Page 1 of PenPal Hero

CHAPTER 1: ASKED OUT

July

Bonnie Yates cast an anxious look into the back of her oldest brother’s pickup truck. “If you drive any faster, my suitcases might end up in the next county.” A hot, dry wind was swirling across the Texas panhandle, kicking up dust and rolling tumbleweeds across the two-lane highway leading to downtown Hereford.

“As if.” Jackson snorted. “They weigh a ton. You don’t know the meaning of traveling light, sis. I should know, since I’m the one who carried all fourteen of them to the truck.”

You exaggerate, dork! She wrinkled her nose at him. “There’s only four. You might need to get your eyes checked, old man.” There. If he continued to treat her like she was twelve instead of twenty-one, she considered it fair game to treat him like he had one foot in the grave at thirty-one. The ten-year difference in their ages gave him no right to act like a second father.

He gave her one of his maddening older brother chuckles instead of answering.

Her temper simmered over her failure to get a rise out of him. Bickering was kind of their thing. “And you didn’t have to carry squat. I could’ve driven myself to work.” Correction. She would’ve gladly driven herself to work. She adored her white Honda Civic. It wasn’t new, but it was paid for. Plus, she kept it so much cleaner than he kept his truck. Hers smelled like the strawberry air freshener dangling from her rear-view mirror, while his smelled like horses, hay, and dirt. With five older cowboy brothers, she was used to the stench, but still…

Jackson snorted again. “It’s a bad idea to leave your car parked at work for an entire week, especially with all the vehicle break-ins around here lately.”

It was annoyingly hard to argue with a guy who was usually right. She waved a hand airily. “What’s up with that, anyway?” She’d heard about the break-ins but hadn’t given them much thought until now.

“Not sure.” He shook his head, sobering. “Could be a couple of bored rich kids stirring up trouble. Who knows? The sheriff says vandalism has been up ever since they built that row of posh townhouses on Rock Creek Avenue.”

“Ooo,” Bonnie cooed, tipping her head at him. “You’re buddies with the sheriff now?”

He didn’t answer, making her wonder all the harder where that friendship had sprung from. Her oldest brother was normally a recluse, taking on more and more ranch management responsibilities as their father skidded ever closer to retirement. As far as she knew, Jackson wasn’t even dating anyone right now.

Neither am I. She blamed that on her brothers’ collective show of overprotectiveness. All five of them pretty much chased off any guy who dared look her way. It had been like that for as long as she could remember. Thanks to them, she was probably doomed to a future without a husband or children. Yay me!

Jackson cruised slowly down Main Street. Though it was only seven-thirty in the morning, it was already crowded with vehicles, mostly pickup trucks since Hereford was right smack in the middle of cattle country. Most of their farmer and cowboy neighbors rose at the crack of dawn.

Somehow, Jackson managed to nose into a parking spot right in front of Underwood Realty, where she worked.

She gave him a sour look. “You lead a charmed life.”

He winked at her as he mashed the emergency brake into place and turned off the motor. “For an old man? Yeah. Guess I do.” His smirk told her he was enjoying throwing her earlier comment back in her face.

Scowling harder at him, she pushed the passenger door open. “Try not to miss me too much while I’m away. I know it’ll be hard, but…” She left that parting shot hanging in the air between them as she hopped to the ground.

She was attending some sort of professional retreat with her boss, Alice Underwood. Alice had emailed her the itinerary a few days ago, but Bonnie hadn’t bothered giving it more than a cursory scan. The biggest reason she’d agreed to go was to enjoy the room service. That, and for the much-needed break from her five hulking, overbearing brothers.

Why did I have to be the youngest kid in the family? Her brothers were so much taller, bigger, and meaner than her. Extra emphasis on the meaner part. It was as if they lived to play pranks on her, and she was way too outnumbered to dish it back the way she wanted to. Not having a single sister to help out was so unfair.

Almost before her boots hit the ground, Jackson had exited the vehicle and zoomed around to her side of it. He stayed right in her path while he leaned around her to reach for the handle of her nearest suitcase.

“Oh, for pity’s sake! Move!” She gave him an unladylike shove.

Instead of obeying, he slung an arm around her shoulders and hugged her. “Stay safe.” His voice was so gruff with emotion that it tugged at her heartstrings.

“Like you give me any other choice,” she grumbled. He was always hovering. For reasons she would probably never understand, he still blamed himself for her kidnapping six years earlier from the parking lot at Mack’s General Store on the outskirts of Dallas. She’d been fifteen at the time. From what she’d been told, she’d been missing for three full days before she’d returned barefoot down the gravel road leading toward home. Her family had moved several hundred miles north shortly afterward, supposedly to give her a fresh start.

To this day, she had no memory of where she’d been or what had happened to her while she was away. However, Jackson was the one who’d driven her to the store, then left her inside his truck while he ran inside to grab a soda. He’d never gotten over it.

He hugged her a little tighter before letting her go. “If you’re hoping for an apology, you’re gonna be waiting a while. Last time I checked, you’re the only sister I have to look after.”

“Lucky me,” she trilled in a bored voice.

“That you are.” He winked at her as he hauled her bright pink suitcases, two in each hand, to the front entrance of the realty building.

“Show off,” she hissed as she followed him, trying not to think about the fact that she would’ve labeled him as hot if he hadn’t been her brother. He seriously checked all the boxes — good looking in a Clark Gable sort of way (the dustier version in jeans and boots), well built from a lifetime of heavy lifting on the ranch, had a solid job, and owned a ridiculously tricked-out brown truck with oversized tires. Oh, and he was single. Very, very single. That part still puzzled her. The local single ladies flirted with him all the time. Or tried to. He hardly seemed to notice.

Though Bonnie attempted to reach around him and push the door open for him, he wouldn’t even let her do something as simple as that. He hurriedly set down two of her suitcases and did the honors. It was the way he always treated her —like she was made of glass or something even more breakable.

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