Grumpy Cowboy (Single Dad Collection)

“Well, it’s good to see ya, even if you’re keepin’ company with the devil,” I say, “but I’ve got shit to do.”

Chase laughs. “Good to see me? It’s good to see you upright on two feet. Last time I saw you, you were flashin’ in and out of consciousness as they loaded you into an ambulance.” He smirks then, wagging his eyebrows and adding, “It was one helluva ride, though, I’ll give ya that. Cutter and Lynn practically worship at the altar of bronc-ridin’ great Rhett Jameson now.”

I shake my head and laugh, and with another slap of my shoulder, he takes off at a jog out the doors and in the direction of Bo, Lynn, Cutter, and the woman who shall not be named.

I take a deep breath and follow, tipping my hat down slightly to shield the sun as I step through the big French doors and scan the area.

It doesn’t take me long to spot Joey and Leah, running full steam through the grass on the other side of the fire pit and gazebo area.

They’re barefoot and laughing, and Joey’s face is alight with the kind of happiness that makes being a father feel like the biggest honor of my life.

And Leah, well, fuck, she looks the prettiest I’ve ever seen her.

Honestly, after reminding myself of what ugly actually looks like talking to Anna, and then seeing Leah laughing with my little girl like she’s the best thing in the world, I don’t know that God even makes anything better.

The bold thought takes me by surprise—so much so that I stop walking and pause before stutter-stepping back into motion. Unfortunately, the unexpected movement jolts my knee, and a zap of pain runs through it that I haven’t felt in weeks.

I reach down as I grimace, pausing again, and before I know it, Leah is there, grabbing me by the arms and searching my eyes.

“Are you okay?” she asks seriously, trying to make the kind of eye contact my emotional awareness isn’t quite ready for. Instead, I look around her to Joey as she runs toward us with a smile on her face.

“Daddy!” she yells, completely out of breath and almost wheezing but doing it through a huge smile. “Leah and I been racin’, and I won twice!”

“That’s pretty impressive, darlin’,” I tell her, gritting my teeth as I try to stand up straight again. Leah notices the strain and takes charge immediately.

“Stand right here, do you hear me? Don’t move. I’m going to get a chair so you can sit and I can take a look at your knee.”

I should probably be annoyed by her fussin’ over me like a damn kid, but for some reason, the annoyance never comes. If anything, I just feel grateful.

I watch Leah walk away briefly before smiling at Joey as she grabs my hand. “You okay, Daddy?”

“Fine, baby. Just stepped a little funny, is all.”

Her eyebrows crease in the center, and she frowns. “Why aren’t you wearin’ your brace?”

I roll my eyes at her timing. Leah has just arrived back with a chair and is placing it behind me.

Given the opening, of course, she can’t help herself. “Good question, Joey. I was just about to ask the same thing.”

I sigh. “You said yourself I didn’t have to wear it all the time at this stage.”

Leah snorts. “Except when you’re busy. Which you obviously are today, are you not?”

“I might have a thing or two going on,” I admit.

Leah shakes her head, her eyebrows raised with knowing scorn. “A thing or two plus thirty.” I bite my lip to stop myself from laughing as she works to roll up my jeans and look at my leg and then turns back to Joey with a soft smile. “Hey, Jo-Jo, how about running and getting me an ice pack from the lodge freezer, would you?”

Joey nods exuberantly and takes off, and I have to steel my features against melting at the cutely personal nickname.

Leah pokes and prods at my skin, massaging the muscle above my knee with a gentle pressure. It’s a bit uncomfortable, given the public setting, and I have to clear my throat when my mind starts to wander into the territory of imagining her hands massaging other places—of the memories of her massaging me in nothing but my goddamn underwear.

Fuck, Rhett. The last thing you need right now is a hard-on.

Softly, she sucks the flesh of her lips into her mouth and then sits back on her heels in the grass to look me in the eye, taking her hands away. It’s somewhat awkward as we wait for Joey—at least, for me, since I’ve just been imagining an adult film featuring the two of us—so Leah talks to fill the silence. “Good job. Again.” When my eyebrows pinch together, she clarifies. “You know, with the welcome speech.”