Chapter Two

Bobbie Jo Hanks had a temper that fired like an automatic weapon when she got irritated. Or even when she just hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before.

And right now, as ice-cold cola seeped into her clothes and ran down her skin, a deadly combination of exhaustion and irritation made her go, "Tucker Hammond, what is wrong with you?"

Someone in the elevator had gasped. Someone else had cried out. Bobbie Jo took a step back, the brown puddle of liquid at her feet only adding to the nightmare unfolding in the elevator.

She held up both hands as if she'd dipped them in tar and looked at Tucker like he'd done the worst thing imaginable.

"I'm so sorry," he gushed. "I just got on, and I didn't—" He cut off, his face turning a deeper shade of red with every passing moment. "What are you doing here?"

So not the time for this conversation.

"Tucker," Hunter Hammond said. "Brother, you're in the way. Let's let everyone get off this car. Uncle Wes went to get security."

Tucker spun toward his older brother. "Security? Why?"

"They'll close this car down," Hunter said matter-of-factly. Then he turned toward someone, laughed loudly, and drew the man into his chest for a hug. "Howdy, Earnest. We're gonna need maintenance and janitorial."

"Oh, ropin' and ridin'," Tucker muttered under his breath, and it almost made Bobbie Jo smile.

The elevator car started to whine, and he did get out of the way then. That allowed the people behind Bobbie Jo to get off the elevator, and she looked helplessly at Troy, a co-worker she'd been about to go to lunch with.

"I'll be at The Corner Bakery," he said. "I'll get you the soup and salad combo. Catch up to me when you're cleaned up." And off he went, leaving Bobbie Jo only a single step from leaving the elevator and getting her overdue meal.

Tucker stood in front of the doors so they couldn't close, and the high-pitched wail only bothered her more. She let out an exasperated sigh and looked over to the panel of buttons. She jabbed at the red one, the one she'd use if the elevator stalled or she needed help, and on the second try, she hit it.

A siren sounded, and Bobbie Jo cowered down as if fighter jets would soon be peppering the building with bullets.

"Great," Tucker yelled over the noise. "As if everyone wasn't already staring at us."

"Us?" She glared at him. "I think you mean me. You don't have cola all over you."

"Don't I?" He held up the ruined cup, which still dripped ominously with Diet Coke.

At least she assumed it was Diet Coke. She'd never known Tucker to drink anything else.

You might not know anything about him, she thought, and Bobbie Jo felt herself coming down out of the red zone. Thankfully, before either of them could say anything else, more people arrived.

A maintenance worker and a man with a mop, along with at least three of the men who stood at the front counter and took care of any problems with people coming and going in the lobby.

"Let's get you out of that puddle," the janitor said. "Maybe the showers, Mister Hammond?"

"Sure," Hunter and an older gentleman said. Bobbie Jo didn't know him, but he bore the same long, sloped nose as Tucker and Hunter, so she assumed they were related. They both laughed while Tucker stood there with a brown paper bag and his half-crushed cup.

Hunter gestured to the older man. "We're both Mister Hammond. We both ran HMC."

"Oh." Bobbie Jo didn't know what else to say. "I don't need a shower. I don't have other clothes here." She looked over to Tucker, but he'd handed his cup off and ducked his head.

"We'll find you something," Hunter said jovially. "Come on, Bobbie Jo." He guided her out of the elevator, and the maintenance worker stepped onto it and silenced the alarm. "We've got full facilities on this level, and I can get you something new to wear for today. Unless you've moved closer? I can send someone to your place and get you something. Or you can just jet home really quick."

Of course he could do any number of things. Hunter had unlimited resources, and she had no doubt he had any number of minions who would run to her apartment and get her precisely what she dictated to them.

She glanced over to Tucker, her heartbeat doing strange flips and flops in her chest. She really wished her old cabinmate had never called him the hottest cowboy in the country, because since she had, every time she looked at him, that was all she could think.

He'd cut his hair recently, if the clean-shaved look of his neck and up around his ears meant anything. He wore a cowboy hat indoors, which wasn't surprising, but only made her like him more. Blue jeans—standard for a cowboy. His shirt wasn't a polo or a button-up, but a plain old short-sleeved T-shirt, which meant he hadn't come in from the farm for lunch today.

The dark gray made him seem a bit more mysterious, as did the logo on the front—a B, J, and Y—as she had no idea what it meant.

He looked up at her, and their eyes met for a moment. Her whole world changed in that moment, and Bobbie Jo didn't know how or why or even which way was up anymore. She only knew that Tucker Hammond had walked right back into her life, spilled a lot of cold cola down the front of her body, and then stood there looking like the surface of the sun.

"Bobbie Jo?" Hunter asked, and when she slid her gaze to his, she found him looking over to Tuck.

"I don't live close," she said. "I really can just…get a new lab coat."

"Tuck here will get you something." Hunter grinned with all he had as he nudged Bobbie Jo toward the Cowboy Who Hadn't Moved.

"What?" he barked. "I don't know how to do that. I didn't run this place."

"Mike's expecting us," Hunt said. "We've got some business to discuss with him."

The other Mister Hammond looked at Hunter, obviously confused. "He won't?—"

"He is starving," Hunt said over him. "He's been texting me for twenty minutes." He still wore a smile akin to a clown, and Bobbie Jo's ire skyrocketed again.

"I'm starving," Tucker said. "I don't know where the shower facilities are, and I certainly don't have everyone in this building queueing up to get my autograph." He glared at Hunter. "You're embarrassing me."

Bobbie Jo's heart went out to Tucker, because he was a sweet, sweet man. Her lips tingled with the memory of kissing him. "I'm really okay," she said. "I'll just go get cleaned up in the restroom."

Hunter had fallen back a step, and he didn't say anything. The older man stood there too, obviously going to let someone else play this out.

Tucker said, "Me too. Let's go, Bobbie Jo. You two go on up without me. I know the way to Mike's office, at least." He stalked away from the situation, and Bobbie Jo decided not to dawdle.

She went after him, saying, "Tucker."

"Look, I'm really sorry," he said. "I just—my brother's been riding me all day, and I was just in a hurry to get upstairs and eat. I should've just waited to get on the elevator."

He had the longest legs ever, and Bobbie Jo jogged to catch up to him. "Hey," she said, her temper rising again. "Can you just wait?"

Tucker came to a complete stop now, and she nearly ran straight into his back. He turned, and if she hadn't stopped herself in time, his shoulder would've taken her out. "What?" he barked.

She blinked at him, trying to make the pieces of him line up. "I've never seen you in a bad mood."

He rolled his eyes. "Of course you have."

She actually smiled. "No, I don't think I have."

Tucker's square shoulders deflated. "Well, I guess there's a first time for everything." He dropped his chin, his right hand still gripping that brown bag. He looked up at her from beneath the brim of that sexy hat. "I really am sorry."

"Do you have the same phone number?" she asked.

He raised his head fully and stared openly at her. "Sure do," he said easily. Then he swallowed, so maybe it wasn't as easy to say as she'd assumed.

Bobbie Jo wanted him to ask her out. Words streamed through her head, things she could say if she had more courage, if she wanted to know what he was doing here, on a Wednesday afternoon, at her new place of employment.

But she wanted him to ask her out. Him to ask if he could text her or call her. Maybe suggest dinner, so she could kiss him before they even got inside the restaurant.

He said nothing.

Maybe their kiss almost three months ago hadn't meant as much to him as it had her. Maybe she wasn't a good kisser, and men like Tucker probably had plenty of women to compare her to.

"Where you livin' now?" he asked.

"I've got a place up in Aurora," she said. "It's a cute little blue house with three bedrooms. I share with two other girls." She swallowed, not sure why she'd started rambling about where she lived.

"Aurora," he said. "That's still a commute."

"Everything is a commute to HMC," she said. "Unless you have the last name Hammond and can live in the building next door." She quirked her left eyebrow at him, almost daring him to contradict her.

He graced her with a smile. "You're right about that."

"Did you sign another cowboy?"

"Not yet," he said. "I did summer rodeo camp work in Coral Canyon, with a couple of big-name cowboys. Blaze and Jem Young."

Her eyes dropped to his chest. "Is that what the BJY is?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Her fingers stuck together, and she pried them apart. The soda had started to dry, and she really should get into the bathroom, get cleaned up, and get to The Corner Bakery. Troy would have her food, and he'd demand to know the story behind her knowing the Hammonds.

When he didn't ask or offer anything else, Bobbie Jo took a breath. For a moment there, that single moment suspended in time with their eyes locked, she'd thought God had reunited them. That He'd brought Tucker back to the area specifically so they could have their second chance at something meaningful and lasting.

Maybe he's dating someone else.

The thought struck her like a ton of bricks being dropped on her head, and Bobbie Jo let out a frustrated breath. "Okay, well?—"

"There you are, sweetheart."

Both she and Tucker turned toward the male voice, and she found another co-worker rushing toward her. Ben wore a semi-crazed, half-panicked look, and he lifted his arm as he approached her.

That was when the word sweetheart rang in her ears. "Ben?—"

His arm landed around her shoulders, something he'd never done before. He tucked her into his side like he'd done it a thousand times, though. He grinned down at her like he was just so thrilled to see her.

"What—?"

"Who's this?" he asked, cutting her off. He definitely cooled as he looked at Tucker. "Is he that friend you said we might be able to double with?"

"What?" Bobbie Jo swung her attention to Tucker, who had both eyebrows sky-high now.

"Double with?" Tucker asked. He looked at Bobbie Jo. "He's your boyfriend?"

Bobbie Jo wanted to laugh, but her throat seemed to be full of sand with only a hint of saliva, and everything felt too thick.

Surely Tucker wouldn't buy that. Ben looked nothing like the type of man Bobbie Jo would ever, ever go out with. He wore slacks, for crying out loud. Tucker was a smart cowboy; he'd figure it out. He'd make a joke, laugh about the ridiculousness of her and Ben, something.

But things were moving so fast, and neither of them had time to say anything before Ben said, "Yeah, I'm her boyfriend. Who are you?"

Ohhh, boy. Is Bobbie Jo going to go along with this ruse to protect her heart? Or will she make sure Tucker knows she's available? Preorder HIS NINTH PROMISE so you don't miss a moment of life in Ivory Peaks with the Hammond family!