Her Sexy Texas Cowboy

“What have you been living on since then?”

Renee didn’t want to answer, especially with Jeremiah watching her, that perpetual grin on his face, as if he was enjoying the interaction. “This and that,” she answered vaguely.

Jessica raised her eyebrows. “Sandwiches from the deli down the street and leftover pizza?”

“Veggie pizza,” Renee added, knowing that it didn’t make it sound any better. “I’m busy. And I don’t know how to cook. This looks amazing,” she said in an attempt to change the subject from her terrible eating habits.

Jessica smiled, clearly proud of herself. “It’s just an easy chicken recipe. Now get to eating,” she said, pointing at the plate.

Renee took a bite, reveling in the taste of fresh vegetables and roasted chicken. She really needed to eat real food more often, but after working all day, she was too exhausted to do more than grab something on the way to her apartment or toss old pizza in the microwave. Another thing to push from her mind. This was not the week to examine her faults.

“What were you laughing about when I came in?” she asked, trying to get the conversation going on another topic.

Aaron smiled at her. “Jeremiah was telling Jessica about the time he was hitting on our waitress at a diner in Tyler.”

Renee forced herself to smile, trying to tell herself that it was good to remember that Jeremiah wasn’t a settle-down kind of guy. According to the stories Jessica had told her, in fact, he was more of a hit-on-any-female-with-a-pulse kind of guy.

And that was very good, because there was no way she’d be falling for him. Fantasy sex only.

* * *

“TELL HER WHAT HAPPENED,” Aaron prompted, hitting Jeremiah lightly on the shoulder.

Jeremiah looked down at his plate, his blood pumping hard. Aaron had brought it up in the first place, and now he had to tell Renee about hitting on other women. Great.

He wanted to punch Aaron “playfully” on the arm, at least hard enough to leave a bruise, but he didn’t want to raise any eyebrows. There was no way he’d forget Renee’s number one rule and ruin the possibility of an amazing week.

“It was years ago,” he clarified, hoping Renee understood that he wasn’t that guy anymore.

Aaron leaned in toward Renee, clearly missing Jeremiah’s discomfort. “We sat down to get some lunch, and Jeremiah just has to hit on the really hot waitress. Because he’s Jeremiah and isn’t afraid to get turned down by anyone.”

Jeremiah forced himself not to glare at his friend. He had to keep it casual, no matter how much he wanted to kill the guy. If he tries to tell the story about the supermodel, he thought, I’ll tackle him right here at the table.

Aaron continued the story, completely oblivious. “He must have asked her out or made sexual innuendos one too many times, because, you know those ‘We reserve the right to refuse service’ signs? Yeah, I had to drive home hungry all because Jeremiah thought he might be able to get laid in the walk-in freezer or something.”

Aaron laughed again at the story. Jeremiah looked over to Renee to see her reaction. She was smiling and nodding, but he didn’t like the look in her eyes. Stupid Aaron.

After a silence that felt way too long to Jeremiah, Aaron started talking again. “Hey Jeremiah, tell Renee what happened with the—”

If he says supermodel I’m going to destroy him, Jeremiah thought, holding his fork in a death grip.

“—generator,” Aaron finished, to Jeremiah’s immense relief.

That was another embarrassing story, but at least it didn’t make him look like an asshole.

Jeremiah launched into the story before Aaron could say anything else. “Okay, so my generator was out of gas, right? Luckily, I have a few gas cans sitting around and poured some gas into it. Or at least what I thought was gas...”

* * *

RENEE WATCHED JEREMIAH go through the whole story, laughing aloud as he gestured wildly to show exactly how thick the smoke was as it billowed from the ruined piece of machinery.

For the most part, though, her attention wasn’t on his epic tale. It was on the width of his shoulders, the way his hair fell across his forehead, the mischievous glint in his eyes, the strength of his arms.

God, she wanted him. Just looking at him from across the table made her squirm in her seat. And judging by the performance upstairs, it was going to be amazing once they managed to get more than five minutes alone together.

She’d never felt so impatient in her life.

After dinner, Jessica turned to Renee and said, “Well, tomorrow we’ll start with the wedding stuff, but tonight I want to catch up, if you aren’t completely exhausted.”

Renee looked at her sister’s smile and tried to smile back, but it wasn’t easy. She realized that none of the scenarios running through her mind, most of which involved Jeremiah tearing pieces of clothing from her body, was going to happen tonight. There was just no way to get Jeremiah alone without letting Jessica in on the situation, which absolutely wasn’t going to happen. Stupid rule number one.

Renee could see that Jeremiah realized it, too, and he didn’t look too happy about it.

Dinner flew by. Renee tried not to look at Jeremiah, but constantly caught herself glancing over to where he sat. He seemed all casual confidence, and the ease he exuded amazed her. How could he be so relaxed after that little episode upstairs?

After dinner was done and the talk had lulled, though, his demeanor changed. Almost as if he should leave, but he didn’t want to. She didn’t want him to leave, either, but there was nothing to be done.

Finally, Jessica pulled the notebook out again and Jeremiah said his goodbyes. His eyes lingered on Renee for an extra second before he turned away. She watched as he walked out the door.

She cursed to herself. That was one opportunity gone.

Jessica had started talking to her, but she’d missed it. All Renee could think about was how she couldn’t wait until some unknown time to kiss him again. And what if she never got the chance?

She could hardly bear the thought. She was too close to let this lie.

“I think I left my phone in Jeremiah’s truck,” she blurted out, then rushed to the door without waiting for her sister to comment.

She imagined getting to his truck just before he pulled away and giving him one hell of a sensuous kiss that would leave him thinking of her all night.

Renee was off the porch and rounding the corner of the house in a blink, only to see Jeremiah just a couple feet away, walking toward her and directly in her path. She couldn’t stop herself in time and ran into him at full speed with a very unsexy “Oof.”

Slamming into his chest was like hitting a brick wall, and she bounced off and fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of her. As she sat in the dirt, a little cloud of dust settling around her, she was glad it was dim enough that he couldn’t see how red her cheeks were.

Jeremiah knelt close. “Are you all right?” he asked, trying to look her over for damage.

Even through her embarrassment, she couldn’t help but feel aroused. His hand, which was resting casually on her thigh, took her attention away from how silly she must look sprawled on the ground.

She stood, brushing dirt off herself. “I don’t know which is bruised more—my butt or my ego,” she murmured, half to herself.

He stopped his ministrations and cocked his head to one side. “That sounds familiar. Is that a quote from a movie?”

She was stunned he recognized it. “It’s from It Takes Two. Why do you know an obscure quote from a decades-old movie made for little girls?”

Jeremiah laughed. “I have a little sister. She loved those movies. Haven’t thought about them in years.”

There was a quiet moment. Then, “What were you doing running around the house?” he asked, the smile on his face indicating that he had a pretty good guess as to the answer.

Renee suddenly felt shy. It was one thing to run up and kiss someone, and another thing entirely to explain that plan while brushing dirt off your ass.