Cougar in Texas (Rugged and Risque 3)

“Please.” Melodie set a glass of water on the table and then left her to place the order.

Reese snapped open the morning newspaper and perused the articles. Before her pancakes were delivered, however, someone slid into her booth on the opposite side of her. She dropped the paper on the table and let out a sigh of irritation.

“I didn’t invite you to sit down, Tommy.”

“We need to talk.”

“We have nothing to say to each other.”

He pinned her with a hard look. “Reese, I don’t like what’s been going on with you this past month or so.”

Her laugh wasn’t the least bit bitter—more like incredulous. “Of all the asinine things you could say to me. Seriously. Get the hell out of my booth.”

Undeterred, he said, “You’ve got two m

en living with you.”

“It is a B&B, if you’ll recall.”

“Yeah? Exactly what kind of services are you renderin’ there, sugar?”

Without a second thought, she grabbed the glass from the table and threw the water in his face. Of course, every gaze in the restaurant flashed to them as Tommy sputtered and fumed.

Reese collected her purse and the paper. Standing, she glared at her moronic ex and said, “This is the absolute end. No more. You have no right to be watching me or gossiping about me. If you can’t handle me moving on with Caleb, then you ought to find yourself another town. We are through, Tommy. From this moment on, you are just a mistake I once made. A distant, distant memory.”

At the end of her diatribe, the diner fell silent. Until a slow clap pierced the quiet, followed by another, and another. Reese whirled around to find her friends and neighbors applauding the backbone she’d demonstrated. Some of them even stood.

She smiled, grateful for their support.

Feeling quite pleased with herself, she pulled some bills from her wallet and handed them to Melodie. “Sorry about the mess. This should cover my breakfast.”

“Oh, no,” she said with admiration in her eyes. “The pancakes are on me.” Over her shoulder, she yelled to the cook, “Alan, box up the flapjacks for Reese!”

“Thanks.”

Melodie eyed Tommy and said, “And just so you know, the only mess I see is the one who’s not welcomed in this joint.” She turned sharply and retrieved Reese’s packaged breakfast, then went back to the counter to refill coffee cups.

Feeling as though she’d finally broken a vicious cycle and had effectively set the record straight, Reese left the diner. Word would spread, of course. There was no stopping it in this town. But it felt damn good to finally, publically say her piece.

Chapter Ten

“You’re going at those posts as if you’re trying to break through a concrete barrier,” Sam said. “It’s just dirt, bro.”

Caleb dropped the sledgehammer to the ground and surveyed his work as his chest heaved from exertion. “Shit.” He’d damn near pummeled the last ten or so poles into the soil. They were crooked as hell too.

Sam stopped working several posts away and joined Caleb. He wrapped his gloved hands around a column and twisted it as he lifted, to pull it back out of the earth it’d been driven into.

Satisfied with the height adjustment, he gazed at Caleb. “Somethin’ bothering ya?”

“The fact I have no idea what’s going through Reese’s mind right now.”

“You two didn’t talk last night?”

“No. She went to her room, I went to mine. She seemed withdrawn before she left me and I swear all I can think is that she’s wondering why she’d put herself in the position she was in. I certainly can’t blame her for that, can I?”

“She did fine last night. I watched. I listened. True, Judith and Dad are going to do whatever they can to get you to dump her for Missy, but you’re not under their thumbs, Caleb. Keep doing what you want to do.”

“I’ve always walked a fine line. So have you. To do what we believe is right without being disrespectful or acting as though we’re not grateful for what have. But just because our family has money doesn’t mean we have to be puppets. Especially at our ages.”