Should've Been A Cowboy & Cowboy Up: Should've Been a Cowboy / Cowboy Up

“Thank you, but it’s a small suitcase, and I really can—”

“You don’t know which room.” He was determined to grab this chance to talk with her. “Where should I put her, Sarah?”

“Let me think.” Sarah tapped her chin. “Maybe we should stick with the wing you’re in, because we’re having some problems with the pipes on the other side. I need to call a plumber, but I haven’t done it yet. Gabe’s room should be in decent shape.”

“It was the last time we were up there packing his high school trophies,” Morgan said. “I don’t think the bed’s made up, though.”

Sarah started to rise. “Maybe I should come up there with you.”

“Sit still.” Alex wasn’t giving up this opportunity to have a conversation with Tyler. “I know where the linen closet is. Tyler and I can handle it.”

“Absolutely,” Tyler said. “I’m perfectly capable of making a bed.”

And lying in it? Alex was trying so hard to play it cool, but thinking of Tyler smoothing sheets over the bed she’d sleep in for several nights, a bed that would be in a room right across the hall from his, didn’t help at all. He’d never shared a bed with her, but he had no trouble imagining how wonderful that would be. The hayloft had been earthy and exotic, but a good mattress had advantages, too.

At this point, he needed to decide how he felt about the possibility. Obviously, considering her career plans, it couldn’t be more than a short-term experience. Was that a mistake? Maybe, but not a huge one unless they slipped up on birth control, and he wouldn’t let that happen.

Still, an affair could be a small mistake in that both of them could get more involved than they wanted to be. He didn’t know if he could jump into a temporary affair with her and jump back out with ease. And even if he could, what would be the point? When he was totally honest with himself, he had to admit that he craved what all three Chance men had found—a solid marriage that showed all the signs of lasting a lifetime.

He’d always wanted that, but he’d chosen the wrong woman the first time around. He didn’t like making mistakes, and he wasn’t about to make another one. That meant being careful with his heart. He wasn’t convinced that Tyler didn’t already own a piece of it.

She had a zest for life he’d admired from the moment she’d stepped onto the dance floor last summer. She’d been the one to suggest the romp in the hay, which had told him she wasn’t some finicky city girl and she had self-confidence, besides. That night he’d also learned that she was an unselfish lover with a great sense of humor.

Being wanted by someone like Tyler had soothed his divorce-battered ego. But he wasn’t feeling battered anymore, and she still had the power to make him ache with longing. He wasn’t positive he could satisfy that longing without taking an emotional risk.

“We’d better get with the program,” Tyler said.

What program? Alex made a mental U-turn so he could figure out what she was talking about. Oh, yeah. He was supposed to get her settled upstairs so she could go outside with him and make suggestions for the open house. His concentration was already whacked.

“I left my suitcase and purse out in the front hallway.” Tyler looked at Sarah. “Thank you so much for putting me up for a few nights.”

Sarah laughed. “I’m afraid Alex plans to make you earn your keep. Don’t let him work you too hard.”

“Actually you should worry about me working Alex too hard. He may regret asking for my help. I’m a slave driver when I get going.”

Alex shook his head. “No worries. I admire dedication.”

“Good. Me, too. We should make a good team.”

And maybe that’s all she had in mind. He could tell by her matter-of-fact tone that she wasn’t flirting, not even a tiny bit. He should be relieved if she wasn’t interested in getting chummy. Instead he felt the sting of disappointment.

He followed her out of the kitchen and through the empty dining room. Her hair bounced when she walked and her heels clicked on the hardwood floor. Her shoes were the kind that didn’t make an appearance very often at the Last Chance, where boots were the norm.

Tyler’s shoes consisted of an arrangement of black straps that left most of her foot bare. Her toes were shiny, as if they had clear polish on them, but the white part was brighter than a natural nail would be. Crystal used to get that kind of pedicure, and he vaguely remembered it was connected with a nationality. Maybe French.

He’d never thought of himself as having a thing about toes, but Tyler’s French pedicure generated a definite response from his libido. He could imagine himself kissing his way down to her slender toes and running his tongue between each one. During the night they’d shared, they’d been too busy with some very satisfying basics and hadn’t detoured into embellishments like sucking on toes.

Her shoes stirred his baser instincts, too. The heels were at least three inches, maybe closer to four. In Chicago they’d call them do-me shoes.

He wasn’t sure what they’d be called in Wyoming, but the effect was the same on a guy no matter where a woman wore them. As Tyler’s heels created a sensuous beat, Alex imagined backing her up against the nearest wall and wrapping her legs, sexy shoes and French pedicure included, around his waist. Her skirt would be easily bunched up, and if she still favored thongs, her panties would provide no challenge whatsoever.

“How long have you been living at the ranch?”

“Uh...” His brain wasn’t functioning as efficiently as it might, considering a certain amount of blood had been routed elsewhere. “About three months, I guess.”

“I thought you liked being a DJ.”

“I did. I do. But as a DJ I work indoors, and that just seems like a waste in this kind of country. The marketing director job allows me to live on the ranch and spend a lot more time outside.” Talking about something besides sex helped control his reaction to her. But every time he took a breath, he caught a whiff of her sweet perfume—part peach roses, part Tyler.

“The Jackson Hole area seems to have a strong effect on people. It sure captivated my sister. She loved it when we lived here years ago, and she loves it even more now.”

“Yeah, she’s talked about going to high school in Jackson.” Alex paused to pick up Tyler’s flowered suitcase and she grabbed her black leather purse before they headed up the winding staircase to the second floor. “So you didn’t fall in love with the place?”

“We were only in Shoshone for about six months. I was thirteen and miserable because I had to wear hand-me-downs to school. I wasn’t paying much attention to my surroundings.”

“That’s a tough age. I don’t know if anybody’s happy at thirteen.” He was willing to bet she’d been a knockout, though, even at thirteen and wearing hand-me-down clothes. “So what do you think of the area now?”

“It’s beautiful. And Morgan’s so happy here.”

“So’s my sister, Josie. She came out on a skiing trip and made the decision to move. I wouldn’t have discovered this place if she hadn’t come here first.”

“And now she’s married to Jack. Were you the DJ for the reception then, too?”

“I was. They got married, along with Nick and Dominique, in early October.” But there had been no Tyler O’Connelli on the dance floor that night, no woman stirring him up and tempting him with hayloft sex. “Like Sarah said, we barely beat the snow, but now all the Chance men are hitched.”

“Wow.” Tyler laughed. “Must be something in the water.”

“Yeah, you might want to stick with bottled.”

“No kidding. Does Josie still own the Spirits and Spurs bar in Shoshone?”

“She does.” They reached the top of the stairs. “To your left.” He gestured in that direction. “Now that Josie lives out on the ranch, she’s not constantly at the bar, but she loves that place and I think she likes having her own income, too.”

“I sure get that.” Tyler’s voice grew more animated. “I would never be financially dependent on a man. My mother and father seem to have worked it out, but sometimes I wonder if she’d had her own money whether she might have vetoed some of his crazy ideas.”

Alex filed that statement away as a valuable insight into Tyler’s attitude. She wanted to maintain control over her life, and he admired that, too.

He paused beside the doorway into Gabe’s room on the right side of the hall. “This is it. Home sweet home for the next five fun-filled nights.” Probably shouldn’t have said that, either, but it was cruise lingo and...okay, he was flirting, even if she wasn’t.

She glanced up at him. “And where is your room?”

He pointed across the hall.

“Oh.”

He put her suitcase on the floor. “Look, Tyler, that wasn’t my idea. There are some plumbing issues in the other wing, like Sarah said.”

“I know. I just—”