“I wanted to say thanks for covering for me, but I can’t be your partner.”
Every fantasy—and his dick—deflated. “Why not?”
Georgia gnawed on her lip. “Deck will get mad.”
“So? It’s for school. Say the teacher put us together.”
“But Smitty was here. He’ll tattle that we weren’t assigned and us partnering up was your idea. Then Deck will want to, well…deck you.”
“I’d like to see him try.” Ooh, such a tough guy, McKay. Deck would wipe the floor with your scrawny ass.
“I can’t do that to you, Tell.”
Was her concern for him from fear? Or from something else? She had been talking to him a lot during class the last couple of months. Did she kind of…like him?
Wait. If he let Deck beat the ever-lovin’ crap out of him, would Georgia feel so guilty she’d offer to kiss his injuries and make them better? For the first time ever, he really hoped a guy punched him in the crotch.
Nice f**king fantasy, perv, but it ain’t ever gonna happen.
“You understand, don’t you?”
His focus snapped back to her. “What’s your grade in this class?”
She dropped her gaze. “I have a C. Minus.”
“I have an A. This project could raise your grade to a B if you partner with me.”
“Well, okay then. But we can’t meet to work on the project during school hours where anyone could see us.”
If he’d had an ego, it would’ve taken a massive hit. “Where we gonna work on it?”
“How about the public library? In, ah, Moorcroft.” Her fingers nervously twisted the purity ring on a chain around her neck. “I’ll meet you there tomorrow night.”
That’s when he knew he’d be doing the history project alone.
That’s when he understood that sucker defined a guy like him, easily manipulated by a pretty girl.
That’s when he swore it’d never happen again.
Chapter One
Ten years later…
“Tell McKay, you’re a sight for sore eyes.”
“BeeBee, darlin’, I swear you get younger-lookin’ every time I see you. Pretty soon I’m gonna be carding you to make sure you’re old enough to be serving in a bar.”
“Even an old broad like me ain’t immune to that bullshit flattery.” She opened the cooler. “You drinkin’ Bud Light?”
“Yep.” Tell caught the bottle when the bartender slid it across the bar top. “Thanks, Beebs.”
“No problem. So where’s the blonde from last week?”
He grinned. “It’s a new week.”
BeeBee flapped the bar towel at him. “You’re such a McKay.”
“I’ll take the compliment. But you gotta admit I ain’t as wild as some of my cousins in their heyday.”
“I think you’re worse, sugar, because you hide it better. Lord, them dimples of yours are deep enough to get lost in. And the ladies eat up that fun-lovin’ gentleman cowboy bit you do so well.” She shook her finger at him. “Don’t deny it.”
“I don’t. But I’ll point out I am a fun-lovin’ gentleman cowboy, so it ain’t like I’m pretending to be something that I’m not.”
BeeBee’s gaze flicked to whoever stood behind him.
Tell slowly turned around on his barstool to see a redhead glaring at him. Aw, hell. Not again. He remembered he’d done a little mattress dancing with this cutie last year, but he couldn’t recall her name. “Hey, pretty lady.”
She rolled her eyes. “Does that work for you? The ‘hey, pretty lady’ when you can’t remember a woman’s name after you slept with her?”
BeeBee snorted.
Tell grinned. “Yep.”
The woman opened her mouth, no doubt about to read him the riot act, but he jumped in to head her off.
“Now, don’t go getting all indignant, darlin’. We both had a great time—that part I do remember. I told you up front that’s all it’d be.”
She sidled up to the bar, telling BeeBee, “A honey Jack and seven with lemon, please.” Then she cocked her head. “I’m Jamie.”
“Well, pretty Jamie, I may’ve been fuzzy on your name, but I do recall one thing about you.”
“What’s that?”
Tell traced the line of her neck from beneath her jawbone to the hollow of her throat. “How much you liked havin’ my mouth here.”
Jamie’s breath caught. “You are the devil. A handsome devil with dirty, sweet-talking ways and wicked, wicked hands.”
“Mmm-hmm. But knowing that ahead of time still didn’t keep you from sayin’ yes to me, did it?”
“Because I didn’t want to say no.” Her gaze gravitated to his crotch and zoomed back to his eyes. “Then or now.”
He raised a brow. “That right?”
She inserted her curvy body between his thighs and leaned into him. “Buy me a drink, cowboy, and we’ll talk.”
His night was looking up. “BeeBee doll, put Jamie’s drink on my tab.”
BeeBee snorted again.
“So, you here with anyone?” Tell asked.
Jamie took a healthy sip of her drink. “My friend Stephanie and some chick she knew in high school.”
High school. A time in his life he’d rather forget.
He set down his bottle and said, “Dance with me.”
There wasn’t a band, just piped-in country music, but several couples were on the dance floor.
Three fast songs later, Tell led Jamie back to their seats at bar. “I forgot that you’re such a great dancer,” she said breathlessly.
“Ain’t a lot of other things to do around here on the weekends.”
“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.”