Hot for You (6 page)

Cody’s body jerked in time with the bull and
a look of fierce concentration was on his handsome features. She
glanced at the digital clock counting the seconds. Five…six…seven…
Right at the seven-second mark, Cody went flying. He landed on his
ass but easily rolled to his feet. Somehow his cowboy hat had
managed to stay on his head.

“Close,” she said when he reached her.

He shook his head but was smiling. “Close
doesn’t cut it in bull riding.”

“Getting old,” came a voice from behind
her.

Cody grinned as he looked at the man who’d
spoken and Carilyn looked to see a handsome cowboy joining them.
Like Cody, the man was over six feet, had light brown hair, square
features, but had intense blue eyes where Cody’s were brown. The
man looked hardened, like someone who had witnessed a lot, and a
lot of that not good.

“Reese, this is Carilyn Thompson,” Cody said
as he gave a nod toward her. “Carilyn, this is my cousin, Detective
Reese McBride.”

“Ms. Thompson.” Reese held out his free hand
to Carilyn and she took it. A beer bottle was in his opposite hand.
“My partner, Detective Petrova, took your statement at the
scene.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Detective McBride.”
Carilyn smiled as they released hands. “I liked your partner. She
has good bedside, er rather curbside, manners.”

Reese’s expression relaxed and the corner of
his mouth tipped up in a grin. “I’ll be sure and tell her that.” He
looked a little more serious. “How’ve you been since the fire?”

She shrugged. “Fine, considering.”

He nodded. “Notice anything odd since the
fire?”

She tipped her head to the side. “Not that I
can recall. Why?”

“Just a little follow-up.” He held the beer
bottle as if prepared to take a swig. “I’ll be calling you to set
up a time to go over a few things.”

“Okay,” she said.

“But for now it’s time for you to loosen up,
Reese,” Cody said with a grin. “By that beer in your hand I’d say
you’re not here to work.”

“Sometimes it’s hard to shake off the job.”
Reese smiled, his features relaxing again. “I’ll talk with you
later, Ms. Thompson,” he said to Carilyn. To Cody he said, “Work on
that grip.”

Cody saluted Reese who gave a nod to Carilyn
before he slipped into the crowd and disappeared from sight.

She picked up her rum and Coke from off the
high-top she’d set it on and took a sip.

“Did you get everything you needed when you
went shopping with Leigh?” he asked.

Carilyn lowered her glass. “Pretty much. The
most important thing was a new laptop, which I’m going to have to
set up so that I can get to work when Leigh takes off for
Europe.”

“What kind of work do you do?” he asked.

“I’m what you call a geek.” She smiled. “I’m
a computer programmer.” She didn’t mention that she was also a
hacker—but for the good guys.

He raised his eyebrows. “You don’t look like
the geeky type to me.”

She grinned. “And what’s a geeky type
supposed to look like?”

He returned her grin. “I guess I’m just going
to have to change my way of thinking if geeks are as beautiful as
you.”

She felt her face warm and was glad the bar
was dim so that he couldn’t see her blush.

“So what do you do?” he asked.

“I contract for the government.” She set her
now empty glass down. “I’m working on a big project right now that
I can’t talk about.”

“A mystery woman,” he said.

Desperate to change the subject from herself,
she decided to turn the tables on him. “So you’re not only a
firefighter, but a cowboy, too?”

He nodded. “I have a little spread that I
inherited from my parents.”

“How do you have time to work on it?” She
tilted her head to the side. “With the kind of hours and schedule a
firefighter works, doesn’t that make it difficult?”

“It can.” He pushed the brim of his hat up a
little with one finger. “I used to hire 4-H kids and all of them
did a good job. But now I have a ranch hand who handles things when
I’m gone. Tom is semi-retired and lives on a place not too far from
mine so he’s available when I need him. It’s easier having him than
juggling the kids.”

“I’ve never been on a ranch.” Carilyn
wondered how close real ranches were to what was portrayed in the
movies.

“I’ll have to show you around my place,” he
said. “If you don’t have anything planned tomorrow, you could come
on over if you’d like.”

Carilyn hesitated. Was this getting too close
to going out on a date with the man? She really did want to go out
on a ranch. “Okay,” she said. “Mike is giving Leigh a ride to the
airport around five in the morning so I’m free for the day. She’s
leaving her car for me to drive while she’s gone.”

“Great.” He smiled. “I’ll give you
directions. Smart phones aren’t always so smart once you head away
from town.”

She found herself brushing down her skirt
with her palms for something to do with her hands. “What time?”

“How about ten?” he said. “I can take you
riding.”

“Riding?” She felt a twinge in her belly.
“I’ve never been on a horse.”

“I’ll let you ride one of my gentlest
horses,” he said. “She’s a real sweetheart.”

She gave him a nervous smile. “I guess I’ll
trust you on that.”

“You can definitely trust me.” He inclined
his head toward the bar. “Let’s get another drink.”

“All right,” she said, at the same time
wondering what happened to her insistence to Leigh and herself that
she should keep her distance from Cody. She certainly wasn’t doing
a very good job of it.

When they were seated at the bar and after
Cody had ordered drinks for both of them, he rested one arm on the
bar top as he looked at her. “Do you have family in Kansas?” he
asked.

She shook her head. “Not anymore. My mom and
stepdad retired and moved to Florida.” She hesitated and a sharp
ache stabbed her gut like it always did when she mentioned her
father. “My birth father might be there, but it’s hard to count him
as family since he abandoned my mom and me when I was very
young.”

“No cousins or any other family there?” Cody
asked.

“All of my relatives live in Indiana.”
Carilyn ran her fingers up and down her rum and Coke glass. “Mom
ran away to Kansas with my birth father when she was just
seventeen. When my father left us, she didn’t have enough money to
move back to Indiana and she refused to ask family for help. So we
stayed. By the time she could afford to move she’d met my stepdad
and his roots run deep in Kansas.”

Cody looked thoughtful. “How is your
relationship with your stepdad?”

Carilyn smiled. “George is like a father to
me. Much more so than my birth father.” She cocked her head to the
side. “What about you? Do you have much family here? I met your
cousin and you mentioned a brother.”

“My parents passed away some time ago,” Cody
said. “But I have a boatload of cousins, aunts, and uncles in the
Prescott Valley. The McBride clan is one of the biggest and oldest
families in the area.”

“I take it your reunions are pretty wild?”
Carilyn said.

He laughed. “You could say that.”

Carilyn shifted on her seat. “I’d bet you
have some stories to tell.”

“You have no idea.” He grinned. “Do you have
anything planned while you’re here?”

“I haven’t made any plans yet.” She pushed a
loose curl from her face. “I do want to go to Sedona sometime. I
hear there’s a great dress shop there.”

His lips twitched. “Couldn’t vouch for that,
but I can tell you that Sedona has one of the best fudge shops
anywhere. The only fudge I’ve had that’s better is Leigh’s.”

“You’re a big fan of fudge, I take it,” she
said. “Plain with no nuts, right?”

“You’ve got it,” he said. “You could say I’m
a purist.”

She laughed. “I’ll have to try some when I
go.”

“If you’d like someone to go along, I’d be
glad to take you,” he said.

Something tickled her insides as she met his
gaze. “I’d like that.” She found herself saying the words before
she could stop herself. She’d already made plans to go to his
ranch, and now Sedona, too?

He smiled. “I’m looking forward to it.”

She suddenly felt jittery and wondered why
she would feel nervous now. “I should find Leigh.” She let her gaze
drift over the room but didn’t see her friend.

“It’s possible she went outside with Mike,”
Cody said. “It would be easier to hear out there.”

She turned back to him. “I’m only going to be
here a month,” she found herself saying.

He nodded. “You might as well enjoy yourself
while you’re here.” He gave a little grin. “Who knows? You might
decide to stay.”

“I don’t think so.” She couldn’t help
returning his smile. “You and Leigh don’t give up easily though, do
you.”

“Nope.” He shifted his elbow on the bar. “Do
you have anyone back in Kansas?”

“If you mean a boyfriend, then no.” She shook
her head. “My long-time boyfriend broke it off and went into the
Peace Corps a few months ago.”

“That must have been a tough thing to go
through,” Cody said.

She considered it for a moment. “It was
unexpected and it wasn’t easy, but I’ve moved on.”

Cody raised his beer bottle. “Are you still
friends with your ex?”

“He’s a good guy,” she said as Cody took a
drink of his beer. “We’ll always be friends.”

Carilyn started to ask him if he had any
girlfriends, but Leigh’s cheery voice drew Carilyn’s and Cody’s
attention.

“I’ve got an early flight so I need to head
home and get to bed,” Leigh said.

Carilyn slid off her barstool. “I’m
ready.”

Cody got up from his stool and pulled a cell
phone from a holster on his belt. “Why don’t you give me your
number and I’ll text you directions in the morning?”

“Directions?” Leigh looked intrigued.

Carilyn knew she was in for a grilling once
they got out of the bar. “Cody invited me to his ranch tomorrow.
I’ve never been on a ranch.”

Leigh gave a wide smile. “That’s
awesome.”

Carilyn wanted to elbow Leigh, who looked
tremendously pleased, but instead Carilyn turned her attention back
to Cody and rattled off her phone number, which he entered into his
phone contacts.

He shoved the phone back into his holster.
“See you tomorrow morning.”

“See you,” Carilyn said before she turned and
walked out the door with Leigh.

As they headed into the cool night, Leigh put
her hand on Carilyn’s arm and squeezed. “I knew you two would get
together.”

Carilyn shook her head. “I’m just going to
his ranch.” She wasn’t ready to tell her friend that she’d said
she’d go to Sedona with him, too. Leigh would be unbearably excited
about it.

“Well it’s a great start,” Leigh said with
satisfaction.

A start to what?
Carilyn wondered.
Certainly not a relationship—that wasn’t going to happen.

***

Leigh and Mike left for the airport before
Carilyn woke Saturday morning, and now Carilyn found herself
driving to Cody’s ranch. It was starting out to be a pretty day
with a clear blue sky, not a cloud anywhere to be seen.

When the text came in that morning from Cody
with his address and directions, Carilyn had felt an inexplicable
burst of excitement to see a message from him. Well, maybe it was
explainable—but she really did know better.

If she knew better, why was she driving to
Cody’s ranch this very minute?

She shook her head. The fact was that she was
undeniably attracted to him, and seeing him like this was a
dangerous road to follow when she would only be here for a
month.

It isn’t a problem
, she told herself.
She could handle this. Sure she could.

Fifteen minutes after leaving town, she
arrived at a mailbox with C. McBRIDE stenciled on it. She’d seen
two other mailboxes with the same last name, but this was the only
one resting on a green pole like he’d mentioned in the
directions.

She turned onto the drive that the mailbox
marked and Leigh’s car jostled and vibrated as it crossed over a
cattle guard and down the bumpy dirt road.

The closer Carilyn got to the ranch at the
end of the road, the harder she clenched the steering wheel.
Breathe
, she told herself.
Just relax.
Easier said
than done.

She crossed another cattle guard as she
looked at the sprawling ranch house, the large barn, and what
looked like a storage shed. Corrals were behind and to the side of
the barn and three horses were inside one of the corrals.
Reddish-brown cows with white faces were on the other side of the
fence in a pasture covered with green grass.

When she pulled up to the house and parked,
the front door of the house opened and Cody stepped through the
doorway. Her heart pounded a little faster when she saw his sexy
smile and she watched his easy stride toward the car. She turned
off the car and brushed her sweaty palms on her jeans before
pulling the keys out of the ignition. She’d just leave her purse in
the car—she wasn’t going to need it now.

She pushed her long red braid over her
shoulder and started to open the car door, but Cody was there
before she could and he opened it for her. She climbed out and
stuffed the car keys in the front pocket of her jeans as he shut
the car door.

“Hi.” She smiled at him.

“Welcome to the old homestead,” he said with
a return smile and a shy hug.

He stepped back and she said, “Thanks for
inviting me.” She wasn’t sure what else to say so she looked at the
livestock. “What kind of cows do you have?”

“I have Hereford cattle.” He gave a nod in
that direction. “Come on and I’ll show you around.”

“All right.” She fell into step beside him.
The midmorning sun was warm on her arms that weren’t covered by her
plain cinnamon-colored T-shirt.