Free One Night with the Boss by Teresa Southwick

rancher Cabot Dixon. The interior of the place was dark, with mahogany walls and a square bar in the middle of the large room. Booths ringed the perimeter with tables scattered in the remaining space. The floor was covered with peanut shells, which would drive a neat freak crazy, but Brady liked it.
    Right now he was in the mood to like everything. Olivia had agreed to work for him a little longer. Some would call him a procrastinator, but he figured himself more of a doer. He’d done what was necessary to keep her here through the employee bash. She seemed adamant about leaving, so this reprieve wouldn’t change the outcome. He just couldn’t deny that he was relieved at not having to say goodbye for a little bit longer.
    He cracked open a peanut and dropped the shells on the floor just because he could. “How you been, Cabot?”
    “Can’t complain. You?”
    “Good. Have you heard Tiffani Guthrie might be coming back to town?”
    “Do I know her?”
    “Probably not, if you have to ask.” He stared, assessing his friend. The man had dark hair and eyes that were nearly black. Women definitely took note of the tall rancher.
    Cabot caught the look and frowned. “What?”
    “My mother said I should alert you about her.”
    “Why would I need a warning about your mother?”
    “No. Tiffani. Mom said you’re a good-looking, rich man and I should give you a heads-up that she’s looking for a rescue from the bad situation she landed in.” He took the man’s measure again. “And I guess Mom is right. You’re not a bad-looking guy.”
    The other man held up his hands. “Don’t get the wrong idea about why I asked you here.”
    “You mean we’re not having a bromance?”
    “I don’t know what that is,” Cabot said. “But I don’t like the sound of it.”
    “It’s a combination of brother and romance. Olivia told me about it.” His assistant wasn’t just the smartest and most organized he’d ever had, she kept him up-to-date socially and with current cultural references. He was going to miss that. “Don’t get your spurs bent out of shape. It just means two guys who are good friends.”
    “Wouldn’t it be easier to say that?” Then Cabot grinned. “You had me worried for a minute. So, Tiffani?”
    “Yeah. I met her when we were seniors in high school and she dumped me my last year in college. Apparently she married a guy who worked on oil rigs. But according to my mother, things haven’t gone so well in the double-wide trailer with her husband in North Armpit Falls, Texas. And she’s on her way back to Blackwater Lake to rekindle things with me because now I’m not a penniless college dropout.”
    “So, is it a good thing?” Cab took a drink of his beer. “Her coming back, I mean.”
    “It’s not good or bad. It’s...” Brady shrugged, trying to come up with the right word. “Nothing.”
    “Then you have nothing to worry about.”
    “My mother thinks you might.” Brady pointed the long neck of his beer bottle in his friend’s direction. “You’ve got more than a few bucks.”
    “I do okay.”
    In fact, Cabot Dixon was very well off. There was money in land, cattle, horses and mineral rights.
    “A woman could do worse than you,” he pointed out.
    “Not looking for one.”
    “Still...” Brady knew the man’s experience with marriage had been bad. “It’s been a long time.”
    “Not long enough.” Cabot took a peanut from the basket and cracked it with more force than necessary. “And still not interested.”
    “Okay, then. My work here is done. You’ve been warned.” Brady wished someone had warned him about kissing Olivia. He was having a devil of a time keeping his mouth away from hers. Looking at her lips and not going there again was testing his willpower and he was trying the “out of sight, out of mind” philosophy. So far it wasn’t working very well, because he’d hunkered down in his office and still couldn’t stop thinking about kissing her