The Cowboy Who Got Away

But they had done things the right way. They had been friends before they became lovers. They knew each other inside and out and understood each other. Sure, she and Jude had history, but they also had a whole lot of standing water underneath their own bridge of years. Too much water, Juliette feared, to be able to bail themselves out and get to the other side without drowning if they decided to shed the superficial and dive into everything that had gone wrong.

When they got to the concrete slab, Jude stepped up onto it and then offered his hand to Juliette, helping her up onto the foundation. The block was weathered and cracked as expected for something that had been exposed to the elements for nearly a decade.

“It’s not ideal, but it’s not going to cost them twenty thousand dollars to remove it,” Jude said.

“Twenty thousand dollars? Are you kidding me?”

“Like I said, they’re playing hardball. They’re saying that because the lake dried up it shouldn’t be considered lakefront property. Since I don’t live in Celebration anymore, I guess they thought I wouldn’t check, which is pretty ridiculous.”

“The lake is perfectly fine. Who are these con men?”

“I’m not altogether sure. My Realtor is dealing with them through their Realtor. She’s the one handling the specifics. It’s some corporation I’ve never heard of. I haven’t had a chance to check them out because I’ve been so busy. I just haven’t gotten to that point yet. And I wanted to check out their claims before I invested too much energy. But now that I’m back, once I get settled in and I can take a breath, I’ll do my research.”

Juliette nodded. At least he wasn’t 100 percent set on selling to this buyer. She knew it was crazy, but the thought of him letting go of the property made her sad. It would feel as if he was divesting himself of the last bit of them. And that was selfish. Because if he had no use for the property, he still had to pay property taxes and such. Even so, the thought of it made her heart feel heavy. This was their place.

“Let me pull up the email from my Realtor.” Jude took out his phone. “I think she mentioned who they are.”

He tapped and scrolled the screen, then handed Juliette his cell.

“Here it is.”

She took the phone, ignoring the way their hands brushed.

The email said:

Hi, gorgeous, the offer for the Celebration, Texas, property is attached. Call me if you have any questions. Or call me, even if you don’t have any questions. Just call me. Smooches, Afton

“Smooches?” Juliette said before she could stop herself. “What kind of real estate professional signs her email ‘smooches’?”

Jude laughed. “That’s just Afton.”

“Oh, well, Afton sounds like she likes you. Isn’t there some sort of professional code of ethics she’s violating? Like how doctors aren’t supposed to get personally involved with their patients?”

“Afton and I are not personally involved.”

“Really? Sounds like she thinks you are, gorgeous.”

He laughed. It was a full-bodied belly laugh. “You’re jealous.” Even though the familiar sound of his laughter soothed her, she still felt heat blooming on her cheeks.

“I am not jealous.” She raised her chin. “Why would I be jealous?”

“Because you still love me.” He was teasing. She knew he was, the same way he used to always tease her. Since every word that came out of her mouth seemed to make it worse, she didn’t answer him. Instead, she turned her attention to his phone. “Do you mind if I pull up the attachment that Smooches sent?”

“No, go ahead.”

“So, wait, is she representing you or the buyer? Because it doesn’t seem like Smooches has your best interests at heart.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because she should advise you not to let them undercut you with bogus claims.”

He was smiling at her like she was adorable. And then he laughed. “I’m aware of their bogus claims. Afton is an old friend. She knows, too. She also understands that I’m on the fence about selling the property. I wasn’t actively looking for a buyer. But she brought me the offer.”

“But she knows you well enough to know you own the property. Is she an old girlfriend?”

“You are jealous.”

Juliette handed him his phone. “Never mind. Forget I asked.”

“You didn’t look at the attachment.”

Juliette shook her head. “I’ll let you do the honors of opening it. Especially since you haven’t looked at it yet. That has nothing to do with jealousy and everything to do with self-preservation. Who knows what other surprises Smooches might have in store for you.”

His gaze flickered to hers. For a split second he looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t. He honed in on his phone. “The offer is from an outfit called the MAG Holdings Limited Partnership. Never heard of them. Have you?”

Juliette shook her head. “Do an internet search and see what you can find out.”

“It says here that MAG Holdings is the parent company for Metro Arrow Homes.”

That didn’t sound very good. “Jude, they build houses. Like those cookie-cutter shoeboxes that all look alike. If they want to put a subdivision in here, they can’t. It’s not zoned for single-family housing.

“They must have something up their sleeve,” Juliette said. “Because I doubt that they’d be willing to fork over a lot of money to turn the property into a nature preserve. It’s a nice idea, but I don’t think so.”

His brows knit together as he read the information that was on the screen. “This isn’t okay. In fact, it’s not going to happen.”

He shook his head as he continued to read. “No, this is no good at all. Besides, with the way they’re trying to undercut the asking price...I think this deal is off.”

Both of them were silent, watching a couple of sandhill cranes fly in and land in the lake’s shallow water near the shore.

“I think that’s smart,” Juliette said. “Judging by what they’re trying to pull with the lake and the slab, it sounds like they aren’t very honest.”

“Yeah, there are few things I hate more than wheeler dealers,” Jude said.

“Of course,” Juliette said.

They walked in silence back the way they came. Juliette focused on the unchanged beauty of the place and tried not to wonder whether or not he’d ask Afton to look for another buyer. The lush green grass, the smattering of trees, the big live oak on the other side of the cabin, where they used to seek shade on hot summer days. It was like reuniting with an old friend or time traveling. If she squinted her eyes and blocked out everything else—especially the voices in her head—she was transported back to a much simpler time, when she and Jude were in love and their only worry had been not attracting the sheriff when they lit a bonfire on a cold fall night.

“Are you seeing anyone?” he asked out of the blue, breaking the silence.

The non sequitur made her breath catch. Really, the question shouldn’t have been so surprising. It was an obvious question that old friends would ask each other. Although, they might start with the less important and build up to this. But, hey, leave it to Jude to take the leap.

“Who wants to know?” She raised her brows at him, trying to lighten the mood.

“I want to know, Jules.”

“In this moment, I’m seeing you,” she said, “walking next to me. That’s all that matters.”

He nodded. “Then I’ll take that as a no, that you’re not otherwise involved with anyone.”

She put her hands on her hips. “What about you? Do you have someone special or is it just the Saturday night special...an endless line of Aftons?”

Okay, that was corny. She was trying to be funny, but obviously funny wasn’t her thing.

“No, there’s no one special in my life right now. And for the record, I don’t have time for Saturday night specials, as you put it. What does that even mean?”

Juliette shrugged. “Random women. You know, a different Afton every Saturday night.”

“Most Saturday nights I’m at a competition and by the time I’m done—after I’ve been tossed around, thrown and sometimes kicked or stepped on—this body is not always in the mood for a Saturday night special.”

Juliette smiled. “That’s good to know. I mean, it’s not good that you get thrown and stepped on.” She grimaced. “You know that’s why I always had a hard time watching you compete. I couldn’t stand to see you get hurt. You know, come to think of it, you never answered my question. What are you doing back in Celebration when there’s still a month left on the tour? I know you said you were home to check out the property, but that doesn’t take two weeks. In two weeks it will be time for the world championship. What’s going on, Jude?”

He stiffened and crossed his arms over his chest. Defensive body language. But Juliette was determined not to speak first, because if she did it might give him an out—he might latch onto it and change the subject.

His gaze met hers. She raised her brows.

“I ran into some trouble. I got thrown a little too hard in a couple of matches and I had to sit out the next ones.”

“Oh, no. Are you okay?”

Jude tore his gaze away from hers. He kicked at the dirt with the toe of his boot, as if giving himself more time to form his words.

“I suffered a couple of concussions. I couldn’t ride because of it. Now I don’t have enough points to qualify for the world championship.” He cursed under his breath. “How about that? I’m the reigning world champion and I won’t even be able to defend my title.”

He laughed, but it was a dry and brittle sound.

She resisted the urge to hug him. “Jude, I’m proud of you for doing the right thing. Your health—your well-being—is so much more important than a competition.”

His face fell. “It’s my livelihood, Jules. It’s not just a competition. It’s what I do. It’s what I’m good at. It’s who I am.”

“I get it, Jude. But if the doctor is telling you it’s not a good idea for you to take the risk and ride, if you go against doctor’s orders to do it, the repercussions could be...”

She shuddered. She couldn’t bring herself to say the word—deadly. Even the thought of it made her heart hurt.

Jude shrugged. The look on his face said he didn’t agree. They’d had this conversation about the risk of him getting hurt so many times when they were in high school—or at least variations of it.

Having been away from him all these years, she hadn’t allowed herself to think about the reality of what he was doing every day, how he earned his living. The risk he faced every day. Sure, she’d kept up with him. She’d been happy to read about the results of his competitions. The internet was a beautiful thing in that regard. She loved seeing that he was doing well, seeing his steady climb to the top of his game. But reading the CliffsNotes also meant that she didn’t have to see him get thrown and come within centimeters of getting stomped.

They’d always been at odds over this—for as far back as she could remember. And nothing had changed. It was best to change the subject.

Their gazes found each other and locked in a silent truce.

She could agree with that. She didn’t want to fight with him. Not on the first day seeing him after all these years. She wasn’t sure what his plans were. She had no idea if she was even going to get to see him very much while he was home. She realized in that moment that she wanted to. But still, they had this moment. Maybe that was all that mattered.

When they got back to the truck, Jude walked to the tailgate, opened it and started peeling back the bed cover.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I need to get my things out of here,” he called over his shoulder.

“What things?”

“My suitcase. All the things I brought with me.”

“So, you really haven’t been here yet?”

“Nope. Just arriving.”

That meant his first stop really had been to see her at the wedding barn. When he’d told Dottie that, she thought he would have at least stopped by the cabin and unpacked first.

As he unloaded, Juliette walked over to the ancient tree near the cabin, the one they’d carved their initials into.

“Remember this?” she said, tracing a finger over the words etched into the rough bark, time-weathered and darkened like a wound that had left a scar.

Jude walked up behind her. “‘Jude and Juliette 4-ever.’” His voice sounded hoarse and throaty. “And here we are again.”

He set down his bags, reached out and traced the words the same way she had. Then he covered her hand with his. She stood there for a moment memorizing the warmth of his hand on hers.

“Jude.”

He leaned in so close she could feel the heat of him, but she didn’t turn around. She didn’t pull away, either.

Instinctively, she knew if she turned around his lips would be much too close to hers. She might kiss him. She wanted to kiss him, wanted to taste his lips again and see if, like everything else out here, the taste of them, the feel of them, was still the same.

“I wanted to check on the sapling we planted, but I had forgotten about this tree,” he said. “How could I forget it?”

She shrugged. The gesture seemed to pull him in closer. She could smell that Jude smell—a mixture of leather and citrus and grassy undertones. Usually, people were a product of their environment. How was it that so much time had gone by and Jude still smelled exactly the same? She breathed in deeply, turning her head toward him slightly.

The nearness of him made her shiver and relax into him. “It’s still here. It stood the test of time,” she whispered.

A long moment passed with his words hanging between them. “I’m glad you didn’t forget about me, Jules.”

If she didn’t reclaim her personal space, she was going to do something she might regret.

Might regret.

Then again, she might not.

“You’re pretty hard to forget.”

It was eerie to find themselves back at the spot where everything had started. And ended. It was as if they were here for a do-over—or a second chance to make things right.

More than once, when she’d kissed another man, her mind had conjured Jude. Then the letdown she’d suffer when she opened her eyes to find herself in the arms of a familiar stranger would be devastating. The memory of Jude’s kiss took her back. It was as if she was seeing everything that was once so familiar through brand-new eyes.

He turned her around. His arms slid around her. He pulled her close and placed a soft kiss on her lips. She put her hands on the sides of his face and anchored his mouth to hers. The kiss started slow and soft. But that lasted for a mere second before his arms tightened around her and he took possession of her mouth. Passion ignited a ravenous hunger. She parted her lips to deepen the kiss. She leaned into him as if her next breath depended on him.

For a moment, common sense upended and the whole world disappeared. He pulled her tighter, staking his claim, unspoken feelings pouring out in this wordless confession.

He tasted like blueberries from the pie they’d shared earlier and coffee and the cinnamon gum he’d been chewing in the truck and something so familiar it made her ache. It was the comfort of their history, mixed with the promise of the future.

Finally.

After all these years.

A moment ago she had been worried about all the other women, and now he was kissing her so thoroughly she just might let herself believe they could have a second chance. The feelings that had stirred when she saw him standing in the doorway of the Campbell Wedding Barn were fully awake now. And they just might consume her if she let them.

Juliette had no idea how much time had passed when they finally broke apart. It was even better than she remembered. Because they weren’t kids anymore. They weren’t hiding out, stealing moments. This was Jude, holding her close, kissing her lips, rendering the lost years irrelevant.

“There’s so much we left undone.” He rested his forehead against hers. His lips were a whisper away. “What are we going to do about it?”

How had things gone so wrong? It was hard to remember.

That was the burning question, and it brought her back to earth with a thud. It made her feel a little hollow inside. They’d once meant so much to each other, but after they’d broken up, it had seemed really and truly over. They hadn’t spoken in years, yet mere hours after they’d seen each other...here they were.

She knew what she wanted, what she needed. But who knew how long he was staying. They needed to talk about things, about what happened. No matter how good things felt in this moment, they couldn’t just bury the past and pretend what happened didn’t happen. But she didn’t know how much of the dark side of their past she wanted to dredge up right now.

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