Hell Yeah!: Her Hell Yeah Cowboy (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Harland County Series Book 8) Read online

  Text copyright ©2016 by the Author.

  This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Sable Hunter. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original Hell Yeah! remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Sable Hunter, or their affiliates or licensors.

  For more information on Kindle Worlds: http://www.amazon.com/kindleworlds

  Her Hell Yeah Cowboy

  A Harland County

  Hell Yeah! KW Crossover Novella

  NYT & USA Today Bestselling Author

  by Donna Michaels

  About this Book

  Unlike his twin, Texas National Guardsman Sgt. Logan McCall would rather march barefoot and blindfolded through a cow pasture than date the same woman twice. After an active duty injury during a flood washed away his promising sports career and engagement years ago, Logan guards his heart more than his life until, fresh from deployment, he runs into a friend of the McCoys…literally. Hill Country’s newest resident is hotter than the wing sauce soaking into his shirt.

  Mission on.

  Graphic designer and carrier of misfortune, Chloe Davis is a danger to herself and those around her, so entertaining thoughts for the sexy cowboy wearing her hot sauce should be a no-no…not a hell yeah—especially considering he’s the guardsman linked to a horrible instance in her past. But when he turns out to be one of her clients, she can no more avoid him than the attraction sizzling between them. Chloe’s back in Texas determined to make a fresh start, and she succeeds in business but fails to resist the handsome soldier’s relentless pursuit.

  But when he discovers her past, will he trust his heart or lose her forever?

  **Her Hell Yeah Cowboy is a Kindle Worlds crossover novella between the Harland County Series and Sable Hunter’s Hell Yeah! Series. This story can be read as a standalone, but I recommend reading the other books in the Harland County Series in order to get maximum enjoyment.**

  Thanks for reading,

  ~Donna

  www.donnamichaelsauthor.com

  Author’s Note

  Visit www.donnamichaelsuathor.com for more titles and release dates and to join Donna Michaels’ Newsletter. Enjoy exclusive reads, enter subscriber only contests, and be the first to know about upcoming books!

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgements

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Epilogue

  ALSO BY DONNA MICHAELS

  About the Author

  Can’t get enough Hot Cowboys?

  Acknowledgements

  A big shout out to the wonderfully talented Becky McGraw and CoverMe Photography and to cover model Orestis Papapetrou for the wonderful photo I used when creating my cover! You both made my job so easy!

  Triple shout outs to Carolyn, Emily, and Jes for editing around my crazy schedule. You all rock!

  Dedication

  I’d like to thank Sable Hunter and Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing for the opportunity to write in the Hell Yeah! Kindle World! I appreciate the chance to cross my Texas McCall cowboys in my Harland County Series with this wonderful, hot McCoy cowboy world.

  And boy howdy am I ever honored to be included in a launch with such amazing authors I personally love to read!

  I had a blast mixing my McCalls with Sable’s McCoys, and hope the readers enjoy, too!

  ♥

  Chapter One

  It was good to be home.

  Well…almost home.

  Logan McCall drove his pickup through Kerrville toward the large spread he co-owned with his twin and their younger brother, twenty-seven miles south of town. With the sun bright overhead, early afternoon traffic sparse, and people wearing I Love Kerrville T-shirts, for a fleeting moment it felt like he’d never left. Then memories of what had transpired during deployment over the past eleven and a half months crashed through his mind. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel and rode out the threatening wave of suffocation that always accompanied that train of thought.

  It wasn’t just good to be home, it was damn good to be bringing Lincoln back with him.

  “Quit being a pussy.”

  Well…almost good.

  He glanced at his smirking twin, regarding him from across the cab, dark brow raised, smart mouth twisted into a lopsided grin. Although fraternal and not identical, they resembled each other enough people knew they were brothers. Same with their younger brother, Mac. With only a year between them, they pretty much grew up triplets.

  Logan frowned. “I’m a pussy because I want to go home and not stop for a beer?”

  After nearly a year away, plus the week they’d just spent in Austin straight off deployment at their parents’ ranch to appease their mother—hell yeah, he wanted to get his ass home.

  “Too bad.” Lincoln held up his phone and grinned.

  Older by four and a half minutes, his brother was a take charge, pave the way, more serious kind of guy, while Logan was the risk taker, extreme sports enthusiast, fun master—until their first deployment, several years back. That, coupled with this past one, seemed to have reversed their personalities.

  It was weird.

  “Joseph just texted,” Lincoln continued. “He and Cady are already at Hardbodies waiting to have a welcome home drink with us.”

  Well, hell.

  Now he had to stop. Joseph McCoy was an old friend. Logan had a history with the guy that went back almost a decade—to right after a freak injury blew Logan’s shot at the big leagues. It wouldn’t be right to blow his buddy off.

  “Fine.” He turned at the next light and headed to Hardbodies.

  The two of them had been extreme sports junkies together. Became legends together. Tempted fate together. Damn…that seemed like a lifetime ago.

  A small smile tugged his lips.

  Good times. Dumbass, crazy times. It was a wonder one of them wasn’t dead. Or both. Of the two, Joseph had come the closest when he’d ended up paralyzed from a dirt bike accident, during Logan’s previous deployment. According to his buddy, it had been the best thing to ever happen to him because he fell in love with the physical therapist whose magical hands had healed him.

  Neither of them had done any extreme sports since. Joseph and his PT were now married with a beautiful little girl, and Logan was head of acquisitions for the national chain of sporting goods stores owned by his family.

  It was ironic, really. He basically bought and sold the equipment the two of them used to worship.

  Lincoln let out a low whistle and straightened in his seat. “Joseph wasn’t kidding about the place getting rebuilt.”

  Logan pulled into the parking lot and nodded. Apparently, someone had set fire to Hardbodies. Thankfully, there were no serious injuries, and the arsonist had been caught.

  He parked in front of the new construction and got out and stretched. “Looks good. I like how they kept it similar to the old style.”

  “Yeah. Wonder what they did inside,” Linc said, as they headed toward the entrance. “I hope the pole’s still there.”

  He was more concerned with Joseph and Cady’s plans to welcome them than a stripper apparatus.

  Ever si
nce he and his brother had moved into the ranch his mother had inherited from her godfather, south of Kerrville, a few miles past Comfort, Texas, they became good friends with the whole McCoy clan. More than one had tried to talk him and his brother into letting them throw a big welcome home party at Tebow, the McCoy’s ranch, but Logan had managed to get out of it. Neither he nor his brother wanted any pomp and circumstance. It wasn’t their thing. They just wanted to assimilate back into society without a word.

  But, the McCoys usually got their way, so their capitulation worried Logan. Bracing himself, he inhaled the clean, fresh Hill Country air, wrapped his fingers around the handle and yanked open the door.

  A second later, he let out a breath, and his shoulders relaxed. Not counting him and his brother, the place only had four patrons and a bartender he didn’t recognize. The guy nodded to them as he tugged on the tap to fill a glass, then slid the brew to one of two cowboys sitting a stool apart at the bar.

  Joseph and Cady rose to their feet, and he watched his buddy slip an arm around his wife and wave them over to their table to the right of the bar where they already had a pitcher waiting.

  He could always count on a McCoy to be prepared.

  With a nod, he headed in their direction, noting the new Hardbodies was an updated version with the long bar, dance floor, mechanical bull, and stage with pole all in the same place.

  “Great to see that ugly mug.” Joseph shook his hand and pulled him in for a back-slapping hug.

  “You, too,” he replied, damn happy to be home.

  Well, almost home.

  He stepped back in time to see Cady stiffen in Linc’s embrace, then tip her head to stare into his brother’s eyes.

  Not only did the woman have some kind of strange, magical healing hands, she was gifted with the ability to read people from just a touch. Logan knew exactly what Cady had seen from touching his brother.

  The memory of that incident haunted him daily.

  But, instead of confronting Lincoln, his friend’s wife turned her attention to him. “Logan, it’s good to have you home again.”

  He changed places with his brother, and while Linc shook hands with Joseph, Logan bent to kiss Cady’s cheek. “Thanks. Any trouble keeping that husband of yours in line?” he asked, pulling her in for a quick hug.

  To his surprise, she stiffened in his arms, too, then drew back, set her hand over his heart and…smiled?

  Why the hell was she smiling?

  Surely the read she’d gotten off him showed how he’d witnessed his brother cheating death. How a bullet had whizzed past Lincoln’s shoulder, missing him completely, only to kill a soldier from another unit, standing on his left. Logan relived this daily. The memory haunted and taunted every damn time he closed his eyes. But judging by the smile that continued to widen on Cady’s face, he had the feeling that wasn’t what she was reading.

  A knowing gaze with a hint of mischief slammed into his. “Well, now. Isn’t that interesting?” She patted his chest before stepping back to take the seat Joseph held out for her.

  What was interesting?

  Part of him wanted to know, and part of him didn’t—the smart part. The part that caught the matchmaking twinkle in the eyes of his buddy’s happy, content wife. The kind of twinkle women got when they wanted everyone to be happy and tried to fix up their husband’s friends. Cady wasn’t normally like that, but she sure as hell just twinkled at him.

  He sat down next to his brother, and reached for the beer Joseph pushed his way. “How’s that cute little girl of yours?”

  “Perfect.” His buddy grinned, pride and adoration puffing out his chest. “Getting big, too. Angel just loves to chase Aron’s boys around.”

  Logan laughed. “Well, she’s your kid. I doubt many will keep up.”

  “She sure is.” Cady smiled, the same adoration lighting her face.

  “So, how was the ride in?” Joseph asked, pouring Linc, then himself a beer, while Cady sipped an iced tea.

  “Long.”

  “Uneventful.”

  He and his brother answered at the same time.

  Joseph chuckled. “Judging by the look my wife keeps giving you, Logan, that’s about to change.”

  “Yeah.” Linc divided his gaze between them. “I’d like to know what kind of read you were getting from my brother that was so interesting, Cady.”

  Ah, hell.

  Logan swallowed his drink along with a few curses. He’d rather not know.

  Her calm, steady, perceptive gaze settled over him again. “Today’s the day.”

  Super. Whatever. He wasn’t biting. Just raised his glass and enjoyed another mouthful of beer. The ale was ice cold with just the right amount of malted barley and hint of bitter. Damn, it was good to be back in the states.

  “The day for what?” Lincoln frowned. “What’s going to happen to Logan today?”

  “With any luck, I’ll finally make it to my ranch. That’s what.” It was all he wanted. All he’d wanted for fucking months now.

  “He’s going to meet up with his soulmate again,” she replied as if he hadn’t spoken.

  It took a full twenty seconds before any of that sunk into Logan’s head. The word soulmate bounced around a few times, barely leaving room for the again part. He had a soulmate? Well, shit. That wasn’t good. Not the reading he expected. Or wanted to hear.

  Besides, if he had a soulmate, and they’d supposedly already met, wouldn’t he have remembered her?

  It didn’t matter.

  No way was he going to touch that topic, especially since his family had a history with soulmates. His cousin Cole McCall reunited with his soulmate Jordan after over a decade apart. The two had been through hell but were now married and living a happily-ever-after they deserved down by the gulf. The couple had this crazy connection you didn’t need your eyes to see.

  Weird shit.

  Not something Logan wanted or ever pursued for himself since his failed engagement back when he gave a damn about relationships. Now he stuck with casual hookups. Nothing serious. It was cleaner. Easier. Safer. Believing in someone, trusting someone, only to have them crush you wasn’t worth the risk. He’d learned the hard way. Didn’t need to be beat over the head with it. Casual or not at all was his motto. The last thing he wanted was a soulmate.

  The thing was, he believed in Cady and her abilities. So he did what any man in his position would do. He topped off his beer and enjoyed another healthy pull.

  “Did you say soulmate?” Lincoln blinked at Cady, and when she nodded, his brother turned a shit-eating grin his way. “This I’ve got to see.”

  Joseph smiled. “Me, too.”

  Logan laughed. “Hate to disappoint you all, but look around.” He made a sweeping motion with his hand. “The place is practically empty, and the only woman here is Cady. Not a soulmate in sight.”

  “She has big brown eyes that are going to melt that guarded heart of yours, Logan McCall,” Cady remarked leaning closer. “She’s near. Can’t you feel it?”

  Feel it? What he was feeling was agitated. On edge. Restless. He had for some time now. But today he could add aggravated to that list. Cady’s dark, direct, Creole gaze, and the guys’ amused ones weren’t helping. Logan set his glass down and rose to his feet. “What I feel is the need to use the bathroom. Excuse me.”

  The more distance he put between himself and the two chuckleheads at the table, the better he felt. And Logan was sure, once he was home, the weird restlessness—like he had unfinished business—would disappear. Hell, he just got off deployment. It was common to come back with baggage. This shit was normal. He’d deal with it.

  What wasn’t normal was for him to run away. He didn’t really need to use the bathroom, but the urge to leave the table had been too strong to ignore. Cady knew. He could see it in her eyes and slight tug to her lips, but bless her, she didn’t call him out on it, just let him go without a word. Not only had his buddy married a smart, beautiful woman, she was sweet, too.

/>   Going on the assumption the John was in the same place as before, Logan rounded the bar and—smacked into someone rushing down the corridor, all soft and curvy.

  And hot?

  He felt the heat right through his T-shirt. It scorched.

  Inhaling on impact, he reached out to steady the distinctly feminine form, his mind registering a light, flowery scent, mixed with the mouthwatering aroma of…chicken wings?

  “I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Did I burn you?” Her breathless voice had a sweet huskiness that spread awareness all the way down his spine.

  What the hell?

  He shook his head to clear it. “I’m fine,” he replied, staring at the mass of wavy brown hair obscuring the woman’s face as she tried to brush off the sauce that leaked onto him from the Styrofoam container she cradled in one hand.

  “I’ve ruined your shirt.” Her efforts to try to clean him up only made it worse. A second later, her palm stilled on his chest, and she drew her lower lip between her teeth.

  “I’m fine,” he repeated, silently willing her to look at him.

  With the initial shock of the collision wearing off, he realized the merit of the situation. Pressed against him was a soft, warm woman with an abundance of curves his body immediately wanted to get to know better. A little taller than average, she brushed his bottom lip with the top of her head, her riot of hair sticking to the chin he hadn’t shaved in two days. Logan wondered how their other body parts lined up, but most important, he wondered…what color eyes she had.

  After what felt like a year, she slowly tipped her head back and met his gaze. Her indrawn breath mixed with his and the heated air cooled between them. Son-of-a-bitch. She had the most amazing big, brown eyes that drew him in, warmed him up from the inside out, and literally stopped his heart. A second later, a strange current passed between them, and his heart started again with a hard knock to his ribs.