Too Close For Comfort (Sweetrock Cowboy Romance Book 2)

C
ash Campbell was
in love with the one woman he could never have.

He couldn’t put a finger on the exact day that he’d fallen for Tessa Riley. Certainly not when they’d been five years old, wading in the cool waters of Golden Creek as they searched under rocks for frogs and salamanders. And not when, at the age of twelve, they’d stolen a six pack of beer from his father and gotten drunk behind the barn on his ranch for the first time. And not even when, in their senior year of high school, he’d discovered that his best friend—the tomboy that he’d done most of his growing up with—was more than just one of the guys.

But somewhere along the line, it had happened. The freckle-faced, carrot-topped girl had turned into fiery red-head with eyes the color of sapphires and curves that could bring a man to his knees.

Too bad he couldn’t do a thing about it.

Nope, Tessa was his best friend, one of his oldest friends and that meant more than anything to him. He wouldn’t risk the friendship, no matter what. He knew all too well how relationships with childhood friends could leave you broken and alone.

Cash sighed and tipped the cold bottle of beer, sweaty with condensation, to his lips. It tasted good, slightly grainy and earthy with the flavor of hops. His chair creaked as he leaned back, his boots up on the porch railing. The smell of fresh evening air and horses blew across the porch. His eyes settled on the barn, the very one that he and Tessa had gotten drunk behind at age twelve, and his chest constricted.

No sense crying over what you can’t have.

That’s what Grandpa Campbell would tell him. Cash smiled at the thought of his grandfather. Cash and his grandpa had a special relationship. He missed him living here on the ranch, but Gramps had moved to a retirement community in town. He said he liked the meals, the field trips, and the company of people his age.

Cash thought mostly he liked the fact that there were three women to every male there, but then again Grandpa had never been the same after Grandma up and left him. Another reason to avoid getting involved with anyone in general, and Tessa in particular. He’d seen how broken-hearted his grandpa had been first-hand, and that had proven to Cash that even lifelong romantic relationships could turn sour.

Cash pushed aside thoughts of the relationship that he would never have to focus on so he could see what he did have—like the expansive family ranch lying out before him. He could see clear across the pasture where horses grazed blissfully in the waning light. The property was enormous. The ranch house itself was more like a compound than a house with several wings that were almost like separate residences.

The privacy of the separate wings made it easy for Cash to live there with his parents and two brothers, despite the good-natured ribbing of his friends who couldn’t understand why a twenty-eight-year-old would still live at home.

The truth was, he’d never wanted to live anywhere else.

‘Course it helped that his two brothers, Evan and Jasper, were often on the road. Evan was heavy into the rodeo circuit and traveled the country. Jasper was an actor whose business took him around the world. And Cash’s folks traveled most of the year, too, leaving Cash pretty much all to himself to run the ranch on his own.

Just the way he liked it.

In fact, his brothers were gone right now, and his parents were inside packing for their latest trip. Since Gramps didn’t live here anymore, Cash would be all alone. He was looking forward to the solitude.

“Have you told him yet?” His mother’s voice drifted out through the screen door.

“Nope. You tell him.” His father’s voice followed behind it, and then the door squeaked open and Autumn Campbell appeared, dressed in faded jeans and a billowy shirt splashed with vibrant colors. She had grayish-blonde hair that brushed her shoulders, and her vibrant smile and tanned face highlighted the sparkle in her light blue eyes.

Right now, Cash thought he saw an extra spark in her eyes. Probably in anticipation of the European cruise she and his father were leaving on tomorrow.

“I don’t need instructions anymore, Mom.” Cash’s lips quirked up in a smile as he rolled his eyes playfully at his mother. She’d been giving him the same instructions since the first time they’d left him alone to run the ranch when he was twenty-one years old.

Autumn smiled and slipped into the green wooden porch rocker beside him. “That’s not what I was going to tell you, dear. We’re having some work done on the house while we’re gone.”

“Oh, really? That’s okay. I’ll watch over the workmen.”

“Well, see, that’s the thing. We’re having the floors refinished, and I’m afraid you’ll have to leave the house.”

“Leave the house?” Cash glanced back toward the ranch. “The place is gigantic. I’ll just move around to keep out of their way.”

Autumn settled back in her chair and shook her head. “I’m afraid not. We never could do this while Grandpa lived here because the house needs to be unoccupied for a week. Judd’s doing this special for us, and the place has to be empty so he can move furniture around and get things done in an expedient manner. Plus, it gets so dusty and messy, and that permeates through the whole house. Everything needs to be covered with drop cloths. It’s not suitable to live in.”

“Okay, I guess I can stay with Nick…” Cash frowned at his mother. Normally he wouldn’t mind staying with one of his best friends, Nick Bradford, but Nick had just moved in with his girlfriend not even a month earlier. Cash had a funny feeling his presence might cramp their style.

Judging by the look she gave him, his mother had had the same thoughts. “You don’t have to do that. Nick lives clear across town and with Sam living with him now...well...they need their privacy. But since we’re going on the trip with the Rileys their place will be empty, so they said you could stay there.”

Nick’s heart skipped, and his eyes jerked eastward in the direction of the Riley Ranch. Their spread abutted the Campbells’, but since it was a half mile away, it couldn’t actually be seen from where Cash sat. “The Rileys?”

“Yes, dear.” His mother gestured in the direction of the ranch. “The house will be empty anyway and being next door will make it a lot easier for you to come here every day to work. Is there a problem?”

Yes, there was a problem. A
big
problem.

Tessa lived on the property. Not in the main house but in a smaller house just in view. Cash couldn’t imagine what torture it would be to run into her every single day. He had a hard enough time trying to banish her from his thoughts when she wasn’t in sight.

His mother looked at him quizzically, and a jumble of words clogged his throat. He couldn’t tell his mother about his true feelings for Tessa. He couldn’t tell anyone.

“But I couldn’t possibly stay there...” he managed.

Autumn crossed her arms over her chest and studied him keenly. “Really? Why not? You and Tessa have been best friends since you were in diapers. I would think it would be fun. Besides, it’s only a week. You’d be in the main house, and she’d be at her place. It’s not like you guys would be in each other’s space and with her parents gone, it’s not a bad idea to have someone watching out for her on the property there.”

He couldn’t very well argue with that. And besides, what could he say? His mother would know something was up if he continued to argue.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea, I guess. No problem.”

“Good.” She patted his knee and stood up. “We leave at five and Judd’s getting started first thing in the morning, so you’ll have to move over there tomorrow.”

She opened the screen door and went back into the house.

Cash sucked in a breath. His feet came off the railing, and the front legs of his chair slammed down onto the porch.

One week. It was only for one week. But somehow Cash had a feeling that week with Tessa just a stone’s throw away was going to be the hardest week of his life.

E
arly the next morning
, Cash tossed his duffel bag on the overstuffed leather sofa in the living room of the Riley ranch. He’d already fed the chickens, changed the water for the barn cats, driven his parents to the airport, and gotten Judd’s crew settled in the house back at his place. He still had plenty of ranch work to do, but he wouldn’t be allowed back in the house, so he’d packed up some things for the week and figured he’d get settled over at the Rileys’.

The Riley ranch was smaller than his own, but that just made it homier. It smelled like lemon cleaner and was neat as a pin. The living room had large windows overlooking the mountains on one end and a river rock fireplace on the other. A long breakfast bar separated the living room from the newly renovated kitchen with its oak cabinets, granite countertops, and stainless steel appliances.

He stood in silence, flooded with happy memories. He, Tessa, and their other best friend Nick Bradford had spent many happy afternoons in this house with the Rileys.

Which was exactly why he couldn’t start anything up with Tessa. Those memories were important to him, and he couldn’t chance anything that would ruin them.

He willed himself not to look out the window that pointed toward Tessa’s house. Hers was a miniature version of the ranch that sat a few hundred feet away. He didn’t want to see her tending to the colorful flowers she’d planted in front or filling the bird feeder. He was afraid if he did, he wouldn’t stop looking.

Nope, he’d keep his eyes right inside the house, stick to himself, and hopefully not have to have his thoughts invaded by Tessa every waking moment. It wasn’t that he didn’t like hanging with her—he did. They were friends, after all, but since his feelings toward her had changed, being with her had become a bittersweet experience.

It was bad enough that they ran in the same circles and their paths crossed quite frequently as it was.

He headed into the kitchen, wondering what goodies Edna Riley had left for them. Maybe some of her homemade beef stew? He had his head in the fridge, his fingers prying the top off a Tupperware bowl when he heard the front door open.

He ducked out of the fridge, craning to see who was at the door.

Tessa.

“Hey, Cash!” Cash assumed her parents had told her he’d be staying in the house, which explained why she didn’t seem at all surprised to see him. What it didn’t explain was the suitcase she was wheeling behind her as she came toward the kitchen.

She’d left the front door open, the sweet smell of summer drifting in on a light breeze through the screen door. Standing there with the light from the doorway at her back, she looked like an angel. The sun haloed the red curls which cascaded past her shoulders, framing her face and highlighting the healthy sun-kissed glow of her skin. Her eyes, like deep sapphires, twinkled with her smile. She wore a plain old T-shirt and jeans but somehow managed to look like a supermodel.

How did she get those things to hug her curves in all the right places?

Cash had the urge to pull her close, to feel those curves against him. Instead, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and kept his distance.

“What’s that?” His eyes flicked from her face to the luggage. “Are you going on a trip?”

She gave him a bemused look. “No. Didn’t anyone tell you?”

“Yeah. I’m staying here while my parents’ hardwood floors get refinished,” Cash said, his eyes waffling between the luggage and her face.

If she wasn’t going on a trip, then why did she have a suitcase?

She turned back to look outside toward her house. “Looks like our parents got some sort of package deal.”

“What do you mean?” Cash felt dizzy as he followed her gaze out the door to see Judd’s floor refinishing truck in her front yard. His eyes jerked back to Tessa. “You mean the floors in your house are getting refinished, too?”

“Yep.” She pointed toward the luggage. “I’m going to be staying in the house here with you.”

Cash’s heart crashed to the floor. Tessa’s staying in the house with him? Under the same roof?

She must’ve noticed the look on his face because she laughed. “It’ll be fun. Like old times.”

Cash forced a smile. “Yeah, just like old times.”

Tessa turned away, wheeling the suitcase behind her as she started down the hall. “Don’t worry. I won’t cramp your style with the ladies. I’ll take my old bedroom down here, and you can take my parents’ room clear on the other side of the ranch.”

Cash stared after her. She needn’t have worried about cramping his style with the ladies. She’d already done that, but not in the way she was thinking. The truth was, he hadn’t been interested in anyone else since discovering his true feelings for her.

He supposed he should feel lucky that they would be sleeping on opposite ends of the ranch, but Cash didn’t know if his heart could take living under the same roof with Tessa for the next week.

It would have been hard enough to live here with her in the house on the other side of the clearing, but one week in the same house?
Impossible.

* * *

H
appy memories flooded
Tessa as soon as she stepped into her bedroom. She’d had a wonderful childhood and this room still had that warm, comforting feeling. Her mother had updated the room in recent years, and it wasn’t the same as when she lived here before college, but it still radiated the snug contentment of being home.

Normally, that feeling was amplified by the sounds of her parents and her brothers in the house, but none of them were here now. Just Cash. At first, she’d been a little upset that her parents had scheduled the hardwood floor refinishing at her place without even asking her. But she could hardly complain. The small house she lived in was part of the family compound, and her parents let her live in it rent-free. She was grateful for that.

She’d also been a little annoyed to find out they’d asked Cash to stay at the ranch. But after thinking about it, she realized she was looking forward to having him there. Not because she needed someone to babysit her—she was independent by nature. But she had to admit that she’d been feeling a little lonely after living on her own for the past four years.

It might have been seeing her best friend from college, Sam, hook up with Nick—one of her best friends here—that had her feeling that way. She’d never really been much of a romantic...well, not since her high school sweetheart, Derek, had dumped her in college in the worst possible way. It had broken her heart and soured her on relationships.

But now, seeing Nick and Sam together, she could feel that they had something special. Just being around them made Tessa wonder what she’d been missing out on.

Would she ever have that with someone?

She’d thought she’d had it with Derek but apparently that was one sided. Instead of loving her forever, he’d torn her heart out and stomped on it. Snuck around behind her back and humiliated her. There was no way she was going to go through that again, which was why she hardly ever dated anyone for long. There weren’t many people she trusted enough to get close to.

Of course, that didn’t include her friends here in Sweetrock—Sam, Nick, Melina, Rena, and Cash. Especially Cash. He’d been her best friend since as far back as she could remember. Closer to her than her own brothers. She could trust any of them, but Cash especially.

Just the sight of him made her smile. It was like coming home to see his tall frame in the kitchen looking in the fridge as he’d done countless times when they were in grade school and junior high—his dark hair slightly tousled and the smile reflected in his pale blue eyes.

He was a lot bigger now, his body hard and muscular from years of manual labor on the ranch. Hard work, which Tessa appreciated. She was a hard worker herself, and their common love of ranch life had always made for an easy friendship between the two of them.

A pang of guilt shot through her when she thought about how she’d let her friendship with Cash slide in high school. She’d been consumed by Derek—he’d turned into her whole world. After the break-up, when she’d returned home from college, she and Cash had picked up being friends, but not quite as close as before. She figured it was simply because they didn’t have as much leisure time as adults. Lately, it had seemed like they’d spent even less time together. Life got so busy that sometimes you forgot to pay attention to what was important.

It would be easy and fun to spend the week together in the house. Maybe they could get back to that close-as-siblings relationship.

Though she did notice he’d acted a little strange right now in the kitchen. Maybe he had a girlfriend in the wings that he wasn’t ready to let everyone know about yet. She sure hoped staying here with her wasn’t going to get in the way of that. She wanted Cash to be happy, too.

But did happiness necessarily mean a relationship? And if it did, was it time for her to let go of her inability to trust and have one of her own. Nick and Sam had each other. Cash might have someone he was serious about. It wouldn’t be long before all her friends were married and she would still be alone.

The thought of letting anyone in sent her heart into a panicked flutter. She’d sunk into a deep despair when she’d discovered Derek’s deceitful lies, but that had been over five years ago.

Maybe it was time for her to move on. It wasn’t like she hadn’t tried, though. She’d dated plenty of guys. She’d just never been able to open up enough to trust any of them. She always pushed them away before things got serious.

In any event, it would be great to have some company this week in the house, and if Cash were hot and heavy with some new girl, then she’d just step aside and let them have their privacy.

She put the last of the T-shirts away and headed to the kitchen. She needed to get to work at Happy Trails where she was a trail guide and horse riding instructor. As usual, her mom had stocked the fridge with the basics, and she pulled out some bread and tuna, quickly making a sandwich.

She didn’t want to be late for work. She loved her job even though her parents had frowned on it, not seeing the sense of mucking stalls when she had a business degree. But Tessa loved animals—especially horses—and everything that went into them. Even mucking stalls. Someday she would have her own business, but for now she was getting good experience while she saved up money.

“You heading off to work?” The words startled Tessa. The knife slipped out of her hand and clattered on the floor.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that!” It was a mystery to her how he even managed to do that with his six foot six frame and bulky wide muscular body. You’d think you could hear him coming a mile away, but she should have remembered that he was notorious for appearing without a sound.

He leaned against the door frame, an easy grin spreading on his face. He loved sneaking up on people. “Sorry.”

“You don’t look sorry at all.” But she was smiling, and they laughed together as they always had as kids.

She stuffed the sandwich in a Ziploc bag. “Yeah, I gotta be to work in fifteen minutes. What’s the weather going to be?”

Cash glanced out the window. He’d always been able to predict the weather better than any weatherman she knew. Tessa had gotten used to asking him and taking what he said as gospel. It came in handy to know when rain was rolling in, especially when you were leading a family of six around on horseback.

“Going to be clear as a bell for a few days. Hot and humid.”

Hot and humid was good for trail riding as far as Tessa was concerned. She loved the way the musky barn smell hung in the still air when it was hot and humid. And now that it was late August, there would be precious few hot and humid days left.

“Perfect. What are you doing today?”

Cash pushed off from the doorframe and headed to the front door with Tessa following.

“I’m going over to the ranch. Gotta mend a few fences and make sure the animals are okay.”

They were standing at the front door now looking out through the screen, his eyes drifting over to her small house at the edge of the property. “You want me to check on the hardwood floors and make sure everything’s okay at your place?”

Tessa followed his gaze. “That’d be great. Thanks.” She was lucky to have a friend that looked out for her and in Sweetrock, she had quite a few. They all looked out for each other here.

She felt reluctant to leave. Normally, she raced to work. She loved it there, but for some reason she wanted this moment standing here in the doorway with Cash to last.

What was up with that?

It was probably just the feeling of being in her parents’ home where she’d been happiest. Where she’d had a family surrounding her.

“I better get going. Are you going to the Bull tonight?” Tessa referenced The Bull Sheep Bar where they’d been hanging out since they were old enough to drink. Most nights Tessa could walk in and find someone she knew there, but on a few scheduled nights, their regular group of friends always met for drinks and dancing.

Cash grabbed his cowboy hat up from the back of the couch, picking it up by the top and plopping it onto his head. “You know it.”