Page 2 of In Full Bloom

He looks like he’s about to say something, but the bartender places a handful of bottles on the table.

The cowboy collects them, still looking like he wants to say something, but not quite sure what.

“Enjoy your night,” I say as I turn back to my drink, leaving him no choice but to carry on with his life. He turns and walks away.

I’ve barely taken another sip of my drink when he’s back.

“Are you a parking ticket? Because you’ve got fine written all over you.”

His voice is deep and smooth in my ear with just a touch of roughness around the edges.

I turn to face him. “Seriously?”

The cowboy grins down me. “Thought I’d try another tack. At the very worst, I figured it would make you laugh.”

“At you maybe,” I say, forcing my lips to remain in a straight line.

A catcall comes from the corner. “You go, Dallas,” a voice shouts across the room. A voice that makes my insides want to curl.

As much as I want him to leave me alone, I can’t ignore that. Against my better judgement I open my mouth. “Did he just call you Dallas? Like the Dallas Cowboys football team?”

He indicates the seat, asking if he can sit. I roll my eyes. “Whatever, just answer the question, cowboy.”

He slides onto the stool and I definitely don’t notice the way the denim of his jeans tightens around his thighs as he props one foot on the bottom rung of the stool. His other foot remains on the floor and he looks so at ease I want to pull his hair out. If I tried to sit like that I would definitely fall off the stool. My feet barely rest on the bottom rung, let alone reach the floor.

And god, those thighs. I press my own together.

“It’s a nickname,” he says, dragging my attention away from his legs, which is probably for the best. “My name is actually Dean, but all my life I wanted to be a cowboy and the name kind of stuck. I thought I’d left it behind when I moved here, but I was betrayed.”

“Betrayed?”

“Yup.” He sighs. “By the person closest to me.” He places his hand on his heart like he’s been mortally wounded.

I roll my eyes and force away another smile. I don’t want to find him cute, but I do. I most certainly don’t want to find him hella hot. Which I also do.

“So, what brings you to town?” he asks.

“Oh, we aren’t doing that are we?”

He shrugs. “We don’t have to.”

“Good.” I take a final swig of my drink and set the glass down, the ice cubes clinking. “Can you keep a secret?” The bad decisions keep on rolling.

He leans in closer, his strong, tanned forearm flexing against the bar. “What kind of secret?”

“One that’ll serve you well, if you can keep it.”

His eyebrows shoot up. He makes a ‘go on’ gesture.

“If you can keep your mouth shut and follow the rules we might be able to continue this elsewhere, without the small talk obviously.”

“The rules?”

I nod and hold up two fingers. “One is that you tell no one. Not a soul. You don’t even talk to people in this town about me, not a single mention.”

He eyes me as though I’m crazy, and I probably am for even entertaining this idea. As far as bad ideas go, this is right up there with my worst. An employee at Constellation Station is not the guy I should be going to for scratching an itch.

“I can do that,” he says after a pause.

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