Spencer a lot. Connor especially liked him, and he was good with kids.
Jess had said he was like her brother, so maybe Spencer hadn’t asked any questions. But if he really was like her brother, shouldn’t he be overprotective of her, not showing Dallas exactly where to go?
He shook his head, trying to get the thoughts to leave. He didn’t care what was going on with Jess and Spencer. She’d said they weren’t seeing each other, and he either believed her or he didn’t. He wanted to believe her, so he didn’t need to spend any more time thinking about it.
He found her right where Spencer said she’d be too, her right hand stroking the side of a beautiful horse’s face. She had one foot up on the bottom rung of the fence as she leaned close to the horse as if she were whispering secrets in its ear.
“Hey,” Dallas said as he approached, and Jess lowered her hand as she looked his way. She wore a somber look, and she was beautiful in a way that made Dallas’s tongue too thick for his mouth.
He knew she loved horses, and she was very good at her job. Maybe she didn’t get along with everyone, but he’d never seen her treat anyone unkindly, even his mechanics who clearly didn’t like her much.
“I’m sorry,” he said again, lifting the oversized paper back he carried. “I got dessert.”
She looked from him to the bag and back. “You thought you could bribe me with desserts?”
“Yes,” he said simply, letting a smile touch the corners of his mouth. “Would that work?”
Jess stepped off the bottom rung and tucked her hands in her back pockets. “Depends.”
“On what?”
“What kind of dessert?”
Dallas let the smile spread across his face then. “Well, Miss Jessica Morales. I think I’m in luck, because I got one of everything. There’s bound to be something you like in here.”
What he really wanted was something that would help her forgive him, and as he pulled out the seven-layer chocolate mousse cake, he watched her eyes light up.
Bingo.
Chapter Ten
“I want another bite of that cream cheese square,” she said, waiting for Dallas to lift the plastic container and hand it to her.
He’d been talking for twenty minutes while they sampled all eight desserts he’d brought back to the ranch. She’d taken him into the office in the barn, where Hannah did a lot of her work. Jess would have to make sure she swept all the crumbs and powdered sugar from the desk, or Hannah would be dealing with ants, and then Jess would have to deal with Hannah’s wrath.
“I’m sorry,” Dallas said for probably the sixth or seventh time. “I thought it must be something I needed to know, because Martha never calls me.” He ducked his head and took another bite of the white chocolate raspberry cookie. Jess hadn’t liked that much, but Dallas sure seemed to.
“And to be completely transparent, Jess, I thought that, because I’m the one who’s been calling Martha.”
“You have?” Jess reached her fork toward the cream cheese square again. The crust was part blondie, part cookie, and part nutty, and utterly fantastic. A layer of vanilla cake sat on that, with a layer of cream cheese that wasn’t quite cheesecake texture. It was sweet and savory and salty, and her favorite thing he’d brought.
Or maybe she’d liked the chocolate cake the best. It was hard to pick something with no chocolate over something practically oozing hot fudge, but Jess was seriously considering it a toss-up at the moment.
“Yes,” Dallas said. “To keep her updated about the kids. That I got them in school. That Remmy had grown three inches in the past few months. That sort of thing.” He looked away and dusted off his hands. “She obviously doesn’t care, but I thought she did.”
Jess nodded. “I’m sorry she doesn’t care.”
Dallas met her eye again, and that same electric pulse that had always existed between them zinged through her bones. She’d been hurt and angry an hour ago. Spencer had wondered why she needed a ride, and she’d simply said her ride wasn’t reliable. Jess hadn’t volunteered any further information, and Spencer hadn’t asked. He’d already been in town, which had allowed her to get back to the ranch in record time.
She’d gone immediately to her horses, as the equines always made her feel better about herself, even when she made rash and irrational decisions. He’d told her a couple of weeks ago he wasn’t over his wife,