Summer Love by Piper Rayne
Chapter One
Holy hotness.
Jewel Jackson licked the cherry-flavored ice cream of the two-scoop cone she’d just been handed as her attention snagged on the man manning the booth opposite where she stood. Bobby Brandon was home again. Which she’d known. Or she’d known he would be home. As he’d done the year before, after his father had died, Bobby intended to help out with his family’s stock contracting business. Jewel’s full-time hand was on leave for the next month, so Bobby had offered to fill the void.
But Bobby Brandon, back in town so soon after the last time . . . and with a full, thick beard? Not to mention, the wildly inviting messy hair pushed back from his face.
Good Lord.
It hadn’t even been seven months since she’d seen the man. Why the big change?
And who knew she liked bearded men?
She scooped out another bite of ice cream with her tongue, taking a moment to enjoy the sweetness of the locally grown cherries before swallowing. She’d always been more drawn to a clean-shaven face, such as what Montana’s bull riders typically sported. A few of the guys maintained trim goatees, but in her neck of the woods, most of the cowboys were fresh-faced and whip-cord tough.
Bobby was . . .
Sigh.
Bobby was the friend she’d always quietly lusted after while also knowing she could never have. He’d been hot before. A little beefier than the bull riders. A lot nerdier. And clean-shaven with short, neat hair.
He’d also always been taken. He had Bria.
He’d always had Bria.
And they had big plans.
Yet now, there was a sexy, just-say-the-word-and-I’ll-back-you-against-a wall look about him as his blue eyes seemed to twinkle from the middle of all that hair, and Jewel found that she couldn’t drag her gaze away from him.
He hadn’t seen her yet. He remained focused on the mother and son who stood in front of him. They were at Birch Bay’s annual cherry festival, and as Bobby had done occasionally over the years, he’d rented a booth to sell his wood carvings. He’d dabbled in the hobby for as long as Jewel had known him, even gifting her a tiny bull after she’d started working for his dad back in high school.
The pieces had an unpolished roughness about them, but at the same time were exquisite. The curves weren’t smoothed out. Instead, everything he made showcased the small slivers shaved off to form each shape. However, the added details were phenomenal. He mostly did animals, but she’d seen holiday themed items, as well. Santa Clauses and snowmen. Cupids and leprechauns. That sort of thing. His pieces had been in one of the local tourist shops for the last couple of years, and Jewel found his creativity humbling.
“When are you going to stop ogling from afar and simply go for it?”
The unexpected question had her entire body jerking in surprise, her gaze shooting from Bobby to the man now standing at her side, and as the top scoop of her ice cream wobbled precariously, her free hand barely made it up in time to catch it.
“Nick Wilde,” she hissed. She held the cold pink blob in her right hand and did her best to reattach it to the cone. “I am not ogling. I was just admiring Bobby’s carvings.”
His laugh was half snort. “Well, you were certainly admiring something.”
She scowled, but he didn’t notice because he’d reached over to the booth where she’d bought the ice cream and snatched up a handful of napkins. The booth was a miniature version of his family’s local store, The Cherry Basket, which was a side business to their cherry orchard. The Wildes had one of the largest operations on the eastern shore of Montana’s Flathead Lake, and though several of the Wildes no longer lived in Birch Bay, most usually returned for the annual harvest and subsequent cherry festival. Nick was one of those who regularly returned.
He wiped her hand off when she thrust it out for him, and though she wanted to further defend herself against “ogling” Bobby, she used the excuse of her now very unstable ice cream cone as a detractor.
Focusing on smoothing out the scoops, as well as catching every dribble oozing over the edges of the cone, she made sure her gaze stayed trained only on her ice cream.
“Admit it, J,” Nick murmured as he leaned in to whisper in her ear. “You’ve had the hots for Bobby since he was a mere boy.”
“Shhh.”She glared at him. “And no. I haven’t.”
She moved away from the booth, as well as the clump of other customers standing nearby. The streets were packed today since it was a perfect seventy-six-degree July day. Residents of Birch Bay, as well as tourists from all over, looked forward to this festival every year.
Nick gave her a bored look as he shifted to remain standing next to her. He was one of those cowboys she’d just been thinking about. There was a good chance he’d top the list in the Montana Pro this year, especially if he finished the season the way he’d started it. However, he wasn’t a cowboy she’d ever lusted after. They’d been friends since the fourth grade.
“I hear he’s come home to help you for the next few weeks,” Nick prodded.
The fast spread of information in her hometown never failed. “He’s home to help out in his family’s business.”
“By traveling to the rodeos with you.”
She once again glared at him. “Yes . . . So?” It wasn’t best practice to handle the bulls solo at the rodeos, and she couldn’t bring either of her other two employees due to them needing to stay back and care for the rest of the stock. Therefore, yes, Bobby would be traveling with her for the next five weekends as a second set of hands.
“So,” Nick stressed. “I’m just saying that maybe it’s time you finally go for it.”
“There’s nothing to go for, even if I wanted to. He’s engaged to Bria.” She bit down into her ice cream.
“That’s not what I hear. Crawley’s brother dates Bria’s sister.”
Jewel couldn’t help herself. She peeked over at Nick as he continued talking. Bria’s sister did date James Crawley, one of the other guys on the circuit.
“Word is that lover boy over there and Bria broke up over a month ago. For good this time.”
Jewel made a face. Bobby and Bria never broke up for good. “I’ll believe it when I see it.” He would likely head straight back to her the minute he finished up here—if not before. Bobby and Bria Riggs had dated on and off since freshman year of high school, all the way through college, and had gotten engaged sometime in the last couple of years. It was unclear if the engagement had happened before graduation or after, but nonetheless, “they” weren’t going anywhere.
Bobby would return to Missoula next month to start school for his pharmacy degree—he’d delayed beginning the year before due to staying in Birch Bay after his father died—then the two of them would eventually walk down the aisle, buy the perfect house, pop out a few kids, and live happily ever after. It was the plan, after all. Which made it a good thing she wasn’t interested.
Nick shook his head. “It’s different this time. He’s the one who broke up with her.” He nodded toward Bobby. “Plus, look at him. He’s different. Something has definitely changed. I think Crawley might be right.”
She did look at Bobby then. And what she saw set her pulse pounding.
The mother and son had left, presumably with their purchases, and now Ashlee Anderson stood at his booth. Ashlee was leaning in, a hefty dose of cleavage showing, a smile a mile wide, and Bobby looked more than interested.
He leaned her way, as well.
His mouth curved naughtily in the middle of all that facial hair.
And his eyes couldn’t seem to keep from straying to her chest.
“For the love of . . .”
She let her words trail off, and Nick laughed again.
Nick nudged. “You going to sit back and let another girl swoop in after all this time?”
“He’s just a friend,” she reminded him. But even to her own ears, she knew the proclamation sounded weak. The fact was, though, that Bobby had always been just a friend. Or more like a big brother.
She’d worked for his dad for the last seven years, since the day she’d turned sixteen, and had volunteered out at the ranch even before then. Due to Blake Brandon’s unexpected death, she’d been promoted to manager of Double B Pro Rodeo, and throughout it all, Bobby had never shown even the slightest hint of interest.
Still . . . she wasn’t about to sit by and watch him make a stupid mistake with Ashlee. That girl would chew him up and spit him out in a single bite. While smiling the entire time.
Tossing the remainder of her uneaten cone in the nearest trash can, she pumped a squirt of waterless soap into her palm from the hand-cleaning station, and after removing any lingering stickiness, wiped her hands down the sides of her jeans. She then reset her sights on the opposite side of the road.
“Interested or not,” she mumbled, “I won’t stand back and watch him get mixed up with the likes of her.”
