He couldn’t even deny his attraction with a snarky comment. Because she was looking so fine, it would be a criminal lie to pretend otherwise.
Jessie’s eyes scanned the room. And when her gaze landed on him, he felt it. But what shocked him more than anything was that she began to walk toward him, those glittering blue eyes laser focused.
It was like an electrical current arced between them, and he found himself taking a step toward her.
“Well, howdy, Flynn Wilder,” she said. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“I’d ask what a girl like you is doing in a place like this, but this is exactly where a man goes to find a girl like you.”
“Touché. Usually when I’m looking for a man like you, I go to the streets.”
“Careful,” he said. “Perilously close to calling yourself a lady of the night there.”
“Oh, if I intended to say that, I would.”
They regarded each other for a moment. Sometimes he wondered whether they were closer to a fistfight or fucking against the nearest wall.
He didn’t hit women.
So in truth, it could only be the one thing. On this, he had to congratulate himself for his self-control. Despite all the years and all the sparks, he’d never once made a move on her.
“I have no doubt. I’m not going to bet on any team, buy a piece of land from you, or invest in something, so if this is a scheme …”
“That’s funny. My brother said that I was scheming earlier today.”
Well, he didn’t like her brother either.
“Are you?”
One of her brows lifted, and her pink lips curved into a smile. “Maybe. And believe me when I say, you’re going to want in on this.”
“I doubt it.”
“You don’t know what I have to say yet.”
“Well, let’s see. You are Butch Hancock’s great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter. And he betrayed my just as many times great-grandfather. Historically, alliances between the Wilders and the Hancocks don’t really work out.”
“Well, I promise I won’t frame you for murder.” She smiled, and right then he was actually certain that shewouldframe him for murder if the need arose. Because that innocent smile was a lie. There was nothing innocent about Jessie Jane. The trouble was, that was exactly why she appealed to him so much.
“I’ll make sure I have an alibi if we should ever speak again.”
“Just give me thirty seconds,” she said.
He looked toward the bar. Cassidy was on her way back with the drinks. “I’m about to have a drink.”
“Thirty seconds. Just step outside with me.”
She wanted to step outside? Now his curiosity was aroused as well. He held a finger up, caught Cassidy’s gaze, and mouthedOne second.
Then he followed Jessie Jane out of the bar and into the warm evening. The pink sign with the buxom cowgirl leading her horse to water cast an electric glow over her. The truth was, Jessie Jane could be the cowgirl on that sign.
Hell, maybe somewhere inside his imagination she was.
Though he preferred not to acknowledge that she lived anywhere in his imagination.
He and Jessie circled each other. They both frequented this bar. He’d watched her leave with a man on any number of occasions, and she’d most certainly watched him leave with a woman. They never left with each other.
Except … they just had.
