It was the longest morning of Brandy’s life. Not because the bakery was slow, though that in itself was torture to watch. But because she had three possible addresses for Ryder Jax and she couldn’t wait to do a little recon and narrow down his whereabouts.
Once she knew the location and she’d checked it out to make sure she wasn’t liable to get her head blown off, then she would approach him and talk to him about running her shine.
She thought about ducking away at lunch and leaving Ellie in charge of the minimal stream of customers, but the woman seemed more quiet than usual.
Depressed even.
“Don’t tell me things went sour with the new cowboy?”
“No. Yes.” Ellie shook her head. “I mean, I guess it’s how you look at it. I think he likes me more than I like him and so I had to break it off because, you know, the last thing I want is to get involved with anyone. I like my freedom.”
“You’re preaching to the choir.”
“I mean, he really is cute and there’s just something about the way he looks at me that’s kind of cool. But not that cool. It would never work anyway. He’s not even from here. He’s just here until he heads up to Cheyenne. Which is why I hooked up with him in the first place, you know? He was new. Exciting. But most of all, no strings.”
Yep, she was preaching to the choir, all right.
“If I want some guy blubbering how much he loves me, I could just stick it out with Bart, you know?” She shook her head. “No, thank you.”
She said the words, but there was something about the distant look in her eyes that told Brandy she wasn’t nearly as sure as she wanted to be.
And so Brandy dug in her heels for the rest of the day and did her best to distract her baking assistant. She went over a new recipe for s’mores cupcakes and showed Ellie how to whip up a rich frosting using fresh whipped cream and mascarpone cheese, and she helped her look for Miss Betty’s purse.
It seemed the old woman had left it in the restroom on Sunday.
“Thanks ever so much, dearie,” Betty told her when Brandy handed over the giant white patent-leather bag that had been sitting in the corner of the employee bathroom. “Why, I thought I’d lost it for good.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t find it sooner. I usually notice things like that.” But then she hadn’t been thinking straight the past few days since Tyler had rolled back into town. It made sense that she would have missed the giant purse when she closed up on Sunday night.
“You’ve got your hands busy what with all these great muffins.” Betty held up the blueberry that Brandy had handed her after finding the missing purse. “Take care now, sugar. And thanks again.”
Brandy watched as the woman walked out of the bakery and climbed into a small blue pickup truck driven by a young man in his twenties. Her grandson Mitchell, Brandy knew from seeing him with Betty at the last picnic. While Betty’s daughter and son-in-law didn’t get over to see her too often from Austin, her grandson lived nearby in the old house where Betty had grown up. He drove her around whenever she missed the bus and visited her every week.
For a quick moment she found herself thinking how nice it would be to have a grandson to look out for her when she got older. But in order to have a grandson, she would have to have a daughter or son. And in order to do that, she’d have to find a husband.
Not that she believed all women had to have a husband to settle down and have a family, but it was her own personal belief. What was right for her.
If she’d wanted to settle down, which she most certainly did not. Even if it would be kind of nice to have a loving grandchild drive her around in her old age.
She gave the idea thought for a few more seconds, until Betty’s grandson swerved out into traffic without signaling and a loud honk shattered the air. Mitchell hung his head out the window, shouted a few choice obscenities before giving the ultimate salute, and the image of the kind, loving, helpful offspring was shattered.
Okay, so maybe not settling down wasn’t such a bad thing.
She held tight to the thought and finished closing down the display cases before heading into the back room and packing up. She had more brownies for Kenny Roy and another two dozen for Ivy. Once she dropped both off, she was hitting the road to check out the addresses.
At least that was the plan.
She gathered up her purse and bakery boxes. Her free hand went to the lights. She’d just plunged the back room into darkness when she heard Tyler McCall’s deep voice directly behind her.
“What a shame, darlin’. You know how much I like it with the lights on.”
Her breath caught and she felt his body so close behind hers. Close enough that all she had to do was lean back just a little. Turn. Kiss him for all she was worth.
Fast and furious.
Sex, and nothing but sex.
Before she could think too much about what she was doing—or rather, what she wasn’t doing—she flipped the lights back on. The shadows disappeared and she turned.
“What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d stop by to see if Kenny Roy called you?”
“Did he call you?”
He shook his head. “Cooper’s still out of town. At least that’s what most everybody is saying. Anybody who’s seen him with Gator Hallsey, that is. What about you? Did Kenny Roy call?”
“No.” Not that she’d waited for him to call. “I didn’t give him a chance. I stopped by his place and he gave me a name.”
“Seriously?” He eyed her a long second before adding, “Just like that?”
“Well, I did sort of have to promise him something.” A strange look came over his face and she had the crazy thought that he was jealous.
A strange warmth spread through her, and she had the even crazier thought that she liked the fact that he looked ready to murder someone on her behalf. She enjoyed the sight for a few more moments before giving in to her conscience. “Brownies,” she blurted. “And some muffins, too.”
“Kenny Roy does like to eat,” he said after a long moment, and the tension between them eased just a little. “So who’s the connection?”
“Ryder Jax.” When his gaze narrowed ever so slightly, she added, “Do you know him?”
“I know of him. He’s partners with Gator Hallsey.” She nodded and he added, “I’ve been asking around about Gator ever since Kenny mentioned him. He’s a bad guy, so I’m guessing Ryder isn’t much better.” His gaze caught and held hers. “You’re not going to track him down on your own, are you?”
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do. In fact, I was headed out to do just that. I Googled him last night and came up with three possible addresses. One of them has to be right.”
“Let’s go then.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
“Actually, I think it’s a great idea. I’m out of leads. Maybe Ryder can shed a little more light on the Cooper–Gator connection.”
“So this offer to come with me is strictly self-serving?”
“Why else would I want to go?”
Because he was worried about her running off after a bad guy all by her lonesome. Because he cared.
She ditched the thought and held tight to the all-important fact that while she might be excited to track down Ryder, she wasn’t stupid, either. It was better to have reinforcements.
She certainly didn’t say yes because, in all honesty, she’d missed him.
The sex, she reminded herself. She’d missed the sex and maybe they could get back to it after they found Ryder’s whereabouts.
In the meantime, she wasn’t getting all chummy. No talking and cozying up on the way.
“Suit yourself,” she murmured, summoning her most disinterested shrug.
“Oh, I will, darlin’. I most definitely will.”