Page 18 of Playing Dirty (Millionaire Cowboys of Lucky Ranch #2)

Chapter Eighteen

Cover Story

Callie

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a morning like this—no alarm blaring, no mental checklist already shouting in my head before I’d even opened my eyes.

No dodging Matt’s moods or calculating my words over burnt coffee.

Just a warm kitchen that smelled faintly of fresh grounds and whole wheat toast, the sunlight spilling through the big windows, and the easy sound of Rhett moving around barefoot on the hardwood.

I curled my fingers around my mug, savoring the weight and the heat.

Across the counter, Rhett leaned one hip against the butcher-block island, watching me like he had nowhere else to be.

His gaze wasn’t impatient—it was… lingering.

Like I was worth studying in slow detail, that look alone did something dangerous to my insides.

“You planning to nurse that cup all morning, Cal?” His voice was low and a little rough, the kind of sound that always seemed to wrap around me.

“Maybe,” I said, stretching my legs out beneath the table until my toes brushed the rung of the chair opposite me. “Feels like I finally found the pause button.”

One corner of his mouth ticked up. “Can’t argue with that.”

I was about to tease him back when my phone lit up against the tabletop.

Lilly: We need to talk. Lunch?

No emoji. No rambling opener. Just a direct, sharp little line of text that cut through my easy mood. My stomach tightened—the way it does when you know the conversation isn’t going to be small talk.

Rhett poured himself another cup, his eyes sliding toward me over the rim. “Something wrong?”

“Not sure yet.” I thumbed the screen dark, trying to keep my tone light. “Lilly wants to meet for lunch.”

“Want me to come?”

I shook my head, forcing a smile I didn’t fully feel. “Better if it’s just us. Probably nothing—she just sounded… I don’t know… off.”

His brows drew together, just enough for me to see the protective streak under the easy cowboy veneer. “Alright,” he said after a beat. “But you’ll tell me if it’s something, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

I drained the last of my coffee, but it didn’t taste as rich now. Somewhere between that text and his frown, the peace of the morning had slipped through my fingers like it had never been there at all.

The bell over the café door gave a soft jingle as I stepped inside, the scent of brewed coffee and something buttery wrapping around me like a hug I didn’t quite deserve.

Lilly was already tucked into a corner booth; her coat draped over the seat beside her, and a half-finished iced tea was sweating on the table.

She looked up the second I walked in, her expression tight enough to make my chest pinch.

“Hey, stranger.” I slid into the booth across from her, setting my purse down beside me. “What’s going on?”

She didn’t ease into it. “I went to drop off an order this morning—some fresh arrangements for the flower cart—and ran into Matt.”

Just like that, my shoulders tensed. “And?”

Her mouth pressed into a thin line, the kind she got when she was fighting the urge to roll her eyes so hard it hurt. “And he told me he’d fired you.”

I blinked at her. “Fired me?”

“Yeah. Said it real casual, like he was just doing you some kind of favor.” She leaned forward, lowering her voice. “He made it sound like your relationship had been holding him back professionally, Callie. Like you were the one calling the shots.”

Heat crawled up my neck, settling in my cheeks. The thought of him spinning that story through Lovelace made my stomach churn. “Of course he did.”

Lilly hesitated, her eyes narrowing in that way she got when she was weighing whether to keep going. “That’s not all. Did Rhett tell you about the receipt for daisies I mentioned to Tessa?”

I nodded, the memory sharp. “Rhett said Matt had ordered daisies a while back that matched his address in Casper. No doubt they were for his wife.”

“Well,” Lilly continued, “he ordered the same daisies again this morning. Sent to the same address.”

I sat back, my nails tapping against the tabletop. “So, he’s… what? Keeping up appearances with her while playing the victim here?”

Her shrug was small, but the look in her eyes told me she’d been thinking the same thing.

Outside, his truck rumbled past, shaking the window glass, and I couldn’t help but wonder if Matt’s web of lies was starting to stretch too thin to hold.

Lilly stirred her tea with the plastic straw, the ice clinking softly against the glass. “Honestly, I think he’s just being spiteful,” she said, like that should make me feel better. “Trying to save face after you walked out.”

“Maybe.” I traced the edge of my napkin, the paper catching under my fingertip. Out loud, I could keep it light. Inside, it felt heavier, more complicated. Matt wasn’t just slinging mud for fun—he was setting the stage. Buying himself time.

I let out a short laugh that sounded more bitter than amused. “He’s got some nerve, though. Playing the wounded hero while keeping his wife stocked in flowers and still hanging around town like he’s some big shot at the store.”

“You don’t know that’s what he’s doing.”

“Don’t I?” I met her eyes, letting the quiet hang between us until she looked away. The truth was, I hated how easy it was to imagine him pulling it off. Matt could make the worst choices look polished if he wanted to.

Lilly reached across the table, her fingers brushing mine. “You’ll come out of this fine. People love you.”

“That won’t stop the gossip.” I forced a smile, but my throat felt tight. In a town like Lovelace, gossip wasn’t just background noise—it was the soundtrack. And if Matt had his way, I’d be the hit song.

Outside, a gust of wind rattled the café’s front door. I glanced toward it, half-hoping to see Rhett walk through, hat tipped low, eyes steady on me. But it stayed shut. This was my mess to sit in for now.

Lilly’s voice softened. “Let them talk. You’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.”

Maybe not. But humiliation was already simmering just under my skin, that slow burn you couldn’t quite shake. I’d lived enough months with Matt to know he wouldn’t quit until he’d wrung every ounce of control out of a situation.

The problem was that I didn’t yet know what he planned to do with it.

By the time I turned into Rhett’s drive, the weight in my chest felt anchored there, like it had no intention of moving on.

I told myself I’d shake it off before I walked inside—no point hauling the whole lunch with me into his kitchen—but the second I stepped through the door, he glanced up from the auto paint samples spread across the counter and knew.

“Hey.” His voice was easy, but his eyes sharpened in that way they did when he was already taking inventory.

“Hey.” I dropped my bag on the counter, leaning a hip against it. The smell of garlic and onions hit me, rich and warm, like he’d decided dinner should wrap around us before we even sat down.

“How was lunch?”

I hesitated, running my tongue along the back of my teeth. “Interesting. Apparently, Matt’s telling people he fired me.”

A sample was still in his hand. “He what?”

I shrugged, trying for casual and missing by a mile. “Lilly ran into him when she was dropping off flowers. He made sure to get that little detail in. And I saw him driving around town like he owned the place.”

Rhett set the sample down, slow and deliberate. “You embarrassed?”

“Wouldn’t you be?” I slid onto one of the stools, resting my elbows on the counter. “This is Lovelace. You know how fast that’ll travel.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Yeah, I know. And I also know he’s not doing it just to piss you off. He’s working out a plan.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

He didn’t answer right away. Just reached for his phone and dialed. “Sawyer? Bring your laptop. Now.” He hung up before there was time for anything more than a muffled reply.

I blinked at him. “What?—”

“We’re done letting him control the story,” Rhett said, already moving toward the fridge like this was just another part of prepping dinner. But there was a sharp edge in his voice that told me this was about to get serious.

I folded my arms, part of me uneasy, part of me… relieved. Because if Matt thought he could keep rewriting my life to suit him, he was about to find out he’d picked the wrong audience.

Sawyer didn’t bother knocking. One second Rhett was pacing the kitchen, jaw tight, and the next, the front door creaked open and Sawyer stepped inside, a laptop tucked under one arm like it was a weapon.

“Got your message,” he said, shutting the door behind him. “Figured you wouldn’t call unless this was serious.”

“It’s serious,” Rhett answered, his tone low enough to vibrate in my bones. He shot me a glance that was part reassurance, part warning. “Tell him what you told me.”

I swallowed, feeling like the center of some invisible crossfire. “Matt’s telling people he fired me. Lilly said he made it sound like I should be grateful he kept me around as long as he did.”

Sawyer’s eyes narrowed, the calculating kind of look that said he was already ten steps ahead. “And the flowers Lilly mentioned?”

“Same daisies. Same address in Casper.”

That earned a quiet curse under his breath. He set the laptop on the counter, flipping it open with quick, practiced movements. “That’s not just spite. That’s cover.”

Rhett leaned in. “Exactly what I was thinking.”

I blinked between them. “Cover for what?”

Neither of them answered right away. Instead, Sawyer clicked through a few screens, his fingers moving with military precision.

“A guy like Matt? He’s stalling. Keeping his story clean until he figures out how to deal with whatever’s about to hit him.

” He glanced at Rhett, his voice hardening.

“And it will hit him. You don’t live a double life forever without it catching up. ”

The knot in my chest tightened. “So… what does that mean for me?”

Sawyer looked at me then, his expression softening just enough to make me wonder what he’d seen in his life to earn that kind of steel. “It means you stay in a safe place. Let us handle the rest.”

Rhett’s gaze didn’t leave Sawyer’s. “We start digging. Everything—phone records, social media, financials—if he’s got skeletons in his closet, we drag ’em out into daylight.”

Sawyer nodded once, already pulling a small external drive from his jacket pocket. “I’ll run it through the network. Couple of my buddies still contract for law enforcement—retired SEALs, like me. They’ll keep it quiet.”

The casual way he said it made my skin prickle. These weren’t two men brainstorming in a kitchen. This was strategy. This was war.

I tried for levity, but it came out brittle. “Sounds like you’ve done this before.”

Sawyer’s mouth curved in a humorless grin. “You’d be surprised what we’ve done before. The folks in Lovelace don’t just respect us because we won the Powerball, you know.”

I nodded, but I really wasn’t sure what he meant. It made me wonder if I was supposed to.

Rhett pushed away from the counter, coming to stand between me and the laptop like a shield. “You don’t have to be part of this, Callie. Just… stay clear, alright?”

Stay clear. As if it were that easy when my name was already on Matt’s lips and halfway through the gossip mill by now. “If he’s telling people he fired me, this is already public,” I said quietly. “It’s only a matter of time before it’s all over town.”

Rhett’s jaw flexed. “Then we make sure we control the story before he does.”

Sawyer gave a satisfied nod and started typing, his focus absolute. The click of keys filled the kitchen like the ticking of a clock running out.

I stood there, the air feeling thicker with every passing second, and realized that whatever line there’d been between Rhett’s world and mine—it was gone now.

Rhett caught my hand, lacing his fingers through mine. “We’re gonna end this, darlin’. On our terms.”

And just like that, I knew Matt had no idea what kind of storm he’d stirred up.