Page 61 of No Place for Single Cowboys

Except Cordy had.

After he’d let it all out, he’d felt… better. Cordy knew everything—there was nothing left to hide. She understood why he was the way he was and hadn’t said any crap about how the right person for him would come along, or that he needed therapy, or that the idea of the men in the family being cursed by love was ridiculous.

And she hadn’t run away screaming.

And she was still here with him.

Christ, she’d evenhuggedhim. Chance couldn’t remember the last time anyone had done that. Maybe Ruby when she and Quint had announced their engagement? Whenever his last hug had been, it had been nothing like the one he’d shared with Cordy.

That hug was dangerous. So was the kiss he’d given her in the truck. So was what he was planning after this class.

Chance craved it all anyway.

He took her elbow as she put on her name tag, guiding her to their table. An elbow was safe enough to touch. She didn’t need the help, but Chance felt better with his hand on her, making sure she was okay.

He did need to keep his touches friendly, almost distant. People were already gossiping enough about Cordy.

Speaking of gossips, Jaycee was coming around their table to hug Cordy. Surprise flickered over Cordy’s face before she returned the embrace.

She did that a lot, Chance had noticed. Like she was shocked someone would be nice to her when she wasn’t serving them. It messed with his head each time.

“I heard you moved,” Jaycee said. “That’s awful what Glenn did. You quit there, didn’t you?”

Cordy blinked at her. “You heard I’d moved?”

Chance hid his smile. That was the other thing that surprised her—how fast news spread in a small town. He kept trying to tell her.

“Yeah,” Jaycee said, “someone told me Justin was coming back, and everyone knows he’s way too lazy to find a place or a job on his own. So I knew he would take your job and your apartment. And then Gareth’s friend Jim saw the Kessal trucks in front of the Swing Inn with all those boxes, and he told us, and I figured you were moving out and in with Chance.” Jaycee finally took a breath. “Right?”

She looked at Chance and raised an eyebrow. He tried to look as innocent as a lamb.

“Yes.” Cordy seemed shell-shocked. “Wow, this town is good at spreading news.” She made it sound like a high crime. “I am staying with Chance. At least until I find a permanent place.”

“What about your job? I mean, everyone knows Justin will screw up again, move out again, and the bartending position will be open, but what about until then?”

“Um…”

Chance angled himself so that he was between Jaycee and Cordy. “We’ll figure that out when we get to it.”

Cordy put her hand on his arm in gratitude. “It all happened so fast,” she said apologetically to Jaycee. “I’m glad Chance had space for me. And the baby will have a nursery.”

“Oh my goodness!” Jaycee squealed and pulled Cordy into yet another hug.

Cordy’s gaze met his over Jaycee’s shoulder, and she gave him a wry smile. He smiled back, pleased that they seemed to be friends. Cordy needed more friends.

“You’ll have to tell me all about it,” Jaycee said. “We’ll get together for coffee this week.”

At the front of the room, Ms. Reston clapped her hands to call the class to order. “Second to last class,” she boomed. “Let’s get to it. We have so much left to cover.”

People scrambled to their seats. Chance held out a chair for Cordy and handed her backpack to her once she was settled.

Cordy immediately whipped out her notebook and pen. She put down every single one of Ms. Reston’s words like they were coming straight from heaven itself.

Chance understood why she did it, even if he didn’t think it was necessary. Ms. Reston was good, but nothing was earth-shattering. Just plain old common sense. Maybe he’d been to too many cow births to be impressed. Not that he’d ever say so, especially not to Ms. Reston.

“Today, we’ll do some squats,” Ms. Reston said. “It’s one of the best positions to help get baby down and those hips opened up.” She pointed to Chance and Cordy. “Would you two be willing to be my demo couple? You can say no.” But her tone said they really couldn’t.

Cordy went wide-eyed.

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