Chapter 1
“Bailey!There’s a customerout front asking for you.”
Bailey clenched her teeth as she slid from underneath the truck she’d just finished working on.Thankfully it was just an oil change.Something she could do with her eyes closed because her father had thought her how to do it when she could barely walk.But that wasn’t what agitated her about being interrupted.
It was the customer out front looking for her.There was no doubt of who it was.
Duke Murphy.
The sweet-talking cowboy had become a thorn in her side since he’d brought his uncle’s truck in for maintenance last month.
Unfortunately, Duke didn’t understand that she wasn’t buying what he was selling.No matter how many cupcakes he brought her from her favorite bakery.
She still didn’t know how he’d found out that information but in a town like Centerville, it wouldn’t be hard.The population was barely above five thousand and everyone knew everyone or was related to someone.
“Bailey!”Harry called out again.
“I heard you,” she yelled.
She pushed to her feet before grabbing a well-used rag to wipe her hands.Then she tossed it aside and stomped out to the main area.As suspected, Duke stood there looking so smug she was tempted to punch him in the face.But she had no inkling to spend a night in jail.
A wild stint with her best friend Ginger had landed her there once and that was enough.Although egging Nick’s car their senior year had been well worth it.The jerk had tormented her for as long as she could remember.
Destroying his prized cherry red Mustang had been worth every second of the community service she’d had to do to keep the charges off her record.Since then, she’d managed to keep her nose clean and her record clear.
Something Duke was now threatening to destroy.
“No,” she grumbled as soon as she reached the counter.
Duke grinned, showing off his tempting dimples.That was the other thing that confused her about him.The man was drop-dead gorgeous.The way his broad shoulders filled out his button-down shirt.Then there were his muscular thighs and mouth-watering butt.They made the jeans he wore look downright pornographic.
He might have only been in town for a few months, but Duke looked like he’d been working on a ranch all of his life.
That was the other thing that made it somewhat difficult to completely dislike him.He’d relocated from Des Moines to help Miss.Jorie, his aunt, after she’d suffered a mild heart attack.Her husband had died a year ago, leaving her to run their cattle ranch on her own.While they only had a little over one-hundred head of cattle, it had proved to be too much for Miss.Jorie to run on her own.
She didn’t know a lot about Duke, because she’d tried to ignore the gossip mill as much as possible.But she knew that it took a lot for a person to uproot their life for someone else.It appeared to be easier for people to hurt others without any regard.Something she knew all too well.
“You don’t know what I’m going to ask yet,” Duke replied.
Bailey clenched her hands into fists and her thighs together simultaneously.His deep baritone resonated down her spine making it difficult to remember that she was against doing anything with him.
“The same thing you have every week for the past month.You want to take me to dinner,” she replied dryly.
He chuckled.“Not this time.I want to take you to lunch.Right now.”
Bailey couldn’t hold back her scoff of amusement.“I have to give it to you.You are persistent.But the answer is no.I only have thirty minutes and what I have on under my jumpsuit isn’t suitable for a public place.”
Somehow she managed to keep her left eye from twitching as she told the half-truth.While the tank top and joggers that she had on underneath her work uniform were far from indecent.Still, she wouldn’t be caught walking around town in the ensemble.
“Then you have nothing to worry about,” Duke replied.“I brought lunch to you.”
He tilted his head toward a chair.Her eyes widened when she spotted the basket sitting on it.For once, she was struck speechless.
“Bailey?”
She jumped at the sound of her father’s voice not realizing he’d walked up behind her.“Yes, Daddy.”
“Put the man out of his misery and have lunch with him.Besides, I have to respect a man that gives it.”
