Must Love Cowboys: This steamy and heart-warming cowboy rom-com is a must-read! (Once Upon A Time In Carly Bloom (good short books .TXT) 📖

“Vaginal? Lubricant? Or menopause?” Maggie asked.

“All three! And you’d better cover that child’s ears, lest she turn out to have a potty mouth just like her mother and her friends.”

“As soon as she says menopause, I’m going to wash her mouth out with soap for sure,” Maggie said.

“That is a dirty word,” Janie said. “Hot flashes kept me up all night.”

“I had no trouble at all going through the change,” Miss Mills said. “I prayed about it, and the good Lord answered.”

“I’ll try that next,” Janie said. “Right after the CBD oil.”

The library door opened again. Alice crossed her fingers, hoping to be saved by an elderly person needing help with the internet.

“Well, speak of the devil,” Claire said.

Alice broke out in pins and needles. Her stomach dropped. Her heart pounded. She didn’t even need to turn around to know who it was.

Her Beau-dar had gone off, and it felt different this time.

Oh, dammit. Beau had gotten here early, hoping Alice would be alone. Just how many people did it take to stick books on shelves? And what the holy hell was Claire doing here? And Maggie? And Carmen?

Janie smiled at him. “Good morning, Beau.”

He removed his hat. Nodded his head. “Good morning, ladies.”

Claire smirked at him. “Were your ears burning?”

“Pardon?”

One look at Allie’s horrified face told him all he needed to know. She’d been right about Dolly starting up the gossip train. But Beau didn’t care about all that. People in small towns gossiped. And people in small towns hooked up and then unhitched pretty regularly.

“Alice,” Maggie said. “Do you and Beau need help planning your shotgun wedding? Claire and I would be more than happy to oblige.”

Beau sighed. “Allie Cat, I need to talk to you.”

“Aw,” Claire said. “They have nicknames.”

“In private,” Beau said.

Miss Mills huffed and fanned as if they were going to do something obscene. Which they weren’t. It was specifically spelled out in the contract.

Alice came out from behind the counter, and he followed her to her office. She shut the door. “What on earth is wrong?”

“How do I get the second book?” he said.

“The second book to wha—” Alice’s face erupted into a huge smile. “In the series? The one you’re listening to?”

The first one had ended on a fucking cliffhanger. “Yes. I stayed up until nearly dawn listening, and now . . .” He fumbled around for words and finally decided on the truth. “I need the next book or I might die.”

Alice squealed and clapped her hands. “I knew it! I knew you’d love it.”

“Man, Allie, I just didn’t know. I didn’t know that listening to a book could be like watching a Mission Impossible movie—I love those, by the way—”

“I actually think reading a book is even better than watching a movie,” Alice said.

Her big brown eyes shone, and her smile looked like it might outgrow her face. And Beau knew just what she meant. Watching a movie felt kind of passive. Even if it kept you on the edge of your seat, you knew you were in a seat. Listening to a book was like . . . Like you were fucking there. “This might be a stupid question—”

“There are no stupid questions.”

“Does reading a book feel just as exciting as listening to one?”

Alice nodded her head. “Sometimes more so. Now give me your phone. I’ll show you how to get the next one. And do you like scary movies? Stephen King type of stuff?”

“Of course.”

Alice looked up slowly, grinning in a sly, almost evil way. “Wait until you read one of those. You won’t be able to sleep without a light on for at least a week.”

Beau watched as Allie found the next book. It looked easy.

“See? You can do it yourself. Also, the entire town is talking about us. They think we’re dating. As in they think we’re a couple.”

“I figured as much when I saw the crowd out there.”

“Doesn’t it bother you?”

It should bother him at least a little. Because now he was definitely going to have to watch himself around women. No flirting. No other stuff. But instead of being irritated, he was just kind of excited to get together with Alice again. And it felt good to know that folks thought they were together. That someone like him could appeal to someone like Alice, who was literally the smartest person he knew. “It doesn’t bother me.”

Alice didn’t say anything. It probably bothered her plenty.

“Don’t forget that you get to break up with me in just a few weeks. And you can be as dramatic as you want.”

“I’m actually not much for drama,” Alice said.

“Maybe we’ll just drift apart.”

“It happens to the best of couples.”

They grinned at each other, and then something caught Alice’s attention behind him. He turned to see Carmen and Claire peeking through the doorway.

“Well, bye, darlin’. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said with a wink. It would be their second tutoring session.

“Yes,” Alice said. “See you then.”

“It’s a date,” Beau said. “Oh, and you know what? Bryce will be out of town this weekend. Why don’t you come by the cabin on Friday?”

“The cabin?” Alice asked, eyes big as saucers. “You want me to come to your place?”

“Sure.” And since it seemed appropriate to the occasion, he leaned over and gave her a short and sweet peck on the cheek. And even though it was a humid day, there must have been some static electricity in the air. Because the contact made his skin sizzle.

Chapter

Eleven

Beau sat in his saddle and looked at the sun, which was low in the sky. He should have been back at the cabin an hour ago, but when he’d come down to the river to bring the cattle up, he’d discovered a few of them missing.

The Rio Verde was so low in some places that a few troublemakers had managed to pick their way across. Usually, the river was deep enough to serve as a