“And what about the ranchers?”
“You have my ear. If there are town policies that are problematicfor ranchers, you let me know. I’ll help.” She smiled, that slow way that men always responded to.
“Why do I feel like I’m making a crossroads deal with a literal demon?”
“You might well be, Flynn Wilder, but if you are, then so am I.”
He seemed to consider that. “All right. So all we have to do is … leave together.”
“Yep.”
“You’re sort of ruining my evening, Jessie.”
“Sorry.”
She noted that he didn’t ask if she was going to make it up to him. The very idea made her feel hot and sweaty and panicky, and those were three things that she never, ever showed.
Jessie Jane Hancock was cool as a cucumber at all times. Completely unflappable.
Maybe if she kept telling herself that, she would start to feel it again.
“I can tell Cassidy and Dalton the truth, right? Because they’re not going to believe …”
She lifted a brow. “They won’t?”
She was banking on the fact that his family must have noticed there was …
There wassomethingbetween her and Flynn. Always. She could never decide if it was dislike or something a whole lot sparkier.
Maybe it was both.
But she found that pondering the mysteries of the universe never got her anywhere. It was best if she acted like she knew everything. It made other people think they were confused. Made them question themselves instead of her.
“Fine. Fine. We’ll discuss the details later.”
“You should buy me a drink,” she said.
He took a step toward her. “Sure.”
And then he did something that made her feel like her skin was on fire.
He put his arm around her waist as if she belonged to him, and started to propel her back into the bar.
His brain was screaming that this was the worst idea in the entire world. The worst ideaanyonehadeverhad. Yet, for some reason, he was going along with it.
He had to admit that the idea of messing with Danielle’s life appealed to him. Messing with her family’s sense of power, comfort, and superiority. Oh, it really,reallyappealed to him.
If he helped Jessie Jane beat Danielle in the race …
Oh, the LeFevre family would be just furious. They’d melt down. They would have lost their seat of power in the community for the first time in generations, and he would feel …better.
Better thanthem.
Theyhad always thought they were so much better than Flynn Wilder.
His mother, Connie, had married Don LeFevre when Flynn was two; before that her last name was Parker. The Parker family had often held political positions in town, but they’d been a mixed bag.
His grandfather had been a great man. James Parker had served Rustler Mountain as mayor with total integrity. In Flynn’s opinion, Danielle made a mockery of their grandfather’s legacy.
