“Another bedroom. Why didn’t you put me there?”
“I wanted you closer to me.”
A lasso looped around my heart, and he was holding the end. If he kept saying things like that, the depth I was falling for him would be bottomless.
“Ready to go eat?” he asked.
“I can drive. You’re already taking so much time off.” I could’ve met him there.
“Cruz and Lane stopped in at the bar last night, and we got the urinals done, and most of the toilets. You mind?”
Alarm hovered, waiting for permission to rise. Two strange guys had been in Flatlanders? They’d been customers before, from what Scott had said. He’d grudgingly let them stay without tossing them out like he would a Bailey. Claimed their money spent the same, but it was likely that the Foster brothers also attracted more women to the bar.
I hadn’t officially met Lane or Cruz Foster, but they hadn’t caused trouble with my family, though surely someone had filled them in about the Townsends. “No. It’s fine.”
He narrowed his eyes like he was inspecting my “fine” to determine if it was very much not fine.
“Really,” I stressed. “They seem like good guys.”
“They are. And they’re as good with porcelain as they are engines.” A teasing smile lit his eyes. “If you’re going to admit to snooping, I’m going to confess to bringing Copper Summit under Flatlanders’ roof.”
I let out a mock gasp. “Did the walls shake?”
“No, but it gave us a chance to use those urinals. Cruz and Lane practice-flushed every toilet.” He spread his hands apart. “With their help, I’m done until the partitions arrive. They’re helping out at the ranch while they’re here until Tenor and Ruby’s wedding, and tomorrow, we’re running to Billings to get the light fixtures. We’ll get them wired in a full day quicker than I could do alone.”
An old pressure squeezed my ribs. “I can’t reimburse them.”
“Trust me, Mads. They’re good guys, but it’s best if they’re not idle. They didn’t have the tamest upbringing and sometimes the wild sneaks out.”
Now I liked them even more. “Okay. But I’ll buy the bourbon next time.”
Teller swayed closer. “We don’t have to buy bourbon, darlin’.”
Warm tingles spread over my skin. He had access to all the bourbon he wanted, a lot of money, and... me. “Show-off.”
He winked and cocked his elbow out. “You can finish your coffee on the way.”
“I have to meet Sal in a couple hours.” Sal didn’t know I was stopping in. No more excuses.
“Then I’ll be your getaway driver. I can wait in the pickup.”
I didn’t want Teller with me. Sal would be on guard, but I also needed to handle it myself. I needed to be taken seriously, but I’d like knowing he wasn’t far away. “Deal. Let’s get some buns.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Madison
In Curly’s, the group of us were garnering everything from curious glances to open gawking. I didn’t make eye contact with anyone, and for the first time, I’d been seated at the front of the restaurant. Curly liked to show off the founding family of Bourbon Canyon.
The server had taken our orders right away. The lunch crowd was pushed through quicker than in the evening. Good. Less time for me to be on display.
I pushed out everyone else until my world consisted of me, Tenor, Teller, and Ruby. Good thing I’d worn more than a plain T-shirt. I might feel dressed up in my simple sunflower shirt, but compared to Ruby, I was a dull stone. Her dark curls were a halo around her head, and she was too damn cute in her pleated black skirt and sunny yellow top. Even her shoes were happy, with their little buckle around the ankle.
Tenor hadn’t been able to keep his hands off his fiancée, always touching her with little strokes against the back of her hand, a drifting of his fingers over her shoulders when she’d sat in the chair he’d pulled out, and I’d caught the move of his arm as he rubbed her thigh under the table.
Envy bloomed in my chest. I hated the emotion. There was too much others had that I didn’t.
I had a job, a business, a roof over my head. The roof wasn’t mine, but only because Teller had been insistent that Flatlanders was not safe. My mom was getting the care she needed, and it wasn’t me that had to do it. I had plenty, though I tired of wanting more.
