Rugged Cowboy - Elana Johnson Page 0,24

arrow back and sent a message to Nate and Ted, then one to just Ted, asking him if he could take the kids that night so Dallas could “go celebrate.”

What are you going to do? Ted asked. Congrats, by the way. That’s big news. I know you hate that cabin.

Dallas did hate the cabin. He had a nightly ritual of spraying for bugs, and he and the kids slept with mosquito nets over their beds. If they didn’t, they had bites and bugs on them in the morning. He needed to get his children out of that situation.

That’s great, Nate said on the group text. Ted chimed in there too, and Dallas was glad he had friends on the outside. No one else had called him, and he initiated all conversations with his family. For now, that would have to be enough, because Dallas didn’t have any more to give.

He didn’t have much in his energy reserves for a woman either, and he realized he should’ve just taken his kids to get hamburgers and French fries after school as a way to celebrate.

Jess hadn’t answered yet. He’d just text and say that he couldn’t because of the kids. He hated to use them as an excuse, but he would if he had to.

He navigated back to her text string and saw she had answered. He just hadn’t seen it. I’d love to. Seven? You’ll come pick me up?

His heartbeat slowed and thudded in his chest. He’d felt like this before, and he knew his attraction to Jess was more than the fact that he was a little starved for female attention.

Seven, he confirmed. I’ll come pick you up at the West Wing.

Perfect, she said, sending a thumbs-up emoji too.

Dallas sank back into his seat, realizing that dinner with her could be perfect. His mind started to play all kinds of fantasies, and Dallas just let them roll through his mind’s eye.

His phone rang, breaking him out of the trance he’d fallen into where he kissed Jess goodnight and floated back to his bug-infested cabin the happiest man on Earth.

“Hey, Ted,” he said, forgetting what he’d asked the man to do for him that night.

“What are you doing to celebrate?” Ted asked, and he was clearly working somewhere on the ranch. The air blew across his receiver, and Dallas thanked the Lord above that he had an inside job on sweltering days like today.

“Uh.” Dallas really wished he had a window he could pace back and forth to. He didn’t see a way to keep it a secret. “I asked Jess to go to dinner with me.”

A beat of silence came through the line, and then Ted burst out laughing. Dallas chuckled half-heartedly with him, not sure if Ted thought the idea of a relationship with Jess was ludicrous or not.

“Good for you,” Ted said. “Really, Dallas. That’s great.” He sounded genuine, and Dallas let his smile spread across his face again.

“You think so?”

“Sure,” Ted said. “She’s a pretty woman, and you’re a great guy. Why not?”

“I don’t know. Are there rules about dating here at the ranch?” He turned around to find Chris and Leon in his office now, and Dallas wondered how much they’d heard. His heart dropped to his steel-toed boots, and the three of them stared at one another.

“Not that I’m aware of,” Ted said. “Bring the kids by whenever. Emma is making her braided breadsticks, and we’re having spaghetti on the side.” He chuckled again, and Dallas joined in with him.

He set his phone on this desk and faced his guys again. “Hey,” he said. “What did you two need?”

“Who are you going out with?” Chris asked. He stood six feet tall, with linebacker shoulders, as he’d played football all the way through college. He hadn’t been recruited into the NFL, and he’d traded his helmet for a cowboy hat. He’d been working at Hope Eternal for three years, Dallas had discovered, and he’d recently come over to the mechanical side of things after he’d had a run-in with Jess.

Dallas swallowed. “Uh, no one.”

Leon looked at Chris, and Chris looked at Leon. “I swear I heard him ask if there were rules about dating here at the ranch.” Leon’s grin could only be classified as one Dallas would see on a Cheshire Cat. “Gotta be someone.”

Leon had dark hair and eyes, and Dallas had learned that he’d been out with every woman on the ranch at least once—except Jess.

Dallas didn’t know how he could tell them