Page 40 of Reckoning with the Cowboy
Just like she questioned if he had what it took to stay in a relationship—let alone stay in Dry Gulch.
* * *
Cordell let outa wolf whistle when he opened the hotel’s front door and saw Josie standing there in that dress. For a moment, he was actually at a loss for words. “You look amazing. Come on in.”
He’d set up a table and two chairs in the center of the hotel lobby. He saw Josie’s eyes widen at the sight of them. “Aren’t these chairs amazing? I love all the curved wood. I had Alice Jones recover them. Do you like the burgundy fabric? It’s velvet.” He watched her run her hand over the chair seat and back.
“It’s beautiful, Cordell. I had no idea these were still in the hotel.” She looked around the lobby. “Were these lights here, as well?”
“They were. Just needed to be cleaned up. It was all here just waiting for me to uncover it down in the basement.” He couldn’t help sounding pleased. Everything he’d discovered confirmed what he already knew. He was supposed to come back here and restore the hotel, restore his life here, hopefully with Josie.
He pulled out the chair for her and she sat. He felt his body respond to the dress she had worn.Down, boy,he told himself. He couldn’t blow this even though he would have gladly skipped dinner altogether and taken her up to the finished hotel room where he’d been staying.
As he poured them each a glass of wine, he said, “I can’t take my eyes off that dress on you.”
“Wait until you see it off of me,” Josie said and chuckled.
“Don’t tease me, woman. I’m not that strong.”
At a knock at the front door, he said, “Our dinner has arrived. I hope you’re hungry.”
“You have no idea,” she said and smiled.
* * *
Josie would havegladly skipped dinner. She took a sip of her wine and looked around the lobby. Cordell had done an amazing job of bringing it back to life.
But it was the change in him that most interested her. She hadn’t been able to keep her eyes off him since he’d opened the door. He’d dressed up for their dinner in new jeans and a long-sleeved buttoned-up shirt with a leather jacket.
He came back with a tray full of covered dishes, set it down on a small table to the side and took off the jacket. “Let’s finish our wine first, if that’s all right with you.” He sat down, picked up his glass and held it up. “A toast?” He met her gaze. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to be back here. Max is recovering, the hotel is going well and…” His eyes locked with hers. “And you’re here in a dress that between you and me, it’s enough to make a grown man cry.”
They gently clinked glasses. “Can dinner wait? I really want to see what else you have done first.”
He cocked his head at her for a moment. “Sure.” He put down his glass and rose, helping with her chair, then he led her back to the owner’s suite.
She blinked in surprise. “Cordell, this is beautiful. It’s so…luxurious,” she said as she ran her hand along the rich wallpaper to the king bed with its velvet headboard. “It’s like from another time.”
“That’s the idea,” he said, sounding pleased. “It’s supposed to be an experience staying here.”
She tested the bed with her hand, feeling how soft it was, how inviting. “Is this where you stay?”
He shook his head. “I have one of the unfinished hotel rooms.”
“Why aren’t you staying here?” she asked, frowning in surprise.
“Come on,” he said without answering. “There’s something else I want to show you. We’re going to have a five-star restaurant. Wait until you see this chef’s kitchen.”
Josie watched him leave the room, his voice trailing behind him. She almost called him back, thinking she’d been too subtle, but he stopped part of the way and looked back at her.
“I thought maybe…” She’d never been shy or subtle, for that matter. Nor had Cordell ever been slow on the uptake. She nodded as if he’d spoken. Apparently, they weren’t taking up where they’d left off—at least not yet.
Disappointed, she took a long breath and let it out, then she followed him into the chef’s kitchen, wondering how he was able to afford all of this. It would be months before the hotel was up and running and he couldn’t be sure that he could even keep it occupied.
But she knew that wasn’t what worried her most. He wanted her as much as she wanted him. What was he waiting on?
* * *
“How was your dinner?”Amy Sue asked as Josie came into the farmhouse and dropped her purse unceremoniously onto the table.
