six
jolene pulled into the parking lot at dirk’s, realizing that even though she was alone, she wore a giant grin on her face. Okay, so she was in heaven. Work was going well, and Walker was the best lover she’d ever had. They’d been together almost every night for the past few weeks, and she had no complaints. What more could she ask for than a dynamic lover, a valuable ranch hand and someone who was fun to be around?
Though she’d noticed he wasn’t into public displays of affection, and she got the distinct impression he intended to keep their relationship just between the two of them. Which was fine with her—for now. But she certainly had no intention of hiding it forever, especially since she realized things were getting serious between them. Or kind of serious. Oh hell, she didn’t know for sure. The sex was great, and she loved being with him. Mason thought highly of Walker and wanted to make him assistant ranch foreman. He had the skills and experience and had been at the ranch long enough. He’d earned it.
Jolene was beginning to see a future with Walker. What she didn’t know was what kind of future Walker saw, because everything with him seemed to be all about right now. Though they enjoyed each other’s company, they hadn’t talked about the future. They didn’t talk about much of anything, including Walker’s past. He knew everything about her, had asked her to fill in the blanks about her family and her past and anything he didn’t know. He liked her to talk about herself. But when she asked him about his past, he always managed to change the subject.
If things were going to go any further between them, that would have to change. She wasn’t going to fall in love with someone she didn’t know.
Or maybe she was already in love with him. She’d never been in love before, so how was she going to recognize it when it happened?
She opened the front door of the bar and country music blasted her in the face.
God, she loved this place. Grin still plastered on, she went inside, spotted Brea and Gage and headed over to their table.
“Where’s Val and Mason?” she asked.
“Home having hot sex while they have the place to themselves, probably,” Brea said, waggling her eyebrows.
“Decided to stay in tonight?”
“Yeah. Valerie said she needed to inventory medical supplies, so Mason said he’d stay to help her.”
“Which means they’re having sex instead of doing inventory,” Gage said. “Or at least that’s what I’d be doing.”
“Yeah, but you’re perverted.” Brea elbowed him in the ribs.
“And that’s why you love me.” Gage grabbed her and kissed her.
Jolene rolled her eyes. “Maybe you two should have stayed home and had sex, too. I’m going to the bar.”
She leaned against the bar and waved to Sandy, who was working at the other end. She didn’t have to bother to order. Sandy would just bring her favorite beer when she had a free minute. Jolene flipped around, putting her back against the bar, and scanned the room. Mainly she was looking for Walker. They hadn’t made plans for tonight, but she’d told him she was coming to Dirk’s. He’d nodded and said he might be here, too.
They didn’t make plans, they didn’t have dates, they didn’t go out together.
And that was beginning to irritate her. They were going to have to talk about having this secret relationship. Jolene didn’t want it to be a secret any longer. Walker was going to have to talk to her about why it was necessary to have all their meetings be clandestine.
She spotted him playing poker with some of the guys from the ranch, and waited for him to make eye contact. When he did, she smiled, but he looked away immediately.
Okay, maybe he hadn’t seen her.
“Hey, girl, you’re looking good tonight.”
Jolene turned around and grinned at Sandy. “So are you.”
Sandy was a beauty. A stunning, tall, built-like-a-brick-shithouse raven-haired beauty, one of the main attractions for men at Dirk’s. At thirty, she owned the bar that she’d inherited from her dad, ran it single-handedly and had a shotgun under the bar that she used to handle anyone who got out of hand, though plenty of the guys acted as unpaid bouncers if some out-of-towners got out of control and didn’t understand the rules.
Sandy was another mystery that most people questioned, just not to her. She’d never been married, claimed she’d been in love several times, and that once you got your heart stomped on twice by the same man, you weren’t up to having it happen again. And when she gave you the evil look, you knew not to ask questions. So no one did. She never went home with anyone, though many of the guys tried. She just seemed happy to run the bar.
“Looking for some fun tonight, or just killing time?” Sandy asked.
Jolene shrugged, dying to tell Sandy about Walker. But she figured she and Walker needed to come to an understanding before she started blabbing about their relationship.
So she shrugged and grabbed a handful of peanuts. “Keeping my options open, as usual.”
“Have fun, honey.”
Jolene grabbed her beer. “I intend to.”
She swung around and tried to act nonchalant this time, determined not to zero in on Walker right away. But despite her best intentions to remain oblivious to him, her gaze kept drifting in his direction.
He kept his focus on his cards, not on her. In fact, after she’d looked right at him for a full five minutes, she realized he looked up from his cards only to place a bet or respond to something one of the other players said.
He knew she was there, dammit. And he knew where. Yet he ignored her.
Poker face? Maybe. It was important to concentrate when playing poker, and flirting with her across the bar wasn’t a good idea when a game was going on. But he could at least acknowledge her presence. This was exactly like he acted on the ranch during the day.
So she waited until he finished his game, left the table and came to the bar to get another beer. And even at that he headed to the opposite end of the bar.
Son of a bitch. Was he blind and in need of glasses so that he could see her?
Enough was enough. She headed down the bar and tapped him on the shoulder.
“I thought maybe you didn’t see me.”
He turned around, beer in hand, actually looking to see who was around them before he acknowledged her. “I saw you.”
That was it? “I saw you”? “Are you planning on ignoring me tonight? I thought we had a date.”
He scratched the side of his nose. “I don’t recall making a date with you.”
“I told you I was going to be here.”
“And I said I was coming, too. That doesn’t make it a date.”
Unbelievable. She pushed aside the ache of rejection in the pit of her stomach and replaced it with a good healthy dose of anger. She laid her beer on the bar. “You know what, Walker? You’re absolutely right. We had no plans for tonight. Or any night for that matter. Have a good time.”
She walked away, tears blinding her and impeding her progress across the dance floor. She bumped into several people, but she was determined not to stop until she pushed through the front door and out into the parking lot. She dug her keys out of her pocket and opened the truck, slid in and started the engine, tears streaming down her face now.
As she put the truck into gear, she caught sight of Walker coming toward her. She jammed her foot on the gas and burned rubber peeling out of the parking lot, gravel shooting from her back tires as she did.
No way would she let him see how much he’d hurt her in there.
She’d never allow any man to crush her heart.
Though she was afraid it had already happened.
walker stood at the edge of the parking lot and watched the taillights on Jolene’s truck disappear down the road.
A*shole. Motherf*cking, heartless a*shole. His gut had clenched when he saw the tears well up in her eyes, the way her lips turned down, her bottom lip trembling as she tried so hard not to cry in front of him there in the bar.
He’d hurt her. What kind of a son of a bitch did that to a woman he cared about? He was so damn worried about keeping his job that he didn’t pay attention to how he was treating Jolene. He hadn’t noticed what he was doing . . . or what he was doing to her.
He pulled his hat off and jammed his fingers through his hair, trying to figure out how he was going to fix this. He could climb into his truck and follow her back to the ranch. Talk to her.
But she was angry, and right now talking to her wasn’t a good idea.
He’d give her a day—or two—to cool down. Then they’d talk. Besides, if he disappeared right after Jolene, people would notice. They’d talk. And that’s what he’d been trying to avoid. Better to let it go right now.
He turned and headed back into the bar, the word “coward” screaming in his head.
Yeah, yeah. He already knew that.