Crazy Little Thing Called Love (23 page)

As sad as it was, the person she’d talked to
the most since arriving back in Fate was Zach. Yet it wasn’t his
job to entertain her, as much as she’d like for it to be while she
was here. She’d just have to find something else to do with her
time, some way to keep herself sane until… well until when she
didn’t know.

Until her father talked to her about the
ranch? Until she figured out what was expected of her? Until he
died? Until forever? No that last one wasn’t an option but it did
get her up off her butt and onto her feet to find something to
do.

Zach hated stopping a project in the middle.
He hated that he hadn’t noticed he was running low on supplies too.
What he hated the most was that he’d been so distracted the past
few days that not even demolishing the guest bathroom had provided
an outlet for his frustrations.

The dreams just kept coming and the more he
had them the more he wanted to sweep in and save Devin and Riley
from themselves. He’d taken a hands-off approach to the whole thing
which was so far the opposite of his personality he didn’t know
what to do with himself. So he avoided his brothers, he ignored
them when need be and he worked on his house.

A bead of sweat slid down his face and he
used the bottom of his t-shirt to wipe it off as he drove into town
to hit up the hardware store. The AC was working overtime but the
drive was too short to get it good and cool in the truck before he
reached his destination. It’d be a short trip, he just had to grab
a few things and get back so he could finish up the cabinetry and
move on to the next phase of his renovations.

The more he worked the more he wanted to keep
working. It was a strange feeling since he’d spent all of his life
working the ranch and he’d never done anything but wait for sundown
and then dread the sunrise the next day. He’d spent the past
twenty-four hours letting his little brothers deal with the ranch
and focusing on his own life like they claimed they wanted him to
do.

Turned out that was just as frustrating as
dealing with the two of them. The more he ignored the ranch and his
brothers the guiltier he felt. The guiltier he felt the more he set
about taking his mind off it and it continued in a loop of
annoyance and frustration that was eating at him.

He loved the ranch. He couldn’t imagine
leaving it but he loved this other part of him that could build
something with his hands too. He needed to figure out a way to do
both. Once he did, he knew he’d feel more like the old Zach again,
the one that was responsible and in control. He could make it work.
He always made things work for everybody.

Grabbing a shopping cart he headed into the
only hardware store in town. Ten minutes later he had a basket full
of nails, screws and caulk and lumber. He was just rounding the
corner to head to the front when he heard a familiar voice call his
name and cringed.

“Zach. Hey. Whatcha doing in town?”

He prayed for strength as he turned to face
the unwelcome greeting, “Maddie. Hi.”

“Well is that all you have to say for
yourself?” She pursed her lips and cocked an eyebrow, “If I didn’t
know any better I’d think you were avoiding me.”

If he didn’t know any better he’d have
confirmed it for her straight out but his mom had taught him better
manners than that. It seemed everywhere he turned these days Maddie
was hanging around. He’d been nothing but polite but he didn’t have
any interest and he thought he’d made that perfectly clear.

“I’ve just been busy.” He said instead.

“Well you missed my birthday.”

“I did?” He caught her frown and screwed up a
smile, “I did. I’m sorry, I just couldn’t get away.”

She waved away his comment, “I heard. Your
brothers showed up and Riley told me all about how you’re working
on renovating your house.”

“Yep, sure am.”

“Well what do you think? Do I look a whole
year older than the last time you saw me?” She cocked a hip with
one hand and tilted her head like she was posing for Miss
America.

Zach furrowed his brow. How was he supposed
to answer that question? It had to be a trick. If he said yes, he
thought she looked older and that was never a good thing for a girl
was it? And if he said no he might as well call her a baby.

“You uh… you look different that’s for sure.”
He finally shrugged, thankful it was the truth so he didn’t have to
break his rule about lying to women. “Did you change your
hair?”

“I sure did. It’s so sweet of you to notice.”
She giggled.

He thought it was a couple of inches shorter
at most but she had some light streaks in it he’d never noticed
before. He probably still wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t been
looking for a way out of her trick question. Still, he hadn’t
wanted to be sweet. Sweet gave women ideas, silly ideas about him
being boyfriend or worse husband material.

“I think it looked fine the other way.”

She raise her eyebrow again, “You don’t like
it?”

“Not really. Sorry.” Well that definitely
wasn’t sweet but he hadn’t been able to think of a nicer way to put
it, manners or not.

To his utter surprise she giggled, “You’re so
honest. I’ve always liked that about you Zach.”

“You’re not mad?” He eyed her warily.

“Nah, I’m not surprised. You seem to prefer
blondes but I ain’t dying my whole head just to get your
attention.”

Well that was a relief, maybe. Except at the
mention of blondes memories of the only one that’d caught his eye
lately drifted back into his head. He hadn’t seen Bluebell in three
days, not since he fell asleep and she went home without waking him
up. He’d definitely thought about her though, thought about her so
much that he’d probably have been worried except he knew he was
just stressed and looking for a distraction and she’d been really
good at that for a few hours.

“Oh, well, okay.” He managed a shrug for
Maddie.

“I’m glad I ran into you actually. I wanted
to ask your opinion on something.”

“My opinion? On what?”

“An older man that I have a crush on.”

Oh hell. Tension clenched in his shoulders.
He didn’t want to deal with this right now or ever. He was pretty
good at dealing with women that knew how he played the game but
Maddie was too young to know things like that. He didn’t want to
hurt her feelings and there was no way he could deal with it if she
started crying.

“Look, Maddie…” He cleared his throat and
lowered his voice, “I’m flattered and all but I’m thirty-six years
old.”

“Really? You’re thirty-six?” She blinked at
him with a look of confusion. “You seem a lot older than that.”

What. The. Hell. He did not seem older than
thirty-six. If anything he got told that he and Devin could be
mistaken for twins all the time and Devin was four years younger
than him. What was that supposed to mean?

“Sorry, that didn’t come out right.” Maddie
smiled sweetly, “It’s just that you seem so responsible and mature
for your age. That’s why I wanted to talk to you, because I know
you’ve been a really good big brother to Devin and Riley and I
never had a big brother like that.”

“Big brother?” He tilted his head in
confusion.

“Yeah, like an older big brother, you’re old
enough to give good advice and I could really use some.”

See there it was again. Older, much older? He
wasn’t that damn old. He didn’t even feel old except when he spent
all day working out in the heat and sun in the fields. Sure his
muscles ached and groaned sometimes but that was normal for
somebody that did as much physical labor as he did. It wasn’t about
age.

The chime over the door dinged a few feet
away and Zach looked over to see who he could ask to save him from
this conversation. The minute his eyes landed on the woman that
walked through the door he forgot all about being old. He certainly
didn’t feel old when his body reacted to Bluebell like a horny
fifteen year old.

The sun shining through the big glass windows
at the front of the store glinted off her blonde hair. A pair of
classic Ray-Ban’s shielded her eyes but a pair of soft pink lips
was clearly visible. Those lips that’d been all over his body just
a few days ago and tasted like heaven lifted into a smile as she
noticed them.

“Hey Maddie. Hey Zach.” The door swung shut
behind her as she headed down the aisle towards them.

She was wearing another dress. Did she own
anything but dresses? He hoped not. He liked the smooth expanse of
long legs beneath the hem, liked the idea that he could back her
against a wall or pull her into his lap, lift the material, push
her panties aside and have her again anytime anywhere.

“Hi Bluebell.” Maddie responded.

He didn’t greet her. He couldn’t get his
brain to work when her breasts bounced under the yellow sundress.
She was all shiny and summery and beautiful.

“Maddie! Your hair looks great, what’d you do
to it?”

The two women exchanged a hug and Maddie
beamed proudly, “You are so sweet. I had Jenny Sue put some
highlights in it and cut some layers. Zach here didn’t even mention
it until I pointed it out.”

Bluebell tipped her gaze up to meet his with
a smirk, “Oh you know how men are, they wouldn’t notice the nose on
their faces if women weren’t around to point it out to them.”

“You are so right.” Maddie nodded
thoughtfully, “Hey do you want to get lunch sometime? I could
really use some girl talk since Molly’s in newlywed land and
MIA.”

“Sure. I’ll stop by the diner sometime soon
and we’ll make plans.”

“Oh you’re just the best. It’s so nice to
have you back in town.” Maddie gave Bluebell another tight hug
before pulling back and focusing on him with a serious expression,
“It was really nice running into you. Next time, I really want to
get your opinion on that thing Zach. Thanks for listening; you’re a
really good friend.”

“Looking forward to it.”

He watched Maddie flip on her heel and stroll
away. Her freshly cut and colored hair bouncing with each step. He
hadn’t noticed she was wearing a cute little sundress too. He
didn’t think he’d ever seen her in anything but jeans and t-shirts.
Strange.

“A really good friend?” Bluebell pulled his
attention.

“Yeah, apparently I’m a really good
listener.”

“Uh huh and just how often does Maddie run
into you?”

“Way more often than I’d like.”

“Well that’s not very nice.” Bluebell
admonished as she tipped her sunglasses up on top of her head with
a lazy smile, “I think its pretty obvious little Maddie has a big
ol’ crush on you cowboy.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Oh, I think it is.”

“No. Trust me. It’s not.”

“As we like to say around here, she was
melting all over you like homemade ice cream in August.”

“I’ve never once heard anyone use that
expression.” He chuckled when she turned her accent up a couple of
notches, “And like I said, she doesn’t think of me like that.”

“Oh.” Bluebell looked thoughtful for a
moment, “How does she think of you then?”

“I believe her exact words were as a much,
much older big brother.” He groaned.

Bluebell blinked her big blue eyes up at him
once, twice and then her shoulders started to shake and the
laughter poured out of her so hard she gripped her side.

“I’m glad you think it’s funny.” He
frowned.

In response Bluebell gasped for air, “Oh it’s
hilarious.”

“I’m not that much older for God’s sake. I’m
only thirty-six. It’s not like I’m an old man.”

She covered her mouth with her hands and made
an effort to reign in her laughter, “Oh, come on, you have to admit
it’s funny. You thought she was hitting on you too didn’t you? You
cradle-robber.”

He frowned as she started laughing again, “I
am not a cradle robber.”

“You so sure about that?” One of those perky
eyebrows shot up and she did a face so full of shock he almost
bought it, almost. “I had no idea you were so much older than
me.”

“You done laughing at me yet?”

“Nope.”

He tried to give her his deadliest glare. His
mean face had scared his little brothers into submission more than
once. She just kept right on laughing so he gave into the grin that
he couldn’t shake and kissed her right there in the front aisle of
the hardware store. It was a light kiss, his lips against hers for
a split second, just to shut her up.

“What are you doing here?” He nipped her
bottom lip as he pulled back.

“Shopping of course.”

“Good. You can keep me company.”

Blue followed Zach as he headed down another
aisle in the hardware store. Her eyes couldn’t help but take in his
broad shoulders beneath a black t-shirt any more than she could
avoid noticing the way his jeans rode low on his hips and cupped
his ass. He looked a little dirty, a little scruffy and a whole lot
sexy again, or as she was coming to realize, always.

“What’re you doing in Griff’s?”

Looking for Zach. She’d been randomly roaming
the streets of Fate looking for something to do and he’d seemed
like as good an option as any when she’d noticed his big black Ford
in the parking lot. Still, she wasn’t going to say that so she
lied.

“Bobby asked me to stop over and see if his
order was ready yet.”

“Uh huh.” He glanced at her out of the corner
of his eye as if he knew she was lying so she changed the
subject.

“What’ve you been up to?”

“Working on the house. I ran out of supplies
and needed a few things.”

They lazily strolled down the aisle as he
pushed the cart past a row of lighting fixtures. There were energy
efficient bulbs and neon lights. There were even a couple of black
bulbs.

“Still working on the bathroom?”