True Blue Cowboy. Marin Thomas

better.”

      She’d rather Mack tell her she had a siren’s body.

      He told you that night that you were sexy.

      Mack cleared his throat. “I stopped by to warn you about Al.”

      “Why?”

      “Needing investment advice isn’t his only motivation for wanting to get together with you.”

      “I’m sure you’re wrong. He’s married.”

      “I don’t trust the guy.”

      “I appreciate the warning, but I can handle Al.” She expected Mack to continue badgering her, but he changed the subject.

      “Are you originally from Yuma?” he asked.

      “No. I was born and raised in San Diego.”

      “How’d you end up in Arizona?”

      “After earning a Master’s in finance I received a job offer from Biker and Donavan Investments. They had an opening in their Yuma branch. The starting salary was very competitive and with student loans hovering over my head, I took the position.” For the most part she hadn’t regretted it. She’d lived frugally and had paid off her school debt in record time. Then she’d met Brad, and after they’d married he was promoted to five-o’clock sports anchor and before she realized it, Yuma had become home.

      “What about your family?”

      “I’m an only child. My parents still live in San Diego. My father is a retired airline pilot and they travel now.”

      “I can’t imagine growing up an only child.”

      She didn’t want to talk about herself. “Besides the brothers you mentioned earlier tonight, do you have any sisters?”

      “One. Dixie. All of us were raised by our grandparents.” He took off his hat and set it on his knee. “The men who fathered me and my brothers wanted nothing to do with us, and my mother came and went on the farm as she pleased. None of us kids were close to her. She died before our grandparents passed away.”

      “Do you like being part of a big family?”

      “I don’t know any different. You get used to all the chaos that comes with seven kids trying to coexist in a house with one bathroom.”

      The noise level inside their home must have been impressive.

      “Grandma Ada used to threaten to spank our backsides with her big cooking spoon if we didn’t stop tearing the house apart.” He leaned forward in the chair. “Was it tough growing up an only child?”