Rolling his eyes, he took another sip of coffee.
“Seriously. Did you see the once-over he gave you?”
“From where I stood, he only had eyes for you.”
She chuckled. “Anyway … I didn’t ask you here so we could gossip about boys.”
That pulled a smile from him. “So why did you drag my ass outta bed?”
“First of all, you’re usually up at four, so I didn’t realize you’d be in bed.”
“Late night,” he admitted.
“Cyrus?”
The gossip mill really did run rampant in Coyote Ridge.
“No.” He didn’t bother telling her he’d spent the night alone, suffering from one of the headaches that knocked him on his ass and made him wish for death. No sense ruining a perfectly good morning.
“And two,” JJ continued where she’d left off, “I figured I’d given you the cold shoulder long enough.”
“You think?”
This time her smile was sheepish as she ducked her chin, her fingers digging into her paper napkin.
He set his mug down, gave her his full attention. “What’s on your mind, JJ?”
She exhaled slowly, then lifted her gaze to meet his. How, he didn’t know, but Brantley suddenly knew what she was going to say. Before the words could come out of her mouth, he held up a hand, shook his head. If he’d known she was going to bring Dante up, he would’ve declined the invitation.
Then again, she probably knew that.
“You’re datin’ him, aren’t you?”
“Brantley, I need you on my side here.”
Narrowing his eyes, he took a slow, cleansing breath. “Why, JJ? Tell me that?”
“It’s the way it’s always been meant to be.”
“Even after what he did to you?”
“He didn’t hit me,” she bit out.
“Which, I hate that I’m sayin’ this, isn’t the worst of his transgressions, JJ. The cheatin’, the lyin’. You’re willin’ to forgive him for all that?”
“Yes, actually. I am.” JJ’s hand settled on his wrist. “I know what you’re thinkin’.”
“Do you now?” He pulled his arm from hers, grabbed his coffee mug. “And what might that be?”
“That he’s not good enough for me. That I should be with a man who puts me first. That you’ll rip him to pieces if he ever hurts me again.”
“Yet you won’t listen to a word I have to say, right?”
“Dante and I have been spendin’ more time together. Not just work.”
Funny that the guy hadn’t mentioned it. Of course, Dante wasn’t a complete idiot. The admission would’ve come at the risk of a black eye.
“And?”
“And he’s been patient with me. I told him I was gonna date other people.”
He remembered that she’d been on a date the night he saw her at IHOP.
“But it’s not what I want, Brantley. I want to give this a shot. Dante’s not the same selfish asshole he was when we dated before. That was a really long time ago. People change.”
As much as he wanted to argue, he couldn’t. It was true. People changed. And admittedly, after the conversation he’d had with Dante, he could see it, too. The man had changed. Perhaps Brantley’d go so far as to say he had evolved.
Looking into her eyes, he studied her for a moment. “You’re a big girl, JJ. I can’t tell you how to live your life.”
“No, you can’t. But I want your support. Now that you’re back … my world has righted itself somehow.”
He smiled at that. “Because you can’t quit me?”
“Exactly.” Her hand rested on his wrist once more and this time he didn’t pull away. “You’re my best friend, B. Always will be. And I’d be lyin’ if I said I didn’t want you to watch my back.”
His gaze dropped to her hand as he placed his over it. “I’ll always have your back,” he assured her.
He noticed the tension ease out of her shoulders. She’d been worried about his reaction and he wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. He only hoped Dante was having the same concerns, because Brantley would not sit idly by this time.
“He hurts you…” he said gruffly.
“I know.” A brilliant smile tipped her lips. “He hurts me, you’ll hurt him.”
“He won’t recover from it, JJ.” He chugged the rest of his coffee. “You might want to remind him that.”
“Oh, trust me, he knows.”
***
As far as Reese was concerned, it had been a damn good day. Started out with breakfast with a beautiful woman and ended with him bringing on another job, which would ultimately be a positive on his paycheck when it was completed. And now he had one final check-in before he kicked off his weekend with a couple of hours at the gun range.
Pulling down the dirt path leading to the big metal building that housed Walker Demolition’s mechanic shop, Reese scanned the vast acres of farmland that branched out in all directions. The Walker land, which at one point had encompassed the whole of Coyote Ridge, seemed to go on forever even if it was only a fraction of what it had been. The small town Reese had grown up in was formerly known as Granite Creek, back before Curtis had it renamed for his beautiful bride. Someone probably should’ve told Curtis that he set the bar extremely high for the rest of the cowboys who didn’t have a damn town of their own to rename.
