Crazy Little Thing Called Love (31 page)

The questions of whether she was staying in
town now came hard and fast and she dodged as many as she could.
She couldn’t answer a loaded question like that, not yet, not
today. Today was her father’s funeral. She just had to get through
today and then she’d be able to look forward and figure everything
else out.

She ducked out the back door and took a deep
breath of fresh air. All of the perfume and hairspray in the house
was giving her a headache. She couldn’t remember so many people
ever being in the Oaks though no doubt they’d congregated for her
mama as well.

She wished she was five years old again. At
five she’d been able to go up to her room and hide. She’d sat in
her closet that day while all the adults were downstairs and fallen
asleep so that when her daddy called her she hadn’t heard him. He’d
been spitting mad but so relieved she wasn’t missing when he found
her that he’d hugged her tight and told her not to go disappearing
on him ever again. She hadn’t, not until she turned eighteen and
she’d left him and Fate behind her in a cloud of dust.

At the time she’d been looking for the place
she belonged. Strange that it took coming back to the ranch, took
her father’s illness and staying by his side for her to see the
truth. Montgomery Oaks was her home. It was her mother’s legacy,
her father’s burden and now it was hers. She couldn’t let it go but
she didn’t know what to do with it either. A tear slid down her
cheek and she wiped it away quickly. In so many ways she was still
that lost little girl.

Anxiety beat in her chest. What was she
supposed to do now? Her father clearly thought she wanted to stay
gone, to stay in Atlanta or Denver or wherever her job took her but
she couldn’t see herself going back to that life now. She didn’t
want to keep rolling along with nothing and nobody.

She could stay on the ranch but she had no
idea how to own hundreds of acres and thousands of cattle. Part of
her still wanted to run. Part of her wanted to get in her
impractical sports car and hit the road and not stop driving until
she was far away from Fate and Texas and Montgomery Oaks. There was
a new part of her too though, a part she hadn’t known was even
inside her that wanted to stay, to accept her land, to suck it up
and make a real go of it, to see if she was as strong as she’d
always claimed. She didn’t know which part would win.

She felt like a time bomb waiting to explode.
She kept tucking the emotions in. She kept sucking it up and
pushing it down. It was bound to come out in a torrent of pain and
misery but she couldn’t let it happen today. Not on the day she put
her daddy in the ground and everybody was watching. Cowgirls didn’t
cry and Bluebell had always been a good cowgirl. Her daddy had
taught her well.

“Are you listening to a word I’m saying?”

Zach glanced over at Maddie when she smacked
his shoulder. He hadn’t been forced to face the perky twenty-three
year old in a while. He’d hoped she’d forgotten all about him and
their supposed friendship. Apparently that wasn’t the case.

“What?” He frowned.

“I said, everybody’s talking about how
Bluebell’s going to get out of town quick now that her daddy’s
gone.”

“They are?”

“Yeah.” She nodded emphatically and her newly
cut and colored hair swayed around her chin. Despite the new
hairstyle and the dress, which he’d rarely seen her wear, she still
looked closer to fifteen than twenty-three thanks to her small
frame and the brush of freckles across the bridge of her nose.
She’d always been a sweet kid and it was strange to think of her as
an adult, especially when she was pestering him with questions. “Is
she going to leave Fate again?”

“How should I know?”

“Aren’t you two dating?”

He used his best mean face when he frowned at
her, “I don’t date.”

A curved eyebrow rose, “Then what are you two
doing?”

“None of your business.”

“Oh come on Zach, I saw the way you looked at
her that day in the hardware store.”

He didn’t bother asking how he’d looked at
her. He had a pretty good idea. He’d looked at Bluebell with a
whole hell of a lot of lust and desire to get her naked. That’s
all. So why did he feel a little bit embarrassed to have the little
girl next to him pointing it out? Oh wait, yeah that’s right,
because Maddie thought of him like a big brother. Fantastic.

“So is she?” Maddie prompted.

“Is she what?”

“God talking to you is like talking to a
brick wall sometimes.” Maddie rolled her eyes, “Is Blue going to
stay?”

He shrugged because he didn’t know and that
bugged the hell out of him. She was always supposed to leave. When
he’d first met her that was one of the things he’d liked about
Bluebell. Now he liked a whole bunch of other things about her and
the idea of her leaving wasn’t one of them.

He liked that she was smart and funny and
strong. Spending the past few days with her he’d realized just how
strong she really was. In the face of her loss she hadn’t fallen to
pieces like his mother had all those years ago. She’d kept her chin
up and the tears down and played the hand she’d been dealt with
grace and dignity. He liked that about her.

He wanted to like that she hadn’t asked him
for anything. Sure she’d come to his house that night but she
hadn’t begged him for anything more than what he’d already offered.
Sex. Simple and easy, their relationship was about sex. So he
couldn’t explain why it kind of annoyed him that she didn’t seem to
really need him even with her world falling apart around her.

He was used to being needed. His mother
needed him. His brothers needed him. He’d never wanted any other
woman to need him so it didn’t make any sense that he wanted
Bluebell to. He wanted to be there for her, wanted her to fall on
him if she was going to fall. He wanted to catch her. Feelings like
that weren’t simple and he didn’t think they had anything to do
with sex no matter how good it was between them.

He’d spent the past four days with her. He
hadn’t worked on his house. He hadn’t worked on his car. He hadn’t
worked on his ranch. He’d simply been with Bluebell and when he
hadn’t been with her he’d been working to get back to her.

He didn’t bother to ask himself how she’d
become so important because he didn’t think he’d like the answer.
He liked his women easy and Bluebell Montgomery Carter was the
opposite of easy in every way imaginable. She was a little bit
crazy and damn him if he didn’t like that about her too.

All day he’d watched her from a distance. She
looked sexy as sin in her proper black dress. He liked her in
dresses, always had, but he’d kept his distance because they were
just friends with benefits. His place wasn’t at her side while she
eulogized her father and dealt with gossipy mourners and it was an
odd feeling that he kind of wanted it to be.

The smart thing to do would be to keep his
distance. He hated the feeling in his chest that wouldn’t ease up.
He hated feeling helpless and out of control and that’s all he’d
been feeling lately. So why his feet moved after her when he saw
her pretty blond head duck out the back door he couldn’t explain.
He didn’t even bother to say excuse me to Maddie as he walked away.
Bluebell was moving and like a dumbass magnet he followed.

“Hey.” He caught up to her in the
backyard.

She turned to face him and a smile inched up
her pretty face. Sunlight glinted off her golden hair and her blue
eyes met his. Her pink lips turned up into a smile and he forgot to
breath. He was in trouble, really big trouble.

“Hi ya cowboy.” Blue looked up into those
soft green eyes and the handsome face that somehow seemed better
looking every time she saw it and smiled her first real smile of
the day.

He always made her smile. How he did it was
varied and impractical but the truth was the truth. There was no
lying to herself about it. Zach had the ability to make her smile
even on the worst day of her life and that was a power she was
unable to resist.

“What’re you doing out here all alone?” He
asked.

“I’m not alone. You’re here now.” She
shrugged when he continued to stare at her with that pursed lip
look that said he was waiting for the truth, “I needed to get some
air.”

“Did it help?”

“Not really.”

“What can I do?”

Her chest squeezed tight. The offer to help
should have surprised her coming from the man that’d insisted he
didn’t do relationships, dinner, conversation or being needed but
it didn’t. Despite his claims and his hard edges he’d been nothing
but there for her, always giving her exactly what she needed even
when she wasn’t sure she knew what it was. If she was less
intelligent she’d misread it as something more than it was so it
was a good thing she was smart.

“Get me out of here?”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere but here.” She shrugged.

“Let’s go.”

His big hand slipped into hers and she let
him lead her around the side of the house. She liked the feel of
his hand in hers. She liked the way he walked a half step in front
of her, leading but never tugging her after him despite his much
longer stride.

“It was a nice service.” He helped her up
into his truck.

“Thank you.” She relaxed and pulled the
seatbelt around her as he shut the door and went around to get
in.

Enclosed in his truck the familiar scent of
Zach all around her made her muscles relax. She leaned her head
back and closed her eyes. It had been a long day but getting away
was nice.

“There were a lot of people. Your dad was a
big member of this town.” He started the truck after jumping in on
his side.

“Yeah, it was nice to see so many people. He
could be a mean old grouch but he did a lot for Fate. Did you know
he donated the money to the First Baptist to build the rec
center?”

“No, I didn’t but that was awfully nice of
him.”

Look at them, having an actual conversation.
Who knew? They almost sounded like a real live couple. That was a
scary thought so she derailed it with a smile.

“Yep, if only he’d known building the rec
center would lead to one of those wild West boys getting his hand
up my skirt he’d probably have thought twice about it.”

He chuckled as he pulled the truck out of the
drive and headed back towards the highway, “You’re probably
right.”

They drifted down the highway in comfortable
silence for a long minute. He was wearing another of his pearl snap
shirts. This one was navy blue with a thin gray pinstripe. She
preferred the white one, not that he didn’t look fantastic either
way. She just liked the way she could see the barest hint of his
tattoo under the sleeve of the white one. She liked the way it
hinted at the big bad cowboy underneath.

“When’d you get your tattoo?”

“Hmm?” He glanced at her out of the corner of
his eye.

“Your tattoo, when’d you get it?”

“You have a real fascination with my tattoo
don’t you?” He grinned.

“I have a real fascination with most of you.”
She smiled back.

“And with the compliments now? You don’t have
to sweet-talk me baby-doll. I’m a sure thing.”

She laughed. A real laugh for the first time
in nearly a week and it lightened the weight she’d been carrying
around. He had some powerful mojo.

“Thank you.”

“For what?” He tilted his head.

“For getting me out of there. For making me
laugh when I wasn’t sure how I’d ever be able to smile again. For
being here.” She shrugged, “Thank you Zach.”

“Anytime baby-doll. Anytime.”

She unbuckled her seat belt and slid across
the front seat before she had time to think about it. It was a
silly thing to do but she did it anyway. She slipped her shoes off
and curled her legs up beside her. She leaned into his side, felt
the heat of his body against her and breathed in his scent. He
chuckled and the sound washed away the rest of her troubles when he
held the steering wheel with his left hand and circled her
shoulders, pulling her tighter against his side with his right. She
leaned her head on his big broad shoulder and closed her eyes.

“Mmm, this is nice.” She murmured.

“Yeah, it is.”

She smiled. This was probably a lot like the
memory her father had told her about that last day. Driving around
the back roads with her mama tucked into his side. Except she was
no beauty queen and Zach wasn’t her boyfriend. She’d do well to
remember that.

“I got the tattoo when I was eighteen.” He
offered.

“Before or after your father passed
away?”

“After.” He cleared his throat, “I got it
about a month after he died.”

Oh that was something. He didn’t offer up
much about himself. Every little detail was like a gift. She knew
she shouldn’t press him though so she didn’t. That wasn’t what this
was so despite the fact she figured there was a whole lot more to
the story of why he’d gotten a big, dark tattoo a month after his
dad died she wouldn’t pry.

“Maybe I’ll get one next month too. We can be
tattoo buddies.”

He laughed, “Yeah, I can just see you all
tatted up baby-doll.”

“I’ll have you know I’d look good with a
nice, classy tattoo.” She feigned indignation but didn’t move away
from him.

“I’m sure you would. You’d look good in a
potato sack.” His thumb brushed her arm back and forth, “But your
mama would roll over in her grave if you marred that beautiful
skin.”

“Marred?” She frowned. “Is that what you
think you did by getting a tattoo?”

“Sometimes. I was a stupid kid when I got
it.” He shrugged and jostled her head, “You know if you have a
thing for tattoos you should ask Dev to see his sometime.”

She smiled softly into his arm, deliriously
pleased that he was being so open with her, “Devin has tats
too?”