Chapter 14

Bobbie Jo Hanks couldn't believe she'd come to the seed shed. At the same time, she didn't want to be alone. Ironic, since she'd been living here in Ivory Peaks alone for the past several months.

She pulled the turkey and Swiss sandwich from the bag and took a bite. Tuck did the same thing. He set the bag of chips on the cold ground between them, and Bobbie Jo dipped her hand inside to get some of the ridged snacks.

This silence between them was comfortable, but foreign. Tuck didn't normally sit still or silent, something Bobbie Jo had actually admired about him. She'd admired a lot about him—appropriately, of course.

She could acknowledge that he had a handsome jawline without letting herself think too much of it. His sandy hair played differently with his dark eyes, and the man worked a farm relentlessly, so he definitely had muscles.

He got along with the other cowboys, and he knew his stuff around the ranch. She'd rounded up horses with him a few times, and he was always right where he needed to be to get the job done. His horse obviously trusted him explicitly, and they worked well together.

Yes, Bobbie Jo could tell a lot about a cowboy by the way he rode and worked with a horse.

The edges of her nose felt raw as her tears dried. Her face crackled with the salt, and she wished she'd gone home after Lawson's phone call.

"So, Lawson broke up with me over the phone," she said.

Tucker sucked in a breath and turned his head toward her swiftly. "He did what?"

Bobbie Jo shook her head, her emotions far too delicate to be having this conversation. Still, she'd chosen to come here, knowing Tuck would arrive with sandwiches. He did every single day; she'd seen him walking this way many times; he'd even invited her to eat with him once.

"I've known for a while that we weren't going to work out," she said. "It still—it's really weird how it still hurts." She sniffled and shook her head again. She looked up from her half-eaten sandwich and gazed at the cloudy sky. She identified with it, with the way the clouds were all one big mass of foaming, rolling, angry pressure.

"I'm really sorry it hurts." Tucker spoke kindly, softly, tenderly. He finally tore his eyes from her face, and some of the weight lifted from her shoulders. "I don't want you to hurt."

"Thank you, Tuck."

He finished his sandwich, and Bobbie Jo tucked the rest of hers back in the bag. She had no appetite left, and she simply leaned her head back against the shed while Tuck crunched his way through potato chips and then an apple.

Her thoughts seemed to have been suspended in gelatin. She didn't think anything; nothing entered or exited her mind. She may have even dozed, which was something Bobbie Jo never did.

Eventually, she came back to herself, realizing that the man beside her had gotten really quiet. A blip of panic moved through her at the thought of Tucker getting up and leaving her sitting there, and then his hand slid along hers.

She turned her hand over, and he took it into his. A scuffle along dirt, a cleared throat, and then Tuck's shoulder touched hers. Bobbie Jo sighed as she leaned into him, stealing his warmth and friendship and safety.

He wanted to be more than friends, Bobbie Jo knew. In soft, private, still moments like this, she could admit that if she hadn't been dating Lawson, she'd have definitely gone out with Tuck by now. The man was equal parts charm and good-looks, and he hadn't been shy about his crush on her.

He'd calmed down a lot in recent months, and Bobbie Jo wondered if she'd already had her chance with him.

Doesn't matter, she told herself. You don't want to move from one relationship straight into another one anyway.

Bobbie Jo had never had a lot of boyfriends, and just the fact that Tuck had shown interest had been surprising to her.

"Do you know why I came to Ivory Peaks?" she asked.

"Sure," he said quietly. "You'd just finished a degree in something no one gets a job in, and you needed a job."

True, but…also not true. "That's what I told everyone."

"Are you sayin' you lied to me, Miss Bobbie Jo?"

She opened her eyes as a smile graced her face. She turned toward Tuck, and oh, he sat close. So close, and it felt so good. She wasn't sure how she felt about this man, and she wasn't sure she should even be here with him.

What would he think of her now? Was she moving too fast?

The questions started piling on top of themselves then, and a keen sense of overwhelm descended on Bobbie Jo. "Not exactly a lie," she said. "Just not the whole story."

"I see."

"I suppose you'd like the whole story."

"I suppose I would," he drawled.

Bobbie Jo laid her head against his bicep again, his fingers tightening in hers. Squeezing, almost encouraging her to go ahead and tell him. "I could've stayed in Oklahoma and found a job at a farm or ranch. I came here, because my family lost our ranch."

She paused to take a breath and to really examine how she felt about the losses she'd suffered in Oklahoma. "I'm sorry," Tuck murmured.

"I wanted to take it over," she said. "But it just didn't work out. I had this degree in metallurgical engineering—that's the study of metals and their uses—and you know what? I first started looking at this area because of a company called Hammond Manufacturing."

"You have got to be kidding."

"You do know what they do there, right?"

"I have no idea what they do there," he said. "But I bet my cousin hires metalluring engineers."

"Metallurgical."

"That sounds so…like something I'm allergic to." He chuckled. "Metalluring sounds so much prettier."

She grinned too, something she hadn't realized she could do so soon after such a horrific phone call. "Anyway, HMC wasn't hiring engineers at the time, but the website says they're constantly looking for good people. I put in my application, and I started looking for work in the area. Hunter Hammond hired me, just not for the company I was anticipating."

"Does Hunt know this?" Tuck asked.

"No," she said. "Unless he sees the applications that go through at HMC."

"Then no. That's all Mike. Probably not even him. He's got managers and department heads and stuff." Tucker squeezed her hand again. "Still, Bobbie Jo, why didn't you say something? Mike can pull your application and get you a job in like, two seconds flat." He looked at her again, and his gaze weighed so stinking much.

He wanted answers she didn't know how to give.

"I like it here," she said again. "This place reminds me of my family ranch, minus the mountains of course. And we had a lot more corn." She did smile then, and she let her eyes drift closed again. "I'm not really a city girl."

"You don't say," Tuck teased. Then he fell silent too, and they stayed that way, side-by-side, hands clasped together, until an alarm shattered their peace. "That's me." Tuck pulled his hand away and silenced his phone.

He folded his long legs under him and looked at her. Bobbie Jo might as well have been naked for how much he could see. "You'll be okay?"

"I have to get back to work too."

"Yeah, but what I meant was…you'll be okay?" He watched her, searching her face. "I'll bring you dinner tonight."

"Don't be ridiculous," she said. "People don't take dinner to people who've broken up with their loser, cheater boyfriends."

"He—wait, he cheated on you?"

"No," Bobbie Jo said miserably. "But it feels like it, and if I pretend he did, then I can dislike him more."

Tuck gave her half a smile, and it still made her pulse race. What that meant, she wasn't sure. She was almost embarrassed he affected her this way. "I've never liked him."

Bobbie Jo laughed, and Tuck got to his feet. He offered her his hand, and when she took it, snaps, crackles, and pops moved through her bloodstream. She stood too, and they looked at one another in the dull, flat light of the nearly New Year's day.

She had no idea what she'd say or do if Tuck asked her to dinner right now. He didn't ask, and instead, he finally said, "Dinner tonight. I'll bring you and Hattie something, okay?"

She wasn't going to argue with him. "Okay," she agreed. "No green peppers. Hattie's allergic to peppers."

"Good to know," he said as if he might actually be making her something with green peppers in it. He went around the corner first, and she followed him. "You have got to be kidding me," Tuck muttered.

Bobbie Jo looked up and peered past him to find Tarr and Matt coming their way. Her steps slowed, but both men had seen her. They'd clearly seen her and Tuck come around from the back of the shed together too, if Tarr's elevated eyebrows said anything.

"I'll see you later," Tuck murmured, and then he raised both hands. "Guys, come on. My alarm went off literally sixty seconds ago."

Matt looked at him and said, "We've got four cows in labor. We need everyone." He gestured to Bobbie Jo. "You too, Bobbie Jo. Let's go." If he found it weird to see her and Tuck emerging from behind a shed, he didn't show it.

Tarr sure did, and Tuck paused in front of his best friend, said something, and then brushed by him. Tarr didn't move. He stared at Bobbie Jo, and while she'd never thought the cowboy didn't like her, she did a little bit right now.

"Do I need to worry about you breakin' his heart?" Tarr asked after several long moments.

Bobbie Jo shook her head. "No, sir," she said.

Tarr Olson—tall, tough, millionaire Tarr Olson—nodded. "All right, then," he said. "Come on. We've got four cows in labor, and we need everyone."

"Bobbie Jo?"

Her name rang through her head, and Bobbie Jo frowned as she rolled over. She just wanted to sleep. She'd had a terrible, no-good day, and though her stomach growled, she simply wanted to stay in bed.

"Bobbie Jo," Hattie, her cabinmate said, her voice much closer now. "Wake up. There's two of the hottest cowboys alive standing in our living room, holding food you said you wanted them to bring."

Bobbie Jo sat straight up, which did nothing to soothe the pounding in her head. "Tucker."

Hattie sat down on her bed, her deep brown eyes filled with concern. She'd only moved in a couple of weeks ago, but she and Bobbie Jo had hit it off. They'd become fast friends, and Bobbie Jo had really needed that.

She reached out and tucked Bobbie Jo's hair behind her ear, the way her mother might have done. "What's going on? Why did he bring dinner?" She glanced toward the open door and back to Bobbie Jo. "And Tarr Olson." Her face pinked up just saying his name, and Bobbie Jo managed to smile.

"I crashed his solitary lunch and bawled my eyes out about Lawson breaking up with me."

Hattie's eyes grew to the size of full moons by the end of the sentence. "There's—Lawson broke up with you?"

Bobbie Jo pushed her blanket off her legs as she nodded. She hadn't even bothered to change once she'd arrived home. She'd just collapsed into bed, and she sighed as she realized how dark it already was.

"So I guess he's not coming here for your birthday next month."

Bobbie Jo shook her head and stood, her hips feeling creaky. "No. Let's go see what the cowboys brought for dinner."

Hattie joined her, and as they crossed the small room, she whispered, "Do you think he actually cooks?"

"I mean, they live there together," Bobbie Jo whispered back. "And they haven't died yet, so." She shrugged and led the way out of the bedroom. She'd taken the one in the far corner, but it still only took four strides to arrive in the more public areas of the cabin.

Tucker and Tarr stood side by side, still in front of the door, the food they'd brought still in their hands. For some reason, that struck Bobbie Jo as funny. She grinned at them and gestured for them to come into the kitchen at the back of the house. "C'mon, boys," she said. "We won't bite."

Tarr exchanged a glance with Tuck, and then they stepped forward together. They'd clearly been home long enough to shower—both of them. She'd never seen cleaner clothes on either cowboy, unless they were going to church, and she eyed the pans and bags in their hands.

"What did you bring?" She looked from the covered casserole dish in Tuck's hands to his face. "And did you cook this?"

"I was in the birthing shed longer than you," he said as he slid the casserole dish onto the counter. "So, no. I enlisted the help of Cosette for this."

"She's a great cook," Tarr added as he put a plastic grocery bag of food on the counter. "She and Boone have us over sometimes."

"So you don't cook," Hattie said, not phrasing it as a question. Tarr's eyes flew to hers and locked there, and oh, the electricity in the room made the hair on Bobbie Jo's arms stand straight up.

"Tuck's better than me," Tarr said smoothly. "But we take turns in the kitchen." He flicked a look to Tuck. "Right, Tuck?"

"Right," he said easily. He pulled back the aluminum foil concealing the food inside. "It's chicken cordon bleu casserole—one of my favorites. She said it's not super warm, but it heats super fast in the oven or the microwave." He smiled at her, and wow, Bobbie Jo could sink into that. "Do you want me to put it in the oven?"

"I can?—"

"I insist," he said with more force in his voice than he'd used with her in a long time. If he ever had.

Bobbie Jo's fiery personality reared up, and she felt sparkly and electric herself as she glared at him. He stared back, a silent battle of wills, and Bobbie Jo was too tired to try to win this fight.

"Just let him take care of it," Tarr said, breaking the tension between them before Bobbie Jo could concede. "You ladies have worked real hard today, and some of us have had a lot to deal with." He nodded at Bobbie Jo, and she hadn't expected someone like him—someone so talented, so rich, and so handsome—to also be so kind.

"Thank you," she murmured. "The oven's great, Tuck. What else is there? I can get it ready while?—"

"Nah," he said. "Why don't you two go sit down and rest? We'll get it all set up for you and then leave you alone." He gave her another smile as he moved around her and Hattie and went over to the stove.

"You're not going to stay and eat with us?" Hattie asked.

"No, ma'am," Tarr said in his rich baritone voice. "Cosette made all this for us too." He reached for Bobbie Jo and then Hattie, then he gestured for them to head into the living room and leave the kitchen to the cowboys. "Really, ladies. Just rest for a few minutes. We'll get you all served."

Bobbie Jo looked at Hattie, who stared back at her with wonder in her expression. It tingled through Bobbie Jo too, and then she said, "All right, then. We might as well let someone take care of us for once."

"Yeah," Hattie said, and they moved into the living room and sat on the couch. The two cowboys got to work behind them, and Bobbie Jo couldn't help turning to watch them over her shoulder.

Tarr pulled out a bagged salad and started looking for a bowl. Tuck washed a container of grape tomatoes and then peeled the plastic off one of mushrooms. He added them to the bowl Tarr found, and they seemed to move in perfect sync with each other.

"They're incredible," Hattie whispered, causing Bobbie Jo to stop staring. She hunkered down in the couch with her cabinmate as Hattie added, "Why didn't you tell me Lawson broke up with you?"

"I just hadn't gotten to it yet," she whispered.

"Are you going to go out with Tucker?"

Bobbie Jo had no idea what to say. How could she be having feelings for someone else so quickly? Had she been the one cheating on Lawson?

Guilt ripped through her, and she shook her head no.

"All right," Tuck said. "I think we're ready."

Bobbie Jo sprang to her feet and faced them. They had bread and butter on the counter, along with the salad, plates, utensils, and cups with ice. She had no idea how long she and Hattie had been huddling on the couch, but it hadn't felt like too long.

Gratitude overcame all her other emotions, and Bobbie Jo went around the couch and toward Tucker. "Thank you," she said again, her voice almost catching on itself as she spoke. She moved right into him, intending to sweep a kiss along his cheek.

To her everlasting surprise, he turned his head and her lips caught part of his. A noise of shock left her mouth; Tuck put his hand on her waist; their first kiss became undeniably horrendous and awkward.

Bobbie Jo ducked her head, pure humiliation filling her over and over and over. Her face burned. Her stomach boiled. Her heartbeat bobbed and weaved and tripped over itself.

Not only had she failed with another man, but this time, there had been witnesses. She wanted to say, "Excuse me," in the most diplomatic, queenly voice she could and act like nothing had happened.

Instead, she met Tucker's eyes for the briefest of moments, caught the disappointment there, and fled down the hall to her bedroom, despite his voice calling, "Bobbie Jo, wait."