One Night With a Cowboy (14 page)

“When?”

“Couple of weeks ago.”

“Since it looks like I’m going to have to drag every word out of you, I’ll move on
to my next two questions. How and where?”

“They were in the audience at the rodeo back in July. She and her sister were here
from New York for a couple of days. She said she had some meeting.” Tuck let out a
laugh as it all started to click in his head.

The important meeting Becca couldn’t miss—it had to have been about this job. So the
entire time they were together she knew there was a chance she’d be moving to Oklahoma,
if she hadn’t already been hired by then. Yet she never told him. Didn’t give him
her number. Didn’t ask for his. Never said a damn word. Like there was no chance she’d
ever want to see him again even if she was living in spitting distance from him. That
made Tuck feel pretty damn shitty.

“Wow.” Logan’s gaze was back on Becca as he shook his head.

Wow
was as good a word as any for his surprise at not only seeing her but finding out
all she’d kept from him after the kind of time they’d had together. Apparently he’d
been good enough for Becca for one night, but she wasn’t interested in a repeat. If
she had been, she would have told him about the job. They would have exchanged phone
numbers. He would have been meeting her for dinner, not at this damn wine mixer.

“You gonna be okay?” Logan glanced at him again. “You’re not looking too good.”

“Oh, I’ll be fine.” He downed the wine before the thin plastic cup became the victim
of his clenched fist.

This was going to be one hell of an introduction, and judging by the beeline Ross
was making in their direction, it was happening sooner rather than later. Jaw set,
he lobbed the empty cup into the garbage and turned back for the big introduction.
Widening his stance, he folded his arms and braced himself.

“Logan, glad you could make it.” A smiling Mark Ross grasped and shook Logan’s hand,
then turned to Becca. “Dr. Rebecca Hart. This is Lieutenant Colonel Logan Hunt, battalion
commander of our ROTC program. He’s the military science department head and a good
friend of mine.”

As she extended her hand, Becca’s gaze shot to Tuck before she dragged it back to
Logan. “Nice to meet you.”

“Pleasure’s all mine, ma’am.” Logan glanced sideways at Tuck.

In a normal situation, it would be polite for Logan to make the introductions between
him and the new arrival since it was doubtful Ross remembered Tuck’s name from the
one night they’d played poker. But there was nothing normal about this situation.
Logan looked a little lost as to how to proceed, and Becca looked like she’d rather
be anywhere else but here, under Tuck’s scrutiny. The bitter, spiteful side of his
personality took great pleasure in Becca’s obvious discomfort.

“Mark, you remember my friend Staff Sergeant Tucker Jenkins?” Logan turned to include
Tuck in the happy group.

“Of course. Nice to see you again, Sergeant. Glad you could make it. Let me introduce
you to Dr. Rebecca Hart.”

Becca had a frigging doctorate. She had really been slumming with him that night.
This just got better and better.

“Doctor.” He extended his hand and waited to see what she’d do, but he’d be damned
if he’d say
“nice to meet you.”
Forget about that crap. They’d done way more than
meet
that night in July.

“Sergeant.” The tension in her voice was clear to him. It might even be evident to
Logan now he knew. Her boss, however, blissfully ignorant of the situation, looked
happy as a clam they were all getting to know each other.

The muscles in her throat worked as she swallowed hard and extended her arm. Becca’s
hand in his was as small and soft as he remembered it. That night he’d loved every
second he’d held her hand. But to hold it again now, knowing what he knew about her
and that night, hurt.

Damn, that was a surprise. Sure, he expected his pride to sting from her slight, but
this? This felt like more. It felt like sadness. Regret. Pain.

Crap. He should have stuck to bending buckle bunnies over the bumper of his truck.
It was too soon to be with a woman he’d actually wanted to spend more time with. A
woman he had really liked.

Damn Jace and his pushing. He’d forced Tuck into it. It was his fault. Logan’s, too.
All that
get back on the horse
talk was about one more friend trying to push him into something he wasn’t ready
for. Getting on the horse was a damn good way to get knocked back down to the ground
and trampled on, if you asked him.

He realized he’d been holding Becca’s hand for far too long and dropped it. He finally
brought himself to look her in the eye and found her watching him, but when their
gazes collided, she yanked hers away.

“Logan, are you going to hang around for a little bit? I have a few more folks I’d
like Rebecca to meet, but I wanted to talk to you about next week’s game. I might
have a scheduling conflict.”

Ross had directed the question to Logan, but all Tuck could hear was that he and Logan
would be sticking around here longer, when he would really rather not.

“Sure. No problem.” Logan nodded to Becca. “Nice meeting you, ma’am.”

“Uh, you, too.” Her gaze cut to Tuck before her boss steered her off toward cheese
man, who’d now moved on to the cut fruit display.

“You can stay, but I’m not.” He glared at Logan while yanking his cap out of his pocket.

Logan pinned Tuck with a stare. “Yes, you are.”

What the hell? This was ridiculous. “Why do I have to stay?”

“Why do you want to leave?” Logan cocked a brow.

“Because it’s obvious the guest of honor isn’t interested in socializing with me.
Jeez, she nearly fainted when she recognized me. She didn’t even admit we knew each
other.” Forget about how they knew each other in the biblical way.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Logan bobbed his head. “But that’s a good thing actually. With
the non-fraternization rule and all.”

That got his attention. What kind of shit was Logan trying to pull here? “The what?”

“Non-fraternization rule,” he repeated.

Tuck’s brows rose. “Uh, you do know Becca’s a civilian. I don’t think the military’s
rules about fraternization apply in this case.”

“Oh, so she’s
Becca
to you, huh?”

Tuck shot Logan a look that said he might just get punched if he continued on that
tangent.

“Okay, moving on.” Logan cleared his throat. “I’m not talking about military rules.
I’m talking about OSU rules. Didn’t you read the notebook human resources gave you
when you got hired?”

“Um, I skimmed it.” Tuck hoped that lie didn’t show. He had opened it, but only to
see what days they had off for holidays and school breaks. “That rule is in there?”

“Yeah. Something to the effect of no faculty member may engage in a personal or inappropriate
relationship with a student or another member of the faculty.”

Tuck’s forehead creased in a frown of disbelief. “What? That’s ridiculous. I mean
the student part, that’s fine, but with each other? We’re adults. It’s archaic.”

“Yeah, but you’re forgetting OSU was founded way back in the eighteen nineties. Folks
were a little more Victorian in their thinking then.”

“Well Jesus, Logan. The university could update the rules every century or so, don’t
you think?” He scowled.

“Sounds to me like you’re interested in engaging in a personal and or inappropriate
relationship with Becca. So why do you want to leave?” Logan’s gaze was once again
more intense than Tuck was comfortable with. Like the man could read his thoughts.

Maybe Logan was right. He might have pursued a relationship, rules be damned, if she
were into him, too. Which she obviously wasn’t. “Do I need to repeat myself, Logan?
She’s not interested.”

“You could have fooled me.”

Frustrated and ready to be done with this conversation as well as this party, Tuck
let out a sigh. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Maybe I don’t.” Logan shrugged. “And maybe she hasn’t stopped looking this way since
Mark dragged her off. Of course, she could be interested in me and that’s why I keep
catching her staring in this direction.”

Logan’s smirk had Tuck frowning. Real nice friend he had. Nothing like a little teasing
to rub salt in the wound. If Becca was looking his way, it was probably because she
was afraid he’d go spreading tales about their night together and ruin her reputation.
As if he would ever do that. She really didn’t know him at all, which made his gut
twist a little more.

He let out a huff of breath. “You really won’t let me leave?”

“Nope.” Logan shook his head but looked a little too amused for Tuck’s taste.

“Is that an order?”

“Does it have to be?”

This whole situation was getting more and more unbelievable. He glared at Logan. “Why
are you trying to make me miserable?”

“It’s fun.”

“Great. Thanks. Glad I can be of service amusing you, but since there’s that rule
and all, I think I’d better leave. Don’t want to get nailed for fraternizing or anything.
You wouldn’t want me getting fired right before the big training retreat.” Tuck grasped
at straws. Anything to get out of being in the same room with Becca. It was as good
an excuse as any, and it wasn’t even a lie. They’d definitely
fraternized,
a few times.

“Oh, I think it probably wouldn’t count since she hadn’t officially started work yet.
Besides, how could you have known, right? Nope, you can stay.” Logan continued to
look amused. “You want another wine?”

Yes, with a beer chaser and some bourbon on the side. Tuck let out a snort. “Sure.
What the hell.”

“Great, I’ll take one, too, while you’re there.” Logan grinned and waited, not moving.

Tuck shook his head and pivoted toward the bar . . . where he saw Becca standing.
Now he had no way to avoid walking past her, and he would bet next month’s pay that
had been his supposed friend’s plan.

He glanced back at Logan. “You know, you can be a real bastard sometimes,
sir
.”

He’d made sure to emphasize the
sir
. Logan deserved the dig. Pulling rank to make him stay at a damn party that had nothing
to do with ROTC or anything else remotely related to their department or the army.

Logan laughed. Apparently there was nothing like torturing a man to raise another
man’s spirits. With a huff, Tuck headed for the table where the wine was set up. Hell,
maybe he would just grab a bottle and a few cups. That would cut his in and out time
considerably.

Luckily, Ross was doing a good job keeping Becca occupied. Good man. He rose a notch
or two higher in Tuck’s esteem. Her boss currently had Becca bogged down with the
mean-looking librarian ladies. He might just get out of this thing without having
to talk to her again, because if he did have to and they weren’t surrounded by a bunch
of her coworkers, he might be tempted to give her a piece of his mind. He wasn’t sure
Miss English professor could handle what he was thinking right now.

The problem was, what he was really thinking—and had been since that morning he’d
said good-bye to her—was how they’d not only had one hell of a good night but they’d
also gotten along great. And if she hadn’t left for New York, that night could have
been repeated many times over. He’d liked her. A lot. Enough to want to see her again,
both in and out of bed.

What a load of crap that notion had been. It was obviously not what she wanted.
He
wasn’t what she wanted. Apparently, when it came to dating, Oklahoma rodeo cowboys
weren’t good enough for hoity-toity East Coast English professors with doctorate degrees.

The wine splashed out of the cup and onto the tablecloth. He ignored it and planted
the glass bottle down with a thud. He grabbed the tiny cups, thinking one of those
nice pint-size plastic ones would be much more fitting to his current mood than these
flimsy, thimble-size pieces of garbage.

“Tucker.”

Crap. He tried to ignore the small voice behind him and make his getaway, but her
hand on his arm stopped him in mid-step. How had she gotten away from talking with
the nasty sisters so quick?

Too late to speculate, because now she had him in her clutches, literally. He stayed
put, making Becca walk around to the front of him.

“Wine?” He thrust one cup at her. Let Logan get his own. This was his damn fault anyway.

“Sure.” She took it and raised the cup to her lips, which only made him remember the
taste and feel of her kisses.

He shook that vision from his mind and remembered he was mad at her. “So, I was surprised
to see you. You know, here. In Oklahoma. When I thought you’d be in New York.”

“You were surprised to see me? How about me seeing you? What are you doing here?”
She kept her voice low, but what it lacked in volume, it made up for in intensity.

He shrugged, trying to look more casual than he felt about this conversation. “I’ve
been working here for a year. What are
you
doing here?”

“You know why I’m here. I got hired as an associate professor. What I didn’t know
is you work here, too. Why didn’t you tell me?” Her narrowed gaze swept him from head
to toe. “And you’re in the army? You seemed to have neglected to mention that, too.”

She was actually mad at
him
for keeping secrets? That was ironic.

“You didn’t ask.” He raised the cup to his lips and nearly drained it in one swallow.
When she was still looking at him like he was a liar, he repeated. “What? You never
once asked what I did for work.”

“That’s because I thought you rode bulls for a living.” A frown creased the brow between
her perfectly shaped eyebrows.