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  “Happy Birthday, sugar. She sounds like a good friend,” he told her and then swung her into a two-step once they got on the floor. “And I’m glad you picked me as your present…” he grinned at the gorgeous, talented woman in his arms and sent up silent thanks to the man above, because divine intervention could be the only explanation for her picking him to get her groove back with.

  “She’s the best, we’ve been friends since grade school,” she told him then added, “I’d introduce you, but most of the time when men meet her they fall in love with her. I think I’ll save you for myself,” she giggled.

  “You wouldn’t have to worry about that, sugar,” he whispered by her ear, “There’s nobody here that I’d rather be dancing with…or something.”

  Her brilliant smile made the synapses in his brain short-circuit, and he knew he was staring at her like a lovesick fool…there could be a reason for that too.

  Jess couldn’t believe she’d actually chased down this cowboy, because her best friend had goaded her into it. If anyone knew why she was leery about getting involved with men now, it was her best friend. Jazzie had been there, while Jess clawed her way out of the deep dark depression Ray had sent her spiraling into when he’d done what he had two years ago. Jess knew Jazzie only did it, because she was worried about her, though. This was the first time she’d shown any interest all in another man since Ray, so she had poked her in the ass a little.

  Looking up into the handsome cowboy’s whiskey brown eyes, she smiled, something she hadn’t done much of lately. Maybe this was what she needed, maybe he was what she needed. His sexy smile with the adorable dimple, and the devilish sparkle in his eyes is what first caught her attention. There were mysteries behind that smile, she would loveot uncover, and she wouldn’t mind uncovering him too, and find out what he looked like out of the white dress shirt and tight Levis he had on.

  When he’d walked across the floor to go dance with the bride, her mouth had watered as she watched his spectacular ass in those tight jeans. Now that she had her hands on him, she felt the solid muscles in his arms and appreciated how they stretched the material of his shirt across his chest. The warmth of his hand at her waist felt like an epicenter of desire, as hot tendrils of awareness radiated from there throughout her body. Jess licked her lips, then grabbed his hand and pulled him to the center of the floor when a slow song came on. This was the last one before they started their next set, so she wanted to get her fill of him, before she had to go back to work.

  “So where are you from, sugar?” he asked in that gravelly sexy voice of his right next to her ear. Shivers worked their way along her nerve endings and her hair stood up.

  “Dallas originally, but my parents moved us to California when I was fourteen.”

  “Bet that was a culture shock, huh?” he chuckled and pulled her tighter against his hard body. “Why California?”

  “Well, they’re kind of hippies…we lived in a commune for a while,” she admitted hesitantly. People didn’t usually understand that way of life, and looked at her like she was some kind of freak. Hell, she’d been fourteen, she had to go where her parents led her, and that happened to be a commune of inner peace and tranquility, or so they said.

  Jess had never found peace there though, she’d gone to school, but could never bring friends home because it would have been awkward, and she’d probably have been teased unmercifully. And her daddy’s constant schedule of gigs for her, hadn’t helped her inner peace either. Since he quit his job when they’d moved from Dallas, and didn’t find another, he contributed to the commune by giving them the money from her gigs. The only good thing to come from that lifestyle had been perfecting her guitar and songwriting skills.

  “Interesting…it was probably like traveling with the rodeo…we’re like gypsies,” he said with a derisive smile.

  “How long have you been in the rodeo?” she asked, then studied his face and saw that he was probably a little older than she was, but she didn’t care. Maybe he had a little more maturity than the last man she’d been with, she sure hoped so anyway. And regardless of his age, he was hotter than a habanera, and she wanted to be burned. He set off a four-alarm fire inside of her that Ray never had.

  His face reddened and then he admitted, “Since I was eighteen, got my pro card on my birthday,” he told her.

  “I don’t care how old you are, sugar…how many years?” she told him thinking his evasiveness was because he recognized their age difference too, and didn’t want it to matter.

  He studied her a minute then said, “Sixteen years.”

  “Only eight more than I’ve been singing professionally,” she said with a grin, then told him, “I left California to come back to Dallas, on my eighteenth birthday too,” then she slid her hands into his back pockets and pulled him to her.

  The cowboy groaned then lowered his head and covered her mouth with his, tasting her, savoring her, then when she opened her lips, he plunged his tongue inside and she moaned, as she felt his hardness against her. The music was low and slow and it, along with the heady kiss this cowboy was giving her, wrapped her in a sensual haze that had her panting and rubbing against him in rhythm. In a strangled voice, she whispered when he broke the kiss, “Wait for me…I’ll be done soon, and I have a room at the bed and breakfast in town.”

  Blatant desire heated his brown eyes, and his throat worked a few times, then he nodded and claimed her mouth again, before he let her go.

  CHAPTER ONE

  While Wade was helping set up chairs under the tent for Cole and Sabrina’s first anniversary party, his mind kept wandering back to where he was a year ago today…loving the most beautiful and special woman he’d ever met. Since he’d left that bed and breakfast the morning after the wedding, when he’d headed to Steamboat Springs, and Jess Sparks had gone back to Dallas to sign that big recording contract waiting for her there, he’d thought about her a lot. That night she’d not only rocked his world on that stage, she’d knocked it off its axis that night at the bed and breakfast outside of town.

  He didn’t know about her life, but a lot had changed in his since then. One wild horse trapping him in the bucking chute, and almost breaking his back, had ended his rodeo career. The docs had told him that he was lucky he hadn’t wound up paralyzed. They’d done surgery and stabilized the vertebrae, but hadn’t been able to remove a small bone chip on his spinal cord. They said if he kept competing, it could shift and leave him paralyzed anyway, so he quit. It had been time anyway, he was thirty-four years old and had tempted fate long enough in the young man’s sport.

  Now, he was the manager at the Double B ranch, and he liked his new sedate life.

  He wondered, numerous times though, what would have happened if he and the beautiful country singer had exchanged phone numbers that night. At the time, they thought it would be a waste of time, since they were both going to be traveling, and the odds of them connecting again were slim, so they’d taken their time together for what it was, a one-night stand.

  Hell, he couldn’t even remember if he’d given her his name, or if she’d asked. Sugar, baby or darlin’ had seemed to be the only names they needed. That night hadn’t been about names or reconnecting later, it had been a once in a lifetime experience, a sexual adventure that touched him deep inside. One he’d never forget as long as he lived.

  Since that night, he’d listened to the radio, hoping he’d hear her smoky voice teasing him again, but so far he hadn’t. Wade knew if he heard it now, it would just be torture, anyway. It would make him ponder ‘what ifs’, now that he was settled in at the Double B as ranch manager, instead of traveling the country riding broncos. Jess Sparks had been out of his league then, and was probably even more so now.

  She was probably on a different stage, in a different town every night, thrilling packed crowds…and with a different man every night, now that she had her ‘groove’ back. As wild as she had been for him that night, though, he doubted that Jess had ever lost her ‘groove’
in the first place. The thought of her with another man sent jealousy spiraling through him.

  Wade sucked in a sharp breath, then released when he felt himself harden just thinking about it. He needed to quit messing around here and get these chairs set up, so he could go get ready for the party. He was sure that the gang would frown upon him showing up in a sweaty t-shirt and dirty jeans, smelling like a horse, and he was running out of time.

  He wanted some time to play with Cole and Sabrina’s new baby son, William Wiley Jackson, his godson, too. He’d been so touched when Sabrina had asked him to be Will’s godfather, he’d almost cried…and Wade Roberts did not cry. When she asked him, Sabrina told him that she wanted him to be a part of their lives forever, and that, because she and Kenny hadn’t given him a niece or nephew, she felt that was the next best thing.

  Pulling off his shirt, he swiped his face with it, then took off his hat and shook out his hair, then dried it with his shirt too. Wade was glad they’d rented the huge fans to put at each end of the tent, they were having a hot spell, and it didn’t look like it was going to let up. It hadn’t rained in a while either, so the grass was really dry, and he was worried about the cattle. The cows didn’t have the luxury of fans to cool them off. Luke had installed ceiling fans in the barn, so he wasn’t too worried about the horses, though. The mares and their new foals, were doing just fine.

  After he arranged the last chair around a table near the stage, Wade picked up his shirt and headed for the house to take a cold shower. His stomach rumbled when he got a whiff of the barbecue the caterers had been working on since early this morning, and remembered he hadn’t eaten lunch yet. When he got to the fence line, he hopped it and saw a dust cloud coming down the driveway, so he waited to see who it was.

  A white van drove past him and pulled up in front of the house, and four guys got out, followed by a tall woman with sleek and shiny shoulder length black hair. Wade looked her over and a wave of familiarity washed over him, but he couldn’t place the woman. One of the men waved at him, and he waved back, then walked toward the van.

  “Can I help ya’ll?” Wade asked curiously, then his eyes traveled involuntarily to the woman’s round ass sticking out of the side of the van, as she reached back inside for something. One of the guys cleared his throat and Wade looked over at him, and shrugged then grinned, feeling blood rush up his neck.

  The guy didn’t return his smile, he folded his arms across his flat chest and gave Wade a stare down. She must be his girlfriend, Wade thought, and held back a chuckle. That was a lot of woman for that guy, for sure, he thought taking in her long legs. She had to be at least three inches taller than the guy…probably more in the high-heeled western boots she had on with the short, low-cut jean shorts and black t-shirt, which was tied right under her impressive boobs.

  “We’re the band, where should we set up?” the guy asked Wade shortly, and stepped in front of him to block his view of the woman.

  “Tents are over there,” Wade told him then pointed to the pasture. “One in the middle is where the stage is, so I guess that’s where you need to set up,” Wade told him arrogantly then went to walk by him to the porch. The woman stood up from the van, and he almost bowled her over. He put his hands on her shoulders to steady her, and her sunglasses slipped down her nose. Wade sucked in a breath, when his eyes met a pair of cat-like green eyes he’d never forget as long as he lived. “Jess…” he said a little out of breath. “What did you do to yourself?”

  Her hair wasn’t the only thing different, her whole bearing was different, less confident and assured, not to mention her breasts were larger and seemed to be trying to escape from her tight t-shirt.

  She whimpered then shoved her glasses back up on her nose, and said, “People change…how’ve you been?”

  Since she didn’t call him by name, he figured he must not have told her what it was. He was going to fix that right now. “Wade Roberts…my name is Wade, and I’ve been fine. How’s the big recording career going?”

  Wade wished he hadn’t asked when he saw her chin tremble, then a single tear slid down her cheek from beneath the sunglasses. “It’s not,” she told him shortly, “Things came up.”

  “I’m so sorry, sugar…that sucks,” he said feeling like an ass now for bringing it up. He should have known it didn’t happen, because why would she be back here playing an anniversary gig, if it had?

  She waved her hand as if it were nothing, and said, “Stuff happens…I’m not sorry.”

  He saw one of the guys had a fiddle case in his hand and he asked her, “Where’s Jazzie?” That’s all he remembered about her best friend and fiddle player, was her name…because she had been instrumental in the events of that night.

  Jess snorted, then put her hand on her hip. “Figures you’d remember Jazzie,” she said snottily.

  “Whoa, I don’t remember her…I remember you said she was your best friend and fiddle player…I just wondered why he was carrying a fiddle,” he told her with a chin tilt toward the tall skinny guy.

  “She’ll be here later,” she told him vaguely, then reached back in the van for her guitar cases.

  She had two, so he took one from her and said, “Here, I’ll help you with that,” to be a gentleman.

  With a trembling hand, she jerked it back from him and said, “No, thank you,” then walked past him toward the pasture. “Travis, can you bring the van over to the tent, sugar, so we can set up the amps?”

  “Sure thing, Jess,” the guy who’d given him the stare down said. He gave Wade another warning look, then got into the van and cranked it up. One of the other men went to shut the sliding back door of the van, and Wade saw a kid’s car seat affixed to one of the benches. He also saw a pink stuffed elephant, and a rattle of some sort on the floor.

  Wade wondered if Jess had a baby now…and if that guy was her husband or something. The thought made his stomach churn, as did the cold shoulder she was giving him. Her new short black hair didn’t help, she looked as hard now as she was acting. Wade wasn’t even sure he wanted to go to the party tonight now. He’d probably be better off just avoiding her.

  Maybe he’d just stay in the house and baby sit Will or something, he thought, then remembered that Sabrina and Cassie had arranged for Imelda to come and watch Bella and Will. Besides Sabrina had made him promise her a dance. Wade also wasn’t a coward, so he wasn’t going to avoid Jess Sparks, he’d go to the damned party and be as cold to the ice princess, as she had been to him. With determination, Wade stomped up on the porch and went into the house to grab a sandwich to hold him over.

  He stopped short when he passed her in the entry “Oh, hey, Wade,” she said with a smile, then looked him up and down. “Wow, you look pretty nasty there. I hope you’re taking a shower, before the party,” she teased him, and fanned herself then added, “They might think we’re downwind of the pig sty if you don’t.”

  He growled, because he wasn’t in the mood for teasing from his beautiful redheaded friend. She always gave him hell, and normally he played along, but he wasn’t in the mood right now. “That’s from hard work sugar, something you wouldn’t know about today,” he told her smartly, then said, “I’m going to the bunkhouse in a minute, I need to grab a sandwich or something…I didn’t stop for lunch.”

  “Well, my sister is coming to the party and you have an automatic dance partner if you go and get cleaned up,” she told him then added with a saucy wink, “I’d dance with you like you are, because I like dirty boys, but she prefers her men Irish Spring clean.”

  “You better shut the fuck up, because I don’t want Gabe kicking my ass if he hears you,” Wade told her with narrowed eyes. Her husband was a jealous ass sometimes, but he was a friend and knew Wade wouldn’t cross that line with his wife…although before they got married, he’d been damned tempted to do just that.

  “My handsome husband happens to know I prefer him, and only him, dirty or clean, so you don’t need to worry,” she said with a chuckle, her brigh
t blue eyes sparkling, then she sobered and asked, “You heard Katie went back to the rodeo, right? She found another partner and decided she wasn’t done yet.”

  “Is she done with Tucker?” Wade asked with a lifted eyebrow. The last he heard, Karlie’s equally beautiful, identical twin, sister was staying at the Rockin’ D in Amarillo, working for Tommy Tucker…among other things.