Danni Rose (The Sherwood)

They had been dating about six months when she finally decided to give it up. He was nice enough. Handsome. Blonde and blue-eyed. The opposite of Jackson in every way. Looks. Demeanor. She hoped he would be the one to help her finally get over him.

She tried hard to like Andy. He liked her. In the end, after a year and half, of mediocre sex and lackluster communication, she broke it off. Andy was getting serious about Danni. She was not serious about him at all.

She’d been alone since then. Her brothers teased her about her dry spell. It was more than a dry spell but the one man she wanted she couldn’t have. He was in the kitchen washing dishes tonight. She caught a glance of him when she had Seth tie her apron.

She stepped around Jackson preferring to not say hello to him but that would be rude, and her momma didn’t raise a rude daughter. She also didn’t want Jackson to think that she still cared about him.

Danni gazed at Jackson Hand. She wanted to hate the fact that he was still as handsome at twenty-seven as he had been at nineteen, probably even more so but she couldn’t. So, she smiled, friendly-like and cleared her throat, then she treated him like she barely knew him. Technically, she didn’t know him anymore, so it worked for her. “Welcome home, Jackson.”

She gave him a smile. Her tone was neutral. She walked to the closest table and cleared it. Then she carried the dishes to the back. It gave her an excuse to escape for a few moments, to collect her thoughts and stop the rapid beating of her heart.

She gave the dishes to Walker. “Danni, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I have, Walker,” she replied. She patted his shoulder. Even with an apron, covering his tight t-shirt and jeans, Walker was hotter than hell.

Tall like her brothers. A build that they said he got from working out in jail. Mid-thirties. Never married. Didn’t date, she didn’t understand that part about him. He was beautiful.

A ghost from the past was an accurate description of Jackson. She brushed her hand across her brow. She needed air. Dannie went out the backdoor and stepped into the cold and just breathed in deep.

Why after all these years would he feel like he could walk right up to her and just say hello like he hadn’t crushed her?

She’d been outside for a while when Seth stuck his head outside. “Dad’s looking for you.”

“I need a minute. Tell him to keep his shorts on.”

Her brother chuckled at her. “I saw Jackson,” he informed her.

“Great. You say hello to him?” She asked then she turned her head towards her brother to see what he was thinking about the arrival of her ex in town.

“I did.”

“So ya’ll going to start being best friends with him again?” Danni asked.

“Not if you don’t want us to,” Seth replied.

She inhaled. This was it. The moment of truth. “I don’t give a damn anymore what Jackson Hand does, who he is friends with or where is staying. Do whatever you want, Seth.”

Did she sound convincing? She tried to be convincing. Danni didn’t really think she sounded all that convincing and her brother’s snort confirmed it. She glared at him, but it was too dark for him to see her. “That’s why you are still single Danni-girl,” Seth teased her then went inside.

As the door closed she shouted at him. “So are the rest of you idiots but Matt.” She was referring to her six brothers who were not dating either except her oldest brother Matt. He was married to Layla; his high school sweetheart and they had a two-year-old son named Justin.

Seth hadn’t heard a word she had said, dammit. Jackson wasn’t the reason she was still single. The man washing the dishes was. She just couldn’t tell Seth or her other brothers that.

Chapter 4

For all he knew, she was married and had six kids. He doubted it since she was only twenty-six. Her father stopped by his bar stool to see if he needed a refill. “Is she married?” He asked him.

Simon snorted and rolled his eyes at that question. “Nope,” he finally said giving Jackson some relief.

“Dating?”

“She does here and there.” Her dad was thinking about that question. “I guess Andy was probably the last man she dated seriously. Been about two years, I’d guess since they broke up.”

“Andy?” Jackson thought about it for a minute. “Andy my cousin? Tom’s son?”

Simon laughed at Jackson’s reaction. “I don’t think either of them thought about that, Jackson.”

He shook his head at her choice of men. Andy was a lightweight. Not good enough for Danni Hatfield.