In this sexy, sweet prequel novella to her new series, USA TODAY bestselling author Maisey Yates welcomes readers to the charming small town of Copper Ridge, Oregon, where it’s never too late for second chances

There’s not much about his teenage years that Jake Caldwell can be proud of. Except maybe for keeping his hands off cute, kindhearted Cassie Ventimiglia. She was the only one who saw him as more than a tattooed rebel who couldn’t wait to leave the ranching life behind. Now he’s back in Copper Ridge to sell his father’s property—and staying right above Cassie’s coffee shop. And out of nowhere, the girl he’s never forgotten is offering a whole lot more than fresh-baked muffins…

Jake’s dark, smoldering appeal hasn’t changed one bit. But Cassie has. Following everyone else’s rules didn’t quite work out. Time to ask for what she’s always wanted…and what Jake’s more than happy to give: a wild, hot romance that could make a one-time bad boy realize he’s back for good.

Don’t miss Part Time Cowboy , the first in the Copper Ridge series, from HQN Books!

www.MaiseyYates.com

Shoulda Been

a Cowboy

A Copper Ridge Novella

Maisey Yates

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To my daughter.

I’ll always love you, and I’ll always be proud of you.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Title Page

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Epilogue

Extract

About the Author

Copyright

Chapter One

JAKE CALDWELL HAD most definitely improved with age. It really didn’t seem fair. Rather than gaining five pounds around his hips like she had, his chest and shoulders had grown broader, his waist trim, his stomach washboard flat. It almost, almost, made her rue her addiction to the Loganberry tarts she stocked in the pastry display at The Grind. Almost.

Cassie Ventimiglia slowly sank down behind the counter, putting Jake, who was outside dismounting his motorcycle, out of her sight. She didn’t need to spend any more time looking at him. She needed to take inventory of her soy milk. She opened the mini fridge that was built into the counter and began to dutifully do just that.

Her soy milk supply was sufficient. Which was good to know. Important. Much more important than taking in the view outside.

Cassie rose again slowly, eyeing the small dining room. Most of the women in it were casting subtle glances outside. And Cassie figured they weren’t checking out Copper Ridge’s main street.

Jake had that effect. But he always had. Even back when he’d been that dark scowling boy with perfect hair and wicked blue eyes wandering the halls of the high school, tattooed and bad news, and everything that kept mothers of good girls awake at night. And ensured that the fathers of good girls kept their shotguns close by.

Actually, that was probably why he had been so fascinating. As far as Copper Ridge, Oregon, went, he had been universally disapproved of. And what was more attractive than that, when you were seventeen and just starting to figure out that there was more to life than what your parents had told you? Nothing. At least not as far as she’d been concerned.

Of course, she had actually gotten to know him. Had seen beneath some of his tough exterior. Had bothered to see him as a human being. For all the good that had done her. She’d just ended up with a crush wider than the Columbia River Gorge. And before she’d been able to confess that, before she’d been able to tell him just what she wanted from him, he’d left.

She seemed to have that effect on men. But she wasn’t going to think about that right now. She was going to think about muffins. She could inventory those next. So hooray for that.

Anyway, she had no reason to be...staring at him, thinking about him, drooling after him. He’d given no indication at all that he was interested in her as anything other than a tenant he happened to live near. He was aloof to the point of being cool. That was something that had changed.

When he’d been a teenager he’d had an air of intensity, anger and restlessness about him. Now he just seemed...well, he seemed almost bored to be here. Like he was looking through things.

Like he was looking through her.

The little bell above the door chirped and she looked up just in time to see Jake walk in. He had been here for more than a week. Back in town, staying in the apartment next to hers. It was a complicated situation, really.

Jake’s father had owned the building that housed her coffee shop and the apartments above it, in addition to a couple of other properties in town and a ranch just outside of it. That meant Jake was the owner now. And effectively her landlord.

At least he hadn’t changed much since he’d arrived, with the exception of inhabiting the neighboring apartment. She only hoped he continued to not change things.

He came into the coffee shop every day and ordered an Americano and a muffin. Which meant that she should be used to him by now. It meant that her stomach should not go into a free fall, her heart should not skip several beats, and her palms should most certainly not get sweaty.

In addition to the fact that his presence was old news by now, she was thirty-two. She was, in the immortal words of Lethal Weapon’s Roger Murtaugh, too old for this shit.

And yet the second he’d walked in each morning, her heart rate had indeed increased, her stomach had plummeted, and her palms were definitely starting to get a little bit damp.

She forced her breathing to slow as he approached. He was holding his bike helmet beneath his arm, propping it against his hip. There was something epically badass about him when he stood that way. It was as appealing now as it had been fifteen years ago. And she had no idea why that was. He’d never been a good idea for her, never been a logical match. Her hormones had never registered that fact.

He laid his helmet on the counter and pushed his hand through his dark hair, drawing her eyes to the tattoo of dark evergreen trees that wrapped around his arm. They started at his wrist and extended up to his elbow. His tattoos fascinated her, now and always, because she’d never been able to imagine voluntarily undergoing something so presumptively painful.

That he’d been willing to do it only added to his mystique.

Oh, shoot. She had a feeling her internal monologue had been running for quite some time, and it was very possible Jake had been standing there for a little longer than she realized.

“The usual?” The question came out a croak, and she was none too impressed with herself.

Jake lifted one broad shoulder, not sparing her a smile. Smiling did not seem to be a part of his emotional vocabulary. That much she had learned over the past week. “Sounds good.”

“The only kind of muffin I have left is blueberry.”

“That’s fine.” He shifted his weight from one foot to another and for some reason she found it fascinating. “Every muffin you’ve ever served me has been delicious.”

Cassie nearly choked. “I’m glad you like my...muffins.” For some reason it all sounded dirty. Maybe her mind was in the gutter by default because he was here.

Maybe it didn’t even have anything to do with him. Maybe it was her. After all, it had been three years since her divorce and even longer since she’d made skin to skin contact with a man.

That was a long time. She hadn’t been conscious of just how long until Jacob had blown back into town.

“There’s nothing to dislike about your muffins.”

She sucked in a sharp breath and choked on it, coughing violently. She turned her head to the crook of her elbow, trying to suppress it. “Sorry.” She patted her chest as she grabbed the portafilter from the espresso machine. “Swallowed wrong.”

She went over to the grinder, ignoring the heat in her cheeks as she turned it on, putting the portafilter beneath it and releasing enough grounds to produce a double shot. She tamped them down and went back to the machine, fitting the portafilter back in and pressing the button, counting the seconds on the shot as it filled the little tin cup she had placed beneath it.

It was a nice distraction, and once again she felt justified in her selection of a manual machine versus an automatic one. She emptied the completed shot into a paper cup and then poured hot water over it, putting the lid on and setting it on the counter. Then she reached into the basket and pulled out the last remaining muffin.

She extended her arm and to hand it to him, only realizing her mistake when the tips of his fingers brushed hers and the shock of pure electricity ran through her body, immobilizing her for a moment.

She looked up and compounded her mistake as their eyes clashed and she was hit by a second bolt of lightning. And for just one nano second, she saw something flash through his eyes too. Something not entirely cool and neutral.

She took her hand off the muffin and it went flying over the edge of the counter and onto the floor somewhere around his feet. She wasn’t sure exactly where, because she was too horrified to look. “I thought you had it. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. No charge. Nobody wants a floor muffin.”

He arched a dark brow, bending down and retrieving the muffin before standing back up and holding it out. “It’s still wrapped. I’m sure it’s fine.”

“No, really. I insist. Everything is on me.” Because, if she charged him, she would have to take his cash and if that happened they might touch again.

“All right, I’m not going to argue with that.” He took his helmet, the muffin and the coffee and turned away, giving her a half wave with the hand that was clutching the coffee cup.

He walked outside again and rounded the back of the shop toward the exterior stairs that led up to his apartment. Cassie let out a breath she hadn’t been aware she was holding.

She really needed to get it together. Yes, Jake Caldwell was back. But now, just like back in high school, there was no point in lusting after him. Nothing had happened then, and nothing was going to happen now. End of story.

And she had more inventory to take.

* * *

JAKE SET THE muffin and the coffee down on his counter and jerked the fridge open. It was early, but he was going to go ahead and grab a beer rather than that afternoon caffeine hit he’d been looking forward to.

Because he didn’t need to be any more amped up than he already was. Something about this damn town screwed with him. Always had. Foolishly, he’d imagined that after so many years away the place might have less power.

Nope. Between the afternoon he’d spent at his dad’s place clearing junk out and that little interaction with Cassie down in the coffee shop, he needed to cool down, not rev up.

He wasn’t the same man he’d been when he left town. So what was it about this place that made him feel like he hadn’t changed all that much? Still not quite able to handle all the shit at home. Still finding himself drawn to the kind of women he shouldn’t be allowed to touch.

Cassie Ventimiglia was one of those nice girls. Caring, way too sweet for her own good. She’d been one of the few people who’d spoken to him back in high school. They’d been thrown together, part of a tutoring program to help his delinquent self get it together and get his grades up.

She’d been tempting, inexplicably. Because she was not the kind of girl he would normally look twice at. But she’d looked at him like she’d seen him, and he’d...

Well, it was just a damn good thing for her he’d left when he had.

But even now, when he’d come back to deal with selling his family’s properties, she’d been first in line to welcome him back, even if it had been unintentional.

By default, he owned the building her business was in, and the place she lived. Going over his dad’s paperwork he could see that before Cassie the building had been out of use for years, and bringing no income in. And while Cassie was getting a better deal than was reasonable, her being in the place was preferable to it sitting there bringing in no revenue at all.

Yeah, Cassie was definitely not the kind of woman for him to go messing around with. Probably he was looking at celibacy for the duration of his sentence in Copper Ridge. He had a history with too many of the women here. Either they’d already been with him in high school, or they hadn’t wanted to be for very specific reasons.

Plus, a one night stand would be almost impossible here. The odds of you running into each other the next day on the street were way too high. Just another reason Seattle suited him a whole lot better than this place.

A little anonymity was much better for a guy like him.

And possibly right now a cold shower would be the thing for a guy like him. Dammit. How long had it been since he’d gotten hard over brushing fingers with a woman? Answer: fifteen years.

He thought again of his last night in Copper Ridge. Sitting in an empty library with Cassie, all of his focus zeroing in on her lips. He’d been saying something about his family and she’d reached out and put her hand over his.

A caring gesture. One that had sent a rush of heat straight through his body and he’d wanted...he’d wanted to close the distance between them then. To kiss her. Deep and hard. To make that connection he felt with her real, physical.

He shook his head. What was it about her? What was it about here?

He grabbed the bottle opener off of the fridge and popped the top on his beer. Taking a sip, he turned to look out the window. His view was of Old Town’s main street. Painted clapboard buildings, with red brick interspersed. An American flag rising up above City Hall. And beyond that was the ocean. Without seeing it he could still picture the coastline. Evergreen trees, yellow bursts of Scotch Broom, and weedy blades of grass with edges sharp enough to cut into your skin.

Across the street, behind the apartment building he was currently residing in, was a long stretch of winding highway, forest, and ranches. Yeah, he knew all of that, could picture it all without having to look.

Copper Ridge hadn’t changed, but he had. He wasn’t the same Jake Caldwell he’d been.

He wasn’t a juvenile delinquent who couldn’t do a damn thing right to save his life. Hell no. He managed a successful business in a very competitive environment. His boss trusted him, and he had done everything he could to earn that trust.

Unlike his old man, his boss actually believed he could do things right.

Which made him wonder yet again why he was here and not back in Seattle in the mechanic shop.

He sighed heavily. That was all because of John too. The older man, who was, unquestionably, a mentor to Jake, had told him he had to come back and handle his family affairs himself. He’d said that was what a man did.

So he was here, handling his family affairs like a man.

And there would be no handling of pretty female tenants while he was at it. So his body was just gonna have to calm down.

He had a feeling this was going to be a long couple of months.

Chapter Two

WHEN CASSIE FINALLY made her way back up to her apartment she was exhausted. She also had no fewer than three missed calls from her mother. She kept her phone on vibrate during the workday, which probably gave her mom fits. But then, her mom was the main reason she kept it on vibrate.

Work hours seemed to mean nothing to the woman.

Cassie was about to call her mother back when the phone started to shiver in her hand, the screen lighting up and her mother’s picture appearing on it.

Cassie groaned and hit “accept.”

“Hello?”

“Cassie, I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all day.”

“Yeah, Mom, I’ve been working all day.”

“Did you just get home?” The note of worry in her mother’s voice did not inspire any warm fuzzy feelings in Cassie. Not at this point. Not considering Cassie lived directly above her workplace. Her commute was a staircase. “It’s late, Cassie.”

“I know, Mom. But such is the hazard of running your own business. Anyway, I walked back up to the apartment using the interior stairs. Nothing is going to happen to me between work and home.”

“But you work too much. How in the world are you supposed to meet anyone when you’re working all the time?”

Ahhh, and here we came to the bottom of mama Ventimiglia’s worry. Not so much for Cassie’s safety, but for her singledom.

The guilts would come next. They were her mother’s specialty. A single mom, she’d always been hyper invested in keeping her daughter from making the same mistakes she had.

The biggest mistake being getting pregnant without securing a man. Cassie was always thrilled to be numbered as one of her mother’s mistakes, even if the other woman didn’t really mean it that way.

“You know, Mom, I serve people coffee all day. I talk to people all day. I meet new people every day.”

“But I bet you’re going to tell me you can’t date a customer.”

Cassie sighed heavily. “You never know. Never say never. Never assume windows are locked when doors are closed, or something like that.” What she really wanted to say was absolutely no, never, no. But she knew that would only keep her mother on the phone longer. And it wasn’t like she didn’t enjoy talking to her, sometimes. Her mom was nothing if not well-meaning, but when it came to the topic of Cassie’s love life, or lack thereof, Cassie would rather she left well enough alone.

“I worry about you. I don’t want you to end up like I did.”

Alone. With nothing but a daughter and no man. “I know. But I’m fine. I really am. I’m happy.”

“I don’t see how you can be happy, losing Allen like you did.”

Cassie fought the urge to scream and hurl the phone across the room. “I don’t feel like I lost much of anything divorcing him. He was a dud. Better to have no potato chips than broken potato chips, or something.”

“It’s still a potato chip, Cassie.”

Cassie sighed. Hoisted by her own bad analogy. “Right. Well, I’m on a diet.”

“Do you still have the meals I sent for you in the freezer?”

“Yes, I do. I’ll have one of those, thank you.”

“I only say these things because I worry. Because I love you.”

“I know.” Cassie sighed again, heavily. “I love you too. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Talk to you tomorrow.”

Cassie disconnected the call and flipped it from her hand onto the couch, walking through the open floor plan living room and into the kitchen to rummage around for dinner. There was meatloaf in the freezer. Along with frozen mashed potatoes all portioned up for her already, and cooked with love by her mother. So yeah, she could be a bit overbearing, but there were some things Cassie really couldn’t complain about.

She put the plastic container in the microwave and started it, then wandered over to the couch and flopped down. The couch butted up against the connecting wall to Jake’s apartment. She heard a squeaking noise, then the sound of running water and realized it was the shower. She and Jake must typically run on different schedules, because she hadn’t heard his shower noises before.

She’d never lived in this place while someone else lived in the adjacent one. It had originally been open space, and at one point in time, both units had been rented out. Then it had sat empty for ages before Cassie had rented it from Dan Caldwell, and until now, she’d never realized how thin the walls were.

And now she was terminally distracted wondering if Jake had taken his clothes off yet. Realizing that he was naked just on the other side of the wall. She jumped up off the couch and scurried back to the microwave, tugging open the door and closing it as loudly as possible in a vain attempt to drown out the sound of running water.

She pulled the lid off the Tupperware and grabbed a spoon, stirring the potatoes with much more vigor than was necessary.

Taking a bottle of wine and a glass out of her cabinet, she poured herself a generous amount. The wine would help. It would dull her senses. Hopefully make her slightly less edgy, and slightly less aware of what was happening in the apartment next door.

She took a sip of wine, and eyeballed the couch. That was usually where she ate but she wondered if she was inviting disaster by moving back over there.

But then the alternative was huddling in a corner of her kitchen just because she couldn’t get a handle on her hormones. That was ridiculous.

She sniffed and collected her dinner, walking back over to the couch and setting the plate on her coffee table. She startled when she heard what sounded like his shoulder bumping up against the shower wall. It sounded very slippery. And solid.

She took another gulp of wine.

She found herself thinking back to the last conversation they’d had before he’d left town. The one that had made her realize she had to tell him how she felt. She’d been tutoring him. Meeting with him twice a week after school in the library to go over math.

She’d been the only one to volunteer for the job—at least, the only one who’d been qualified to do the job who had volunteered for it. It had been intoxicating to be near him finally. And something else entirely to actually spend time talking with him. She’d been certain that there hadn’t been more to the guy than everyone thought he was.

Yes, he’d been into some trouble. There was no denying that, and he didn’t try to. But there was more to him than that, and she’d seen it clearly.

It had been an unseasonably warm day in Copper Ridge. The sun taunting them as they sat inside, beneath stale fluorescent lights. But Cassie hadn’t been sad to miss it. Because looking at Jake for an hour or two during their study sessions had quickly become the highlight of her week. They had been the only two students left in the library, and she’d been able to see his stress written in every muscle, every tendon in his body.

He’d actually been picking up on all the math really well, but that day he hadn’t been able to concentrate.

She’d asked him what was wrong.

Just family shit.

He hadn’t said anything else, but she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. About him. And for a moment she’d been overcome by a sense of longing that was much stronger than fear. She put her pencil down, and her hand over his.

That had been the first time they’d touched. The second time had been today, when she’d brushed his fingertips handing him a muffin.

Fifteen years between those touches and both had affected her much the same. Electricity that shot straight down to her bones.

She’d jerked her hand away then too. But she had decided that night that when she saw him again she wouldn’t pull away. Because they had a connection, she had felt it.

She’d been an idiot, which was basically her track record with men, as she knew now. But she’d been so innocent then that she hadn’t realized she could be so wrong about another person.

Jake had been her introduction to that. Jake should’ve served as a warning. Because the next day, Jake had been gone. And the day after that Jake had still been gone. And the day after that.

He had never come back. Hadn’t graduated. At least not at their school. His father was still in town, but Jake was gone. The older man had never reported him missing, so she’d assumed he knew where he was.

But she hadn’t.

She hadn’t seen him after that day in the library until last week when he’d come riding back into town, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t thought about him in the years between.

She’d thought about Jake Caldwell far more often than was reasonable.

And she was still thinking of him, though it was sort of hard not to when the man was showering just on the other side of her living room wall.

She heard another thump, followed by a very male sound, something that verged on a grunt. She froze, her wine glass touching the edge of her lip.

She shouldn’t be listening to him. It was a violation of his privacy, and there was no excuse for her to be sitting there trying to work out exactly what was going on.

But then, in her defense, this was sort of an invasion of her privacy too. She was a hostage to the noise. Yes, she could move further away from the wall. And yes, she did not have to lean in closer to it, or hold her breath so that she didn’t miss anything, but this was her home and if she wanted to sit at an awkward angle and listen intently to the activity happening next door, she had every right.

She heard another sound, similar to the first and heat flooded her face as realization crept over her. She suddenly had a guess as to what exactly was happening in the shower. That realization should have sent her searching for a pair of earplugs. Instead, she set her glass of wine down on the coffee table and, biting her lip, leaned even closer to the wall.

Unbidden, her eyes fluttered closed, images filtering through her mind. His muscular body, water sluicing over his bare skin, and his hand wrapped around his—

She swallowed hard.

Her heart was beating in her ears, and she willed it to slow down so that it didn’t block out any of her auditory entertainment. Guilt played companion to the tightening ball of adrenaline in her stomach. But it wasn’t enough to stop her.

It had been a long time since she’d felt like this. A long time since she felt that sweet anticipation, that low-level hum of excitement that ran along every nerve ending, shooting sparks through every vein.

She was unwilling to let it go. Unwilling to do anything that might break the spell she was under.

She heard one more sound, a short, harsh groan and a curse, then the water shut off and she was left feeling unsatisfied, hollow and unsteady.

She picked the wine glass back up and gulped the rest of the contents down. She was going to need another glass to forget the sound of Jake’s self-administered pleasure. Another glass to soften the need that was currently cutting into her like a knife.

The temptation to take her own shower and indulge in exactly the same activity was almost overpowering. But she was going to see him tomorrow. She was going to have to look him in the eye and make his coffee, and it was already going to be nearly impossible. If she thought of him while doing...that...it would be the most terminally uncomfortable moment in the history of mankind.

She was going to drink another glass of wine, watch reruns of Gilmore Girls and forget that this ever happened. It shouldn’t be too hard.

She ignored the fact that the moment when she’d put her hand over his fifteen years ago remained one of her most vivid memories. Ignored the fact that that probably meant tonight would be burned into her brain forever.

Because there was no point in dwelling on Jake Caldwell. None at all.

Chapter Three

JAKE WAS SO caught up in the hell that had been his day that it wasn’t until he was inside the coffee shop and in front of the counter, that he remembered.

Then, as his eyes connected with Cassie’s, it all came flooding back.

His shower, and exactly what had gone through his mind when he’d jerked off in what had proven to be a futile effort to get sex off his brain. All he’d wanted was a little relief, but inescapably that moment when her fingers had brushed his hand kept playing through his mind, and then he would picture her face. But not looking uneasy, or blank and carefully professional as she usually did. No, he’d imagined her brown eyes clouded with desire, her full lips pink and swollen. Her dark hair out of its usual ponytail, and spread out over his pillow.

Yeah, he’d pictured that. And now he was standing in front of her in The Grind, those images intermingling with reality. It was official, this place regressed him. He needed to get out. If hours up to his elbows in mud and sheep shit hadn’t proven that, his reaction to her certainly did.

He turned his head at the sound of the bell above the door. A man in a uniform whom he recognized from high school as Eli Garrett walked in. Eli was as clean-cut as ever, tall, dark-haired and smiling. Also fully able to beat the ever-loving shit out of someone should the need arise, Jake had no doubt.

Anyone in a law-enforcement field tended to make Jake nervous. Even though he hadn’t been arrested since high school. And even then, no charges had ever been formally filed.

He deserved it, at least in one case. Stealing money out of the register of the farm and garden where he worked had been pretty low. Especially considering how nice the owners had been. But while he’d been cuffed and taken down to the station, in the end the owners had said there must’ve been some mistake. A little scaring him straight combined with some mercy he knew he hadn’t deserved.

Cassie looked past Jake and smiled. That was not a smile he’d ever seen directed at him and he found himself feeling annoyed that the other man was on the receiving end of it. “Hi, Deputy Garrett. The usual?”

“Yes, Cassie, thank you.”

“Of course. Deputy Garrett, do you remember Jake from high school?”

Great. Now he had to be friendly. He took a breath and turned so that he was facing Eli, then held out his hand. “Jake Caldwell. Back in town for a bit.” He didn’t need to be intimidated. And he didn’t need to stand there feeling ashamed of who he’d been.

“Yeah,” Eli said before accepting Jake’s offered hand and shaking it firmly. “I remember you.”

“That might not be a good thing.”

“Do any of us really want to be remembered for who we were in high school?”

That was a bit more kindness then Jake expected. “I don’t guess.”

“So, what brings you back into town? Moving home?”

Jake bristled at the description of Copper Ridge as home. “My dad died. He left me his estate. I’m just back to get the ranch and things into shape before I put it on the market.”

“Sorry about that.”

“It wasn’t unexpected.” Which was sort of an odd response, but he wasn’t going to stand around and pretend to be grieving. Not considering that he hadn’t even seen his father once in the fifteen years since he left. No one was more surprised than he was that the old man had left him the place.

He nearly snorted. The place and all the shit in it. Junk on the front lawn, stacks of paperwork he would need six months to get through.

“Even so,” Eli said, “sorry to hear it.” Cassie handed a cup of coffee back to him and Eli handed her a five dollar bill before nodding once. “See you around.” He turned and walked away.

“You make a practice of serving customers in front of the line last?” Jake asked, directing the question a Cassie.

“No, it’s just that Deputy Garrett is a busy man.”

“You don’t think I’m a busy man?”

Color flooded her cheeks, and he couldn’t deny that he took a small amount of pleasure in having rattled her. “I’m sure you are. Speaking of busy, you must want your muffin.”

“I would. I would like my muffin.” He didn’t really care about the muffin.

“And your coffee?”

“You can’t eat a muffin without a coffee. I’m not a barbarian.”

“No, I daresay you aren’t. In fact, a lot of people would say muffins are quite civilized. Not really a manly food.”

“Muffins aren’t manly?”

“Well, I don’t get a lot of men in here ordering them.”

“Well, screw that. Muffins are delicious.”

She lifted a shoulder. “Fair point. Delicious blueberry or delicious chocolate?”

“Do you even have to ask? If there’s chocolate, the answer is always chocolate.” Other than securing the rental of the apartment this was the most talking they’d done since he’d come back.

“On that we can agree.” This time, she put both the muffin and the coffee on the counter, rather than handing either directly to him. He was weirdly disappointed by that.

“Since you didn’t drop the muffin, I insist on paying for it today.”

“I suppose I won’t argue with you on that either.”

“Still cash only?” he asked, tugging his wallet out of his pocket. She was not the only business in Copper Ridge that didn’t take debit or credit yet.

“Yeah, for now. I’m getting one of those things for your phone that lets you take credit payment, but I haven’t done it yet.”

“How long have you had this place open?”

“Two years.”

Which explained what seemed to be a bare-bones staff and the very late nights she put in. All the hallmarks of a business that was still trying to get on its feet. “Well, good for you. It’s a lot of work running a business.”

“Do you run one?”

“Not really. I manage one. But I don’t own it. The owner is a friend of mine, and he’s semi-retired.” He’d be all retired soon, and Jake was poised to take over. If he could shake off the bonds that held him here. “The friendship part is just one reason I was able to come here and settle my father’s estate.” Calling that dilapidated piece of property—and the vacant building downtown and this place—an estate was almost laughable, but he wasn’t sure how else to phrase it.

“When you say settle it, what exactly do you mean?”

“What it sounds like. I don’t have anything keeping me here. I’ll be going back to Seattle as soon as I can.”

Cassie drew back as though she’d been slapped. “Oh. Will you have a property manager, or...?”

“No. I won’t need one. Because I won’t have property here anymore.”

Her dark eyes widened and she shot a quick look out to the dining room, before looking back at him. “You mean you’re going to sell?”

“Yeah.”

“All of it though? Not just the ranch?”

“Yeah, did you think I was planning anything else? I’m not going to stay here and play cowboy. It’s not my thing.”

“Well, I thought you might make your intentions explicit considering you own the building I live and work in.”

“I’m a little ways off from listing it, and I had intended to offer the place you.”

“I can’t get a loan for it.”

“Then you can continue to lease it from the person who buys it for me.”

“You’re assuming that the person who buys it from you will allow me to continue leasing it. And that they won’t raise the rate.”

Jake rubbed the back of his neck. This was not the kind of complication he needed. If he had a hope in hell of buying John out eventually like he was planning, he needed to offload these properties. He was in a decent financial situation, but buying a very successful business wasn’t cheap. And sure, he could keep the properties and lease them, but that would rob him of money he could use as a down payment, and land him with a bigger mortgage than he was comfortable with. In addition to that, he would have to get someone to manage things in Copper Ridge for him, and all of it would just keep him tied to a place he had no desire to be tied to.

And he felt sorry for Cassie, he did. But warm fuzzy feelings weren’t going to get him where he needed to go.

“Well, we have some time to figure it out.” Even though he knew he would arrive at the same conclusion regardless of how much time passed.

“I’m not sure I like that.”

“What?”

“That non-answer. It might be easy for you to just leave things up in the air, because you have all the control. I’m the one whose livelihood and home hang in the balance.”

“Look, I really hate to be a jackass about this, but it isn’t my problem. My problem right now is getting all of the shit off of my dad’s property. Because if I don’t do it myself it’s going to cost me a crapload of money that I don’t want to spend. And trust me, coordinating the removal of rusty cars, old toilets and fucking chickens is not as much fun as it sounds.”

“It doesn’t sound fun at all.”

“I know, that was kind of the point.”

“You’re removing chickens and helpless coffee shop owners. Big week for you.”

“I’m re-homing them. And I’m not doing anything with you. Yet.”

“As you make your decision, remember, you owe me for yesterday’s muffin.”

He frowned. “It was on you. Because you dropped it on the floor.”

“That was before I knew you were intent on throwing me out onto the streets.”

“I am not throwing you out onto the streets.”

She lifted her hands and then slapped them down against her thighs. “You might be. You don’t know. You’re going to wash your hands of me. And leave me to be devoured by the winds of fate.”

“That is... Just a little dramatic, don’t you think?”

“It’s not dramatic at all! You are talking about selling my building out from under me. I don’t think there is an overdramatic where that’s concerned.”

“If that were the case. But nothing has been decided, there is no specific buyer threatening to take anything from you, and I am not paying you for the muffin.”

“You know what? That’s just petty, is what that is. You were going to pay me for the muffin, and then I told you not to, but now I want you to, and you won’t.”

“That’s because you’re being retaliatory. And I think it’s small.” He was more amused by all this than he should be. More amused by her than he should be. But she was quick, and she was a lot more fiery than he remembered her being in high school.

“Oh, so now I’m small? Yeah, I’m small. That’s what I am. A small business owner. And I’m being crushed by The Man.”

Jake had never been accused of being The Man before in his life. He didn’t exactly have the look for it. “I am not crushing you. And I’m going upstairs now. Where I can eat my muffin without being abused.”

“Abused? I would’ve thought you were a bit sturdier than this, Caldwell.”

“I’m very sturdy. I promise you that. I just also happen to have an aversion to histrionics.”

He turned and headed back toward the door,. He didn’t have the luxury of worrying about Cassie Ventimiglia and her coffee shop. Yeah, it would suck if whoever bought the place took it out from under her. But he was sure there were terms that could be worked out. And yeah, maybe her rent would go up, but she was underpaying. He also knew she didn’t have a predetermined amount of time on her lease. So she didn’t have any protection in that manner either.

And sure, it made him feel bad. But not enough to willingly submit to holding onto a piece of Copper Ridge. Not enough to submit to holding onto a piece of the Caldwell family.

There was a reason he had left all those years ago. And the reason was as valid today as it had been then.

Cassie didn’t know. Nobody did. And that meant the way he handled things was nobody’s damn business but his.

Chapter Four

CASSIE HAD SPENT the rest of last night feeling incredibly annoyed, and stirred up, and like her entire life was being upended yet again. She felt like she’d already had enough upheaval for one lifetime. Yes, it had only happened once. But once was enough. She did not want to start over again. How many times was a woman supposed to reinvent herself?

She of course had not found that answer while pacing around her apartment growling. And today, the answer continued to elude her as she sat in the driver’s seat of her car, unable to get it to start. The hits just kept on coming.

She cursed and got out of the car, fighting the urge to kick her tires. She had errands to run, and this was one of her only days off. So of course, the car that she rarely used refused to perform its function.

She released another growl into the universe and slammed the door shut, stomping around toward the front of the coffee shop. She was going to have to call her accountant and let her know she was going to be late. Liss would do her best to reschedule her, but Cassie hated to put the other woman out.

Just as she was about to go inside The Grind, Jake appeared from around the back of the building. She froze, feeling slightly sheepish about the way she had behaved toward him yesterday. She was justified, but she’d been childish. And she really could’ve been a little bit more mature. If only because she imagined having him feel positively toward her was better than having him angry with her. All things considered.

And she wasn’t usually one to make waves, but then, Jake had always brought out feelings in her that were less than typical.

“Good morning.” There, she had greeted him. And she hadn’t even spewed any fire and brimstone in his direction.

“Good morning.” He raised his brows, clearly just as surprised as she was that she’d managed to be civil.

“I hope you slept well.” She hadn’t heard him showering last night, so thank heaven for small favors.

And that was not what she wanted to think about right now. Not when she was annoyed. Not when she was looking at him, and would probably start blushing.

“Yeah, I slept fine.”

She bit back a rude comment. “Well, that’s good.”

“You sound thrilled. You don’t work this morning?”

“No, I have the day off. Which means I have to do the business things I can’t do while I’m in the shop.”

“Exciting times in Copper Ridge.”

“You aren’t lying.”

“So where you headed?”

“My accountant’s. To drop off financial stuff.”

“Ahh, I see. As opposed to dropping off badger-related things at your accountant’s.”

“Charming. Now, while you do a very good impression of the sarcastic jerkface, I am in a bit of a rush, and of having car trouble so...”

She couldn’t really figure out why Jake made her feel so damned obstinate, only that he did. And that she didn’t really mind. To the contrary, she sort of liked it.

He gave her something to kick against when she generally felt like she was simply drifting downstream.

“I’m going to ignore the fact that you called me a name I haven’t heard since I was in elementary school. What kind of car trouble are you having?”

“I don’t know.” She hated that feeling of not knowing. Or more accurately, of knowing she was in over her head, and that she needed help, but didn’t have it.

Frankly she couldn’t afford to get the car repaired, and she had no idea how to replace anything herself. Her husband had done that stuff, and these were about the only times when she felt his absence. Most of the time she felt like she was better off without him—enriched even. But when the drain was clogged, a car needed repairing, something heavy needed lifting, or a jar lid was being particularly stubborn, she really missed the bastard.

“Well, if you show me your problem I’m sure I can tell you what it is.”

“The thing is, I’m late to meet Liss.”

“Where is her office?”

“It’s up the road about five miles, not something I can sprint. Even if I started walking now, I would still be late.”

“If you wait down here for a second I can come back with a solution to your problem.”

She blinked rapidly. “Well, that sounds... almost too good to be true.”

“I promise you it’s not.” He turned and walked back around the building and she just stood there gaping. And staring after him. Because even though she was officially annoyed with him, he was still nice to look at.

Something about being exposed to Jake was a whole lot like jumping from a sun-soaked rock into a freezing river. For the past five years she’d been comfortable. Comfortable right where she was, finding her feet again, letting go of a marriage that had lasted six years instead of a lifetime. Once she’d done that she’d settled in and found purpose in her new life. She hadn’t wanted what she’d lost again.

Jake made her want things. Not love and commitment type things, other things. Naked things. Sweaty things.

It made her feel a little bit flushed just thinking about it.

And right on cue, just as her face was overheating from her libidinous thoughts, Jake reappeared, holding a motorcycle helmet.

“I’m not sure what you think you’re doing with that.” She eyed him suspiciously.

“I’m offering you a ride.” He extended the helmet, her face reflecting in the shiny black surface.

She looked up from her own wide-eyed stare, and presented it to him. “I don’t ride on motorcycles.”

“Well, you can start today.”

“I think you misunderstood. It’s not that I’ve never had the opportunity.” But she hadn’t. “I don’t ride on them because the idea is about as appealing as inhaling dandelion fluff and then licking a pig’s foot to get the taste out of your mouth.”

“Evocative.”

“I’m trying to get my point across that I don’t find the idea very appealing at all.”

“Yeah, I actually got that out of your simile,” he said.

“Wow, you even knew it was a simile.”

“I had a good tutor back in high school.”

* * *

SOMETHING ABOUT BRINGING the past into the present made Jake’s chest tighten. He didn’t like to think about the past and he had good reason. But Copper Ridge made it impossible not to.

“I tutored you in math, not English. I was not the one to teach you about similes.”

“Maybe I just absorbed some of your intelligence.”

“See, you think I’m intelligent. Therefore, my concerns about riding on a motorcycle are probably valid.”

“Probably. But then, I’ve been riding on one for about seventeen years and I seem okay.”

“Okay, I don’t have time to stand here quibbling with you about this.” She snatched the helmet from his grip and put it down over her head, so that only her nose and eyes were visible, a strand of dark hair hanging down the middle of her forehead and disappearing beneath the face mask.

“That’s a good look for you, Cassie.”

She blinked, and he was suddenly very aware of just how long her eyelashes were, and how very attractive that was to him. Seriously, the brush of her fingers against his and her eyelashes. He needed to get a grip. And not the type he’d gotten in the shower a couple of days earlier.

“It doesn’t surprise me that badass biker chick is kind of my thing.”

“Speaking of,” he shrugged off his leather jacket and held it out toward her, “You need to complete the look.”

“What about you?”

“We’ll be driving through town, so I’ll go slow. But I would still feel better if you wore the jacket.”

She took the jacket and shrugged it on, the sleeves hanging over her hands and the bottom extending to mid-thigh. There was something sexy about that too. And he was just done questioning his sanity, because it was clear the question was answered. It was gone, and he needed some kind of sexual release.

But not with her. Maybe he would drive up to Tolowa and look for someone to hook up with. One night stands weren’t really his thing these days, but exceptions could be made.

At least with someone he would never see again.

“Okay.” The word was jittery, and so was she, her fingers trembling. At least what he could see of them peeking out from the jacket sleeves. “Let’s do this, I’ve got an appointment.”

“And you have all your paperwork?”

“Yep.” She tapped the large purse that she had slung over her shoulder.

“All right then.” He walked over to his motorcycle and put on his helmet then got on, waiting for her to do the same.

“So I... Just get on behind you.”

Oh, shit. He’d sort of overlooked this part. “Yes,” he said, conscious of the roughness in his own voice.

She took a tentative step to the bike, then disappeared from his field of vision as she moved behind him. He felt a light touch on his shoulder, which was quickly taken away.

“It’s fine, you’re going to have to hold on to me anyway.” Sexual tension was making him testy.

Two hands gripped his shoulders, and he felt her settle in behind him. Her thighs rested on either side of his.

“You need to put your arms around my waist.” Yeah, this was going to kill him.

She complied, her grip so tight around him it was like she was attempting the Heimlich. “This feels slightly unstable,” she said, her voice in his ear, muffled by the helmets between them.

“It’s not, I promise. As long as you’re not going to let go of me suddenly.”

“Yeah, it’s safe to say I’m not going to be doing that.”

He started the motor. “Good. Are you ready?”

“No.”

“We’re going anyway, okay?”

He felt her nod against his back and he smiled, putting the bike in gear and moving forward, careful to take off gradually so that he wouldn’t terrify his virgin passenger.

He gritted his teeth. All things considered that wasn’t a very good descriptor. It stuck his mind straight back in the gutter.

He did his best to keep all of his focus on the road, on the passing scenery. Belatedly, he realized he hadn’t exactly gotten directions from her. But he figured he would keep going straight until she gestured wildly.

In his defense, he had been distracted. By trying not to be distracted by his attraction to her.

Maybe that was the real issue. Maybe his attraction to her was an attempt at distracting himself from other problems. From the ranch, and all of the ghosts that it held. It was strange seeing it now, fallen into such dilapidation. In order for the excuse to wash, he had to ignore the attraction he’d felt to her back in high school, but for the sake of his sanity he was willing to do that.

The ranch had never been a mansion by any stretch but it hadn’t been run down like this. But his mother had been gone for more than twenty years, and Jake himself hadn’t been back in fifteen. From all accounts, his father had been in a home the last two years of his life and not living out on the property.

Someone must’ve been taking care of the animals because they were still there, but no one had bothered to do any upkeep on the house. If he had ever had any affection for the place, the disrepair would have made him sad.

They drove past the collection of tourist shops, which were one major change from when he lived here as a kid. This street had mainly been deserted, and there had been very little value in the properties. Which was, he assumed, how his father had managed to end up with a few of the buildings. And why he had never been able to do anything with them. The place had been a near ghost town back then.

From what he’d gathered since coming back tourism had started to build in the past ten years, along with the restoration of Old Town. Brick that had once been crumbling and rundown was now charming and quaint. Buildings that had been peeling and splitting were now restored, painted bright whites, pale blues and deep reds. Fish shacks that had only ever been for locals were now obviously designed to bait out-of-towners with promises of the freshest seafood.

One little building that he’d remembered as being empty was now covered in wind chimes, flags and things made of driftwood. It was amazing what paint, new signage, and some landscape could do.

He took the main road up out of Old Town, away from the beach. As the road curved inland the pine trees thickened, casting dusky shadows over them, golden sun filtering through the trees and bathing everything in a glittering haze.

Objectively, Jake had to admit the place was beautiful, which was a tough thing for him since it also created a knot of tension in his chest that refused to ease. He managed to find beauty in Seattle, though it had taken a few years of living there to get used to all of the glass and steel. As cities went, there was a lot of nature. And the ocean was still nearby. He didn’t think he could live anywhere that wasn’t by the ocean.

It wasn’t that he spent a whole lot of time beachcombing. He wasn’t big on the sand between his toes. It was a feeling of freedom the ocean afforded. He had a vague sense that as long as it was nearby there was an escape. The idea of being landlocked unsettled him. It was akin to being trapped in his mind.

That was one of the reasons he’d always ridden his bike. There was something about it that felt like flying. That felt like escape. What he wasn’t used to was riding with another person, and interesting that Cassie’s arms tight around his waist didn’t feel like restraints. They felt warm, they felt secure.

And it felt like they were escaping together.

Though what Cassie Ventimiglia might have to escape from he had no idea. It struck him then that he knew nothing about the life she’d led since he’d left. He knew that she had opened The Grind two years ago, and that was the beginning and end of his knowledge.

It made him feel like an asshole to realize that. Seemed like he should’ve asked.

But it wasn’t as though she’d asked about him. As far as she knew he had ridden off one day, then ridden back. And nothing had happened in between. In some ways, he was content for people to think that, and in other ways not.

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