Chapter Twelve
“I saw Austin today.”
Kristen’s heart did a double beat as Whitney sauntered into her job-searching war room, but her voice sounded gratifyingly normal as she said, “I thought he’d be in Oregon by now.”
“He’s not. He and his sister-in-law stopped by FlintWorks.” Whitney held up her glass in a salute.
Kristen shrugged, hoping the stress of trying to look unconcerned wasn’t making her face pink—because the truth was that memories of Austin weren’t fading as quickly as she’d hoped. “Well, he’ll probably be leaving any day.”
“Probably.” Whitney was watching her closely and it was getting annoying.
“What?” Kristen asked in a flat voice.
Whitney made a frustrated gesture. “Nothing. I guess.”
Kristen dropped her head back. She could keep stonewalling, or she could come clean and stop the searching looks. “No big secret, Whit. Austin and I got together and now we’re going our separate ways.”
“It’s really none of my business.”
Kristen drilled her sister with a hard look. “No kidding.”
“But after the secret unemployment, I’m worried about you, okay?”
“Allowed.”
“So if you broke up, then that was a goodbye kiss?”
“We didn’t break up because we were never together. Well, we were, but with an understanding.”
“No-strings-attached sex?” Whitney sounded slightly incredulous.
“More than sex. Hard to explain. Let’s just say…we understand each other and what we needed from one another and what’s realistic for the future.”
“No-strings-attached sex.”
“We were more than fuck buddies.” The words blurted out and then Kristen snapped her mouth shut. Where had that come from?
She cleared her throat, but before she could speak, Whitney said, “It’s hard to explain. I get it.” She grimaced at the sticky-note-covered wall Kristen had created in the course of her job search. “You had your fun and now you’re back.”
“That does kind of sum it up.”
“You and Austin…what happens now?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never done anything like this. We’re supposed to be friends.”
“Who are out of contact.”
“Probably for the best while we settle back into our niches.” Because giving up sex with Austin hadn’t been the easiest thing she’d ever done. And she missed telling him things that she probably wouldn’t tell anyone else. Sex partner. Confidante. Not a fuck buddy.
Whitney still had an odd look on her face, so Kristen changed the subject. “I have a job interview.”
A wide smile brightened her twin’s face. “In Montana?”
“In Reno, believe it or not. One of my contacts came through. I have an interview.” She explained the situation as she and Whitney went to the kitchen, where Whitney pulled a bottle of white wine from the fridge. She poured two glasses without asking Kristen if she wanted one. Some things were simply understood.
“Sounds like he wants to hire you.” Indeed, her former colleague who’d gone to work for another company had sounded very interested in hiring her.
“I hope so. It would solve some problems.” Money, security. Things like that. And now that she knew what it was like to not have a job, she’d be double vigilant about what was going on with the company—as she should have been before. The odd thing was that she didn’t feel like dancing in the streets at the prospect of going back to the place she’d called home for a number of years. She loved Reno, she wanted a job, so what was the deal?
“How long do you think this process will take? Before you know?”
“No telling.” That was the hell of it. “It depends on how I stack up against the other candidates. What my references say about me. A lot of things play into it.”
“Want to wait tables?”
“Funny. Ha. Ha.”
Whitney sipped her wine, watching Kristen over the rim of her glass. “No. I don’t mean it as a joke. We need a sub at FlintWorks. Just until our college girl, Macy, arrives in two weeks. You’d earn a little cash, and it would keep you busy.”
“You’re serious? Knowing my history? Six days waiting tables, then fired?”
“If it doesn’t work out—”
Kristen’s eyes went wide. “What? You’d fire me?”
Whitney shrugged. “I’d pretty much have to.”
Kristen gave a sniff. “Well, I wouldn’t mind the cash.” And she wasn’t a total newb at serving drinks…plus, she’d be fully clothed.
“You’d have to work the crappy shifts.”
“Don’t sugarcoat it.”
Whitney laughed. “Want to come down to FlintWorks and meet my boss tomorrow?”
Kristen pretended to consider for a moment, even though she’d already made up her mind. She could conduct her job search around FlintWorks shifts. It would do her good to get out. More than that, she wanted to get out, which was very out of character. Her time with Austin honestly had done her some good. That was the part of their relationship that she was going to focus on…not the twinges of regret about never having sex with him again. Never laughing about stupid stuff in the wee hours of the morning.
“Kris?”
Her attention snapped back to her twin. “Yes. Definitely. I’m all about meeting your boss.”
“Just don’t embarrass me.”
“What would it feel like to have your twin embarrass you?” Kristen asked.
Whitney peeled a sticky note with a phone number off the clipboard sitting on the counter between them and stuck it onto Kristen’s forehead. “No. Idea.”
*
Waiting tables at FlintWorks was very different than serving drinks at the Silver Bow. For one thing, her body was fully covered. When Kristen looked down, she saw the bright blue FlintWorks staff shirt, rather than her breasts threatening to escape lace-edged red satin. And she wore running shoes instead of fishnets and bootie shoes. Her feet were happy. She was happy.
After breaking in on Sunday afternoon, she had a crazy patchwork schedule. An afternoon followed by an evening, followed by a lunch shift, followed by another evening. No rhyme or reason, because she was filling in here and there as needed, but she didn’t mind. It wasn’t as if she had anything else on her agenda, other than the continued job search and her prospective interview in Reno.
Her cousins, Shane and Cody Marvell, had stopped by toward the end of her first shift and invited her to the ranch to help with the spring fencing repairs. She declined their kind offer, but enjoyed catching up with her rowdy cousins after she’d clocked out.
“You’re into numbers, right?” Shane’s question jerked her back to the present. “Accounting and stuff like that?”
“Yes.”
Shane dropped an arm over the back of his chair in a casual gesture. “Can you help me with my taxes?”
Kristen’s jaw dropped. “You know taxes are due on April 15th, right?”
Her cousin gave her a charming smile. “I filed for an extension. I want to write off some of my rodeo expenses, but I don’t want to pay penalties later. A lady friend of mine barrel races, and she just got nailed. Wasn’t pretty.”
“I’m not a tax person per se…but I’ll see what I can do.”
“Maybe you could help me, too,” Cody said.
“You haven’t filed either?”
Cody sent his brother a look. “No. I’m thinking about starting a business in addition to the ranch. I need some advice.”
Kristen propped a hand on her hip, narrowed her eyes. “You guys aren’t making up stuff to help your unemployed cousin, are you?” She wasn’t about to be the family charity.
Cody and Shane shook their heads in unison.
“Our ranch accountant is swamped,” Cody said. “We’ll pay whatever the going rate is.”
“The family rate is free.”
“Then we’ll find someone else,” Shane said easily.
“You guys are awful.”
“Yeah,” Cody said. “We are. And we’re paying you.”
On Monday, Kristen learned the ropes of lunch service, which was almost as exhausting as a busy night at the Silver Bow. She’d just finished bussing a table, and was about to take a break when she noticed Whitney signaling her to the bar. She crossed the room with her loaded tray, then nearly dropped it when she spotted Austin half perched on a barstool. Her heart slammed against her ribs as she met his oh-so-blue eyes, then let her gaze slip down to his half-smiling gorgeous mouth.
He looked…better than she remembered.
How could that be, when he’d been pretty damned perfect in her head?
“Hey,” she said with what she hoped looked like an easy smile. Her heart wasn’t supposed to start hammering like this. It simply was not.
This was the moment when they kicked off their new relationship—their casually friendly relationship that was manageable and realistic. This was not the moment for her hormones to hopefully whisper, “May we have more, please?”
No. No more. Not doable. You’re an accountant. He’s a bull rider. No middle ground. Remember?
Yes. That was the thing to focus on—no middle ground. And she would focus hard.
She set her tray on the bar as her insides tumbled with anticipation of something she wasn’t going to get. Take it easy—it’s going to take time for kinetic memory to fade. And pheromonal memory. He smelled so damned good, and the scent reminded her of long nights in tangled sheets.
“Just came to say goodbye.”
Whitney headed to the far end of the bar and started polishing glasses. Kristen shot her a look, then said to Austin. “Are you going to order something?”
“Nope.”
“You only came to say goodbye?”
His expression softened. “Seemed like the thing to do.”
Kristen felt the same. She’d wanted to say goodbye, wish him luck out on the road. “Let me drop off this tray and I’ll walk you to your truck.” She hoped she made it. She hadn’t expected just seeing him again to have this kind of effect on her—to make her knees feel all rubbery and her chest tight.
“Sure.”
She took care of the tray and clocked out for her break. Austin was waiting by the door when she came out of the staff room. Lindsey, the other server, gave her a thumbs-up and Kristen somehow refrained from rolling her eyes. Yes, Austin was thumbs-up worthy, but Lindsey had misread the situation between them.
“You’re moving better,” she said as they stepped outside and started toward Austin’s truck.
“Drugged out of my head.”
Her eyes went wide before she realized he was kidding. Okay. Good. Tension was now officially eased.
“The leg is feeling better.” He stopped close to his truck, cupping the keys in one hand. “I’m surprised to see you back in the service industry.”
“It’s different here.” She fought a smile. Lost. It felt good to talk to him. “I have an interview. A Reno company.”
He gave a small laugh. “Reno. Of course.”
“It’s a company I had targeted from the beginning.”
“Good luck with that.” Austin folded his arms over his chest. “I’m…uh…giving an inspirational speech at a high school in a couple days.”
“Really?” She tried not to look surprised.
“Yep. I’m going to talk about taking a non-traditional path to success.”
“You’re the poster child for that.”
“I am.”
Kristen smiled as an awkward silence settled over them. She wanted to move, but she was afraid to move.
Austin shifted his weight. “Well, I just wanted to say goodbye.”
She nodded, her gaze traveling over him, stirring memories and causing yet another swell of heat to warm her body from the inside out. She swallowed. “I appreciate it.”
“Good luck with the job interview.”
“Thanks.”
Austin dropped his chin to his chest, then raised it again. Their gazes met. Held for one heart-stopping electric moment.
This isn’t wise.
Austin reached for her, almost as if he couldn’t help himself, and a second later her arms were around his neck; her mouth was on his. He grew hard against her stomach as he ran a hand over her hip, cupped her ass and pressed her against him.
A car pulled into the far end of the lot and they broke apart, putting a good two feet of gravel between them. Austin shoved his thumbs into his belt loops and Kristen folded her arms over her chest, but their gazes held. He wanted her. She wanted him.
Not good.
Kristen cleared her throat. Her face—make that her entire body—felt like it was on fire. “That was…unexpected.”
“Was it?” He swallowed after he spoke.
“I’d convinced myself it was.”
“We’re going to have to work harder.”
“Yes.” She meant it. “Like maybe not see each other.”
“Do we need to go that far?”
“We might.”
When they’d been in Salt Lake City, she’d convinced herself that after they’d returned to Marietta, to their everyday lives, their perceived closeness would be revealed for what it was—something ethereal, created in a false environment. Something that couldn’t stand up to reality. They would be friends, but not confidants and lovers. That had been just a quick side trip. Her adventure.
“Don’t think too hard about this.”
Kristen frowned at him, disturbed that he knew exactly what she was doing. “Yeah. Right.” How was she not supposed to think about this?
He tipped her chin up. “We’ll get this under control.”
“Probably, because there’s a good chance we won’t be bumping into one another all that often.”
“Which is why you don’t need to think too hard.” He spoke in a low voice that made her insides tumble again.
“Good luck on the rides.”
He gave her a cocky smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes, which remained fixed on her face. “Always.”
She could barely suppress the urge to lean closer, to kiss him again, which was crazy. And what was crazier still was that part of her wanted to climb into his truck and take off with him—to return to their fantasyland.
Never in her life had she felt an impulse like this.
The guy was like a drug.
“I have to go, Austin.”
“Me, too.” He reached down and took her hand, pressed a kiss into the palm, then closed her fingers over it.
“Give it time. Things will mellow out. We’ll be okay.”
She clenched her fingers around her tingling palm. “Yes,” she said in a determined voice. “We will.”