The Convenient Cowboy. Heidi Hormel

He refocused on the coffeepot, watching with extreme concentration the drip of the magical brew. His head pounded, but the first slug of coffee would help.

      “Olympia,” he called through the closed door. “Are you okay? I need to use the bathroom, and we’ve got to get going.”

      “I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to die.” She groaned.

      “Try the soda.” He cared about how she felt, really he did, but work was waiting and so was convincing his ex in-laws that he had to talk with Calvin today. The anxious tone of his son’s voice played again in his mind.

      “Maybe ginger ale?”

      “I’m going downstairs to get one.”

      How had his simple plan spiraled so out of control? he asked himself as he searched through the overpriced convenience store in the lobby for ginger ale. He could feel the time ticking away. Finally, he paid the three dollars for a bottle and made his way back upstairs in the world’s slowest elevator.

      “Got the ginger ale,” he said as he opened the door. The room was quiet. He walked through and saw the bathroom door was open. “Olympia?”

      She was back in bed, with the covers over her head.

      “Olympia, we’ve got to go. You can sleep in the truck.” She shook her head like a toddler. He didn’t have time for this. He yanked all the covers off. “Let’s go.”

      “If I get in your truck, I’ll be sick.”

      “Drink this,” he said, holding out the soda. She cracked open one eye, then held out her hand for the bottle. She sat up slowly. He wanted to tell her to hurry, but he also didn’t want her back in the bathroom. “While you drink that, I’ll get ready. Five minutes.”

      She was sitting propped against the pillows when he came out of the bathroom, about half the soda gone. Her just-below-the-chin, deep brunette hair was messy, and dark circles still ringed her eyes, but she no longer looked whiter than the sheets.

      “Good. You’re ready.”

      He refilled his coffee and shoved their stuff into the duffel. They had to get going now.

      “Just leave me here.”

      “Can’t afford the room for another night.” He opened the dresser drawers, looking for any stray items.

      “I’ll be sick again.”

      “You have the ginger ale, and I’ll stop at a drive-thru for breakfast. You need food.”

      “I’ll get a taxi and meet you at the ranch.”

      “No taxi will take you that far out of town.”

      Olympia curled into a ball. “No.”

      He’d had less trouble with Calvin when he was little. “Olympia, I will carry you downstairs if I have to. We’re going.”

      She sighed dramatically and slowly sat up. “If I get sick, it’s your fault.”

      “I’m willing to take the risk.”

      Olympia walked over to him, pushing at her hair. “Okay. I’m ready.”

      “You’re going in that?”

      “What does it matter? We’re just headed home.”

      “Don’t you, um, want to...well, maybe...a bra?”

      She glanced down. “What? Nothing’s showing, is it?”

      Was she making a joke? He could see her nipples and the generous curve of her breasts! He could imagine them filling his hands, soft but firm. He dug in the duffel and pushed her bra at her. His face had to be red. The last time he’d blushed about a girl’s bra had been in the eighth grade.

      “I need to wash my face, too.” She strolled to the bathroom with her bra hooked on her finger. Was she putting an extra swing in her walk?

      Spence adjusted his stance, wishing that his hangover was worse, bad enough that all he could think about was the pounding pain in his head. Instead, he remembered holding on to those hips as... He refocused his inner dialogue, telling himself to check the room for more of their stuff. Think about Calvin. Recite legal code. Remember what it felt like when he turned eighteen and his parents, who were on a cruise, didn’t even call to wish him a happy birthday. That did it. Calvin would never know that kind of disappointment and hurt.

Chapter Four

      Olympia’s touchy stomach growled when she got a deep whiff of the smell of cumin, chili and sizzling meat that hung over the restaurant. Good thing because if she’d run to the bathroom, Spence’s very smart doctor brother would figure out everything. Her stomach did a tiny flip as she thought about the pages that Spence had proposed adding to their prenup to “address the ongoing custody and care of any issue of said marriage” after they’d discovered she was pregnant last week.

      “So how’re things going? That rescue horse working out?” her new brother-in-law asked. “Jessie wanted me to find out.” Payson was as tall as Spence but a little thinner and much darker. She wondered how two brothers from the same parents could look so different.

      “He’s doing fine. I’m getting him sorted out. Why couldn’t Jessie come with you?” She hoped she didn’t sound desperate. Being surrounded by MacCormack men made her nervous.

      “She has a new crop of therapists to introduce today. But I’m supposed to warn you that we’ll be down to see you before I fly back to Philadelphia.”

      “I thought you were done with the East Coast?” Olympia swallowed hard and told her brain to calm down. Getting him to talk about his program at Children’s Hospital would stop him from focusing on her. Could he see the pregnancy glow or something?

      “Not yet,” Payson said. “My contract with Children’s runs through the end of next year. Even with a lawyer in the family, I couldn’t get out of it. Jessie and I keep reminding ourselves that it’ll be over soon. Plus, she’s so busy, she doesn’t notice whether I’m there or not.” Payson’s smile moved only the very corners of his mouth.

      “That’s not true and you know it,” Spence said. “Plus, how are you two supposed to give Calvin a little cousin if you aren’t even in the same state?”

      Olympia wanted to kick Spence. How dare he talk about pregnancy and babies? He’d promised her that he wouldn’t say a word tonight about the baby, but had added that they couldn’t keep the pregnancy secret forever.

      “I don’t need a birds-and-bees talk from my little brother,” Payson said with a slight edge as his smile disappeared.

      Olympia felt Spence stiffen beside her. She dug her hand into his thigh as the increased tension went right to her now-unsettled stomach. How could she endure months of sickness?

      Spence relaxed just a fraction and answered in his cowboy drawl, “Well, there, pardner, just wanted to make sure y’all know how it’s done.”

      She scrambled to say something that would get the two of them off this path. “I heard Molly is getting her own YouTube channel? Pony Diva? Or is it Pony Princess?” Payson finally relaxed and actually smiled.

      “That pony already had a swelled head. The video of her at our wedding got ten thousand hits.” He shook his head. “The kids bring their phones and tablets, take videos of her, upload them and then show them to her. I swear she watches.”

      “If she needs an agent, tell Jessie to give me a call,” Spence said just as the waitress came to the table with their order.

      Olympia surveyed her meal. Soup and salad. Nothing spicy. Nothing with any flavor. She still wasn’t sure if she could eat it and keep it down. Her soda had stayed put, so she lifted a spoonful of the broth. At the same time, Spence raised an overflowing burrito