The Cougar and the Cowboy

She came around to his side of the bar and put her arms around his neck. “Listen, Jace, I’ve seen this coming for quite a while now and I’ve been saving for this day. You can’t get rid of me that easy. Let’s give it a few more months and see what happens. Maybe business will continue to pick up. I’ll live on my tips and you don’t have to pay me…unless…”

That made him laugh. “You never give up, do you? You’re going to try to convince me to sleep with you, one way or the other. I don’t think I can claim that as a legitimate expense on my taxes.”

Maggie stood and started to make the big pot of coffee for the regular crowd. “There is one stipulation and it has nothing to do with sex. No one else can know I’m not receiving a paycheck, agreed?”

He nodded his head. “Agreed. But I will continue to keep record of your hours and if this crisis is ever over or if I sell the place, you will be the first person I pay.”

The regulars were beginning to straggle in for their morning cup of coffee.

“Hey, look, fellas. Either we’re late or Jace is early. Couldn’t sleep last night, Cowboy?”

Jace shook his head and grinned. “I slept just fine.”

“I’ll bet you did after spending time with that purty woman Collier brought in a few nights ago. Does he know you’re steppin’ on his toes with her?”

“We only met here by chance last night. How do you old gossips know that already?”

They all laughed. “Haven’t you figured out by now we know everything that goes on in this town?”

Ralph added, “We know you took her home, too. I guess you’re finally taking our advice, huh? Date an older woman with money and ask her to invest in The Branding Iron. I think you found your cougar, for sure.

“Slow down and back up. Who says she has money and no, we’re not dating.”

“Come on, Jace. She lives on Flagler Rd. Everybody living there has money and lots of it.”

“Believe what you want. I have to get home. I’m teaching a young kid about the rodeo.”

CHAPTER 24

DANI’S CELL PHONE beeped but she didn’t recognize the number. She answered cautiously.

“Hello?”

“Hi Danielle. This is Mitch. I work at The Branding Iron and I brought you and Jace water and fruit the first day you were in there and I wondered if you’re not busy if you might want to go to the movies with me on Friday night. I know it’s kind of short notice but I didn’t have your phone number and Jace left without giving it to me but Maggie still had it and that’s my only night off.”

Dani had to laugh. Mitch didn’t take a breath anywhere in those sentences and she was pretty sure that would win a prize as the longest ‘asking for a date’ in history. She made a quick decision to accept and simply said, “Yes.”

There was a rather long pause and then she heard him say, “Really? I mean…great, great! Is there a particular film you’d like to see?”

“I’ll let you choose, Mitch. I like most any kind except total blood and gore.”

“Okay. Would you like to have a bite to eat before? I can pick you up around five if that works for you.”

She assured him that would be perfect before she remembered she was supposed to pick Luke up from Jace’s house at 6:30.

She called Jace. “I don’t think Luke will be able to come to your house on Friday afternoon. I’ve made plans and won’t be able to pick him up and Dad doesn’t drive any longer.”

“It’s okay, Dani. He can still come over. We don’t have too much longer to work together so I hate to skip a day. What do you say to allowing him to stay the night? I’m not a prize-winning chef but I won’t let him starve. Then he’ll be here fresh and early on Saturday morning and I’ll bring him home around noon because I’ll have to be at the bar on Saturday evening.”

She had several thoughts go through her head in rapid succession. There were so many horrible stories out there about men and young boys and she had been entrusted with Luke’s safety. How well did she really know Jace? ‘You crawled in bed with him and trusted him, Silly.’ That was a true statement even if she said it in her head. “Yes, that will be fine, if Luke is okay with it. I’ll talk to him and let you know.”

Later that afternoon Cal called to see how things were going.

“Is Luke behaving himself?”

“You know you don’t even have to ask that question, Calvin Frasier,” Dani told him. She handed the phone to Luke so he and Cal, and Lucy who was listening on speaker, could talk for a while. Luke described the activities Jace had him doing. He also talked about all the trophies Jace had won. Cal wasn’t so sure that would lead to the outcome they’d hoped for but maybe Jace had a plan.

“We’re happy to hear things are going well, Luke. Put Dani back on the phone, will you?”