Tough Luck Cowboy

Book 3: Crossroads Ranch

by A.J. Pine

Genres: Women's Fiction; Contemporary Romance; Western Romance

Synopsis

From this "fabulous storyteller" (Carolyn Brown, New York Times best-selling author) comes a sweet western romance between a rodeo cowboy and his best friend's ex-wife.

What's the saying, bad luck comes in threes? If so, Lily Green is due for something good. First, her divorce is finalized — on her birthday, no less. Then the first job she lands for her catering company turns out to be for her ex-husband's wedding. To top it off, she's stuck working the event with Luke Everett, the sexy-as-hell best man who's never been able to stand her. When can a girl catch a break?

For years, Luke has kept his feelings for Lily safely hidden. Hitting on his best friend's ex-wife would definitely break the cowboy code of honor. But ever since an injury sidelined his rodeo riding, the two of them keep getting thrown together. It's only a matter of time until his true feelings come to light. When that happens, it will either be the biggest mistake of his life, or a sign that his luck is about to change.

Release date: August 28, 2018

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Print pages: 320

Sample

Prologue

Three years ago…

Despite the setting sun and the fact he’d been working since the damn thing rose that morning, Luke Everett wasn’t about to call it a day. He had Cleo saddled up and ready to ride—and only a week left before his first rodeo. His trick riding was good. Real good. He wouldn’t settle for anything less than top-notch. When you excelled at one thing and one thing only, nothing but the best would do.

He was on Cleo and had barely made it into the arena when the black Audi RS 3 rolled up next to the stable.

Luke pushed the brim of his hat up, wiping the sweat off his forehead and squinting at the emerging driver.

“You do like to make an entrance, don’t you?” Luke called over the arena fence. “Still enjoying your graduation bribe, I see.”

Tucker Green hopped out of the driver’s-side door, and Luke couldn’t help laughing. There was his buddy, dark hair cropped close and neat, a collared shirt and clean dark jeans, and a car that cost three times as much as his truck. Luke glanced down at his faded, dirty jeans and scuffed boots. He gripped Cleo’s reins with rough, calloused hands that boasted fingernails in need of a good scrubbing…or seven.

“It’s not a bribe if I actually want to stay in Oak Bluff,” Tucker said. “As long as my father thinks he got his way, I’ll take the car and seed money to start my own business. By the way, got any business ideas?”

Luke shook his head and laughed. He didn’t begrudge Tucker the perks the guy grew up with. They were just so—different—the two of them. Yet his friend had had his back for too many years to count. And Luke would always have his.

“What are you doing here, Green?” Luke asked. “I got shit to do.”

“Jessie ended things, and in case you can’t tell, I’m a mess. I could have married her, you know. If she didn’t move back to Ohio after grad school.”

Luke shook his head. “Why didn’t you chase her?”

Tucker held out his arms. “And leave all this? You know as well as I do that people like you and me always come back to Oak Bluff. It’s in our blood.”

Luke couldn’t argue with that. There was something about this place that called you back. Sometimes it was easier to simply not leave.

“You think every woman is the one that’s going to get you to settle down. But they never are.”

Tucker laughed. “And you don’t think any woman will get you to settle down.”

Luke raised a brow. “And do you ever see me crying about a broken heart?” He knew better than that. After seeing what love did to his father and how it almost ruined his brother Jack, too, he wasn’t about to walk down that path.

“Look, man,” Tucker said, smile fading. “This one stings, okay? I might have even loved her. I can’t sit home with Charles and Judith tonight. I need to blow off some steam, and from the looks of it, so the hell do you.”

Luke shrugged. “This is how I blow off steam. It’s also how I make sure I’m not gonna get myself killed when I compete for the first time. I’d say that’s a win-win situation.”

Tucker strode toward the fence, stopping only when he couldn’t go any farther, then crossed his arms.

“Okay, then. I need a wingman. You can, at the very least, be that.”

Luke pulled his riding gloves out of his back pocket and slid them on.

“No can do, my friend. I already have a date with this pretty lady tonight.” He patted Cleo on the neck. “What kind of man would I be if I bailed on her now?”

Tucker raised a brow. “Drinks are on me.”

Luke hopped off the horse. “Gimme ten minutes to take a quick shower.”

  

“A line dancing bar?” Luke asked when they pulled up in front of the Lucky Star Saloon.

Tucker put the car in park and pulled the keys from the ignition. “You know who likes to go line dancing, my friend?” He didn’t wait for Luke to answer. “Women like to go line dancing. And you know my favorite way to blow off steam…”

Yeah. Luke knew. It was one of his favorite ways to blow off steam, too. But there hadn’t been time for that the past few weeks—not with running the ranch, training for the rodeo, keeping his unpredictable younger brother Walker in line, and making sure his ailing father, Jack Senior, ate enough each day to soak up the booze.

No, Luke Everett hadn’t had the privileged upbringing his friend had. At least, not after his mother died and his father had taken to drinking and raising his hand to Jack Junior. The worst was behind them, but life still had a way of piling up every now and then.

“You were right,” Luke said as the two men headed toward the swinging doors of the Lucky Star Saloon. “I needed a night off.”

Tucker clapped him on the shoulder and grinned. “I know, Everett. I’m always right. Now get in there and be the life of the party I know you are.”

In a matter of minutes Luke had a beer in hand and a barstool view of the dance floor where the line dancing was in full swing. It didn’t take him long to spot her—the pixie-cut blonde in the short denim skirt and green tank top. But it was her smile that nearly knocked him off his stool.

“I’ll be right back,” he said to Tucker.

“Are you shittin’ me? You don’t actually know how to line dance, do you? Or have you been holding out on me?”

“Never done it in my life,” Luke said. But he’d do just about anything right now to see that girl’s smile up close.

He ran a hand through his blond waves and took a swig of his beer as he made his way onto the floor.

She was right there in the front line, so he burrowed between her and the woman to her right, a tall brunette with a severe ponytail who crashed right into him as she stepped left.

Luke expected chastisement from Ponytail. Instead he was greeted with a flirty “I’m sorry” as the woman blushed and smiled.

He offered her a friendly grin as he cross-stepped to the side, trying to keep in time with the line, not that he had any clue what the hell he was doing. “Not necessary. It was my fault.”

Luke turned his attention to the woman on the other side of him, the one still dancing without so much as a missed step even as she gave him the side-eye.

“You look lost,” she said, and they were suddenly moving three steps forward.

“I beg to differ,” Luke replied. “I’m exactly where I want to be.”

She pointed at his beer, and they were now taking three steps back.

“Makes it hard to do all the moves with that. Just an FYI. Though I’m guessing you don’t know any of them.”

He flashed her a smile. “Oh I know moves, sweetheart.” And because his timing was perfect, that was exactly when he stepped right just as everyone else was stepping left.

She burst out laughing as he crashed into Ponytail Girl again, causing him to stumble forward and—thankfully—out of the line. Somehow he managed to save his beer.

His chest tightened at the sound of her laughter, not from embarrassment but from the sheer joy radiating from her, and he was sure the only cure for whatever her happiness was doing to him was to hear it again.

“You might have some moves,” she said. “But they’re not out here.” She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him off the dance floor, and he followed more than willingly.

“You got a name?” Luke asked.

“Lemme have some of that and I’ll tell you.”

He handed his still-cold bottle to her, and she drew a long, slow sip.

She licked her lips and offered the bottle back to him. “I’m Lily.”

“I’m Luke. Buy you a fresh one of your own?” he asked, taking his beer back.

She reached a hand toward his face, pressing her fingers to the back of his neck and brushing her thumb along his jaw.

His pulse went into overdrive.

“You got a little smudge of something…”

He laughed. Sometimes it didn’t matter how many times he showered after a long day’s work. A little piece of the ranch always seemed to stick with him.

Her thumb slowed as she felt the scar beneath his stubble.

“First time getting thrown from a horse,” he said, answering her unasked question.

“First time?”

“Sure,” he said. “This one was an accident. The other times I was asking for it.” The corner of his mouth quirked up.

Lily cleared her throat. “There,” she said, dropping her hand. “All better.”

Luke raised a brow. “You sure you weren’t just looking for an excuse to get your hands on me?” Her cheeks went crimson, but she held his playful gaze. So he leaned in close and spoke softly into her ear, “I’m gonna tell you a little secret, sweetheart. You never need to make excuses with me.”

He straightened just in time to spot the ponytailed line dancer he’d almost knocked over twice bounding toward the two of them.

“Hey, you guys! I was wondering where you went!” She bumped her hip against Lily’s, then hooked her arm through Luke’s. “I think Mr. Sexy here needs some dance lessons. Don’t you agree?”

Mr. Sexy?

Lily shook her head and laughed. “Dina, this is Luke. Luke, this is my friend Dina—line dancer extraordinaire.”

Luke cleared his throat. “I’d shake your hand but—you’re sorta holding it.”

She’d slid her hand from his elbow to his palm and was now gripping it firmly. She was pretty and sure as hell not shy. But there had been some sort of connection when Lily’s skin met his. And hell if he wasn’t going to see where that led.

“Is this guy bothering you, ladies? He’s been known to leave a trail of broken hearts wherever he goes, and I’d hate to see that happen to either of you. Just say the word and I can take care of him for you.”

Luke turned to see Tucker eyeing the three of them with a look on his face like he was ready to kick someone’s ass. And it was pretty damn convincing. Only Luke knew that Tucker Green would never chance messing up that pretty face of his.

“No!” Lily said. “He was just—wait—trail of broken hearts?”

Tucker tilted his head back and laughed, and Lily’s lips pursed into a pout.

“Lily, Dina…meet Tucker.” Luke freed his hand from Dina’s. “Tucker, stop being an asshole.”

“Fine,” Tucker said, crossing his arms. “Drinks are on me. Anything to keep your sorry ass off the dance floor, Everett. That was painful to watch.” He turned to Lily and Dina. “Shall we, ladies?”

The four of them headed back to Luke and Tucker’s table, and soon there were beers in everyone’s hands.

“You both from around here?” Luke asked Lily and Dina.

“Born and raised,” Dina said. “I’m getting certified to teach yoga at a local studio. My instructor says I’m the bendiest person in my class.”

Lily coughed as she sipped her beer.

Luke patted her on the back. “You okay there, sweetheart?”

She coughed again, then cleared her throat. “I’m great. Just wasn’t aware of Dina’s bendiness.” She pressed her lips into a grin.

Luke’s hand slid down to rest on the back of Lily’s stool. She was safe from choking on her drink, but he wanted to stay close by—just in case. That was a logical enough excuse without admitting to himself it could be anything more, especially when he didn’t exactly do more.

“You ladies don’t discuss degrees of flexibility?” Tucker asked. “Because that’s pretty much all Everett and I talk about.”

Lily lowered her chin and laughed, but there was a nervousness to it. She straightened and smiled coyly as she chewed her bottom lip. Well shit. It wasn’t nerves. She was flirting.

With him or Tucker? The joke had clearly been about both men, but Tucker was the one who said it. And dammit, when was the last time he’d silently dissected a woman’s behavior to determine whether or not she liked him?

The answer was never. They’d always liked him. Not being able to read this woman was maddening.

“We just met a couple weeks ago—me and Dina. She needed a roommate, and I’d just moved here from Phoenix and needed a place to stay, so here we are.”

“Why’d you leave Phoenix?” Luke asked. He wanted to know, sure. He also wanted to keep her attention, to find any excuse to stare at her emerald-green eyes. Tucker might have been right with his trail of broken hearts joke. But it wasn’t like Luke set out to love ’em and leave ’em. He just never saw the point in long-term. His brother Jack fell in love in high school and got his heart crushed. Their father had loved their mother something fierce, and look what that did to him. She died, and he all but joined her, letting the bottom of a whiskey bottle kill the man who’d raised them and turn him into a violent stranger. So no, love wasn’t something Luke Everett sought. Yet this girl he’d known for the better part of an hour had him thinking What if?

Luke shifted slightly on his stool, leaning his elbow on the high-top table and angling more toward Lily. He wasn’t openly ignoring Dina and certainly didn’t want to be a dick. He did, however, want to make his interest clear. In the past he’d found his leaning usually said more than enough.

Lily smiled at him and then shrugged. “I finished culinary school and needed a change of scenery. And now I need a job.” She laughed. “Sometimes it’s good to wipe the slate clean and start fresh. Leave the past behind and all that. You know?”

She was playing at nonchalance, the sparkle dimming in her eyes a dead giveaway.

Hell yeah he knew. He’d had that fresh start back in high school when he and his brothers were removed from their father’s custody after the man almost killed Jack by pushing him down a flight of stairs. But Crossroads Ranch was the family business. He understood why Jack left, but ranching was in Luke’s blood. He could never truly leave his past behind.

“I get it,” Luke said. His hand shifted, his fingertips accidentally brushing her shoulder. She shivered. “How are you liking—”

“Wait,” Tucker interrupted. “Wait, wait, wait. Did you just say culinary school?” He slapped a palm down on the table. “I just had a damned epiphany!”

Luke straightened and instinctively pulled his arm away. The shift in the air was immediate yet noticeable only to him. Whatever Tucker was about to say was going to change everything. It was Tucker’s way—a big personality with even bigger ideas that drew everyone into his orbit whether they wanted to be or not.

“I just finished business school,” Tucker continued. “And I have this start-up fund that’s sitting in the bank waiting for me to figure out what the hell to start up. You’re a chef looking for a job. It’s all so damned perfect. How do you feel about barbecue? I always thought Oak Bluff could use some good barbecue. Also doesn’t hurt that it’s my father’s favorite. I do like to please my investors.” He raised a brow. “Plus, I know this great ranch nearby, so all recipes would come from locally sourced beef.” He gave Luke a conspiratorial grin.

Lily’s brows drew together. “So, I’ve actually never cooked barbecue before. My influence is more, um, eclectic? You know, farm to table, the menu always changing…”

Tucker nodded. “Sure, yeah. I hear what you’re saying. I’m just sort of spitballing ideas here. What if we talk about this more in the light of day? I’ll give you the grand tour of Oak Bluff, show you why it needs barbecue, and let you put together some menu ideas. Tomorrow morning sound good?”

Lily’s hesitant smile bloomed into something radiant, her green eyes sparking back to life. Luke realized the foolishness of his What if? Tucker could literally give her the world, and he couldn’t compete with that.

“I went to Berkeley!” Dina called out as if they were playing some game and she was claiming her turn. “What about you, Luke? Where’d you graduate from?”

His smile fell for a second. Then he painted it back on. “Los Olivos High School,” he said matter-of-factly. “Hey, man. If y’all are staying for a while, maybe I’ll call an Uber or something. Got an early morning.”

Tucker clapped a hand onto Luke’s shoulder. “My man Luke here isn’t telling the whole story. Did you ladies know he’s competing in his first rodeo next week?”

Luke shook his head. “They don’t want to hear about bareback or bronc riding.”

“I do,” Dina said. “I could drive you home, and you could tell me all about it.”

Lily said nothing, which only sealed the deal. Tucker might be a little self-absorbed sometimes, but he was a good guy. The better guy in many respects. When they were in their early teens, he was there for Luke during some of the hardest years of his life. No matter what sort of spark he felt with Lily when they met, she deserved someone more like Tucker, and Tucker deserved a win. He wouldn’t stand in the way of either of them getting what they wanted.

“I think I’ll take that ride, Dina,” Luke said.

“You sure?” Tucker asked, and Luke nodded. “I’m happy to take you home, Lily. We can talk more about Oak Bluff’s culinary future. I mean, no pressure or anything, but if you’re really looking for a job as a chef…”

Lily hesitated for a second, mouth hanging open. “Sure…I mean, this is what everyone wants, right?”

Luke shrugged and slid off his stool, taking a step back from the girl who, for a brief second or two, made him think he was ready for something more. “I can’t offer a girl a restaurant. Just stories about cows and horses.” He took himself out of the running, though he guessed Tucker never really knew he’d been in it.

“What a coincidence!” Dina said. “I adore cows and horses.” She linked her arm through Luke’s and pulled him close. “You’re good with getting a ride from Tucker, right Lil?”

“I’m good,” Lily said.

Tucker hopped off his stool. “Then I guess we’re all heading out.”

The bar filled with the opening of Billy Ray Cyrus’s “Achy Breaky Heart,” and Dina squealed, “Classic! Oh, we have to stay for this one. Please?”

She batted her eyes at Luke, and he blew out a breath. “I guess we’re going to be a few minutes behind you,” he said to Tucker and Lily.

“I guess this is good night, then,” Lily said.

“I’ll catch you tomorrow, Everett. Later tomorrow. Nice to meet you, Dina.”

Luke said nothing as he watched Tucker slide his fingers through Lily’s. Then the two of them turned toward the swinging saloon doors.

Maybe this place was a poor replica of the Old West, but he’d swear he just dodged a bullet, one that was aimed straight for his heart.

“So,” Dina said. “Wanna go dance and then blow off some steam?”

Luke chuckled at her choice of words. He was good at blowing off steam. It was stupid for him to think he’d be good at anything more.

“Yeah,” he said. “I think I do.”

Chapter One

Lily Green stood outside the entrance of the Crossroads Vineyard tasting room. The place was still under construction and not yet open, but Jack Everett was expecting her. She glanced back at the Audi RS 3, the car that had impressed her the night she met Tucker Green. Now it was listed in the sheaf of papers under her arm as one of many assets turned over to her in the divorce agreement. She’d signed and initialed each and every page in the stack, read them through again, and then once more before leaving her house this morning.

“Well,” she said aloud to no one in particular. “There you have it.”

Lily Green knew what it was like to be left. At the ripe old age of twelve, her own father decided that both marriage and parenting weren’t his chosen path in life. And after cleaning out the joint savings account he shared with Lily’s mother, he disappeared from both their lives. His not loving her mother anymore would have been enough. But what about his daughter? He hadn’t loved Lily enough to stay in touch, let alone in town. That had been fifteen years ago, and she and her mom were still rebuilding the foundation he tore down with that one little decision.

“That’s why I did everything by the book,” she said, answering her inner monologue. Good grades, scholarships to offset loans, marrying the guy who promised stability and a future for both of them. Her life path consisted of planned-out decisions that were supposed to be foolproof. Instead she’d fooled herself into thinking history wouldn’t repeat itself. She just hadn’t expected she’d be the one to leave.

Lily Green, the girl voted most likely to teach life who was boss—because yes, that’s exactly what her senior superlative had said—was twenty-six and had been thoroughly schooled by life instead.

Scratch that. Twenty-seven. Because of course she was finalizing the details of her divorce on her birthday.

“Guess there’s nothing left to do but make this official, right?”

But no one answered. She was still talking to herself. Prolonging the inevitable.

A shiver ran through her, and Lily wondered if it was the crisp October afternoon or the realization that a carefully cultivated plan could still run off the track. She squinted into the sun, which shone bright over the burgeoning California vineyard. The Everett brothers were sure as hell showing life who was boss, and despite the weight on her chest, that thought elicited a smile.

She fingered the silver wishbone pendant that hung at her neck, the only gift her mom could afford when she’d graduated culinary school.

“I always knew you’d do better than I did at figuring life out,” she’d said. “Look at you—on your way to doing such great things. I’ll never stop being proud of you.”

Great things, huh? She was jobless, almost divorced, and completely and totally lost. How could she tell her mom that?

She couldn’t. Not yet. She’d call home eventually. When she could think of the right words. When she would be ready to hear the disappointment in her mother’s voice.

Right now she squared her shoulders and pushed through the tall wooden door, ready to get down to business, and stopped short at the scene before her.

At a workbench stood the owners of the Crossroads Ranch and soon-to-be Vineyard—three tall, strapping men all in well-worn jeans and well-fitting T-shirts that were sprinkled with sawdust or dirt. This was all juxtaposed with their raised hands, each awkwardly gripping the stem of a wineglass.

“You need to swirl it first, like this, letting it breathe.”

Across from the rugged blond Everett brothers stood a beautiful redhead. Ava Ellis, Jack’s fiancée and resident wine expert.

“Why . . .