Free Getting Lucky (A Nugget Romance Book 5) by Stacy Finz Page A

the ruffle down the front?” The days were getting cooler as September slipped into October, and Katie was so susceptible to getting colds. Tawny wanted to keep her warm.
    By some divine miracle Katie took Tawny’s advice and pulled the white shirt over her head, dashed into the bathroom to brush her hair and back into the room to hang up the pants and shirts strewn across the bed.
    “Do you think he’ll like me?” Katie asked as she propped Lucky’s doll against the row of pillows on her bed.
    “He already likes you.”
    “How do you know?”
    “Because how could anyone resist you.”
    Katie rolled her eyes heavenward as if to say You only think that because you’re my mom . Together, they heard the knock and Katie quickly checked herself in the mirror while Tawny answered the door.
    There, in a black Stetson, black jeans, and a pair of black snakeskin cowboy boots, Lucky stood, holding a big bunch of gerbera daisies. Katie had gotten lots of flowers during her many hospital stays, but Tawny would always think of these as her daughter’s first bouquet, and felt her eyes mist.
    “Come in,” she told Lucky, and whispered, “Katie’s nervous.”
    “Me too,” he said, but looked calm as an August weather forecast. She figured when you rode two-thousand-pound bucking bulls in front of large crowds, you didn’t let people see you sweat.
    Katie emerged from her bedroom. She was too old to hide behind her mother’s legs like she used to do at four, but Tawny knew she wanted to.
    “I made lunch,” Tawny said to ease the tension. “I thought we could sit and you two could get to know each other.”
    “Sounds like a good idea,” Lucky said, and handed Katie the flowers. “These are for you.”
    For the next two hours they talked, looked at Katie’s baby pictures, and Tawny watched Lucky Rodriguez wrap her daughter’s heart around his pinky. She supposed it shouldn’t have come as a surprise, since fifteen years ago he’d done the same with her heart.
    “Should I call you Lucky or Daddy?” Katie asked, beaming at him across the table.
    “You should call me Daddy.” Lucky beamed right back, clearly as smitten with Katie as she was with him.
    And in that moment, Tawny knew, regardless of her ambivalence over the situation, Lucky was in their lives now—at least Katie’s.
    She got up to clear the table while Katie and Lucky went into the living room to watch TV. As she loaded the dishwasher, Lucky came up behind her.
    “You think we could talk outside for a few minutes?”
    “Sure,” she said. “Let’s go inside my studio.” Tawny told Katie where they’d be and led Lucky through the kitchen door and backyard. In the studio, she flipped on the heat, motioned for Lucky to take a seat on one of the try-on benches, and sat across from him. “What’s up?”
    “I think it went well, don’t you?”
    “Yes. She likes you. Please don’t disappoint her.”
    “Tawny, one of the things you and I have to get straight is that I’m dependable. You’re the one who decided to keep me out of Katie’s life. So stop acting like I’ll turn tail. What I came out to talk about is Katie’s health. I called my agent and he’s hunting down the best leukemia docs in the—”
    Tawny cut him off. “How very nice of you and him, since Katie’s oncologist and hematologist are some of the world’s leading experts. Do you think I’m a country bumpkin, who can’t take proper care of my daughter?”
    “Ah, for Christ’s sake, don’t go getting coiled up like a rattlesnake, Tawny. All I’m saying is that you’re no longer on your own. I’m here to help take the load off.”
    She put her face in her hands. “I know, I know. It’s just that I’ve been doing it her whole life, Lucky, and I don’t want to be second-guessed.”
    He pulled the bench close enough to hers so that they were touching knees. “I get it. That’s not what I’m doing. I swear. But from here on out, I’m your hazer.”
    She smiled