12-Alarm Cowboys (68 page)

“What?”

“He thought I came to Texas looking for him.” She shook her head. “I set him straight, though.”

Kerri narrowed her gaze. “What’d you do?”

Gwen shrugged. “Told him to get over himself. I was here to help you.”

Once again, the women laughed, and Jordan even slapped the table. “I knew I liked you.”

At least someone did.

“Well, you may have put Tanner in his place,” Holly said, damn smile still curving her mouth. “But I know what I saw, and what I saw was some serious chemistry. And trust me, I know chemistry and the losing battle of trying to fight it.”

“Amen,” Shayla murmured.

She shook her head and sighed. “You’re still not getting it. I did not come down here because of Tanner.”

“No, I do get that,” the guest of honor insisted. “You’re here temporarily. To help out. To work.”

“Yes.”

Holly sat back in her chair and lifted a shoulder. “So was I, but things change. My priorities changed. I changed. And I’m blessed to have met Jace, and damn lucky he wants me in his life.” A happy expression lit the woman’s face. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to badger, it’s just, I’ve been where you are, and well, things have a way of snowballing out of control.”

“Amen.”

“Ditto.”

Crap
.

“Thanks for your concern, but I’m pretty sure that won’t happen to me. Tanner and I had one night. A great night, but that’s all it was. It’s enough,” she defended, more than a little disconcerted to realize she was lying through her teeth. A few more nights in the cowboy’s capable hands would probably put an end to her strange longings. But she refused to go there. “It really was nothing more than letting off some steam. Hell, I don’t even know his last name.”

“Hathaway,” the women replied in unison.

Shit
. She didn’t want to know that.

“He’s a national guardsman and volunteer firefighter who helps out at all the ranches around here, including ours,” Brandi added.

Or that either.

“Hate to break it to you,” Jordan said. “But, despite his bad boy persona, Tanner Hathaway is a stand up guy. He’s always first to help out, lend a hand, give up his time.”

Heat gathered low in Gwen’s belly as her body instantly remembered how he’d helped her out when he lent a hand and gave more than his time.

“See that man he’s talking to?” Holly pointed to the bar.

Reluctantly, she twisted around and looked. Tanner, Jace, and Kade were laughing at something the older, gray-haired man had said. “Yeah.”

“That’s his mentor Barry Patterson, the old fire chief,” the dark-haired woman explained. “Barry has Alzheimer’s and no family left to take care of him. Guess who stops in to check on the guy daily?”

Well, hell
. She definitely didn’t need to know that. Her heart cracked open enough for her chest to hurt with some unknown emotion.
Dammit
. She needed to shut these women up and fast before she rode the stupid train and warmed up to the bad boy.

She turned back to face the table, and change the subject. “I did a calendar shoot once to benefit Alzheimer’s. It’s a terrible disease.” The mother of one of her model friends had suffered from it for years before succumbing. In her grief, Jane had turned to drugs and alcohol, and although Gwen had liked to party, she’d refused to do drugs and had tried to get her friend to stop.

Now, it was no longer an issue.

“Are you really done with modeling?” Brandi asked.

“Yeah.” Shayla lifted the baby girl to her shoulder to pat a man-worthy burp from the newborn. “You’re so darn tall, and slim, and beautiful.”

“And your long, blonde hair is so shiny,” Kerri said, shifting in her seat. “A gorgeous combination with your blue eyes.”

Jeez
. They made her sound perfect. Lord knew, far from it. Although, for the past ten years, she’d made a living off of perfection, traveling to perfect places, eating the perfect cuisine, dating the perfect billionaire, rock star, movie star, or politician. Doing what she was told in front of the camera. Doing what she was told behind the camera. Smile. Don’t smile. Pout. Laugh. Smolder.

God, how she hated smolder.

And hated the lifestyle she had once loved. It had become too…fake.
She
had become too fake. She didn’t even know who the real Gwen was anymore. So, she’d left it behind. Walked away.

“You look like a woman who has shut a door and turned a corner.” Jordan’s gaze was shrewd and sure.

She lifted a shoulder and pursed her lips. “Guess you could say I’m at a crossroads, trying to figure out what the hell to do with the rest of my life. Which is tough, considering I have no real skills except smiling and posing. And, well, cooking, thanks to growing up working in my dad’s diner.”

“Which I’m forever grateful.” Kerri grinned as she lightly touched Gwen’s arm. “Thanks, again, for dropping everything and coming down here to help me out.”

She returned the woman’s smile. “It’s like I said, I was sort of in limbo anyway. It’s nice to have something to do.”

In her attempt to move forward, Gwen discovered you couldn’t go back. After making amends with her family and ex-boyfriend, she realized her stay in the Poconos wouldn’t be permanent. Something was missing. A piece of her. Too bad she had no idea how to find it, or even where to look. But she knew she was on the right track in her quest to like herself again. Maybe, her time in Harland County would reveal another piece.

The sound of men’s laughter drew her attention back to the bar and the tempting man she planned to avoid. Like the plague. And chain letters. The minute she’d laid eyes on Tanner last fall, she’d known he was six-foot plus of pure trouble, because he’d managed to make her do something she hadn’t in years.

Feel.

As if sensing her scrutiny, he stilled, then turned to stare straight at her. Gwen’s heart leapt in her chest.

Dammit
.

Any last hope she’d had about their chemistry being a fluke dissipated, along with her breath.

Still on the fence about his smokin’ hot, one night stand from Pennsylvania showing up out of the blue, Tanner Hathaway should’ve been thrilled to learn Gwen was actually in town to help out the McCall sisters, and not there looking to hunt him down.

So, why the hell was he letting her parting remark eat at his gut?

Get over yourself, cowboy. Our time between the sheets was good, but not that good.

What the hell had she meant by
not that good
?

It had been great. Hot and frenzied. Unexpectedly intense. And as he recalled, she’d enjoyed herself.
Twice
. He’d made her cry out
two damn times
during their brief visit to his hotel room.

Yeah, okay, so he’d been a bit surprised to find her dressed and heading for the door when he’d emerged from taking care of the condom in the bathroom. Hell, he’d only just rolled off her gorgeous curves two minutes earlier. Truth was, he’d hoped to have the whole night with the hot woman, but wasn’t stupid enough to look a gift horse in the mouth. Her leaving took care of him having to come up with some passable goodbye in the morning.

He’d been relieved.

Now, he was beginning to wonder if she’d split because he’d come up lacking, despite her two orgasms.

He eyed the woman now seated with Holly, Brandi, and several other Harland County beauties. She fit right into that category, with her mesmerizing blue eyes, long legs, and sleek blonde hair that had felt so damn soft and silky when he’d cupped her head and plundered her mouth as he’d driven deep inside her.

Shit
. His zipper started to bite into his dick. Again.

Damn woman and her flowery scent had spiked awareness straight to his groin when they’d spoken earlier. Standing there, taking her attitude, his body had remembered every bit of hers…and how it had hungered for more ever since that night back in PA.

His gut clenched as a thought occurred.
What if she’d faked it?

No. No way in hell.

Sure, she could’ve faked the screaming, but she sure as shit hadn’t faked her body quivering around him. No, she’d definitely climaxed, twice.

So, what the hell more had she wanted?

“Yo, earth to Tanner. What’s going on, man?” Harper, one of his guard buddies shoulder-checked him as they stood at the bar with a few friends.

He blinked and refocused. “What’s up?”

“Good question.” Doctor Jace Turner smiled.

“Agreed,” Top, their First Sergeant, Kade Dalton, said into his beer.

Well,
his
First Sergeant. Jace had resigned his commission to join Doctors Without Borders and was no longer in the Texas National Guard with them.

Damn
. That was going to take some getting used to. He and his buddy, Jesse Briscoe, who stood smirking behind the doc, had joined the guard a year after Jace.

That was nine years ago.

Doc cocked his head. “You keep making googly-eyes at the gorgeous blonde you disappeared with at Kade’s wedding last year. You two planning to pick up where you left off?”

‡

T
anner studied the
woman whose gaze turned slightly apprehensive and possibly a little regretful when Jordan and Kerri’s mother and mother-in-law approached, gushing over Shayla’s baby girl.

He couldn’t tell by her reaction if she wanted kids or detested them. The woman was five-foot-ten inches of gorgeous contradiction and puzzlement.

He hated puzzles.

Top stopped drinking to spare him a sideways glance before transferring his gaze to Gwen, then returned his attention to his beer. “Hope you know what you’re doing.”

“And
who
,” Harper added. “That’s supermodel Gwen Gable. Man, the tabloids loved her, and her wild times. Bet they’ll miss her now that she’s retired. How the hell did you manage to land a beauty like that, Tanner?”

“I didn’t
land
her, you ox,” he replied, facing his idiot friend. “We conversed, you know, something civilized people do. You should try it.”

Harper snickered. “Conversed? Is
that
what they’re calling it these days?”

He shook his head and reached for his beer. “Why do I bother?”

“You still didn’t answer the question,” Jace reminded.

Damn
. He’d hoped the doc had forgotten the question.

“She’s pretty, Tanner.” Barry Patterson, former fire chief and his mentor smiled as he cupped his shoulder. “You should go talk to her.”

He already had, and it hadn’t gone so well. But, he wasn’t about to tell that to the man who was more like a father to him than a friend.

Barry owned the ranch next door to the one Tanner had grown up on. Patterson Ranch had become a place of refuge and learning when his no-good-piece-of-shit uncle got drunk.

From the day he’d been dropped off at the run-down ranch when his crack-head mother had overdosed when he was eight, Tanner had put up with the alcoholic’s bullshit and beatings, until he’d been sixteen, grew several inches, and a backbone, and swung back. By that time, he’d been in trouble with the law on several occasions, and had snuck over to the Patterson Ranch to take the man’s old Thunderbird out for a joyride.

Barry had caught him red handed…after Tanner had crashed the car into the side of his barn. Instead of turning him in and pressing charges, though, the then fire chief had made him repair the barn, and the car, working alongside him every step of the way.

No one had ever given him the benefit of the doubt before. Or given him
time
. Barry Patterson had saved his life, not from a fire, or car wreck, or flood, but from himself, and the destructive path he’d been on since arriving in Harland County.

“Oh, look, there’s Chief Tattersall,” Barry said, his attention suddenly transferred to Tanner’s supervisor at the fire station. “Excuse me, fellas.” He nodded to them and moseyed off.

Once upon a time, Barry had been his supervisor. Hell, the man had been the reason he’d become a volunteer firefighter. He admired the hell out of the guy. Wanted to be like him. Wanted to make him proud.

Nowadays, he just wanted to keep him safe.

“How’s he doing?” Jesse slid closer, eyeing the retreating older man. “Seemed pretty lucid today.”

Tanner nodded. “Yeah. Today’s a good day.”

“Unfortunately, with Alzheimer’s, those days dwindle,” Jace proclaimed, sadness darkening his gaze. “They’re going to start to become few and far between.”

They already had.
Tanner steeled himself against the stab of pain that always accompanied that thought. He hated watching his friend fade away. Hated being helpless to stop it.

Hated the possibility of his mentor forgetting him…

“You’re doing a good thing, Tanner,” Kade said. “Barry’s lucky to have you.”

Jace nodded. “You do know daily visits aren’t going to be enough. You never know when he’s going to slip, or for how long.”

Tanner nodded. Yeah, he knew. He’d witnessed it more and more. The pain piercing his gut increased.

“Have you given any thought into talking to him about a home?” Doc asked in a low voice full of concern.