“You’ve got nothing to worry about.” She managed a smile. “I was thinkin’ about wannabe cowboys.”
“Is that something like a wannabe surfer?” He grinned back at her.
“I imagine it’s pretty much the kind of same animal.” She put together four burger baskets. “Are you a surfer?”
“Nope,” he answered as he drew up a pitcher of beer. “I love the sound of the ocean, but I’m a cowboy through and through. I lived in a trailer on my grandparents’ ranch in Florida. Little place north of Laguna Beach. I helped them out on my days off and in December and January when the bar was closed.”
“I thought your grandparents lived here in Texas and were friends with Merle and my granny and grandpa,” she said.
“That would be my dad’s parents. My parents and my maternal grandparents live in Florida. I’ve got lots and lots of family when you count up both sides.” He set the beer on the bar and turned around to pick up a bottle of Jim Beam. “Looks like you win the bet about this place being crowded tonight.”
“Yep, it does,” she agreed. “See any pretty bar bunnies you intend to sweet-talk out of their tight-fittin’ jeans?”
“Been too busy to look,” he said, “but when it clears out some, I’ll peek at what’s still left standing. Got to admit, that office is damn scary, and this floor looks pretty hard. I might just want to grab a shower and fall into bed. How about you? You going to celebrate our first night by picking out a cowboy and looking at the stars with him?”
“Only if he gives an amazing foot rub and doesn’t even expect a kiss for it,” she said. “My feet will be singin’ the blues by two.”
“Good luck with that.” Cameron jerked the towel from his hip pocket and wiped down the top of the shiny wooden bar on his way to the other end to where two new women had sat down.
At midnight Chigger and Frankie waved goodbye to Cameron and Jorja. By one o’clock there were only a dozen folks left, and they were more interested in line dancing than in drinking or eating. Evidently, they knew exactly how to time the music because Alan Jackson’s “Good Time,” had just ended when the big clock on the wall above the door said it was 2:00 a.m.—closing time.
“Good times is right.” Cameron followed the last of the customers to the door and locked it behind them. He went straight to the jukebox and plugged in a few coins. Then he rounded the end of the bar and held out a hand. “Miz Jorja, may I have this dance to celebrate our first night as partners?”
She put her hand in his and let him lead her out to the dance floor. Merle Haggard began to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Star” when Cameron drew her close to his chest.
Jorja laid her cheek against his chest and listened to the steady beat of his heart. The lyrics asked if the stars might send him love from where they were. After working together so smoothly for the last eight hours, she didn’t want him to find love and ruin their partnership.
When the song ended, it started all over again. “This is one of my favorite songs,” Cameron whispered. “My granddad used to play it all the time. He had it on vinyl and eight-track both, and he and my grandmother would dance around the kitchen as it played. If they were here tonight, they’d close down the place by playing it at least twice. Besides, he’s the one who told me to follow my dream and move here.”
“Your dream has been to own a bar?” she asked.
“Yep, and my own ranch. I reckon I can run both,” he answered.
The song ended and she started to take a step back, but he tipped up her chin with his fist and looked deep into her eyes. She barely had time to moisten her lips with the tip of her tongue before he brushed a sweet kiss across her mouth.
“What’s that for?” she asked.
He pointed up at the mistletoe they were standing beneath. “Couldn’t waste that after all the trouble it was to get it hung just right, and also because Grandpa always ends the second dance by giving Grammy a kiss.” He grinned as he headed across the floor. “Let’s do cleanup in the morning. We’re both tired tonight.”
“I want to tackle the office tomorrow.” She yawned.
“We can do both.” He turned out the lights and held the door into their apartment open for her. “But honey, the desk in the office will take more than a day, so don’t get discouraged.”
She shook a finger at him. “I told you not to call me endearments.”
“Well, honey…” He dragged out the word in a deep southern drawl. “After a sweet little good-night kiss like that, I thought it would be all right.”
She tried to keep from giggling, but she lost the battle. “All right, but that’s the only one and the only time.”
“What if I kiss you again?” He raised an eyebrow and then winked.
She held up a palm. “I’m not having this conversation tonight. I get first dibs on the shower.” She marched across the room and closed the bathroom door behind her. Any other time, she might have let the hot water beat down on her back for a half an hour, but not that night. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been awake past two o’clock in the morning and wondered if it was possible to fall asleep in the shower and drown.
When she’d finished getting the smell of grilled onions and grease from her body and hair, she dried off, got dressed in flannel pajama bottoms and a faded T-shirt, and opened the door.
“Your turn,” she said as she started across the floor.
“Come look at this,” Cameron said. “It’s absolutely beautiful.”
“What?” she asked.
In a couple of long strides, he went from the window to her side, took her hand in his, and turned out the lights in the apartment. “See what you missed by not going with that cowboy who wanted to take you out to see the stars?”
The thick grove of mesquite trees behind the Honky Tonk glistened with snow. Ice crystals reflected the light of a quarter moon in a sky of deep-blue velvet. A couple of owls were sitting side by side on a branch. One pair of doves and then those two crazy dogs was just happenstance, but now two owls? The whole scene took her breath away. No artist or photographer could capture such a gorgeous, peaceful picture.
“I didn’t miss a single thing,” she whispered. “That cowboy wouldn’t have wanted to look at the stars as much as he’d have wanted to do other things, and if I’d gone with him, I wouldn’t have seen those owls.”
“Why are you whispering?” he asked.
“I don’t want to scare them away until I have that scene memorized,” she answered.