Too Close For Comfort (Sweetrock Cowboy Romance Book 2) (4 page)

C
ash regretted agreeing
to cook supper, but when Tessa had said she could find someone else to eat with, all he could picture was her eating with that guy from the bar. He wasn’t about to let that happen.

Of course, now he’d put himself right into the same position he’d been in this morning. Alone with Tessa. He’d have to learn how to hang around with her as friends if he wanted to keep their friendship. Might as well start tonight.

Cash pounded the nail into the fence with unnecessary force. Staying in that house with Tessa was really messing up his head. Good thing he had a lot of repairs to do on the ranch and he could work off his frustrations with manual labor.

He spent the day mending fences, carrying the wood, even chopping down a few trees. By the end of the day, he was exhausted but at least in a more even frame of mind.

On the way home, he picked up ribeye steaks and sweet potatoes. Tessa’s favorite meal. He got home first and put the sweet potatoes in the oven. It felt like the most natural thing in the world to be coming home and cooking supper for her. Made sense, though. The Riley ranch had been like a second home to him most of his life, so it was only natural that it should feel that way.

He’d showered, preheated the grill, and had just covered the steaks in a special marinade of Italian dressing and herbs when Tessa came home.

“Can I do something to help?” She leaned out from the opening on one side of the sliding glass door still dressed in the dirty T-shirt, jeans with a hole in the knee, and the work boots she’d worn to the barn. Apparently, she’d tried to tame her hair into a ponytail, but the humidity had other ideas. Curls frizzed out on the side and Cash’s fingers itched to tuck them back into place.

“No. I got it all covered. Should be ready in about ten minutes.”

“Perfect. I’ll just hop in the shower.”

Cash simply nodded. He didn’t need his thoughts drifting to images of her in the shower, so he focused on preparing the meal. He took out lettuce, grape tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers and chopped them into tiny pieces.

By the time Tessa came out he was on the deck, ready to put the steaks on the grill. She handed him a beer, her eyes lighting when she saw the sweet potatoes cooling on a plate, steam venting from the small holes he’d poked in them with a fork.

Her hair was still damp from the shower, her face scrubbed clean. She looked natural and pretty. Younger than her twenty-seven years. For a second, Cash got a glimpse of the little girl he’d grown up with and his heart squeezed in his chest. Looking further, though, he could see she was no little girl.

She’d changed into a blue tie-dyed tank top that hugged her figure and let a quarter inch of tanned stomach peek out in between where the top ended and her white denim shorts began. His eyes didn’t stop there, though. They kept going. Past her waist to the swell of her hips and below. The shorts weren’t too short but managed to reveal a tantalizing amount of tanned thigh—soft, but with just the right amount of firm muscle...

Cash jerked his eyes away and pulled the steaks off the grill. He set the platter on the table with everything else. “There you go. Good as you’d get at The Chuckwagon.”

“Don’t let Nick hear you say that. He thinks he cooks the best steak in the county.”

They ate in silence, only an occasional “Mmmm” to acknowledge the meal. Tessa had an appetite like a lumberjack. She ate a large piece of steak and used half of a stick of butter on the sweet potatoes. When they were done, they both loaded the dishes into the dishwasher and then came back out onto the porch with two more bottles of beer.

Cash pulled one of the chairs away from the table and sat facing the mountains, his feet on the bottom rung of the porch railing. Tessa leaned against the railing across from him.

“So really, you never think about settling down?” Tessa picked the label on her beer nervously.

“I suppose I will eventually.”

“I always thought I’d settle down with Derek.” She looked out into the distance. “Guess that wasn’t meant to be.”

The sadness in her voice nearly broke his heart. But the truth was he was glad Tessa hadn’t settled down with Derek. All through high school, Cash had known the guy was a total jerk. He’d even tried to tell Tessa that a few times, but she wouldn’t hear any of it. In fact, he suspected his warnings had driven a wedge in their friendship. Which was one reason why he was hesitant to voice his feelings about the guy in the bar. With any luck, the guy was just passing through, and Tessa wouldn’t run into him again because if she did Cash didn’t know if he’d be able to keep his mouth shut.

“That was for the best,” Cash said.

“Oh, I know. He was a jerk,” She looked at him and nodded, a rueful smile playing on her lips. “Just like you tried to tell me. But that was over five years ago, and I really haven’t been serious about anyone since. I need to get over it.”

She took a long swig of beer. “What about you? I haven’t seen you in any serious relationships in a while.”

“I like to play the field.” Cash grinned. He
had
liked to play the field. The truth was he’d never felt like settling down with anyone. He’d dated plenty, maybe even thought he’d been in love a few times—but marriage? No way. At least not until now. “I guess I’ll just have to wait until the right person comes along.”

Tessa looked off in the distance again. “Yeah, but how do you know when it’s the right person?”

“I guess it’s a feeling you get. Something inside.” Cash’s voice was husky.

“I felt that with Derek. I trusted him. I loved him. But he stomped all over me. Cheated behind my back and got that girl pregnant.”

“He did?” Cash hadn’t heard that.

Tessa nodded, her eyes on the floor. “I guess he was cheating the whole time. I was oblivious. Found out when I called his phone and Veronica answered to announce her pregnancy. It was a shock. And to top it all off, he didn’t even have the decency to tell me to my face.”

“I’m sorry. That must have been rough.” Cash’s heart pinched for her.

“I mean, I know he was a jerk, but the problem is I haven’t felt the same way about anyone else, and I’m afraid I never will.” Tessa tore her gaze from the landscape and focused back on him, sadness flooding her eyes. “But I’m terrified to put myself out there. I can’t let myself get hurt like that again, and I’m afraid I might only fall for jerks.”

Her eyes welled up and Cash’s heart overflowed for her. Before he realized what he was doing, he was on his feet and pulling her into his arms.

She melted into him, and he rubbed her back, soothing her. “Don’t worry. You’ll find someone else. I’m so sorry he hurt you like that.”

She nodded and sniffed, her head buried in his chest. He continued rubbing the circles, hyperaware of her presence and the fact that he was actually holding her in his arms. The feeling of her still damp hair against his chest and the scent of her strawberry shampoo. The way her soft, warm curves melded into him made him dizzy. He felt his control slipping away, a fire kindling inside him that had his body tightening in dangerous places.

He loosened his grip, and she looked up at him. His gaze dropped to her lips, his body telling him to go for it, and his brain telling him to stop before he ruined their friendship.

Tessa’s eyes turned a deep midnight blue and for one split second, he thought she was going to reach up and kiss him. Then her face shuttered. She stepped back, laughing nervously and swiping at the tears in her eyes. “Sorry. I don’t usually get all emotional like that. It’s stupid crying over someone from five years ago anyway.”

“It’s not stupid.” Cash grabbed his beer, held it with both hands.

She turned to look across the fields again. “Hey, what’s the weather tonight?”

“Warm and clear.”

Her lips tugged in a smile. “Let’s go over to your place, get the horses out and go for a sunset ride like we used to do back in junior high. What do you say?” Her face lit with excitement that Cash couldn’t refuse.

“Sounds like a good idea to me. I’d like to check on them, anyway.”

“Perfect.” She started toward the house and then turned to him, her face serious now. “Hey, thanks for listening to me. It feels good to talk about it to someone I know I can trust.”

“No problem. That’s what friends are for.”

Her face brightened. “I’m grateful to have you as a friend. Best friends forever, right?” She held her fist out, knuckles forward and pinky extended in the childhood gesture that they’d always used to swear their friendship.

Cash tapped her knuckles and wound his pinky around hers. “Best friends forever.”

He followed her into the house.
Forever
was good. He was fine with that. But just best friends? For the first time, Cash wondered if he was actually going to be able to settle for
just
best friends.

* * *

T
essa glanced over at Cash
. He looked completely at ease astride Hangover. He was born to be on a horse.

Tessa felt the same. She was riding Stardust, and though she’d only ridden the horse a few times before, it was clear they were a good match. She held the reins loosely as they walked the trail that ran along the shallow creek at the back of the Campbell ranch. It was a favorite trail of theirs, the creek a much-visited childhood spot where they’d spent countless hours splashing in the cool mountain water.

“You raising baby chicks this year?” Tessa wanted to keep the conversation neutral. She didn’t know why she’d opened up to Cash about her feelings on Derek and her future. She was a little embarrassed about the way she’d turned on the waterworks and confused about the strange yearning she’d felt when Cash had comforted her.

Cripes, she’d almost felt like kissing him. How crazy was that?

Her biological clock must really be screwing things up. The sooner she found a steady guy, the better.

“Yep. Henrietta’s got some right now, and I’ll take them down to the school when they’re ready.”

The easy smile that lit his face settled her. Thankfully, he hadn’t been put off by her emotional outburst. And the fact that they’d hugged and the tender way he’d soothed her obviously didn’t mean anything to him. It was just something that friends did for friends. Things were normal between them.

They walked along at a leisurely pace, taking in the evening sounds of bullfrogs, the splash of water, the songs of birds. The setting sun lit the leaves of the trees from underneath and cast long shadows on the trail in front of them. They’d timed it perfectly so that the sun would be just about to dip behind the mountains in the distance as they came to the end of the trail, which opened up into a big field.

As they walked down the trail, Tessa felt all her concerns fading away and when they reach the end, she was in a much better mood. She felt as if the ride had made all her bad memories about Derek fade even more into her past, opening the way for a brighter future.

“Race you to the fence!” She didn’t even have to say the words. It was something they always did when they came to this part of the trail. Without waiting for Cash to answer, Tessa dug her heels into Stardust’s side, and the horse took off at a gallop.

Leaning low across the horse’s neck she balanced herself in the stirrups, reveling in the raw power of the horse’s mighty muscles and the wind whipping in her face. Laughter bubbled up inside her as they raced across the field with her and Stardust in the lead.

Up ahead, the orange glowing ball of sun was just kissing the tops of the mountain peaks. The landscape was awash in colorful yellows and oranges against the blue of the mountains. Like magic, all of Tessa’s worries faded away, and it was as if they were carefree teenagers again with their whole lives ahead of them.

Tessa urged Stardust to go faster. She didn’t care about winning the race. The speed was cleansing to her, and she wanted to enjoy the moment. Being outdoors on a horse with an old friend, someone she could trust more than anything, was nearly perfect.

Something had changed in her, and she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was. Maybe when she’d opened up to Cash, she’d had a glimpse of what a real relationship could feel like. Not the distorted relationship that she now realized she’d had with Derek. A real relationship with someone she could trust and care about and who trusted and cared about her.

Of course, it was different with Cash because he was a friend. Like a brother, almost.
Could she have that same relationship with a lover?

Now more than ever she wanted to try. Maybe even with that guy, John, from the Bull.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cash pulling ahead, a competitive smile on his face. She kicked her heels into Stardust.

“Hey-yah!”

They were laughing like kids as they pulled up to the fence, Hangover in the lead. “Ha! Looks like you lost.” Cash frowned. “Hey, we didn’t make a bet.”

Tessa patted Stardust’s side. “I guess we’ll have to fall back on the usual.” Their standby bet was that the loser put the horses away, made sure they were rubbed down, and settled for the night.