I am Not Your Melody: (steamy cowboy romance) Read Online Free Page A

the uncomfortable discussion of money. “Seriously though.”
    “You just got here,” Bill said, “and you already want access to my checking account?” He glared at the keys as if he might rip them away from her, right out of her hand.
    She gripped the keys in her sweaty palm, silencing them. The man crossed his arms in front of his muscular chest and raised an eyebrow.
    “As per our arrangement,” she reminded him through gritted teeth. “I need a checkbook or a debit card to an account that exists solely for business expenses, or whatever you think is best so I can get out of your hair. Either way, the sooner this bar opens, the sooner we can start sharing the profits, right?”
    Fifty percent profits on his family bar was a lot more than zero, which he was currently earning from the property.
    Bill grunted. “Fine.” He paused, staring out the big window to the hay field. “Suppose it’s ‘bout time my uncle’s bar was opened back up,” he said. “Been meanin’ to do it for a while now, but…” His voice dropped off.
    “I understand,” Allie said. “It must’ve been hard to think about taking on such a huge project while you were still mourning your uncle… and… your wife.”
    Bill’s eyes flashed as he swiveled his head to face her, his jaw hardening. “Whatever you think you know about Melody,” he said. “You don’t know. Don’t talk about her.”
    Allie’s cheeks burned. She’d screwed up royally for the second time in…oh, twenty minutes? They’d just met — had she thought they were going to become best friends in only a few moments, especially after he’d thrown her over his horse with every intention of kicking her off his ranch?
    Yeah, she’d thought exactly that.
    “I didn’t mean to offend you,” she whispered. “Sometimes I talk too much and say the wrong thing. I apologize.”
    Bill didn’t respond.
    She pulled her shoulders back and shook her head to clear the tension inside her. If only she could clear the tension in the room.
    “Do you have time now to take me to see the bar?” she asked. It would probably be best to get back to talking business before she stuck her foot in her mouth again. “I’d love to see it in real life. The photographs were wonderful, by the way,” she added.
    Bill nodded mutely, his jaw clenching. He grabbed his black cowboy hat off the hook by the door, and set it on his head. He grabbed the keys to his truck.
    “Let’s go,” he said. “I don’t have all day.”
    Allie groaned inwardly and followed him.
    “I have to grab my phone,” she said.
    He glared at her and she just shook her head. What else could she do?
    This was not how she’d imagined her first meeting with Bill Edwards. She’d wanted to impress him, to show him that she was worthy of his investment in her, and worth his faith in her.
    He had to have faith in her if he intended to pay for her to renovate and open the bar, right? After all, if he felt it needed to stay in the family, that had to mean that he considered her worthy of helping him do that. Right?
    Meeting Allie today must have been a big disappointment for him.
    Well, screw him — she’d prove him wrong, too. Bill Edwards may be an ornery asshole, but she was going to run the most kick-ass, profitable bar in the whole county, whether he thought she could do it or not.
    He’d signed a contract with her. So it didn’t matter how much she pissed him off, he’d better stand up to his end of the bargain.
    She wanted him to hand her a frickin’ checkbook, and stay the hell out of her way. It would be easy enough to forget she’d ever thought she knew him. That she ever liked him, when he was still only a ping in her inbox. Allie had a bar to open and a new life to begin — and no tall, handsome cowboy with too much money and a bad attitude was going to stop her.
     
     

Chapter Three
     
    Allie followed behind Bill as he led the way to the gravel parking area outside the farmhouse office. His long