

“I shouldn’t be surprised. That’s how karma works.”

“Karma? What are you talking about?”

“You. Running into Tell McKay. He always had a crush on you. But you were too busy being Deck’s girlfriend to notice.”

Wrong. She had noticed. But it wasn’t like she could’ve acted on it. Deck had been insanely jealous, and enough bad blood had lingered between Deck and Tell in rodeo club that she hadn’t wanted to add to it.

“Tell was surprised we were friends.”

Stephanie shrugged. “Our friendship was off the radar. No biggie.”

“Did that bother you?”

“Of course not. When we saw each other at school, you didn’t pretend you didn’t know me. I never understood what you did to earn such animosity from the girls in our class anyway, besides their bitchy attitudes being from stupid, petty jealousy because you were beautiful and dating the class stud. You weren’t a mean girl, not like Sally Hermanson and her group. You just stuck with your own crowd—RJ, Deck and his groupies. Who can fault you for that? Besides, look at us now. We’re still friends. Can either of us say that about anyone else in our graduating class?”

“No, but that’s because you took pity on me after I divorced Deck and let me room with you in Laramie.”

“It worked out for both of us. What else did Tell say?”

“Nothing.” After the cocktail waitress took their order, Georgia steered the conversation away from her embarrassing run-in with Tell. “You know who else I ran into from our class? Maggie Malone. She looks exactly the same.”

“That’s it? You have been keeping a low profile since you moved back to Wyoming.”

Moved back. Banished to purgatory was more like it.

“I’ve been busy the last week setting everything up to Barbara’s specs.”

Stephanie adjusted her glasses, which meant she was getting ready to grill Georgia. “I don’t understand why your boss picked Sundance to open a branch office.”

“It’s not a branch office. Since she took over promotions for L bar K Rodeo, we have to maintain a physical presence throughout the summer rodeo season. Mostly to reassure the committees that hired L bar K that we plan on honoring those contracts. Plus, Barbara believed my former ties to this area would work in our favor now.”

“So you won’t be living here permanently?”

“No. But that tidbit has to stay strictly between us. You know how locals get about an out-of-state company relocating here temporarily for tax benefits and then pulling up stakes.”

“But it still seems bizarre and…coincidental. How did a promotions and advertising firm in Dallas end up owning a small rodeo promotion company in Wyoming?”

That same question had crossed Georgia’s mind, especially after Barbara’s strange edict: take the job in Wyoming or lose her job in Dallas.

“L bar K has fallen on hard times and they approached Barbara about a buyout.”

Both Stephanie’s eyebrows rose. “Again with the coincidence.”

“Barbara does this buyout thing all the time. And she’s getting plenty out of this deal, trust me. Some of the rodeos around here are overlooked gems just needing the right PR company to put a shine on them.”

“What are you getting out of it?”

“A promotion, if everything goes smoothly. In the meantime, I get to spend my summer at the rodeo grounds, instead of taking calls at my desk in Dallas.”

“Does your dad know you’re here?”

Georgia reached for her fresh drink. “He’s probably heard rumors. Have I called him? No. Do I intend to? The jury’s out on that one.”

Stephanie sighed. “I don’t blame you. But I feel the need to point out that people change. You have. Why couldn’t you at least give your father the benefit of the doubt, just once?”

That comment made Georgia think of Tell. Not of how he’d changed, but what had remained the same.

His piercing blue eyes were the same.

That dimpled smile was the same.

His sweet, helpful disposition was the same.

“You’ve gotten better at evasion,” Stephanie inserted. “You don’t want to talk about your dad? Fine. We’ll finish the conversation about Tell McKay. Did he recognize you?”

“He was too busy trying to get into Jamie’s pants to pay attention to anything but her zipper.”

“Not what I meant.”

“Yes, he recognized me. Right away.”

Stephanie said, “And?” with exasperation.

“And what? He was polite, even when I sort of freaked out on him.” Georgia groaned and put her forehead on the table.

“That bad? Really?”

“Yes.” Georgia raised her head and mimicked herself. “Wow, I can’t believe you’re Tell McKay! Wow, let me feel your big muscles! Wow, you look amazing! God, Stephanie. What was wrong with me?”

“You were sideswiped with lust?”

“Me and every other woman in the bar. But
they
didn’t gasp and swoon. Can you believe I almost fell on my ass, so the poor man had to catch me?”

“He didn’t
have
to catch you,” Stephanie pointed out. “But the fact he did is great insight into his character.”

Georgia wanted to roll her eyes, but her psychologist friend would read something into it. “I didn’t talk to him long enough to find out anything about his character. Besides. What does it matter? He’s with Jamie.”

Stephanie shook her head. “Jamie’s commitment issues preclude her from anything but casual relationships. After what she’s told me, I’m assuming cowboy hottie, aka Tell McKay, is the same way.”

Georgia wanted to point out she’d overheard Tell’s phone conversation and he had a kid, but that didn’t mean he had a wife or even a significant other. Just a baby mama, who was at home, dealing with his child while he caroused at the local bar.