9781618857279MakeMineaCowboySullivanNC (8 page)

“Would
you like a couple of marshmallows to roast?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll
be right back.” A large picnic table sat nearby with chocolate, marshmallows,
and graham crackers for
S’mores
. “Do you want the
whole
fixin’s
?”

“No.
Just the marshmallow is fine. If I try to make
S’mores
,
they’ll make me sick with all the sweetness. I love chocolate but too much
doesn’t like me, since I had the chocolate dessert earlier.”

The
rich sound of his laughter sent chills down her spine.

“A
woman who can’t handle chocolate. That’s a first for me.”

Heat
rose up her neck in embarrassment. It was hard not being able to tolerate
chocolate too much. She usually had to have a white cake with whipped cream
frosting as a child because her stomach couldn’t handle too much.

Joel
returned to her side with a straight wire holder containing two prongs. With a
marshmallow stuck on both ends, it would serve as their roasting stick. “Do like
them barely roasted or black?”

“Sort
of dark, but not too burnt.”

He
shook his head and handed her the stick. “Why don’t you roast them and I’ll eat
whatever you fix? I don’t care how they are roasted. I just like the sticky
sweetness in my mouth.”

Laughing,
she shook her head.
So much for being the difficult cowboy.
He seemed almost too sweet to be true. She needed him to be a little more
arrogant and self-centered to be the hero of her novel. Oh well. She could
always tweak his personality a bit to make him difficult for the heroine to
deal with. Ah, the job of a romance writer.

Within
moments, the marshmallows caught fire and she lifted them toward her mouth to
blow out the flames. Just right. Squishy but not burnt. “One for you and one
for me,” she said, holding out the stick so Joel could slide one of the fluffy
things off the end of the metal contraption.

“Perfect.”
He stuck one between his full lips, grinning like a kid on Christmas.

Her
body tingled in all the important places as he licked the sticky substance off
his fingers. She wanted to lick him all right. Everywhere.

“Aren’t
you going to eat yours?” he asked, winking.

I’d like to eat something.
“I’m
letting it cool a bit.”

The
grin grew wider like he knew exactly what she had on her mind.
I wanted him a little more arrogant. I got
it.

“Have
you always been such a ladies’ man?”

“I’ve
had my share of women.”

“I
bet you have.”

“Jealous?”

She
shrugged, trying to be nonchalant about the whole thing. “Nah. Just not
surprised, is all. I bet all of your brothers are the same way. The women of
Bandera and San Antonio better watch out when you all are on the prowl.”

“When
I find the one, I won’t be prowling anymore.”

The
marshmallow melted on her tongue as she slid it between her lips. Joel’s lips
parted as one eyebrow arched over his left eye. Damn, he looked sexy as hell
with the little smirk of a smile on his mouth. She wanted to kiss him again.
Wanted to do other things with him.
Not a
good idea.

“Good?”

“Yes,”
she whispered, wondering whether she meant him or the marshmallow. The sticky
sweetness on her fingers had her licking it off as she watched his eyes dilate
in the firelight. He sure seemed like he might be a little into her. The whole
thing seemed weird, though. Surely a guy like him wasn’t attracted to a girl
like her. She knew her hips were too wide and her butt seemed a bit too big for
her liking. Getting guys like him to notice her didn’t come with instructions.
Popular wasn’t an affliction she had growing up. She was the quiet, shy girl. Something
she had to get over rather quickly as a writer, since she was in front of
dozens of people at times, but she never quite managed to be outgoing with men.

Jason
sauntered over. “Hey you two.”

“Jason.”

“Would
you like more marshmallows, Mesa? You seemed to be enjoying them.”

“Sure.
Thanks.”

Jason
took her stick from her hand and headed back to the table.

“Don’t
get too close to him.” The serious tone of Joel’s voice had her on edge.

“Close?”

“I
mean be careful.”

“Why?
He seems like a nice guy. You wouldn’t warn me away from one of your own
brothers, would you?”

“He’s
my brother, yes, and I love him but he likes to play with women.”

“I
don’t understand,” she said, sitting forward on her seat to hear him better.

Joel
grasped her hand in his. “If you want the bad boy for your novel, he’s your
man. He’s more into one-night stands than any of my other brothers. Women are
like playthings for him. He doesn’t get serious about women at all.”

“You
know, he does sound like the bad boy of the group.”

“Well,
we all are to some extent, but he seems like the worst. I don’t know if he’ll
ever settle down.”

“Why
don’t you tell me about each one in turn? Give me details of their lives, their
personalities. You know.
Those kinds of things.
I can
morph all of your personality traits into one kick-ass hero.”

Jason
returned with her marshmallow stick. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t
listen to Joel about me. He’s a bit biased because he’s not as attractive as I
am.”

She
laughed at his words. They were identical in most ways, especially looks. “You
two are terrible to tease me like that.”

The
two men laughed. Jason sauntered back to his spot, flashing her a wicked grin
and a wink from his seat several feet away.

“Okay.
You want to know more about each of us. I’ll start with Jeff. He’s the eldest
at thirty-four. I already told you he’d been married once before.”

“Yes.”
She pulled her pen and paper out to jot down some notes.

“Jeff
is Mom and Dad’s pride and joy.
The prodigal older son.
He helps Dad run things around here. He’s kind of bossy, but he’s a good guy.
We all hated when his marriage broke up because he really loved her. On the
other hand, we were glad because she wasn’t the right woman for him. I hated to
see him so heartbroken. He’s very adamant about running this place as a working
cattle ranch. He didn’t like when we went to accepting guests here to
supplement the income. Sometimes I think he was born in the wrong time. He’s
cowboy to the bone. I hate to see the woman he really falls hard for because
she better be country through and through to win his heart. He won’t settle for
some high rise, corporate type.”

Mesa
quickly wrote down Joel’s description of his older brother along with a few
notes on the woman who would turn out to be someone he could live the rest of
his life with. As a romance author, she grinned. The hero didn’t always fall in
love with the woman he thought he would. She giggled a little.

“Jackson
is the second eldest. He does what he has to do around here, but sometimes I
think he hates playing the cowboy. He rides a motorcycle more than he does a
horse. He has several tattoos, gets a bit rowdy when he drinks, but overall
he’s a great guy and good friend. He’s saved my ass more than once in a bar
fight.”

“Do
you fight often?”

“No.
I try to be the peacekeeper more than anything. Jackson likes the ladies, too.”

“Don’t
you all?”

Joel
grinned. “Yeah, I guess so. The women seem really attracted to his bad boy
persona, though. I think it’s the tats.”

“Could
be.”

“He’s
really a big teddy bear, though. I think he got more of Dad’s personality
whereas some of the rest of us are more like Mom. Jacob is third. He’s thirty
this year and is feeling every bit of it, I think. He’s been drinking a lot
lately. I’m not sure if he’s debating his life—. Not that he would ever hurt
himself or anything, but I wonder sometimes if he knows where his life is
going. He’s kind of quiet.
More so than the rest of us.
He just does his work around here and spends a lot of time in his room. Doing
what, I’m not sure. He didn’t do sports in school like most of us did. He’s
more the creative, artsy type.”

“He
sounds sweet.”

Joel
smile and shrugged. “Fourth is us triplets.
Me, Jason, and
Josh.
You know about me. Josh, we’re a little worried about. He’s been
drinking a lot
lately,
too I think he got his heart
broken recently. He won’t talk about it though. I’ve tried. We are very similar
in looks, but our personalities are very different. At least to me, they are.”

“Josh
is a ladies’ man, definitely.”

“Yeah,
but he’s been down in the dumps lately. I hope whoever broke his heart was
worth the pain he’s going through now. I hate to see him like this. He’s
trying, but you can see the pain in his eyes if you look hard enough.”

“It’s
never easy breaking up with someone you’ve been with for a long time even if
it’s a mutual breakup.”

“True.
I haven’t been in a long-term relationship really, so I wouldn’t know that kind
of pain. I hope I never do.”

She
dropped her gaze to her paper for a moment and let his words sink in. Why
didn’t she feel pain over her breakup with her ex? She loved him, didn’t she?
Maybe not like she should have. The pain didn’t seem to be there.

“And
then there is Jason.”

“You
almost sound exasperated by him.”

“He’s
an exasperating individual.”

“How
so?”

“He
likes the ladies. Definitely. I think he’s got several women on the string at
the moment and I’m just waiting for the bubble to burst. If they found out
about each other, it could sure make for some interesting fireworks in the
neighborhood.”

“Ah.”

Joel
scraped the toe of his boot in the dirt, digging up a small rock in the
process. “This isn’t the first time he’s done this type of thing either. He’s
been caught before and almost got himself shot by one girl’s father. He found Jason’s
ass hanging out the window of the daughter’s room a few years ago. His truck
still bears the bullet hole.”

“Wow.”

“I
think my parents wish he would go in the military or something to straighten
his ass out, but then they’d be totally worried he’d be in some combat zone and
get his butt killed or something.”

“I
think your parents could handle it.”

“I
think my dad could, but I’m not sure about Mom. She loves having her sons
around here.”

“I’m
sure she does. She’s a very strong lady, though.” Mesa tucked a stray piece of
hair behind her ear.

“Yes,
she is. I doubt Jason will do anything of the sort. Military lifestyle doesn’t
suit him, I don’t think. He likes sleeping late, getting into trouble, and
staying out all hours of the night. The discipline would do him good, but I
doubt he’d do it.”

“Trouble
with a capital T.”

Joel
chuckled. “The fifth of us is Jonathan. He tries to be the cowboy Dad wanted in
all of us, but he’s not so much cut out for the life. He rides, but he’s not as
comfortable on a horse as the rest of us. He’s more at home in front of a computer.
He’s a gamer.”

“Nothing
wrong with that. Computer programmers make good money.”

“Yeah,
but he doesn’t get to do it much. I think Dad should let him take over the
website and marketing for the ranch, but he hires out to someone else. Dad
doesn’t see the potential in Jonathan doing it. I do. I think he’d been great
at it. If they send Jonathan to school so he could get some formal training,
he’d be kick-ass at it. I don’t think Jonathan has ever had a girlfriend. He’s
really shy.”

She
laughed. “I didn’t think any of you were shy.”

Joel
grinned. “He really isn’t when you get to know him. I think he feeds off the
rest of us with our personalities. He kind of goes along with the bunch.”

“I
bet he’s got a deeper personality than you give him credit for.”

“Maybe.”
He lifted his gaze and glanced across the fire to where Jeremiah sat talking
with a couple of the young women who were guests. “Jeremiah is the sixth in the
bunch.” Joel shrugged as he shifted on the seat. “How do I describe him? Hmm.
He tends bar at the local club when he’s not working the ranch. I don’t think
he cares so much for the ranch work. He likes doing financial stuff. He plays
the stock market a lot. He’s a very personable guy and gets along with just
about everyone. See how he’s talking to those girls?”

“Yeah.”

“Most
would think he’s flirt. Trying to get one of them in bed with him, but he’s
not.”

“No?”

“Nope.
He just likes to talk to people. The numbers thing is really what he likes. I
constantly see him with his nose buried in the newspaper or on the computer.
Someday I expect him to be rich beyond all of us the way he plays with numbers.
I’m not sure why he’s here at the ranch except that he doesn’t want to leave
Mom and Dad. He’d be better off in New York or somewhere.”