Bad News Cowboy by Maisey Yates Page A

am. I’m an ass. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I said that.”
    â€œWhy did you?” she asked, her voice small now.
    â€œI don’t know,” he said, lying through his teeth with the truck still idling in the middle of the driveway.
    â€œIt was offensive. Not just what you said about my mother.”
    â€œI know. I didn’t start out meaning to be offensive. Saying it out loud, I realize it’s stupid. But definitely in my mind I think of the kind of women that I would pick up in a bar and the kind I wouldn’t. Or more specifically, the kind who wouldn’t go with me. Of course, saying it out loud forces you to listen to how stupid it is.”
    â€œIt is stupid.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œSo,” she said, folding her hands in her lap now like a good student. “You’re going to teach me to flirt.”
    He didn’t want to. He didn’t want her flirting with the guys who were part of her group. He didn’t want her flirting with the cowboys who would come in with the rodeo.
    And considering what had just happened a few seconds ago, that meant it was exactly what he
needed
to help her learn to do.
    As long as he focused on protecting her, as long as he focused on the right angle, the weirdness between them would evaporate. It had to. It was an aberration, something he would have liked to blame on alcohol. But he couldn’t, since all he’d had was a Coke.
    He could blame it on the full moon or on the way she had grabbed his chin. All things that had passed and would pass.
    And since they were going to be working on the rodeo together, he really needed to get a grip.
    â€œYes. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.” He eased his foot slowly off the brake, and the truck started rolling forward.
    â€œBut chastely.”
    â€œI will give you certain tools. What you do with them is up to you. And does not need to be shared. And none of this should be shared with Connor or Eli.”
    Ultimately, he had Kate’s best interest at heart, he really did. But since he wasn’t related to her, he was being slightly more realistic than they would be. They would probably lock her in her room and not care about the fact that she was twenty-three.
    â€œOkay. It will be our secret.”
    He turned his truck onto the little road that led to her cabin. And he tried not to dwell on the way the word
secret
sounded on her lips. Illicit and a little bit naughty. Nothing he and Kate talked about should sound naughty or illicit.
    He swallowed hard. “Yeah.”
    He breathed a prayer of thanks when he rolled up to Kate’s house. He needed to get home and get his head on straight. Tonight felt like some kind of weird detour out of his normal life. Suddenly, he’d become aware of some different things about Kate. Some things that he would rather have never been aware of.
    And with that had come a thick, heavy tension that just wouldn’t clear up.
    A new day would fix that. The sun rising over the mountains, bathing everything in golden light, chasing away the shadows that rested on Kate’s face now. The shadows that accentuated her high cheekbones and the fullness of her lips. The darkness that blanketed the whole situation and made it seem fuzzy. Made her seem not quite like Kate. Made him feel not quite like a man who had known her since she was a whiny two-year-old.
    He put the truck in Park but left the engine running. “Good night, Kate,” he said, opting to use the name she preferred. All things considered, it seemed safer.
    â€œDo you want to come in?”
    His pulse sped up. “Why would I want to do that?”
    â€œFor some tea? For a flirting lesson?”
    â€œLet’s hold off on that,” he said, his throat constricting. Right now he needed to get away from her.
    â€œOkay. Thank you for coming tonight.” She took a deep breath. “And thank you for punching Chad in the face. He’s a