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“You have a tab?”

“Of course we have a tab.”

Tallulah grins as she pops the tops off three longnecks. “The boys are here…often.”

“What she means is”—Cash takes a beer from Tallulah and hands it to me—“Wyatt may or may not host an illegal poker game here every so often. The people who play with him may or may not lose enough money to pay our tab many times over.”

Wyatt nods, sipping his beer. “Tallulah gets a cut of my winnings.”

“What if you lose?”

“I don’t. Someone’s gotta put money into Ella’s college fund.”

Cash meets my eyes again, his longneck at his lips. “Come hell or high water, a Rivers is gonna get a degree.”

Tipping back my beer, I look away. I have to. I might literally melt if I keep looking at this indecently handsome man who’s apparently hell-bent on sending his niece to college.

It’s a dream he couldn’t make come true for himself. But he’ll be damned if it doesn’t come true for his loved ones.

For a second, I get this weird, floaty feeling, like the ground is literally shifting beneath my feet. Cash is continually taking me off guard.

He’s continually surprising me, and I’m not quite sure what to do with myself when he does. Hating him is easy.

But if I don’t hate him…then what?

I startle at the sound of a snare drum. Glancing at the stage, I see Patsy twirling a drumstick in her hand before the band launches into its first song.

Watching Patsy play the drums, a smile splits my face.Of courseshe plays the drums. Andof courseshe absolutely rocks it, pounding away like she wasn’t up long before the sun, making the first of many meals to feed many mouths.

Zach is on the steel guitar while Sally is a backup singer at a microphone, a violin on her shoulder. I don’t recognize thelead vocalist or the gal playing the acoustic guitar, but I’m sure they’re somehow connected to Lucky Ranch.

I’m learning that everyone around here is.

The song they play is a George Strait cover. One of my favorites—“It Just Comes Natural.” Maybe that’s why the ground suddenly steadies and I’m tapping the toe of my boot in time to the beat.

This I know.

This I love.

Live music. Classic country. A bar where no one gives a fuck who you are or what you’re wearing. We’re all just here to have a good time.

We’re all here to forget life for a little while.

I’m not the only one in need of an escape. People immediately move from the bar to the dance floor. I smile harder when I see John B leading the pack.

Turning back to Cash and Wyatt, I catch Cash looking at me. Checking me out, more like it. His eyes rove up the length of my body, a slow, steady perusal that feels like a physical caress.

It should piss me off. Offend me at the very least.

Instead, his attention makes me feel…definitelynotoffended.

Is Cash into me?Am I into him?

No. Definitely not. Although I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t the tiniest bit flattered by the idea that he’s physically attracted to me.

Then again, that makes the fact that I’m attracted to him that much more dangerous.

Let’s be real, though. There’s zero chance we’ll hook up. I don’t want to stay on the ranch, but I also don’t want to be reckless with its future. The more I learn about the place, the more I recognize how essential Cash is to its operation. I lose him, I lose the ranch. Period, end of sentence.