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“Ibet she could.”
“Ibet she couldn’t.”
Joelstuck out his hand. “How much?”
“Ahundred bucks,” Jason answered.
“You’reon.”
“Fine.After di
Joelsquinted and snapped, “I bet she calls a halt to everything after the firstkiss if not before.”
“Youknow very few people outside of the family can tell the difference between us,Joel. I bet she can’t.”
“Ithink she’s more into me and will be able to tell right away.” Joel kicked arock near the toe of his boot back out into the corral. He sounded confident tohis brother, but he wasn’t so sure. What if Mesa couldn’t tell the difference?What if she liked Jason better than him? No,this is nuts. I know what our kiss was like. We could set the sheets on fire ifI could get her between them. “I know what I felt when we kissed.”
“She’sjust a woman, Joel. Nothin’ special.”
“You’rewrong there, Jason. She is special.”
* * * *
Thedi
AsMesa made her way down the stairs to the dining room, the sound of voices gotlouder. A bus full of tourist had arrived earlier in the day, making the wholeplace buzz like a swarm of bees. Many of them went riding earlier, leaving herthe run of the ranch house to herself. She’d taken her laptop into the mainhall, set it up on one of the tables and managed to type out the begi
Stoppingon the stairs, she looked over the group. All the tourists were back and theplace was packed to the gills. The family waited at their table for the groupto be served while they chatted about their day. Joel sat at the end of thetable next to an empty chair she hoped might be for her. Or was it Joshua?Maybe Jason? Damn. From this distanceshe wasn’t sure which one was which? Damnit.
“Mesa,come sit by me, darlin’.” One of the three waved from the end of the table.
Shechewed on her lips a moment and then started down the stairs. Okay. Joel? Shit. I’m not sure. She tookthe seat he held out for her, dropping into it with little grace. Nice, Mesa.
“Howwas your day?”
“Great.I got a lot of writing done in the main lodge.”
“Awesome.”
Therest of the group had been served, so the family got up to get their own plates,which included her. Joel or whichever one of them this was standing next to her, gri
“Ienjoyed our kiss last night,” he whispered near her ear.
Okay,she didn’t like this game. What the hell was going on? “Really? I’m glad.”
“Metoo. I want to take you out in the moonlight tonight after di
“Okay.”She frowned. Really? She grabbed aplate in order to get her di
Shereturned to her place at the table, setting her plate down first before sheretrieved a glass of lemonade and a dessert. Jason slid his hand along hershoulder as he took the seat next to her. Now she knew why the cologne wasdifferent, he wasn’t Joel. Why was Joel giving her the cold shoulder? What didthey plan?
Theconversation around the table focused on the day’s labors. They’d moved cattlefrom the south pasture to the north pasture. Several of the cattle had droppedtheir calves already making everyone worry it might be too late in the seasonand they would suffer without extra feed. She could hear many of the touriststalking about their ride on the horses that day and she mentally pla
“Wouldyou like to go riding tomorrow?” Jason asked.
“Um,yes I would.”
“Great.I’ll saddle a couple of horses. I can meet you at the stable around nine in themorning.”
“Okay.”What the hell? This whole thing stinks.
Theyfinished di
“Walkwith me.”
“Allright,” she answered, deciding to see where this whole thing might be leading.Did Joel push her off on his brother because he didn’t want to hurt herfeelings by saying he wasn’t attracted to her? Did Jason think she wanted him?
Shelet Jason take her hand and walk her out the front door of the main lodge tothe chairs lining the porch. Even though the full moon happened the nightbefore, it still shone bright enough to see the walkway.
“Youlook beautiful in the moonlight.”
“Thankyou.”
“Youknow, the kiss we shared last night blew my socks off. I wish you hadn’t mademe leave.”
Frowning,she opened her mouth to tell him she knew he wasn’t Joel, but he bent his headand kissed her full on the mouth. She quickly stepped back and smacked himacross the face. “How dare you.”
“What?”
“Doyou think I’m stupid? Do both of you think I wouldn’t know the differencebetween you, Jason?”
“Youknew I wasn’t Joel?”
“Hellyes! Even if I hadn’t figured it out at di
“Mostpeople can’t tell the difference between us.”
“Joelhas an abrasion near the left side of his mouth from where he got in a fightwith Joshua at the bar last night.”
“Damn.”
“Whatthe hell is going on here? Why the ruse?”
“I’lltell you, Mesa,” Joel said, coming around the side of the house. “I was pissedoff at myself this morning because of what happened last night. Our kiss, Imean.”
“Wellyou know what? Fuck both of you! You want to play these sillyassedgames, you can play them on some other unsuspectingwoman. I’m not doin’ it.”
“Mesa,listen,” Joel implored, holding out his hand to touch her arm.
Shejerked back and slapped at him. “No. This is childish. I can’t believe you two!I thought I might have meant a little more to you than this, Joel, butapparently not. What we shared last night was special to me, but not to you.I’m just another girl to you.”
“No,you’re not, Mesa.”
“Yeah,whatever.” She spun around to head back into the house. Maybe it was time togo. Head back to Los Angeles and lick her wounds.
“Mesa,please.”
“WhatJoel?” She turned back around.
“Let’stalk about this.”
“Whatthe hell is there to talk about? You and your brother were playing me for thefool. How many times have you three switched places on a girl, huh? I bet alot.”
“No.”
“Yes.”During her discussion with Joel, Jason had disappeared either back into thehouse or whatever. At this point, she really didn’t care. He probably slinkedback into his hidy hole. Man, if she ever became apermanent part of this family, she’d…what? Thoseare crazy thoughts.