Sixteen
Rachael braced herself for the inevitable knock at her office door. She knew how to read her father’s face the way a rancher knows how to read a summer sky for storms. And Daddy’s face from across the plant had told her that he’d be promoting Jake into Hank’s old position, trading one prized bull for a better one. That meant more HR paperwork, and that was Rachael’s department.
She played with her favorite pen, wanting nothing more than to have the weekend back, to be writing hopeful songs.How am I supposed to handle this? How am I supposed to pretend the other night didn’t happen, that it’s perfectly fine that Jake is now one of my father’s thugs?She’d warned him. She thought that warning meant something, that their kiss went deeper. I thought he was different, a good man.
Though it was gentle, the knock still made her jump. “Come in.” Rachael was proud of the way she kept her voice strong and even.
Just as Jake opened the door, she remembered that she’d left one too many buttons undone on her blouse, hoping he would notice. Too late—it would look obvious and pathetic if he saw her scrambling to button it now. Well, she would show Jake what he’d lost out on. Rachael put her forearm on the desk and leaned on it just enough to give the girls an extra little boost up. She was satisfied to see the quickest flicker in Jake’s gaze go from her face to her cleavage and back up again, followed by a definite redness in his cheeks. She hoped hers didn’t match.
Jake gave her one of the smiles that previously melted her. Okay, it still did, but she fought hard against it. He started to sit down in one of the chairs across her desk. “Hey, Blackbird, hate to bother you—”
“Don’t. You.Ever. Call me that again.” The shock of being called blackbird made her shake.
Jake’s ass changed direction and never made it to the chair. The smile disappeared into shock. “Whoa, I am sorry.” He put his hands up. “Really. I…” He blew out a breath, and any last trace of joviality evaporated as his body sagged. “I’ve upset you—”
“You have no idea.”
“I was going to say that I didn’t mean to, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I did. I’ve hurt you, and that is inexcusable. If you’ll just give me whatever paperwork, I’ll go fill it out somewhere.”
The sincerity in his face, the way his lips parted as if to say the words that would convince her to let him stay. “No. Sit. It’s fine.”
Jake straightened up. “It isnotfine, Rachael. I don’t ever want to hear you say that it’sfinewhen someone hurts you. Goddamn, least of all when it’s me.”
Rachael fought to keep her voice from cracking. “Sit. Please.”
“Are you sure?”
Dammit. “Yes, or I wouldn’t have told you to.”
Jake lowered himself into the chair and stared into her eyes.
Rachael was having none of that bull. She pushed the papers she’d readied across the desk. “The bottom one details your new duties. Keep it for your files. Fill out the rest. Please.” She handed him her pen before she remembered it was her favorite. “And don’t you dare walk out of here with that pen.”
The ghost of a smile played on Jake’s lips. “You have a favorite pen.”
“Yeah, so? Doesn’t everybody?”
“Sure, everybody does, but this, right here in my hands, isyourfavorite pen.” He turned the pen around, balanced it between his hands, examining it like a holy relic. “And, you, Rachael Deal, are not everybody.” His words were teasing, but his voice was dead-serious.
“You’re right. I’m nobody. Now just sign the damn pages.”
He set the pen down. “No. Oh, no, no. I will not sign this.”
“Jake—”
“I refuse to let it stand that you think you’re a nobody. And, I refuse to use your favorite pen to sign this piece of shit.”
God, he’s infuriating, Rachael thought. “Just sign it so you can be on your way. I don’t care what pen you use.”
Jake sucked in his bottom lip, studying her. “I know what you use it for.”
“Oh, really?”
Jake nodded. “Yeah. You write your own songs with it.”
Rachael’s eyes went round.
“Got it in one, didn’t I?”
