Page 67 of A Cowboy to Call Her Own

Oh no you don’t, cowboy. He did not get to flinch now. There was no folding. No retreating. This they would face head-on. She said, “You never wanted to do a lot of things.”

“What does that mean?” he asked, carefully.

It was time for a little straight talk.Call it a parting gift. “You’re starting to care, Asher Blackwell,” she said, a challenge in her words. “You’re starting to care about the horses. The staff. The town.”Me.

He reached up and wiped his hand over his mouth as if catching his response.

But Kelley was not waiting for him to gather his thoughts. There were more things ready to get off her chest and she let those truths free. “And all that caring has you running scared all the way back to the city.” She inhaled and let another truth fly on her exhale. “Not that it really matters. You were out before you were ever in.”

“This hasn’t ever been my place.” He extended his legs, crossed one ankle over the other as if to prove she had not shaken him. He added, “This is not where I belong.”

“You made that decision a long time ago and you’ve been proving it to yourself ever since,” she challenged. “Maybe it’s time to try a new narrative and realize you are enough. Just as you are. You always have been.”

“You should take your own advice.” His grin was brief. “You’re thriving in a small-town diner in a barely-on-the-map Kentucky town. Doing what you love surrounded by people who love you.” He arched an eyebrow at her. “What’s so wrong with that?”

She would be doing it all without him. She caught the catch in her throat and evened out her voice. “You didn’t come back because it was a convenient excuse to get away from work. You came home because your family needed you.”

“Is that so?” he drawled.

“Everyone knows it,” she said, ignoring caution. “But the truth is, Asher Blackwell, you need them and this place more.”I could be everything you ever needed.

“What do you need, Kelley Munroe?” he asked, his words icy-cool. “Because as far as I can tell, you’re so afraid to fail again, you’re standing still. You’re existing, not living.”

Kelley notched her chin up. “At least I’ve put myself out there, my heart and all.” Perhaps she was standing still, but better that than tossing him her heart and watching it land in the dust around his boots.

“Is that what you want?” he asked and tipped his head to consider her. “Do you want my heart?”

She wanted his whole heart, not the pieces he chose to give her. All or nothing.Broken bits and all, cowboy. She shook her head. “It was never about that, remember?” Because she was starting to.

“Then what is this?”

“Just a cowboy and a cowgirl clearing the air for the last time.” Now it was time to call it. She met his gaze. “Bye, Asher.”

He waited for a beat and finally said, “Kelley, I wish—”

“Please don’t say anything else,” she interrupted him. If she bent an inch, she just might splinter. “There’s really nothing left to say.”

He closed his mouth.

She straightened, kept her head high and walked out of the office.

Because Kelley was not chasing love. She was not going to try to hold on to a cowboy who was already gone.

She was letting go. Making a clean break. Moving on.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The work weekwas kicking off. Yet, there was a noticeable, rather inconvenient hitch in Asher’s get-up-and-go. One that Asher blamed on jet lag. One that he was convinced caffeine would immediately rectify.

So Asher found himself jostling through the business suit-clad crowd jammed around the pickup counter at the coffee shop on the busy city corner close to his office. There was no greeting from the harried barista. Nonice to see youfrom a local. No funny bits of gossip being traded. Cell phones were the focus. Personal space was guarded. And everyone was in a rush.

Except Asher. His phone was tucked in his pocket. His cowgirl was not calling or texting. He did not need to look at his phone for that bitter reminder. At least his mobile order was ready and waiting. Although, his first sip of coffee revealed it was tepid and bland. No matter. There were any number of shops in the blocks surrounding his office building. Surely, he would find a decent cup of joe. It did not have to be the best. He already knew where to find that. He just needed good enough until he lost his taste for diner coffee and put Kentucky completely behind him.

Asher walked into the offices on the forty-fourth floor of the high-rise, only to find himself pulled directly into a meeting. Fortunate, that. Even better, he went from one conference room to another and was not given a chance to be alone with his thoughts. He barely had time to trade his coffee for a soda.

It was well into the afternoon when Asher finally made it to his office and unwrapped a deli sandwich his administrative assistant had delivered.

A quick rap of knuckles on his door and Asher’s boss strode in. Pierce Rylan dropped a folder on Asher’s desk and snatched the other half of Asher’s sandwich. Pierce folded his tall, lean frame into the chair across from Asher and said, “Thanks. Didn’t realize how hungry I was until I saw your sandwich.”