Tying You Down (4 page)

She hesitated. “All right.” She glanced across the street. “At the Hummingbird?”

He tucked his cell phone back into its holster. “Sounds as good a place as any.”

They fell into step beside each other as they crossed the quiet street. The day was sunny but on the cool side and it smelled of an Arizona fall.

He held the door open for her and they walked into the formerly struggling but now thriving restaurant. All of the booths were filled and the hostess seated them at a small table and gave each a menu. Tate didn’t recognize the new hostess. At one time, before she’d started working for Gage, Tess had usually served as midday hostess. She had often served as bartender in the evenings for Nectars which was the bar side of the Hummingbird.

Tate set his western hat on one of the empty chairs at the table. “Hi, Penny.” He gave the waitress a smile as she stopped by their table.

“Hey, Tate.” Penny looked from him to Jo. “How are you doing, Jo?”

“Good.” Jo smiled. “I’m just going to have my usual, so whenever you’re ready to order is fine,” she said to Tate.

He nodded to Jo. “Go ahead.”

Jo ordered a club sandwich on whole grain with coleslaw, and Tate said he’d like a bowl of chili with cornbread. Both asked for iced tea with extra lemon to drink.

“What are you doing in town?” Jo asked Tate after Penny left.

He settled back in his chair. “Had a bunch of errands to run and my hair was getting a little long at the collar.”

Jo let her gaze drift over him and a smile tugged the corner of his mouth. “You look good,” she said.

He leaned forward with his forearms on the table. “And you look absolutely gorgeous.”

If he wasn’t mistaken she blushed at the compliment. He found that sexy as hell. A woman who looked as good as she did had to be accustomed to being told she was beautiful.

She glanced around them at the busy dining room. “It’s different now that Tess doesn’t work here anymore.”

Tate nodded. “I’m happy to have her as a new sister-in-law. She’s a sweet little thing.”

Jo smiled. “She’s a special woman.”

“Well hello, Tate McBride.” A familiar woman’s voice had Tate looking up to see Daphne Warren standing beside the table. “Imagine running into you here.”

“Hi, Daphne,” he said after a slight pause and got to his feet. He reached out his hand, but she moved in close, kissed his cheek and hugged him. He was enveloped in her flowery scent that brought back a rush of memories.

He stepped out of her embrace and gave a nod to Jo. “Daphne, I don’t know if you’ve met Jo Burke. She owns Jo-Jo’s.” He turned to Jo. “This is Daphne Warren. She’s an old friend.”

“A friend?” Daphne laughed. “Try an old long-time girlfriend.”

Jo’s pleasant expression didn’t change. “Nice to meet you.”

Daphne didn’t return the greeting, instead she returned her gaze to Tate. “Some time has passed since we’ve gotten together.”

He studied the pretty blonde. “It’s been a while.”

It had been just over two years. Not only had she been an old girlfriend, but Tate had been infatuated with the petite woman. He’d been in love with her before she’d stomped her cowgirl boots all over his heart. Even then he hadn’t been able to forget her. A part of him had pined for her and had hoped she’d realize that she loved him, too.

But that had been then. Things had changed.

“You don’t mind if I join you, do you?” Without waiting for a response, Daphne pulled out a chair, slipped into it, and scooted up to the table. She barely acknowledged Jo.

Tate felt the awkward moment stretch out as he took his own seat again and he glanced at Jo. It was hard to tell how she felt about Daphne joining them.

“I was going to track you down, and here you are.” Daphne gave him a broad smile. “This saves some time.”

Thankfully, Penny stopped by with Tate’s and Jo’s glasses of iced tea. “Hi, Daphne,” Penny said. “Can I get you a menu?”

Daphne waved the suggestion away. “I’d love one of your great hamburgers with everything on it,” she told the waitress. “Make the burger well done. Oh, and I’ll have a Coke.”

Penny nodded. “I’ll put in your order and bring you a drink.”

After the waitress left, Daphne smiled at Jo. “Tate and I used to come here all of the time. Did he order the cornbread and chili? That’s his favorite.”

Jo’s smile remained pleasant but Tate thought he saw a flicker of fire in her green eyes.

He didn’t know what the hell to do. It was clear what Daphne was doing and he didn’t like it one damned bit. He didn’t see how he could get out of the uncomfortable situation Daphne had put them all in.

When Penny returned with the Coke for Daphne, Jo turned her smile on the waitress. “Penny, I just realized that I have a meeting with my staff in about fifteen minutes. Please wrap up my sandwich to go.”

Tate wasn’t sure whether he was relieved or not. He’d wanted to spend the time with Jo, but Daphne had made everything more than awkward. He thought about telling Penny to make his meal to go, too, but it wasn’t in his nature to dismiss a woman like he’d be doing to Daphne.

What had happened to Daphne? He didn’t remember her ever being this rude to another woman when they’d been dating. But then he hadn’t been around her with another woman since Daphne had broken up with him.

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing I stopped by,” Daphne said to Tate. “You’d have to eat all alone since your friend is leaving.”

He met Jo’s gaze and tried to tell her that she was the one he wanted to be with at that moment.

“What have you been up to since I saw you last?” Daphne turned to Tate, shutting Jo out of the conversation.

Jo tried to keep her breathing even as the woman dismissed her. The feelings of jealousy had caught Jo by surprise. She hadn’t even been on one date with Tate yet, and she was feeling as if this woman had cut into something that had been developing between Jo and Tate for a long time.

She did her best to keep a smile plastered to her face and keep her expression pleasant as Daphne ignored her.

Jo wasn’t sure what Tate was trying to tell her with his eyes when their gazes met as Daphne monopolized the conversation. It seemed as though he was trying to apologize.

Even though she had no right to be angry with Tate, Jo fought the irrational urge. This woman had barged in and he hadn’t had a choice on how to react. He was a gentleman and he couldn’t just brush off Daphne the way the woman was brushing off Jo.

Could he?

Penny arrived with Jo’s takeout bag. Jo handed Penny enough to cover the sandwich and tea, along with a healthy tip.

Tate protested that he would get the bill, but Jo shook her head. “I’ve got it,” she told him.

Jo pushed back her chair to stand, and like the gentleman he was, Tate got to his feet. “I’ll see you later, Jo,” he said.

She nodded. “Goodbye, Daphne,” Jo said as pleasantly as possible. She was doing her best not to stoop to Daphne’s level. She was not going to get into some kind of catfight.

Daphne gave Jo a little wave that was as good as dismissing her.

Clenching her bag tightly in her hand, Jo strode out of the Hummingbird through the open glass front door.

When she was outside, Jo took in a deep cleansing breath. She let it out slowly, trying to relax the tension that gripped her body.

She heard the jangle of the bells on the door behind her, then Tate’s voice sent a little thrill through her despite herself and she turned to face him.

“Jo.” Tate strode up to her with an apologetic expression. “I’m sorry about what just went on in there.”

A little of the tension eased out of her. “You have nothing to apologize for.” She offered him a smile. “I’m going back to the club. You go ahead and catch up with your ex-girlfriend.”

“That’s what she is, Jo.” He looked uncomfortable. “An
ex-
girlfriend.”

“I know.” Jo gave a nod. “Get back in there. I’ll see you tomorrow morning when you pick me up.”

A look of relief passed over his features. “Tomorrow,” he said quietly before she turned and walked away.

Chapter 4

Jo buttoned her jeans and felt a moment of panic when they felt tight across her waist. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, thinking back on what she’d been through in counseling.

She’d literally nearly starved herself to death while working as a model. She’d lived on just a few saltine crackers and water each day in an effort to get thinner and thinner for the camera. She’d started to lose hair, felt weak and exhausted, and had developed a form of anxiety that made daily life more than difficult. Her low sense of self-esteem came into play when she was at her ideal body weight. She always had to get thinner and thinner to make herself feel better.

At one point people who cared about her told her she looked emaciated and had begged her to get help. She hadn’t listened until her agent said she’d actually gotten too thin and that she had a problem. She’d been told she had to seek counseling or the agency was going to drop her.

Even then she’d struggled with trying to make herself eat more. The counselor had told her that according to statistics, twenty percent of women and girls who were anorexic and didn’t seek treatment would die. Jo was depriving herself of the most basic of nutrients and the counselor had said Jo would be forced to check into a hospital if she didn’t respond to counseling and take control of her life and her eating disorder.

The real wakeup call had been when a model from the same agency had died from anorexia.

Jo let out her breath and opened her eyes and looked at herself in the mirror and tried to see herself as she really was. Everything was fine. She was going to be okay. She was careful to maintain good nutrition and eat an appropriate amount of calories each day. Despite her efforts, there was always a tightness in her chest, a fear of gaining weight, a struggle she dealt with day by day.

People she’d known over the years had told her they’d rather have the problem of weighing too little than too much, that being anorexic was better than having an overeating disorder. Obesity carried with it a lot of health problems, but what they didn’t realize was that anorexia was just as dangerous if not more so. It caused fertility problems, a variety of heart problems, and even kidney failure. Anorexia killed.

Jo took a deep breath and turned her thoughts back to today. Outside it was cool, so she chose an emerald green top with three-quarter length sleeves to go with the jeans and put on a pair of socks and sturdy athletic shoes. Rather than wearing her normal makeup, she only made up her eyes and put on a light shade of cinnamon lipstick. Jo braided her hair into a fishtail braid that fell down her back.

She tried not to think of yesterday when Daphne had barged in on Jo’s almost-lunch with Tate. The woman was beautiful in a wholesome girl next door way. But the way she’d behaved had been anything but wholesome.

But if Daphne and Tate had dated over a long period of time, would Tate consider going back into a relationship with the woman?

Jo shook her head. She wasn’t sure why she was even thinking about it when she and Tate didn’t have a relationship to speak of.

When the doorbell rang at ten, she grabbed her sling purse with the cross-body strap and headed to the front door. She took a deep breath and opened the door to see a handsome cowboy on her doorstep.

Tingles prickled her skin as he gave her an appreciative look at the same time she took him in. He wore Wranglers and a snug black T-shirt. Instead of boots he had on athletic shoes and he wore a University of Arizona ball cap rather than a Stetson. He looked good in a rugged alpha male sort of way.

He caught her off guard when he drew her out of the doorway and onto the porch and gave her a quick hug. The clean smell of his T-shirt and his masculine scent wrapped around her. The feel of his muscular body close to hers somehow felt comfortable and right.

And that thought sent a moment of panic through her. It wasn’t good to be feeling that way, not at all. She stepped out of his embrace. “What was that for?”

His grin was slightly mischievous. “You looked like you needed a hug.”

“Uh-huh.” She couldn’t help smiling back at him as she used his line. “You always did like being close to me.”

“You’ve got that right.” He stepped back as she closed the door and locked it before sliding her keys into her purse.

They walked down the porch stairs together, and she looked at him from her side vision. He had a day’s stubble on his jaws, which made him even sexier.

“Where are we going?” She waited as he unlocked the passenger side door and helped her into his big truck.

“Somewhere we used to go when we were kids,” he said before closing the door behind her.

Intrigued, she looked at him with amusement. “Are we going to swim in Old Man Johnson’s pond?”

Tate gave her a quick grin. “We’ll do that another day.”

They didn’t go far before arriving at the batting cages, which were on the opposite side of the building from the local arcade.

Jo laughed. “It’s been a while since I’ve done any hitting. Many, many years.”

“I’d say we’d better remedy that.” He climbed out and went around to her side of the truck and helped her out before reaching behind the passenger seat and grabbing a couple of bats and gloves.

After he’d shut the truck doors she walked at his side to the batting cages with the automated pitch machines. Instead of going into one of those cages, he went up to the small building where he rented a bucketful of baseballs. Then they walked into a cage with no machine.

“We’ll start with me pitching a few to you to get you warmed up.” He leaned one bat up against the chain link fence behind the batter’s box, set the gloves on the ground beside the bat, and handed the smaller bat to her.

She took it from him, stood in the batter’s box, and tried to remember all the things she’d learned as a kid.

“Let me help you.” Tate moved behind her, his body heat, his touch, and his scent wrapping around her as he positioned her arms and instructed her on how to stand and hold the bat. “Good. Like that.” Approval was in his voice as he stepped back and she took a few practice swings.