The words reverberated in her head, the burn returning to her cheeks. “I mean,” she added, “what skills do you think I bring to the table?” She’d graduated high school, sure—barely. After her mother died, she’d stopped caring about her grades. And after Uncle Kurt left, she’d been too busy working any odd job she could find, trying to make money and remove some of the burden from Jessie Kay’s shoulders. Delivering newspapers and running errands for her neighbors hadn’t exactly allowed her to build a sought-after skill set.

Jase thought for a moment, sighed. “You’re loyal and dedicated, two of my favorite things. In an employee,” he was quick to add.

Her brow furrowed as she considered his words. “How do you know I’m loyal and dedicated? This is only our third conversation.”

His expression said do we really need to get into that?

No, she supposed they didn’t. The answer was simple. The way she chased after Jessie Kay.

“I’ll pay you five hundred dollars a week,” he said.

What! Did he expect her to hand over a kidney, too? Did she care? The greatest opportunity of her life had just presented itself on a maple-syrup-soaked breakfast platter. And, really, the job would be easy. A basic fetch and carry, with a little of this and that on the side. Baking? Getting rid of one-night stands?

Done, done and done. With a smile.

But she couldn’t rush into anything, had to chat with her sister, weigh the pros and cons. “I need a day to think about it,” she said.

He nodded, as if he’d expected such a response. “Call me tomorrow.”

“I’ll need your—”

“My number is already programmed into your phone.”

Uh... “How is it programmed into my phone? I didn’t add it.”

“No, you didn’t. But I did.”

How— Oh! There was no pass code to safeguard her list of contacts—because she couldn’t afford a new phone and had to make due with an old flip.

Her hands curled into fists. “You had no right to do that.”

“Delete it, then,” he replied, shrugging. “Whatever.”

“Delete what?” Jessie Kay strolled into the kitchen, looking as fresh as a daisy. No sign of a hangover, which hardly seemed fair. She patted Jase’s behind as she passed him, saying, “Hey, handsome. You sure are looking good this morning.”

His lips almost—almost—deepened into a scowl as he backed away from her. Did he ever feel anything? Really feel?

“What?” Jessie Kay asked with an unrepentant grin. “Just appreciating the machinery. Nothing wrong with that.”

Brook Lynn battled an intense surge of jealousy at the thought—

Jealousy? No, no. Indigestion. Almost definitely for sure there was a chance indigestion was all it was. “There’s food for you on the table,” she said, and her sister immediately changed directions. “After you eat, Jase will drive you home.” The indigestion grew worse. “Stay there. Please. After my shift at Edna’s, we need to talk.”

You were supposed to go see your doctor and ask out Brad today.

Well, crap. Forget the doctor and Brad. Forget the fun list. Opening lines of communication with Jessie Kay was far more important. How would her sister react to Jase’s job offer? Happy for her? Envious?

“Dude,” Jessie Kay said. “Don’t we have a shift at the restaurant tonight?”

As if she cared. Heck, as if she really would have shown up.

“News flash. We got fired.”

“What?”

“Mr. Calbert fired us. He said he couldn’t rely on us anymore.”

“Us? Or me?”

“Both of us. I got looped in because I couldn’t hack double shifts all the time.”

“Well, he did us a favor. I did us a favor.” Her sister shrugged. Actually shrugged. “That job sucked donkey balls.”

“Maybe, but we needed it.” Brook Lynn sighed. “Just...make sure you’re home when I get back from Edna’s. We need to talk about things. I mean it.”

“Sure, sure.” One slice of bacon vanished, then another, and her sister moaned with delight.

“I don’t think you heard me. You go home, you stay.”

Jessie Kay rolled her eyes. “I’m not a total slag. I said I’ll be there, so I’ll be there.”

“Like yesterday at work?”

“Extenuating circumstances.”

“Such as?”

“I’d lost most of my stomach lining and probably a lung.”

That was fair. “All right.” Brook Lynn allowed herself a final glance at Jase—those dark eyes were still locked on her. She shivered, cursed herself and her apparent weakness for the forbidden and left the house.

* * *

BROOK LYNN PARKED her car in a lot a few blocks from Rhinestone Cowgirl. Edna claimed the spaces in front of the shop needed to remain free for customers, but the truth was she considered Rusty an abomination.

She wasn’t wrong.

As the sun glared, Brook Lynn raced down the sidewalk. People she’d known her entire life waved and hollered out greetings.

“Running late?” Virgil Porter asked from his rocker. Though he owned Swat Team 8—we assassinate fleas, ticks, silverfish, cockroaches, bees, ants, mice and rats—he often sat with the owner of Style Me Tender Salon across the street from the jewelry store, playing checkers.

“Unfortunately,” she replied. In a town this small, everyone knew everyone else’s schedule.