Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Grouchy didn’t even come close to describing Jeb’s mood as he headed along the main street of Oddity.
He’d come into town to get some supplies. Normally, he’d send one of the ranch hands, but he’d driven Wyatt to school instead of putting him on the bus today.
He’d thought that might cheer Wyatt up.
Turns out he’d been wrong.
As he crossed the road, he saw a familiar head of hair and move down the street.
Shock filled him. She was still here? Was her car not fixed yet? Why hadn’t Tex called and told him that she was still in town?
And why would he do that? She doesn’t mean anything to you.
And yet he couldn’t help but feel concerned about her.
Walking into the diner, he grabbed himself some coffee and a sandwich to go. He better get back to the ranch. As he stepped out of the diner, someone small barreled straight into him. His coffee went flying, the top opening and hot liquid spilling onto his feet.
Luckily, he was wearing boots and didn’t feel a thing.
Unfortunately, the woman who had bumped into him wasn’t as lucky. She let out a cry of pain as hot coffee splashed straight onto her bare foot.
“Why the hell aren’t you wearing shoes?” he demanded.
“I am wearing shoes!” she yelped as she grabbed hold of her foot, hopping around.
When she nearly fell, he reached for her, picking her up and carrying her straight into the diner.
“What happened?” Aggie asked immediately.
“Hot coffee on her foot. Got to get some water on it.”
“Get her into the staff bathroom,” Aggie ordered.
He strode out to the backroom.
“I’m fine. Put me down. I don’t want you touching me,” she grumbled at him.
“I’ll stop touching you when your foot is under cold water,” he countered.
She stiffened but didn’t say anything more as he set her down on the counter and placed her red foot under the cold water.
Hissing, she tried to pull her foot away from the running water.
“Leave it there,” he ordered.
“It’s too cold,” she complained.
“It’s got to be cold to cool down the burn,” he told her.
“It’s going numb,” she said.
“That’s fine. Stay.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “You don’t have any right to boss me around. I’m taking my foot out and leaving.”
He simply crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at her with one eyebrow raised. “Wanna bet?”
“Urgh! Of all the people to run into, it had to be you. You’re just determined to be a pain in my ass, huh?”
“I can be a pain in your ass if you like,” he countered.
Her mouth dropped open. “W-what?”
Suddenly, he realized how that sounded. “I wasn’t saying . . . I wasn’t talking about being a pain in your ass. I wasn’t talking about anal sex!”
A throat cleared behind him and he froze.
For fuck’s sake. Could his day get any worse?
Well, her day was going great.
She was down to her last five hundred dollars. And she had no idea how much a starter motor cost, but she was betting that it was more than that. She’d already stopped eating just to stretch her last few dollars.
Casey was going to have to call one of her brothers and ask to borrow some money to get her to Santa Barbara. That was a humiliation that she kept putting off. But she couldn’t do that for much longer.
So not only was she broke, hungry, and a bit light-headed, but she’d bumped into her nemesis, who’d spilled hot coffee all over her foot.
Yes, that’s right.
Jeb Wilder was her nemesis.
And a poopface, to steal Wyatt’s word.
How dare he spill coffee all over her, then touch her without her consent, carry her into this diner to run cold water over her foot?
And then threaten to be a pain in her ass. What exactly had he meant by that?
“Is everything all right here?”
Casey peered around Jeb. Why did he have to be so big? She spotted the woman who owned the diner. Aggie.
Nice lady.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t wanted to hire Casey for such a short time. Casey couldn’t blame her. She would be leaving soon and she couldn’t supply any information about her former employer since it had been her father. The last thing she wanted was for him to know where she was.
Or that she was in trouble.
She didn’t need him trying to rescue her.
“Yes, everything is fine, thanks,” Jeb said stiffly.
He was so uptight. He needed to loosen up a bit. Do some yoga. Maybe look into some relaxation techniques.
“Casey?” Aggie asked.
“I’m all right except for the fact that Jeb here is trying to freeze my foot off,” she grumbled, attempting to move her foot away from the icy water.
“Keep your foot under the water,” Jeb ordered.
This girl was terrible at doing what she was told.
“I get it,” Aggie said. “I was married to a caveman for forty years. Incredibly bossy. Great in bed, though. So that made up for it. That man could spend hours eating—”
“I think we’ve heard enough,” Jeb said hastily.
A giggle surprised him and he glanced down to see that he’d placed his hands over Casey’s ears.
Shit.
What was he doing?
He snatched them back. “I am not a caveman.”
“You’re bossy and protective and you always think you’re right,” Aggie pointed out.
“That’s because I am always right. The two of you know each other?” Jeb asked.
To his surprise, Casey’s face grew guarded. “Only slightly. I’ve come into the diner a few times. The meatloaf is amazing.”
Aggie pointed at her. “You need to come in more. You’re too thin.”
Aggie thought most people were too thin. But was Casey looking thinner? Her face seemed more drawn and those dark marks under her eyes had grown.
Was she not eating or sleeping well?
And why was he concerned? She wasn’t his to take care of. He was only helping with her foot because he felt like he was partially to blame.
Although she had bumped into him.
“Want me to call for Doc?” Aggie asked, moving closer to see her foot. “Ouch, that looks sore.”
“It’s really fine. And I definitely don’t need a doctor. I’m just going to head off. Wait, where is my other sandal?”
“Why the hell are you wearing sandals in spring?” he demanded.
“The sun is shining!” she protested.
“It’s barely sixty-one degrees outside. That’s not warm enough for sandals. You wouldn’t have been burned if you were wearing proper shoes.”
“It wouldn’t have been burned if you hadn’t bumped into me and dropped your coffee!”
“Little girl, I was not the one who bumped into you. You crashed into me.”
She gasped, her hand going to her chest dramatically. “I am not little! I am perfectly formed.”
“Hear, hear!” Aggie cheered. “We don’t all need to be built oversized and overdeveloped.”
Overdeveloped? What the heck did that mean?
“Aggie! We need you out here!” someone called out from behind the door to the bathroom.
“Coming!” She turned to him, shaking her finger. “Don’t boss the poor girl around so much. Be nice.”
Casey gave him a smug look. “Aggie said be nice. Do you know how to be nice?”
He leaned down with his hands resting on the edge of the counter. “You know how I said I could be a pain in your ass?”
“Yes.” She gave him a wary look.
“Well, I wasn’t meaning figuratively. You give me too much sass and I will put you over my knee.”
Her mouth dropped open in shock. “You wouldn’t!”
“Try me.”
“You can’t do that without my consent. That’s not safe practice.”
“And what do you know about safe practice?” he murmured.
“I know all about safe, sane, and consensual. And spanking me is not sane or consensual.”
“So you’re saying I need your consent to be in charge of your discipline?”
“Yes! But I don’t need discipline. And I won’t be giving any consent.”
“And what if you do need discipline? Because it seems to me that you need a keeper, little girl. You just seem to keep getting yourself into trouble.”