I shake my head. “Oh, it’s not like that. Colt and I didn’t sleep together.”
“Mm-hmm,” Cash murmurs. “You wearing yesterday’s clothes says otherwise.”
I roll my eyes and choose to ignore that statement. “Well, I hope Cash has been showing you some of the South’s finest hospitality.”
“Oh, he’s shown me everything the South has to offer.”
“I really do not doubt that, but if you need anything at all, you just holler, okay?”
“Thank you so much. Though you might come to regret that. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to stay in a place more.”
“Well, we could always use more women on the ranch. Who knows, maybe we’ll find a way to keep you after all.”
“Uh-oh. That’s my cue to hightail it on out of here.” He winks at Carla and jumps off the stairs. “You want a lift back to the ranch house, Lemon?”
I glance at Colt’s cabin, praying he doesn’t come out right now and make this all one hundred times worse. “Sure. That would be great.”
“Alright then. I’ll see you later, L.A. Woman.”
“Bye. Good to meet you, Lemon.”
“You too, Carla. Hopefully we’ll see one another around.”
“Hopefully,” Carla says with a sly grin, and I have to wonder whether everyone on this damn ranch isn’t in on some big joke that I’m not privy to.
I climb into Cash’s truck. “Don’t say a word, and wipe that damn cocky grin off your face.”
He frowns and points to his toothpaste-commercial-worthy teeth. “This grin?”
I stare out the window just waiting for him to bring it up. Three, two … one. “So, you and Colt?”
“No. There is no me and Colt anything. Nothing happened. I got drunk and he took me back to his cabin.”
“Well sure, but what were you doing out drinking anyway?”
“Daddy’s funeral was yesterday, or did your night with the Jessica Rabbit lookalike knock all the brain cells from your head?”
He makes a pffting sound, as if that’s not even remotely possible, but Cash wouldn’t be the first man to be struck dumb when it comes to a woman’s lady parts. “I didn’t forget. Just find it interesting that you found yourself back in the arms of your ex.”
“Okay, for a start, no one was in anyone else’s arms.”
“If you think anyone on God’s green earth is gonna believe that the two of you could be alone in a cabin for an entire night and not screw one another, you’re not as smart as I thought you were, Lemon Winchester.”
“Believe what you want, but Colt and I know the truth.”
“Which is that you boned all night long.”
Rolling my eyes, I open my door before he’s even pulled the truck to a complete stop. I climb out, stomp up the path, and take the front porch stairs two at a time.
I yank the screen door back on its hinges and come face-to-face with Mama.
“Mama! Jesus, you scared me.”
“You watch your language in my house, Lemonade.”
“Sorry, ma’am,” I mutter, trying to inch past.
“And just where do you think you’re going?”
“Upstairs to shower?” My response comes out like a question because it’s always better to play it safe where pissing off Mama is concerned.
Her scrutinous gaze rolls over me from my boots all the way up to my messy bed hair, and I smooth my hand over what I’m sure is an unruly nest fit for chickens to roost.
“You’re still wearing your funeral clothes.”
Cash walks through the front door and greets my mama, but it’s the deep gravelly voice that follows his which has my skin breaking out in gooseflesh. “Mornin’, ma’am. Lemon.”
I turn and glare at him just in time to see him tip his hat. He moves on past us and Mama’s bright blue gaze narrows on me. “You had better start talkin’, girl. I mean, I know you’re going through a lot with your breakup with Stavros, but … Cash?”
“Cash?” I screw up my nose in distaste. Not that Cash isn’t gorgeous to look at, but that whole cocky cowboy thing was never something I could fall for. “Mama, I didn’t spend the night with Cash.”
“Oh, thank heavens.” She sighs in relief. “Wait, that means you spent the night with Colt?”
“It wasn’t even like that.”
A slow smile spreads across her face and her eyes twinkle like string lights at Christmas. “Well, this is a new development.”
“What’s a new development?” West asks, coming in from outside.
“Nothing.” I make a beeline for the stairs, but Mama grabs my elbow and spins me around to face the kitchen.
“Breakfast in this house is six a.m. sharp. If you’re not at my table, you don’t eat.”
“Okay, fine. I’ll shower and head to the Buttermilk for a bite to eat. They’re still doin’ pie happy hour twice a day, right?”
“You will do no such thing. I will not have any child of mine eating breakfast at the diner and the whole town talkin’ about how I don’t fill their bellies before I send them off into the world.”
I let out a deep breath and stomp toward the kitchen before sitting down heavily in the seat next to Colt.
“Mornin’, Lemon.” Wyatt grins at me.
Which of course forces Wade to look up from the biscuits he’s scoffing down his throat and frown at my clothing. “Looking a little dressed up for breakfast aren’t we, Lemonade?”
“I think I’ve seen this ensemble before,” Wyatt says as he leans his elbow on the table and dissects my wrinkled dress and disheveled hair, “but I just can’t for the life of me figure out where.”
I roll my eyes and place a biscuit on my plate. I don’t do much more than just pick at it while everyone continues to pick at me.
“I could really go for some whiskey in this here coffee,” West says with the hint of a smile. “Know where I can find any, Lemonade?”
I stand and throw my napkin on the plate. “Y’all about done? Yes, if you must know, I drank too much and spent the night at Colt’s. And no, nothing happened. He’s a gentleman, unlike most of you.”
“I thought I was the enemy?” Colt murmurs under his breath, and I glance at him wondering what the hell he means by that.
“Come on, Lemonade. We’re just giving you shit. We don’t mean nothin’ by it,” Wyatt says.
“Language, Wyatt.”
“Sorry, Mama.”
“Not that my sex life is any of y’all’s business, but Colt and I aren’t slipping back into our old ways. And the next time I do decide to sleep with someone, I’ll be sure to call June Baker—the town crier—so all of y’all get the message.”
I stomp toward the door as Wade says, “What’s she talkin’ about? June Baker’s been dead for ten years.”
Titters erupt behind me and I stalk up the stairs and slam my door, then lean against it for a beat to calm my damn temper. Whether I’m here for a little or a long while, that family down there is gonna be the death of me.