Cowboy to the Core Read online

  “Still not as shocked as they would be if it were Jamie,” Bea pointed out.

  “You look amazing,” McKenna said, not taking on anything Bea or Jamie said, rummaging around in her closet and producing a pair of strappy, high-heeled shoes. “And this will complete it.”

  Jamie just stared at the shoes dumbly and McKenna sighed, getting down on her knees and putting them on her feet.

  “Ready for the ball, ma’am?”

  Jamie stood, feeling like she was up on stilts. She took a couple of steps forward, surprised at when her heel hit the ground, versus when she’d expected it to.

  “Your ass, though,” McKenna said.

  Jamie turned around and tried to look at her own butt. “Really?”

  “Ass for days,” McKenna said.

  “It looks very nice,” Beatrix agreed.

  “This is the problem,” Jamie said. “Now everyone’s going to look at my... And like I said, everyone’s going to know that...”

  “Your brothers already know. The way you and Gabe were staring at each other all through the rodeo today was ridiculous. You can keep your hands off each other, I’ll give you that, but you can’t seem to keep your eyes off each other. They know.”

  Bea nodded. “They do.”

  “But Wyatt didn’t kill him?”

  “I mean... I suspect that Wyatt doesn’t want you to know how reasonable he is because he would like you to heed his warnings. But he’s a guy. And he went out and sowed all kinds of wild oats. He must expect that you’ll want to.”

  Jamie felt subdued. “I’m just not sure about... making announcements about how I’ve changed for him. Because of him. Not really for him. But that’s what everyone will think...”

  “Yeah,” McKenna said. “Everyone will. But being with someone changes you.”

  “It’s not a forever kind of thing...”

  “It doesn’t matter. He’s changed you. He’s making you want to be different. That’s real. And it matters. And whether it lasts or not...”

  “It’s like the beer,” Jamie said, looking over at Beatrix. “That you drink beer because of Dane.”

  “It turns out I kind of like beer,” Beatrix said. “I wouldn’t drink it if I didn’t.”

  “Yeah, well. Gabe is making me have feelings. A diverse array of them. And it’s just... I used to think there was only one way to be strong. I used to think there was only one way to protect people. But he makes me realize how much I hold everyone away from me. I don’t want to do it anymore.”

  Beatrix stretched her arm out and leaned in, curving around Jamie and squeezing.

  “Are you ready?”

  “I think so,” Jamie said.

  “You are going to knock him on his ass,” McKenna said.

  “Good. But if Wyatt tries to attack him, promise me one of you will shoot him with a tranquilizer.”

  “Will do,” McKenna said dryly.

  “I actually have tranquilizers,” Beatrix said. “Sometimes they’re necessary at the sanctuary.”

  “Well, you may need them handy,” Jamie said. She looked down at her boobs and then pushed them up slightly. “I have a feeling there might be trouble.”

  * * *

  GABE WAS ALREADY seated with the Dodge family that was present when Jamie arrived.

  At least, he was reasonably certain it was Jamie. But then, his Jamie didn’t seem the type to wear a red dress and heels out to the Gold Valley Saloon on a Saturday night—or any night.

  A dress that was practically painted on that body he knew so well, with cleavage he’d never seen on her before.

  Her hair was loose and silky, straight as ever, but shiny as it fell over her shoulders in a glossy brown waterfall, rather than being corralled by a rubber band. And she was wearing makeup. Her eyes large, her lips bright red.

  She had every head in the bar turned toward her. McKenna and Beatrix were looking extraordinarily satisfied on either side of her, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that this was their handiwork.

  Jamie bit her lip, her hands held up against her chest like a frightened mouse. She looked uncertain, and his Jamie never looked uncertain.

  He wondered what in the hell had inspired her to do this.

  She walked over to the table, her movements unsteady, and sat down beside him. Across from Wyatt.

  “Well, you look...different,” Wyatt said.

  Jamie’s dark lashes swept downward. Then she looked back up. “I thought I would celebrate my win by looking a little fancy.”

  “Okay, then,” Wyatt said.

  “You look beautiful,” Gabe said.

  Wyatt’s sharp gaze caught his, and Jamie looked over at him with wide eyes. “Thank you,” she responded.

  “Don’t mention it. I’ll buy you a drink,” Gabe said.

  “You don’t have to do that,” she said, looking over at Wyatt, a little bit nervously.

  “This round is on me. For everyone,” Gabe said, getting up and heading toward the bar.

  It took a moment for him to realize that there was a clicking sound coming from behind him. And that the clicking sound was Jamie.

  She was tottering on the heels, as fast as she could go on them, as quickly as she could move in the tight dress.

  “You don’t have to do that,” she reiterated.

  “I want to,” he said, touching her arm.

  “Do you really think I look pretty?” she asked, breathless, gazing up at him from behind her lashes.

  Gabe swallowed hard. “If your brother wasn’t here, I would take you in that bathroom and screw you senseless against the wall.”

  “Would we get to carve our names in there?” she asked, suddenly looking keen.

  Her response surprised him. “You know about that?”

  She shrugged. “Yeah. Everyone knows about that. I mean, my brother’s name is in there. I asked him about it. I didn’t like the answer.”

  “And Luke Hollister’s name, too, I hear.”

  “And Olivia’s now,” Jamie pointed out.

  He blinked. “Now, that is a surprise.”

  “People are surprising,” she said, tugging at the hem of her dress.

  “I would say so,” he said.

  They walked over to the bar together, and she leaned against it. He looked behind her, at all the male gazes currently staring at her ass. Meanwhile, her brothers were exchanging looks around the table, all of them a little bit grumpy.

  “You’re getting attention,” he said.

  “Am I?” She looked up at him, so comically uncertain.

  Her eyes looked larger than normal, and she had such a vulnerable expression on her face now it only exaggerated it.

  “Yeah,” he said. “None of these men knew you had an ass like that, Jamie. Only I did. That was my secret.”

  Just saying that thrilled him in ways he couldn’t explain. He was a total damn caveman when it came to Jamie.

  “Are you upset that I shared it?” she asked, her tone overly innocent. He wouldn’t be surprised if she would enjoy the idea of him being upset. Apparently, their relationship stripped them both back to some pretty elemental basics.

  And he couldn’t say he minded.

  He had to think seriously about her question, too. Because there was definitely something to the fact that the men around here didn’t understand how damned beautiful Jamie Dodge was.

  But he did.

  Of course, there was also something to be the envy of every man in the bar. And Gabe had never minded that.

  “Not upset. Just as long as they look and don’t touch.”

  “That’s kind of possessive,” she said.

  “I’m feeling a little possessive.”

  She clicked her tongue, her eyes darting every which way, before settling at his throat. “Well, I mi
ght be in the mood to be possessed.”

  “If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to expect a kiss.”

  “I want to,” she said.

  “We should maybe talk to Wyatt before we go making out in front of him, don’t you think?”

  “He can handle it,” she said.

  And without another word she stretched up and pressed a kiss to his neck. He groaned, fire moving through his veins.

  Just then, Laz walked up to the bar, and Gabe fired off a rapid order, making sure that he chose damn expensive whiskey, because Jamie had just announced to her big brother that Gabe was sleeping with her, so Gabe figured getting Wyatt buzzed on some of the good stuff couldn’t hurt.

  As they headed back to the table, the drinks on their way, it occurred to Gabe that it was probably also helpful that Wyatt’s wife, Lindy, was sitting right next to him, her hand on his forearm.

  Wyatt probably wouldn’t get in a brawl with Lindy there.

  Wyatt’s gaze lingered on his sister for a moment before traveling back to Gabe. He cleared his throat. “I’d like a word with you,” he said to Gabe.

  Jamie went stiff behind Gabe.

  “It’s fine,” Gabe said, patting Jamie’s hand. He stood, and Wyatt followed suit, gesturing toward the door. Gabe followed him outside onto the sidewalk, unbearably conscious of the fact that it was right around the corner that he had first kissed the other man’s sister.

  “Look, it’s obvious that you have something going on with Jamie, and I don’t need to have the details. Any more than she needs to have the details about my life. I had a talk with her a little bit ago, and I realized some things. I’ve babied her when it made me feel like I was protecting her. But I’m not sure that I ever really took care of her. I let her pretend that she was fine when I know that she wasn’t. I took care of her like she was a brother. Until I wanted to get overprotective on her like she was a little sister. That wasn’t right. And yeah, I was up in her face about you, and all of that. But I can’t... I left. I went into the rodeo, and I didn’t look back. I was so mired in my own shit that I didn’t care that I left her behind. I can’t be overprotective now. So look, whatever’s happening between you two, you don’t have to hide it. I mean, you’re not doing a good job of it if that was your goal.”

  Gabe nodded slowly. “We were. But I got to questioning what the point was. Anyway, it’s a little bit too sticky, what with my sister being one of her best friends. And also being engaged to Grant. It just doesn’t work. It was never going to stay quiet. And then... I’m not ashamed of it. And I would never want her to think that I was. That I was hiding her.”

  Wyatt’s expression was grim. “I appreciate that. I know that Jamie isn’t looking for a forever kind of thing. I’m not going to demand that you marry my sister. Hell, I’m even going to try to be enlightened and say that I get why a person needs to...have experiences and whatever.”

  Gabe laughed. “You look thrilled about that.”

  “Oh, I’m horrified. Unto my soul. I don’t want to be thinking about any of this. But I want to be there for Jamie in a way that’s real. And not in a way that’s just me making myself feel better about what I didn’t do for her all those years ago.”

  “I don’t think she feels deprived of anything.”

  “Well, that’s nice of you to say. But I’m not looking for reassurance. Not from you. Make no mistake,” Wyatt said. “I’m not going to intervene in what’s happening between the two of you. I’m not going to make Jamie feel bad about it. But if you hurt my sister, Dalton, I will fucking end you. Cadaver dogs won’t be able to find you because the pieces will be too damned small, you got that?”

  Gabe got it. And he believed it. Gabe could hold his own in a fight, but Wyatt Dodge was built like the bulls he rode, and the last thing on earth Gabe wanted was to be in a fight with him.

  As much as he didn’t want to be in a fight, he appreciated that Jamie had not just one brother—but three—who would willingly beat him to a pulp to protect her.

  He didn’t want to pose that kind of danger to Jamie. The last thing he wanted to do was do any damage to Jamie at all.

  “I don’t want to hurt her,” Gabe said.

  Wyatt nodded slowly, his cowboy hat shading his eyes. “See that you don’t. Because the Dodge brothers travel in packs.”

  Wyatt clapped him on the back and headed toward the saloon. And Gabe stood for a moment, watching him go in.

  He looked around outside for a moment before deciding to go back into the saloon. He looked at Jamie, sitting there with her family. Looking so unlike Jamie, and somehow very like her at the same time. Then he made his way to her. “Do you want to dance?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  JAMIE LOOKED OVER at Wyatt, and then back at Gabe. “I don’t know how to dance,” she said.

  “Well, I’m bad at it. But we might as well.”

  He took her hand and pulled her to him, up out of her chair, and over to the small dance floor that people occupied in front of the jukebox. There was a country song playing, a slow tune about how God must’ve spent a little more time on a certain woman, and when Gabe pulled her up close to his chest and began to sway with her, she thought she might pass out.

  “So, I take it Wyatt is one hundred percent clear on the fact that we are sleeping with each other?” she asked, looking up at him.

  A muscle in his face twitched. “Yes, he knows,” Gabe said. “Now, I didn’t put it quite like that. Because I like my extremities where they are, thank you.”

  “Well, I would hope not,” she said. “What did he say to you?”

  “We have his blessing. Kind of.”

  “Can I cut in?”

  She looked behind Gabe’s shoulder and saw Wyatt standing there. She wasn’t sure it looked like they had Wyatt’s blessing. But he wasn’t punching Gabe, so that was something.

  “By all means,” Gabe said, stepping away.

  Wyatt took hold of her hand, his hold keeping her at a distance, but still moving in time with the music.

  “You’re dancing,” she pointed out.

  “So are you,” he replied.

  “You’re not mad?”

  Wyatt shook his head. “No. I was never going to be mad at you, Jamie. I worry about you. Do you know that? Do you know that I worry about you?”

  “Yeah,” Jamie said.

  “No, I mean really. Not that overprotective stuff. That’s for me. It’s to make me not feel so...guilty.”

  Her heart twisted. “Why do you feel guilty?”

  “Because I left. I left when you were a little kid. Because for a while I had a hard time dealing with our family, and with the situation. Because I let my relationship with Dad, and the mistakes I made there, affect everything else. And because for a moment... For a moment I did resent you. This red, screaming thing that was left behind after...”

  “After your mom died,” Jamie said softly. Her throat tightened. “I know. I mean, I know that you had to have felt that way. I don’t know why you wouldn’t have.”

  “That went away, though,” Wyatt said. “And you were...the brightest sunshine that we had. I think if it weren’t for you, Dad would have lost himself completely.”

  “Yeah, but the thing that I always struggle with is that if it weren’t for me you wouldn’t have lost her at all.”

  “I can’t think of it that way,” Wyatt said. “It wasn’t a trade. And you know what? Life is just random sometimes. There’s no explaining it. It could have easily been a car accident, a blood clot caused by...anything else. Or nothing at all. No one can guarantee what would have happened. In the end, it doesn’t matter. The way that things went... We lost her. We have you. I’m so damn thankful for you, Jamie. But I also didn’t do the best by you.”

  “That’s not true,” Jamie said.

  “No. It is. Because you acte
d tough, so I treated you like you were tough.” He cleared his throat. “And so did Dad. So did we all.”

  Her heart suddenly felt heavy.

  “I am tough,” she said.

  “Jamie, someone should’ve been there for you. To make sure that if you wanted a dress you got one. To make sure that you got makeup if you needed it. Or...whatever else.”

  “I handled it,” Jamie said.

  “You shouldn’t have had to.”

  Those words cracked at something inside her that she had tried to ignore for a long time. That on some level, she had wished that someone would do all those things she said she didn’t want, no matter what she told them. It wasn’t fair. Not at all. But it didn’t stop her from having those feelings.

  She couldn’t expect somebody to guess. She couldn’t expect older brothers who were busy with their own lives, and a father who was contending with everything that Quinn had been through, to guess at what she needed.

  But a part of her had wished that they would. A part of her that had done its best to stay hidden away. But it felt exposed now, and it hurt. She didn’t want to hurt. This was a nice moment and Wyatt was being nice. She didn’t want to bring bad stuff into it.

  “It’s okay,” she said.

  Because it was. In the sense that it had to be. The way that she’d always had to be.

  There was no sense in telling Wyatt that no matter how tough she acted, he should have damn well kissed her boo-boo.

  She hadn’t had enough insight into herself to know that was what she wanted. Why should her teenage brother have known?

  She was finding all this out for herself now. And she had to find out a way to move forward with it, not just tie it all to the past. It was part of that same realization she’d had about Gabe a few weeks ago. There could be a fight. And the old her would have gone right in for it. But...she didn’t want to fight. She didn’t want to be right. She didn’t need desperately to prove a point. She wanted closeness. She wanted it in a way she hadn’t ever had it. And the only way to do that was to take a step forward.

  Not steps back.

  She wrapped her arms around Wyatt and gave him a hug. “You made me who I am. The way that I admired you, the way that I looked up to you, is why I’m here. Don’t waste any time wishing it could’ve been different. I don’t.”