CAN’T BUCKING WAIT

BUCK COWBOYS #3

ELLE THORPE

WWW.ELLETHORPE.COM

Copyright © 2022 by Elle Thorpe

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Editing by Emmy and Studio ENP

Proofreading by Karen Hrdlicka.

Photography by RplusMPhoto

Model: Aidan Stewart

For my dad, who taught me what a good man is. Forever loved and missed.

PROLOGUE

Two years earlier…

Our yard was full of people, but I stood alone at the edge of it all, watching on.

At the center, Callie hollered the lyrics to a country song, waving her arms in the air, surrounded by friends. She moved her hips, swaying them to the beat, effortlessly seductive.

If I’d tried that, I would have looked as attractive as a drunk squirrel. Apart from my lab partner and a girl I tutored who I’d invited personally, Callie was the only reason anyone from school was even here at all. She was the outgoing twin, while I didn’t really have friends at all. My sole focus had been my grades and getting into Harvard on a full academic scholarship. It had meant years of sacrificing parties and football games in favor of studying.

But I didn’t regret my lack of friendships or social life. Because it had all paid off.

I smiled, thinking about the thick white paper and embossed Harvard logo on my acceptance letter. It was tucked away in my drawer right now, but I’d read it over and over again for the past few months. So many times I’d learned it by heart.

I’d be on my way in a matter of hours. I’d already said goodbye to everyone I needed to, except for one person.

Butterflies lit up inside me as I chanced a glance over at him, standing with some of my father’s other trainees. He laughed at something one of them said, his wide, white-toothed smile melting my insides even from a distance.

His eye caught mine, and he tipped his head in my direction. “Having fun?” he mouthed.

I’d watched his mouth so intently for years that I knew exactly what he was saying, despite the music being too loud for me to hear.

I nodded happily.

He went back to his conversation, while I replayed the whole thing over in my head, examining it from every angle.

It gave me too much time to notice I wasn’t the only one paying attention to him. While I tried to keep my crush quiet, Callie’s was widely known.

I hated it with every bone in my body.

“Lennon!” Georgia, my lab partner, gripped my arm while she squealed. “Who is that, and why is he smiling at you?”

I glanced over at her. “Preston. He works and trains here. I’ve known him since I was a kid.”

I was eighteen now. Technically an adult. But I didn’t exactly feel like one.

“Why have you never said anything about him? Is he a good kisser?”

I blinked. “What? How would I know that?”

She frowned. “Aren’t you two…together?”

“No!”

“Oh. It’s just the way he looked at you…”

I glanced over at him again. He’d moved to the center of the dance floor and was surrounded by Callie’s friends. “No, he’s just friendly.”

Georgia shook her head. “If I were you, I’d be jumping on him and riding him like he was a stallion.”

“Oh my God. You did not just say that.”

She raised one eyebrow. “I just know I wouldn’t want to be going off to college still a virgin.”

Embarrassment prickled at the back of my neck. “What does that matter?”

Georgia shrugged. “Everyone at college is older. And probably not from dinky little towns like this. I didn’t want to be the only one still holding on to her V-card.”

I groaned. I was so sick of this sort of talk. It was all I heard in the corridors at school, and from Callie. Who was dating who. Who was sleeping together. And now Georgia, too? I hadn’t seen that one coming. She was as dedicated to her studies as I was, or so I’d thought.

I’d had my head down studying for so many years that I’d barely been kissed, let alone dated anyone. Preston was the only person I was interested in. “He doesn’t know I’m alive.”

“That look he gave you…I beg to differ. Shoot your shot, Lennon. What have you got to lose? If he says no, you’re on a plane tomorrow anyway.”

Warmth spread through me, and when Georgia wandered off, I stayed where I was, watching Preston from afar like I always did, and feeling completely inexperienced and lame.

And turned on.

God, he was gorgeous. He was always smiling, always had a kind word for anyone he met. Including me. I’d stashed away all those little innocent comments in my memory and replayed them in my head on a regular basis. His wide-brimmed hat hid mid-length hair I’d dreamed about running my fingers through. And beneath his shirt, his chest and arms and abs were all tight and perfect, deeply tanned from hours of working in the sun.

I wasn’t completely naïve. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with him.

I’d just never had the courage to put it out there on display.

The party dragged on, and eventually people hugged my sister and waved goodbye. The trainees all went back to their cabins, and I watched Preston until he disappeared into the darkness, his smile for me fading into black.

I didn’t want to be the timid little thing I’d been all my life. I was eighteen. A woman. About to leave home, move my life a thousand miles away, and leave everything I knew behind.

I could tell a man I liked him.

I could even ask him for sex.

I didn’t have to wait for him to come to me.

But I also couldn’t leave my parents with all the mess. This was a joint party for me and my twin, but of course, she’d scampered off somewhere as soon as the trash bags were brought out, ready for cleanup.

I grabbed one from my mother and got to work, ignoring her chitchat, because my brain was too focused on the idea of going to Preston’s cabin.

My heart thumped, and even once the mess was tidied, I still stalled. I decided I needed a shower. I needed to smell amazing, put on fresh makeup, shave my legs…shave everything actually.

By the time I was done, my parents had gone to bed, and the house was quiet. Callie’s bedroom door was closed, as was my older sister, Summer’s, though she might have been at her boyfriend’s cabin. Even still, I tiptoed past their bedrooms, slightly panicked because I’d never snuck out of the house before.

But nothing happened. Nobody came out to tell me off. I made it outside, running across the field toward the trainees’ cabins because if I didn’t run, I would likely crawl back to my bed, the idea abandoned.

I didn’t stop until I got to Preston’s cabin. But then, I stared up at it, my breath coming too fast. I was both terrified and excited. I wanted to rush the stairs and turn around and run home. A soft light glowed in the window, so he was probably still awake.

I forced my feet up the stairs, one at a time. Just keep moving…

His door was slightly ajar. I sucked in a deep breath, remembering Georgia’s reassurances. I practiced my speech in my head. “Hi, Preston. I know this is going to be a little out of the blue, but can I come in?”

Once I was in, I was going to have to wing it because my brain had become paralyzed by trying to think up a way to actually say the words, “I don’t want to go to college a virgin, and I want to have sex with you.”

I made myself knock before I chickened out.

In my adrenaline-filled state, I knocked a little too hard.

The door swung open.

A feminine yelp from the bed, visible through his open bedroom door, was my first indication that this had been a very bad idea. Steam billowed through a slightly ajar bathroom door, and the woman scrambled to cover her naked body with a sheet.

My heart wrenched with the knowledge I’d been too late.

He’d found someone else.

“Lennon? What are you doing here?” Callie pulled the sheet tight around her breasts, her cheeks pink.

I stared dumbly at my sister, horrified and motionless all at the same time.

Her hair was tousled. Messed up from having his fingers running through it.

My gaze fell to an open condom packet on the floor. She followed my line of sight and bent to snatch it up.

Not that there’d been any question of what they’d been doing.

The exact same thing I’d come here for.

I turned and fled into the darkness, locking myself in my bedroom, drowning in shame and embarrassment.

The next day, I got on a plane, leaving both Callie and Preston behind without saying a word.

1

Present day…

It was kind of ironic that becoming a doctor would be the thing that killed me.

Pain radiated down the back of my neck, a byproduct of hunching over my laptop and the half a dozen phonebook-thick textbooks spread out on the desk around me. I’d lost track of how many hours I’d been here for. Four? Five? And that was on top of a full morning of classes and an afternoon of shadowing a doctor at the hospital.

Amongst the study materials was the evidence of the poor diet I’d been living on. A half-empty Chinese takeout, chopsticks discarded for a fork because I had to get it down quickly in between papers on pathology and microbiology. Candy bar wrappers that had become the main way I stayed awake because there were only so many coffees and energy drinks one could consume before your racing pulse and fluttering heart became a cause for concern.

The words swam across the screen, blurring into one big mess, and not for the first time—that day or that year— I wondered what the hell I was even doing here. My session at the hospital this afternoon hadn’t helped that feeling. I couldn’t remove the image of a mother crying over her sick child, while explaining to us that she hadn’t sought help because they had no insurance and couldn’t afford the bill that would likely bankrupt them.

My roommate, Zach, stretched out on the couch behind me, his long legs propped up on the armrest while he watched a zombie apocalypse movie with a huge bowl of popcorn resting on his flat stomach.

His head swiveled in my direction when he noticed me looking his way, his lips moving.

I pulled an AirPod from my ear. “What was that?”

“I said, you could join me, you know? All that moaning and groaning coming from your direction is making me think it’s you who needs a doctor. I’m not trained for anything other than making cocktails.”

“Sorry,” I muttered. I hadn’t realized I’d been making any sorts of noises. The fact Zach had picked up on my frustration levels meant I was in a pretty bad state. He wasn’t exactly the most observant of roommates, and we didn’t really do feelings. “I probably just need a break.”

“This chick is about to get eaten, and not in the fun, sexy way. If you know what I mean.”

Heat flushed my cheeks at the implication of oral sex, and I busied myself by picking up my phone so I didn’t have to answer him. I let my long dark hair fall around my face so Zach wouldn’t see the pink in my cheeks.

I scrolled through my phone messages, though there wasn’t much to see. My mom and my older sister, Summer, were the top two entries. Zach the third, his message chat filled with one-sentence replies to my questions on whether we had any milk or reminders that his half of the rent was due. A girl from one of my classes who I studied with once a month rounded out the top four.

Somewhere below that was my other sister, my twin, Callie. But there may as well have been tumbleweed emojis surrounding her name. That’s how long it had been since she’d messaged me.

Or vice versa. I hadn’t messaged her either.

I tapped the top entry, my mother’s, and smiled at the love that poured through her past texts. She messaged me most days, but only ever once, just to check in and make sure I was still alive. She’d told me many a time that she didn’t want to cramp my style now that I was living in another state, even though I’d reassured her that I wanted to hear what was going on at home. Unlike most twentysomethings, who actively avoided their parents’ calls in favor of parties and friends, I wished mine called more.

Despite already checking in with her this morning, I tapped out a question.

How’s the bridesmaids’ fittings going? Is there anything I can do to help?

The little dots that indicated she was replying popped up immediately, and I opened another candy bar while I waited. The sugary goodness hit my tongue, delivering instant satisfaction, and probably adding an extra curve to my hips, but I munched on anyway. I still had hours of study left before I could collapse into bed. I needed something to get me through. I didn’t smoke or drink or do drugs. I needed at least one vice.

Everything is going great. Wait until you see your dress. You’re going to love it.

Both my mother and Summer had refused to send me a photo of the bridesmaids’ dresses, Summer insistent that I needed to see it in person to appreciate its beauty.

I wasn’t concerned about not liking it. Neither me nor my older sister were much into clothes, especially not dresses, but Callie was. She wouldn’t have been shy about voicing her distaste for a dress if she hadn’t liked it.

I would happily wear a brown paper sack to Summer and Dominic’s wedding. I just wanted to be there, standing next to her when she married the love of her life.

A spear of jealousy shot through me, disintegrating quickly in my happiness for her. But a familiar throb of homesickness replaced it.

What if mine doesn’t fit? I could come home this weekend. Try it on…

The idea took hold so swiftly it knocked the tension right out of my shoulders. A quick trip home wouldn’t really hurt…I had finals coming up, and a lot of studying to do, but I could do that on the plane. Zach would definitely appreciate having the apartment to himself for a while. I’d walked out of my room at two this morning for a glass of water and had found him dry humping one of the waitresses from his work against a wall. I’d just been grateful he hadn’t been naked.

No need. We have Callie’s measurements.

I bit my lip. I hadn’t been home in over six months. I hadn’t seen Callie in longer, because she’d gone skiing with a friend at Christmas instead of coming home. I’d been back at school by the time she’d returned. I was pretty sure that had been a deliberate move on her part, but it meant I had no idea if we were even still the same size. The candy bar wrapper crinkled in my fingers.

I can’t wait to see you at the wedding, baby, but I know you have a lot of studying to do so I won’t keep you. Talk in the morning. Three weeks to go!

I sighed and looked over at said study. Three weeks felt like a lifetime when you wanted to be anywhere else.

Not ready to drop that link to my home and family, I dialed Summer’s number, grinning when she answered with a squeal that was most unlike her.

“What are you doing calling me? Aren’t you in the middle of studying for finals?”

A trickle of guilt rolled down my spine at the reminder. “I am. I’m just…taking a break. I wanted to see how the wedding prep is going? It’s only a few weeks away.”

She groaned. “Don’t remind me. Dom is being the biggest bridezilla. He and Callie have organized some sort of flower arch that I really don’t know about…”

I laughed. “What’s wrong with a flower arch? That sounds beautiful.”

I could practically hear the scrunch of Summer’s nose. “Bit over the top, don’t you think?”

“I think you’d get married in boots and cow shit if Dom let you.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

The funny thing was, she wasn’t even joking. My older sister lived for her cowboy lifestyle. She rode bulls on the pro circuit, Dominic traveling with her as a handler for the bulls we had on tour. In the middle of our family ranch, surrounded by animals and dirt and sweat was where she was happiest.

It was no surprise they’d chosen to get married on the ranch. Summer wouldn’t have had it any other way.

But a pretty flower arch never hurt anyone.

I tried again to offer my services. “I could come home and help with the decorations? Sounds like someone needs to keep Dom under control.”

Summer’s cute laugh tinkled in my ear and set off another pang of longing. I missed her.

“Don’t be silly. Mom said you have finals two days before the wedding. It’s such bad timing for you, I know. I’m sorry. You know I would have made it later if I could.”

I shook my head, even though she couldn’t see it. “You guys don’t get long off from the tour. I understand. It’s no problem at all.”

“Even less than we thought, actually. Brad Pruitt called yesterday. We’re back on the road two days after the wedding.” She chuckled. “Our honeymoon is going to be spent with an eight-hundred-pound bull and a bus filled with cowboys who don’t shower as often as they should. How romantic.”

My heart squeezed. “You’re gone that quickly?”

“Mom didn’t tell you? I thought she would have said something in her daily ‘is my baby still alive’ texts to you. We all had dinner last night, and I told them then.”

She hadn’t. I couldn’t help the disappointment that coursed through me. And the irrational hurt that they’d all been together without me. I’d thought I’d have at least a couple of weeks of the summer to hang out with my family after the wedding. Now it seemed all the quality time was happening before it.

I was missing it all.

“Summer, get off the phone. I need your opinion on the bouquets. You still haven’t told me whether you want all neutrals or a splash of color…”

The voice somewhere in Summer’s background was as familiar to me as my own. “Is that Callie?”

I already knew it was.

“Yeah, she’s here to torture me with more flower decisions. Do you want to talk to her?”

I opened my mouth to say I did but then closed it when Summer said, “Oh, wait a minute…”

Callie’s voice was a low hiss. “Is that Lennon?”

Summer must have nodded in the affirmative.

There was a noise, and I suspected Summer had pressed the phone to her body while she argued with Callie. Their muffled voices carried through to me, but I couldn’t make out the individual words.

By the time Summer spoke to me again, I already knew what she was going to say. “Callie didn’t want to talk to me, did she?”

“She had to run back to the main house for something…”

I wondered if the excuse felt as weak on Summer’s tongue as it did to my ears.

That same old familiar hurt sprang up. It was easy to ignore it here, surrounded by classmates, and teachers, and practical rotations at the hospital. But all of this only widened the gap between me and my twin.

We’d always been our own people, so different it was hard to believe we’d actually shared a womb at one time. But this rift that existed between us now…this was deeper and wider than any differences we’d had in the past. A crack had marred the foundation of our relationship when we’d both fallen for the same guy and had erupted the night I’d found her in his bed.

It was easy to say never let a man come between friends.

It was a lot harder when the woman was the sister you’d long felt inferior to.

And when you were truly, stupidly in love with the man.

Even if he hadn’t known it.

There had been no argument. No drawn-out yelling match where we spewed hurt and jealous feelings at each other. I’d just quietly left for college.

But the damage had been done anyway. It bled in the silence of my phone and the calls that neither of us made. It was there in the way she avoided coming home when she knew I’d be there.

Something had broken between me and Callie that night. Something we hadn’t been able to fix in the two years since.

I said goodbye to Summer and dropped my head down onto my hands.

“You good, Len?”

I jumped at Zach’s voice. I’d almost forgotten he was there. I plastered on a fake smile before I glanced over my shoulder at him. “Sure. Fine. Just a bit stressed.”

“Family will do that to you. That’s why I don’t talk to mine.” He stood and crossed the space between us, putting his hand to the back of my neck and digging his fingers into the tight muscles there. “Jesus Christ, woman. Your neck is like a rock. You need to chill out.”

I laughed, letting him knead out the tension in my muscles. We didn’t do physical touch. We were friends, but that was it. He wasn’t a hugger. Well, not unless he was dick deep in someone, and he’d certainly never been there with me. But I craved affection. I hadn’t had so much as a hug since the last time I’d seen my mother, and that felt like a very long time ago. So Zach’s warm palm on my neck was welcome.

All too quickly, though, he stopped, patting me on the neck like I was a good dog.

He pulled a joint from his pocket. “You want to smoke some weed? It’s better than any massage.”

I shook my head. “No thanks.” I’d never tried pot and had no desire to start. I doubted getting baked would help my studying any. “I’ve got my candy. That’ll have to do.” I held it up then took another bite to emphasize my point.

He shrugged. “Sex?”

I choked on the huge chunk of chocolate in my mouth. “Sex?”

He chuckled at me. “Oh, that’s right. I forgot. You don’t do that. Neither for fun nor stress relief.” He lit up the joint around his grin. “You know you’re seriously missing out, right?”

Heat flushed my cheeks again, and not for the first time, embarrassment rose over my complete and utter lack of sexual experience. “Oh, I’ve heard everything I’m missing out on through our bedroom walls. They aren’t that thick, you know.”

He took a drag on his joint, slowly blowing out the smoke in my direction.

I waved it away with the back of my hand.

“Anytime you want to join me in there, you know you’re welcome.”

From anyone else, that might have sounded sleazy. But I was comfortable with him after sharing four walls with the man for all this time. I was well aware that to him, sex was no big deal. He wasn’t pressuring me. He was simply offering a stress-relief service.

One that would probably be quite enjoyable, if the moans and screams of pleasure that filtered through our walls most nights were anything to go by.

“Not gonna happen, but as always, thank you for the offer.”

He kissed the top of my head in a brotherly fashion and went back to his zombie movie.

I tried to refocus my efforts on the paper I was supposed to be writing, but it was a losing battle. The talk of sex and thoughts of home swirled miserably in my brain until I gave up for the night and shut down my computer. I didn’t bother turning on the light in my bedroom. I stripped to my underwear and crawled beneath the sheets.

There was only one person I’d ever thought about having sex with. And he was a thousand miles away, on a ranch in Georgia.

Homesick to my core, I fell asleep missing the open fields, the clean fresh air, and the man who had never wanted to be mine.

2

The scuffed wooden floorboards of my spare bedroom squeaked out a protest every time I landed on them. Jump. Drop to the floor. Push up. Repeat.

If anyone else had been around I would have pretended I loved burpees. Truth was, I hated them, but there was little room for complaining when staying fit was the only way to keep yourself on the back of a bull.

I was willing to do pretty much anything if it meant I had could hang on for those eight seconds.

Including motherfucking burpees.

Five reps of ten later, I was sweating hard in the Georgia heat and sucking in breaths like I had a hole in my lungs. I picked up a bottle of water from the single bed that was the only piece of furniture in the room. The bed had been here when I moved in years ago as a dumb city kid with big dreams. I’d had roommates back then. There’d been a couple of different ones over the years, young guys like me who came here to ride under the sharp eye of Kai ‘Frost’ Hunt, three-time WBRA champion. But not anymore. At twenty-four, I was the oldest of the guys enrolled in Kai’s program, and the only one who lived here year-round.

Awhile back, he’d stopped sticking me with seventeen-year-old kids who made me want to poke myself in the eye with a pitchfork.

I was grateful.

I swallowed a mouthful of water and was readying to get on with my next set of torture when something outside caught my eye. Placing the cap back on the bottle, I squinted through the window.

“Well, that’s something you don’t see every day around here,” I muttered.

More than happy to take an extended break from my workout, I threw the bottle back on the bed and headed for the front door of my cabin. It only took me five steps to get there. One to leave the spare bedroom then four to make it across the open-plan living and kitchen area. That’s how small my cabin was. But it was home, and I liked it.

I thundered down my porch steps and crossed the field, a bead of sweat rolling down my spine. I hadn’t bothered grabbing a shirt. I rarely wore one in the summer if I could get away with it.

Surrounded by wooden fences and calf-length grass, I stopped beside the couple who’d gathered to stare up at the oddly shaped, oversized structure that did not belong in the field. “What the hell is that?”

Dom and Summer turned around in unison.

Summer cringed in my direction. “Is it too much?”

I tilted my head to one side, still trying to work out what I was even staring at. “I could tell you if I had any idea what it was. It appears you’ve erected a bridge that leads to nowhere. In the middle of a field that’s usually full of cows.”

Summer groaned.

Dom shot me a look. “It’s a flower arch. For the wedding. And it’ll be great. It’s just a bit…bigger than we thought it was when we agreed to it.”

I raised one eyebrow. “You’re going to cover it with flowers? Are there even enough flowers in the state to do that?”

Summer let out a sigh, and I nudged her playfully. “Brad Pruitt is going to love this. He’s going to have his camera crew in here, splashing you guys all over the WBRA website. I bet he’ll do a YouTube special. Probably focused on how you turned into a bridezilla who demanded the biggest flower arch I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Summer glared at me in the way only a good friend could. “Don’t even put that out there in the universe as a possibility. It’s bad enough I had to invite him.”

“We didn’t have to…” Dom sounded about as thrilled as Summer did.

She sighed. “He’s our boss. So we kinda did. And it’s done now.”

They were both so bummed out that I immediately wanted to fix it for them. Despite being the same age, Summer had been my coach here for years before she’d gone on tour. She was a better rider than I would ever be, and I’d learned a lot from both her and her father. I hadn’t grown up in the dirt like Summer had, so I’d had a lot of catching up to do. “Don’t worry about Brad. We’ll have him drunk and doing the hula before you cut the cake. You won’t even know he’s here. And as for the flower arch, all Dom’s dumb ideas can be fixed.”

A huff of annoyance came from behind me. “Actually, the flower arch was my, apparently dumb, idea. But thanks, Preston. I’m so glad I moved back home so you can make me feel like shit.”

Ah, fuck.

I turned around, my skin probably smoking from the laser-beam glare shooting from Callie’s eyes. I had no idea what to say. I could try to backtrack, but there was no unsaying what I’d said. But because I was an idiot, I gave it a shot anyway. “Callie. Hey. I didn’t mean it like—”

“You did. Anything else you’d like to criticize? My wardrobe, perhaps? My hair? My lack of understanding on how the world works?”

I pressed my lips together, fighting back the retort I really wanted to say, and pretended like she hadn’t just given me a serve. “I haven’t seen you for ages. How’s the hairdressing going?” I’d heard she’d moved back into her parents’ place, the main house on the ranch, but I’d managed to avoid her until now.

“Why ask when you clearly don’t care? You know, about anything.” She had her arms crossed over her chest, as defensive as a Doberman with an intruder backed into a corner.

I rubbed a hand through my hair, hating that she was still so mad at me after all this time. “Jesus, Callie. I do frigging care. Of course, I do. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”

Callie opened her mouth to retort, but Summer stepped between us and held up her hands in mine and Callie’s faces. “Stop. You two aren’t doing this.” She whirled on Callie. “The flower arch is not a dumb idea. It’s a lot bigger than we thought, but I know you and your florist friend will do a great job with it.”

Callie still looked like she wanted to say more, but Summer’s compliments had taken a little fire from my unintended insults.

Summer turned in my direction. “And you.” She glanced at Callie again, and then grabbed me by the arm, dragging me out of earshot of the others. “What are you doing?” she hissed. “You’re antagonizing her!”

Confusion muddled my brain. “I just asked her how her job was going. That’s antagonizing someone now?”

“It is when it comes from you. You made your bed, Preston. Maybe you should have thought about it before you slept with her.”

“It was two years ago!”

“Does it matter? She was eighteen.”

“We were consenting adults.”

She frowned at me. “You know that’s not what it’s about. She had a huge crush on you. She’d probably planned how you were going to sweep her off her feet and run off into the sunset together. And then you didn’t do any of that. You broke her heart.”

“It was one night, Summer! We weren’t in a relationship!” But guilt crushed in anyway, because I knew it wasn’t an excuse. The guilt had been there when all of this had gone down, too, and in the years since. It was why I normally stayed clear of the main house whenever I knew Callie was there. She didn’t seek me out either, so in two years, we’d mostly managed to avoid coming face to face since the night I’d realized she hadn’t seen our one-night stand in the same way I had. I’d apologized and tried to explain, but she hadn’t wanted to hear it.

When she’d stalked away, angry and upset, I’d let her go, knowing I would only make it worse.

Summer sighed, taking pity on me. “Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think this is entirely your fault. She wasn’t honest with you about her crush and being a virgin. Part of being an adult is learning that not everyone will want you the way you want them. I think, deep down, she knows that, and her reactions are mostly embarrassment. But you two are both in the wedding party, so there’s no avoiding being around each other for the next few weeks. I’ll talk to her.”

But I grabbed her arm as she went to walk away. “No, don’t. It is my fault. I’m older. I should have known better. I’ll talk to her and clear the air. You don’t need to worry about anything other than getting married.”

I couldn’t help the tiny grin that plucked at the corner of my mouth. Too much seriousness always had me searching for a joke. “And that arch, because it really looks like you borrowed it from Kanye and Kim.”

Summer smacked my chest with the back of her hand, and we both glanced over at Callie who was angrily jerking the flower arch across the field in sharp tugs.

“I’ll deal with the arch. You deal with fixing the mistakes that thinking with your dick caused.”

3

“I’m here because Summer is my sister, and she’s only going to get married once.”

The cab driver glanced across the passenger seat. “What else you got?”

I screwed up my face. “You don’t think that’s any good?”

He turned back to the long stretch of road that led into my parents’ ranch. “You’re the first person in your family to go to college, and not just any college, Harvard. And you’re skipping class to help plan your sister’s wedding, even though they told you they had it handled. Yeah, sweetheart. I think you’re going to need something more than that.”

I slumped in my seat. “Well, that’s not good.”

“I can always turn around and take you back to the airport. They’ll never even know you were here.”

I probably should have taken him up on that offer. Because there was a very good chance my parents were going to be incredibly upset.

But I couldn’t. I gazed out the window at the open fields of farmland and trees. The ranches out here were huge, and far between, but these were the roads I’d traveled for years. I knew them like the back of my hand and the closer I got to my childhood home, the more I knew I couldn’t turn back.

I tried to come up with a rational argument for why I’d woken up this morning and gotten on a plane. It was a week of missed classes. Not the end of the world when your attendance record was as spotless as mine. Sure, it wasn’t the greatest of times to start taking time off, this close to finals, but I’d organized Louise, my once-a-month study buddy to email me notes, and when I got home, I’d find a doctor willing to give me a certificate. It wouldn’t be too hard to fake a migraine or a stomach bug.

I couldn’t deny the relief I felt at not being in class right now.

That was a problem I didn’t quite know what to do with. It fed into an idea that had been plaguing me all year.

That I wasn’t where I was supposed to be.

That this degree and school wasn’t what I’d expected or wanted.

That the whole thing was making me miserable.

I couldn’t afford to think like that, two years into a degree, though. Two years ago, I’d picked this path. I’d chosen what my life was going to be and now I had to see it out.

“Keep going. It’ll be fine,” I assured the driver.

He didn’t say a word, but I could feel his doubt.

Or maybe that was my own.

The mild nerves I’d experienced all day erupted into a swarm of butterflies as the driver stopped the taxi at the front of my parents’ home. I nearly choked on the amount of money it cost me, but he pulled my luggage from the rear of the car and drove off, probably happy that he’d just earned practically enough to send his own child to college.

My father would have picked me up from the airport, but I hadn’t wanted to call and let them know I was there. A tiny part of me was worried they might have actually tried putting me back on the plane.

I paused at the doorway, suitcase resting against my leg. I went to open the door but then hesitated. I didn’t live here anymore. Could I still just walk in like I always had? Every other time I’d come home it had been on the back seat of my parents’ truck so this hadn’t ever been a consideration.

Something deep inside me forced my fingers into a fist, and then I rapped across the wooden door.

Nobody answered.

“That’s because nobody out here ever knocks, you idiot.” Feeling foolish, I pushed the door open, unsurprised when the handle was unlocked. It let out a loud squeak of protest, which I ignored. “Hello? Mom? Dad?”

There was no answer. A frown pulled between my eyebrows. I wasn’t surprised that dad wasn’t here. He’d be out in the barn or in the training ring or doing something. But I’d thought my mother and sisters might have been hanging around.

Nothing inside their house had changed. It never did. It was an older style house, with multiple extensions that had been added for extra room over the years, so the flow of the layout was a little awkward. But I’d always loved it. Our old worn-out couches, scuffed from falling onto them at the end of long days outside. The big wooden dining table that was always full of family and friends and more food than anyone could eat. My father’s WBRA championship buckles were all displayed on the wall, alongside photos of him and Mom in their twenties when they’d first met on tour.

I smiled at a familiar photo of them. They had their arms wrapped around each other, my mother staring at the camera with a wide grin on her face. My father stared at her, as he often did, his adoration and love for her clear even through a photo that was over twenty years old.

I’d looked at that photo every day as a kid and then as a teen. And when boys had kissed me in high school and tried to take things further, I’d always said no. This was why.

I was waiting for someone to look at me the way my father looked at my mother.

Leaving my suitcase in the living room, I wandered out the back door. The afternoon sun was starting to sink, so I shaded my eyes, gazing out across the land.

They were all in the field, backs to me, gathered beneath the hugest arch I’d ever seen. And before I could even think about it, my feet were moving in their direction, pulled by the same force that had me spontaneously getting on a plane a few hours earlier.

At first, their voices were just a mumble of low noise, but as I drew closer, the conversation became clearer. “Does your florist friend have an assistant, Cal? The arch, plus the gate, plus bouquets…it’s a lot for just the two of you.”

My heart lurched at the sight of my twin. Despite the emotional distance between us, I still wanted to run at her and throw my arms around her.

She shoved her hands on her hips. “I told you guys, I have this.”

“If you need an extra set of hands, I could help.”

I didn’t miss the way Callie’s entire body locked up at my voice.

But then my mother spun around, and her eyes went wide. “Lennon?”

I grinned nervously. “The prodigal daughter in the flesh.”

My mother closed the distance between us in a flash. Her arms tightened around me, and I leaned into the embrace, needing the physical contact of someone who loved me. After a moment she went to pull away, but I held her tighter. She let out a small noise of surprise but then hugged me back.

My father appeared, and my mother transferred me to him. I buried my face in the familiar flannel of his shirt as his strong arms held me to him like he had when I was a little girl.

I could practically feel the unspoken questions my parents were firing at each other over my head, their eyes all they needed to communicate an entire conversation after so long together. My dad’s hand stroked affectionately over my hair, so much darker than his. “You okay, baby?”

He’d always called me that as a kid, since I was the youngest. And the familiar reminder of those days tugged at my heart. “I’m okay,” I whispered.

Even though I wasn’t.

I stepped back and forced a smile for them. I could tell from their worried glances that they weren’t buying it, but Summer elbowed Dad out of the way and threw herself at me. “What are you doing here so early!”

She squeezed me too tight, rocking side to side like her enthusiasm couldn’t be contained to a regular hug. I couldn’t help but grin. Some of the worry and tension shook off. I knew she wasn’t the only one waiting for an explanation on my sudden appearance.

“I had some classes get cancelled. My professor is ill. So I thought I might as well make the most of it and come home for a few days.”

My mother was still incredibly beautiful, and she looked younger than her nearly fifty years. But worry lined her forehead as she stared at me. “But what about your other classes? And your study? You have finals soon.”

I gave her the most reassuring smile I could muster. “Everything I need is in my suitcase. Just need a Wi-Fi connection and I’m good to study from anywhere.”

She worried her bottom lip with her teeth, seemingly unconvinced. But Summer took my words at face value, her concern as a sister different to my parents’. “This is so great! And yes, if you have time, we absolutely need your help.”

I nodded eagerly. The rest of the group stepped up to say hello. Johnny and Isabel, Dom’s parents, squeezed my hands, and a few of the cowboys waved from where they were standing, leaning on the fence.

One raised his gaze from beneath the brim of his hat and grinned at me. “Hey, Lennon. Good to have you home.”

My heart stopped. The smile fell off my face, or was evaporated by the mini stroke I had at seeing him again.

Preston.

When I was thirteen, his seventeen-year-old smile and fun-loving personality had captivated me. By the time I was seventeen, him twenty-two, a childhood crush had developed into something too big for me to truly understand.

Made all the worse by knowing he didn’t see me as anything other than Summer’s little sister or his boss’ kid.

Preston at twenty-four did things to me that no man had ever managed to accomplish. There was no trace left of the gangly teenager he’d once been.

In his place stood a full-grown man. His jeans hung off his hips, showing off the V muscles either side of his abs. His sun-kissed skin made me want to run my fingers all over it, preferably low enough to trace the ridges of his stomach. He’d never been a fan of shirts, and I’d never once minded.

In fact, I’d mourned the colder weather that forced him to cover up each year.

I suddenly became aware of the fact that I was just standing there gawking at him while he waited for some sort of response.

And that everybody else was watching, too.

“Hi!” I groaned internally. My voice was as high and squeaky as a pre-pubescent boy.

Kill me now.

Preston gave me a quizzical look but didn’t say anything.

Heat flushed my cheeks, and I turned away. So nothing had changed then. I was still embarrassing myself in front of him, just like I had when I’d lived here. I clearly needed to just avoid him if I couldn’t even utter a simple hello in a normal tone.

Then it was only my sister left to complete the family reunion. But Callie busied herself with a notepad and pen, steadfastly jotting down notes in order not to make eye contact.

I stared down at my sandals in the long grass and tried not to let the hurt of her rejection in. “I should go unpack and get changed. These shoes aren’t ranch appropriate.”

My father took in my practically bare feet and cringed. “Boots. Get ‘em on and come give us a hand with the chickens?”

I wasn’t like Summer, who walked so closely in his footsteps. Kids learned to ride bulls on the back of sheep, but I hadn’t even liked that. While Summer had one hand clutched in the sheep’s fleece, the other waving around her head like staying on its back was a piece of cake, I’d been the kid crying in the dirt. Every time my father had tried to stir up my interest in bull riding, I’d backed right off.

But I did like the chickens. So he’d pushed me in that direction instead, tasking me with cleaning out their coop and preparing feed so I was still included in the world he loved.

I pressed up onto my toes and kissed his cheek. “Absolutely. I’ll just go up to my room and unpack first.”

I took a step toward the house, but my mother caught my arm. “Wait a second. We have a problem.”

My gaze tried to stray to Preston again, who’d gone back to talking with the other cowboys in my father’s training program. I had to forcibly concentrate to keep my attention on my mother. “What problem?” I thought I’d pretty successfully dodged her worries about me being here and not in school. I’d bought myself a few days with a little white lie that I didn’t feel good about, but I didn’t want her worrying about this pending quarter-life crisis either. “What’s wrong?”

“Your grandmother is in your room.”

“Grandma Jacqueline?”

Mom nodded. “She got here a couple of days ago. She’s in town running errands for Summer right now, but we put her in your old room because Johnny and Isabel are in the guest room.”

“Oh. Right. Okay.” I hadn’t even considered that my parents might have a full house when I jumped on a plane this morning. But of course they did. Johnny and Isabel were from out of state, but they’d want to be here early to help with the wedding. My grandmother was a regular visitor. She was lonely, in her big house by herself, and nobody minded her being around because she was such a sweetheart. But that did leave me short of a bed. “It’s okay. I can just sleep on the couch.”

“You’re about a foot too tall to sleep on the couch, Lennon.” Mom’s disapproval showed in the purse of her lips. “You’ll have to bunk in with Callie.”

“What?”

It was the first time Callie had even spoken since I’d arrived. Her head whipped up, and she glared daggers at me, like sleeping in her double bed had been my evil plan the entire time.

I didn’t want that any more than she did. None of our problems were going to get fixed by me getting in her face for the next few days.

“She’s not sleeping in with me. My room is the size of a shoebox as it is.”

Summer shot Callie a look. “What are you, twelve? Get over it.”

“She can’t just come home from college like some returning hometown hero and expect us to drop everything for her!”

“Callie!” My father’s tone was no-nonsense. “Enough.”

He’d always had little patience for my sister’s tantrums, but it had been a long time since I’d heard him speak to her like that.

“Forever your princess, isn’t she?” But her barb was aimed at me. She gathered up the notebook and pen and stormed toward the house.

My mother stared after her with her mouth hanging open. “What on earth was that about?”

Summer glanced in my direction. As far as I knew, she was the only one who knew about the stupid crush I’d had on Preston. And how Callie and I had fallen out over it. It was more than that, of course. We’d been growing apart for years, too different and unable to find a common ground. Falling for the same guy, and then me walking in on them, had really just been the nail in our coffin.

“Lennon can have the spare room in my cabin.”

Oh, holy shit.

I glanced over my shoulder to be sure, but I already knew it was Preston who’d said it. His gaze was trained on Callie, stomping toward the main house, his gaze filled with an honest concern. He finally dragged his attention back to me and gave me a distracted smile. “I don’t snore.”

I shook my head on instinct. I could not share a cabin with Preston Innes. Not if I didn’t want to be a soggy puddle on the floor every time he looked at me. No. No. No. It was hard enough being on the same thousand-acre ranch as him. The cowboy’s cabins were tiny. No way could I live in the same twenty square feet. “The couch will be fine, really.”

“No, that’s a great idea!” Summer chipped in. “There’s a proper bed in that room. It’ll be perfect.” She grabbed my arm and towed me toward the house. “Come on, we’ll get your suitcase.”

Ignoring my father’s disapproving frown, she hauled me toward the building, her fingertips pressing into my skin. “What are you doing?” she hissed.

I struggled to keep up with her, doubling my pace, the long grass stabbing at my bare toes through my sandals. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’ve been in love with Preston since you were a kid. This is your chance.”

I gaped at her. “My chance? You’re insane. I have no chance with him!”

She rolled her eyes. “Do you even realize how beautiful you are? But beside that, how smart and funny and sweet you are? Why wouldn’t you have a shot with him?”

“He’s four years older than me. He thinks I’m a little kid!”

“He slept with Callie. He knows full well the two of you aren’t little kids, Len.”

I groaned. “And that’s the biggest reason right there. It doesn’t matter what I want. He wanted her.”

She waved her hand around dismissively. “He’s a good guy. I wouldn’t have been his friend all these years if he weren’t and I want to see both of you happy. A one-night stand doesn’t mean anything. I know Callie is my sister, too, and I love her, but the two of them are too similar. They would have never worked. As much as I wasn’t happy with him for what he did, he didn’t actually do anything wrong. They were both adults. And he did her a favor cutting it off when he did. The two of them would have caused each other a whole lot more hurt than they did if he’d let it continue.”

I pressed my teeth to my bottom lip, gazing up at the main house, and in particular, Callie’s bedroom window. “I don’t know about that. She still seems pretty cut up about it all.”

Summer relented her hold on me with a sigh. “You’re too nice for your own good, you know that, right? You always put her ahead of yourself. Did she ever do the same for you?”

I didn’t answer.

Summer just gave me a knowing look.

“I can’t sleep on her bedroom floor.”

“No, you can’t.”

“Is Preston’s place seriously the only spare bed on the entire ranch?”

“Unless you want to sleep on an air mattress in our cabin…”

“And listen to you and Dom go at it all night? Hard pass.”

“Preston’s place it is, then.”

I stared across the yard at him, laughing at something one of the other guys had said. He gone back to being oblivious to the fact I was even standing here.

My stomach clenched. “Preston’s place it is.”

4

After Callie stormed off, pissed as all hell with me, and Summer and Lennon followed after her, I helped Dom put away the undecorated flower arch. We hefted the damn thing across the field to the barn and put it in an empty stall, out of the way. Clymont, my favorite horse, stuck his head over the stall next door, sniffing at the foreign object.

I patted his silky soft neck with a laugh as he snorted his distaste. “Sorry it’s not a nice mare for you to flirt with, buddy.”

Dom brushed dirt off his hands, shutting the stall doors behind him. “You want a beer or you still on the clock?”

“Nah, it’s my day off.”

“You spent all morning with the bulls.”

I shrugged. “I like ‘em. I don’t mind helping out, even if I’m not being paid for it.” There wasn’t much else to do out here anyway. I could have driven into town and gone to a movie or something, but that wasn’t much fun to do alone. Here on the ranch, there was always someone to talk to. Whether that be one of the younger guys who was staying here for coaching, a ranch hand, a supplier dropping off feed, or the boss man himself. Frost was pretty much the only father figure I’d ever had, so even though he spent half his day barking orders at me from the side of the training rings, I still enjoyed his company.

I followed Dom back to his old cabin. It sat empty most of the year now that he and Summer were on the pro tour. I missed having them around all the time, but there was no point dwelling on that. They were off living the life, and I was hoping that with the next round of qualifying coming up, I’d be going with them.

He went inside to pull two beers from the refrigerator while I settled onto one of the wooden chairs on his little porch. When he emerged from the house, he handed me an ice-cold bottle, top already removed.

“Cheers.” I clinked my drink with his, and we both settled back on our chairs.

The view was as unbeatable as it always was. My cabin wasn’t far from here, and my all-time favorite thing to do was sit on my own porch and watch the sun set. It was the only time of day where I didn’t really mind being alone.

“So, about Lennon.”

I glanced over at Dom. “What about her?”

He sighed. “I know I’m overstepping, but I think of her as a little sister. I watched her grow up with my brothers, you know? And as Summer’s sister, she’s even more important to me. So I’m gonna need you to keep your dick in your pants.”

I choked on my beer. “My what in my what? How the hell did we start talking about my dick? I was just sitting here, minding my own business, watching the sun set and drinking a beer, and you spring dick talk on me?” I laughed at him. “My innocent ears!”

He tossed a bottle cap at me. “I’m serious. I don’t want another Callie-style drama. Especially not this close to the wedding. Summer acts like she doesn’t care about the wedding details—”

“I really don’t think she does, bro. She’d marry you in a pigpen without blinking an eye. She wants the marriage, not the wedding.”

“Yeah, I know. And I love that about her. But I want to tell her in front of everyone how much I love her. And promise her forever. I want everyone to know she’s mine, and that I’m hers.”

I fake dabbed at my eyes with a nonexistent handkerchief. “I’ll marry you if you keep talking like that.”

He scowled. “Callie and Lennon are both in the bridal party. So are you. Don’t make shit awkward by sleeping with the other twin, okay? We’ve been there, done that, you’ve got the pissed-off glares and daggers in the back to prove it.”

“I have zero intentions of sleeping with Lennon. Don’t sweat it.”

Relief smoothed out the bunch in his shoulders. “Good. Sorry. When you offered her your spare room, I just thought…”

I waved him off. “Definitely not. I’ve known her since she was thirteen and in braces. I don’t want her sleeping on the floor. There’s definitely no ulterior motive.”

With that settled, we drank a second round of beers, before Dom announced he was going to go make some dinner for his girl. Taking that as a cue to leave, I finished my drink and let Dom get on with his meal prep. I took my time walking along the row of cabins where all the trainees stayed. Most of them were out on their porches, too, no women to cook for, so getting to my own cabin was waylaid by several conversations about bulls and riding and a hunting trip some of them wanted to take. The sun sank slowly in summer, but it was almost completely dark by the time I spotted a huddled figure on the front steps of my cabin, a tiny light from her phone giving her away.

“Lennon?”

She glanced up as I approached and sprang to her feet when she saw it was me. “Preston! Hey!”

I leaned on the railing post, taking in her laptop, textbooks, and an array of pens spread across the wooden floorboards. The flashlight on her phone was lit up. “Were you studying out here?”

She cast her gaze over the mess of her things on the steps. “Oh. Yeah, I was. Sorry. Let me clean this stuff up.” She bent, picking up her laptop and textbook at the same time. The corner of the book knocked a highlighter, and it rolled toward the edge of the step.

On instinct, I reached down to catch it before it rolled off the edge and beneath the cabin.

Lennon was quicker. Her fingers caught it right as mine wrapped around hers.

She looked up at me, her dark-brown eyes wide.

She yanked her hand from mine, a forced laugh falling from her lips. “Sorry!”

I straightened slowly. “My bad. I clearly underestimated your reflexes and ability to juggle laptops, books, and pens.”

I moved up the now cleared-off steps ahead of her, and she clutched her things to her chest. I put my hand on the doorknob to open the door for her, when I noticed her overloaded black suitcase, still sitting on the porch.

Lennon had been ready to walk in, but my sudden stop forced her to do the same or run smack bang into me.

“You didn’t want to unpack your things before you started studying?” I asked, pointing at her luggage.

Her long dark hair fell around her face when she shook her head. “Oh no. You weren’t here, and I didn’t want to just let myself into your place.”

“Wait, so you’ve just been sitting out here while you waited for me to come back?”

She indicated to the laptop in her arms. “Well, I wasn’t just sitting…I was studying.”

“Uncomfortably. By the light of your phone. The door was unlocked.”

“I know. But this is your place.”

I didn’t like that. I’d been sitting around drinking with Dom and talking shit with the trainees while she’d been out here, getting bitten by mosquitos while she tried to study to become a damn doctor. “You don’t ever need to wait for me again, okay? My place is your place for as long as you need it.” I reached around her to pick up her bag. It tugged at my arm, fighting my attempt to hoist it up. “Holy shit, Len. Aren’t you only here for a few days? Why is this bag so heavy?”

I got into a better position and lifted it more easily on the second try while she mumbled something about shoes and accessories.

I carried it to my spare bedroom, placing it carefully on the bed. Then grinned at her. “So, this is your room. You’ll note how fancy it is, with its high-quality fixtures and nine-million-thread-count sheets.”

She smiled ruefully. “You mean the naked light bulb and the sheets that were on sale at the thrift store?”

I sniggered. “They’re not fancy, but they are clean. I only changed them a few days ago. Might be a few dust bunnies under the bed, though. Don’t look too closely.”

She opened the tiny built-in closet door, but not finding any shelves to put her laptop and other study things, she made a pile for them beside the bed. Then she went to work on her suitcase.

I found myself staring at her back as she pulled out neatly folded clothes. Her dress had those skinny straps and dipped low, showing off skin and making me aware she wasn’t wearing a bra. The thin summer material floated around her when she moved, swishing over rounded hips and an ass I didn’t remember her having the last time I’d seen her.

She peeked over her shoulder at me, questions in her eyes. “Was there something else you wanted to show me?”

Startled, I pushed off the wall. “Ah, no. I mean, yes. There’s only one bathroom. It’s just to the right of your room. My room is that way.” I jerked my head to the left.

Her laughter filled the room. “Awesome. I won’t need you to draw me a map now.”

I laughed lamely. “Good thing, cos I’d hate to give up where I’d buried my treasure.”

Her eyebrows furrowed, like she didn’t quite get the joke.

I couldn’t blame her. It was terrible. I backed out of her room, muttering something about making food. I closed her door behind me and blinked in the light of the living room.

“What the hell was that, Innes?” I mumbled to myself, moving toward the kitchen. I searched cupboards and the refrigerator, cobbling together enough steak and salad for two people. I shot a few glances at Lennon’s door, but it remained closed, and I couldn’t hear anything from the other side.

Had she picked up on my awkwardness? Fuck. I didn’t even know where that had come from.

Probably from looking at her in a way that was wholly inappropriate. She’d busted me fair and square. And then I’d made a joke about burying treasure…

I dropped the tongs.

Had she thought I meant something else by that? Like, burying my treasure in…her map? Oh, fuck no. It all escalated in my head, replaying the scene over. Why else wasn’t she coming out of her room? Unpacking didn’t take this long, even with a case the size of hers.

The awkwardness I’d caused in the first five minutes of having her here was astronomical and downright embarrassing. More than that, I should apologize. She’d just come home to see her family and found herself sharing a cabin with some inappropriate asshole whose libido lit up at the first sign of an available woman.

Dom had warned me, and I’d laughed him off. But now I understood why.

Up close, Lennon wasn’t the teenager I remembered.

Smoke floated from the fry pan. “Shit.” I retrieved my dropped tongs, rinsing them quickly then rescued my now well-done steak. I placed them on two plates and added salad to both before placing them on the little coffee table in front of the couch. I didn’t have a dining room table—my place was too little—but that had never been a problem when it was just me. I was more than happy to sit on the couch to eat. But Lennon was used to eating with her family at their big dining room table.

Not wanting her steak to go cold, I got up and tapped on her door. “Len? I made some dinner. If you’re hungry.”

She opened the door in a different outfit to the one I’d left her in. Little sleep shorts and a T-shirt that slid off one shoulder.

Well, shit.

My gaze went straight to her legs. Her thighs, more specifically, and the fact the hemline of those shorts was not much lower than her ass.

“You made me dinner?”

I dragged my eyes to meet hers. “It’s just steak and salad. If you want some.”

“It smells amazing, and I haven’t eaten since the plane.” She gestured down at herself. “Sorry. I got changed because I wasn’t expecting a meal.”

“You don’t have to—”

“No, I’d like to. Thank you. If you don’t mind me eating in my pajamas.”

She was fucking insane if she thought I was going to mind sitting next to her while she wore those shorts.

But more than that, I wanted her to feel comfortable while she was here. So I needed to get whatever this reaction was out of the way. She was allowed to walk around here without me gawking at her. “You’re living here temporarily. You wear whatever you want.”

I backed up, giving her space, and went to my seat on the couch, letting her follow me. It was only a two-seater, but I moved right over to one side so she had plenty of room. She tugged at her shorts, but it was of little use. They rode straight back up as soon as she sat. She didn’t seem to notice, though, and picked up her knife and fork. She cut off a small portion of meat, putting it in her mouth and chewing, while she glanced over at me.

“Sorry. I got distracted when I was cooking. It’s pretty overdone.”

She swallowed before she replied, her throat bobbing. “It’s great. I love well-done steak. I hate when it’s still mooing.”

I sniggered. “Well, this one is well and truly baked.” I jabbed at my blackened piece of meat. I’d given her the better, less crispy piece. I didn’t share her sentiments on how to cook steak. The pinker the better if you asked me.

But I ate anyway, knowing I needed the protein. I had work and training tomorrow, and a big rodeo on the weekend. My diet needed to be as on point as anything else.

Including my concentration. Which meant I really needed to clear the air between me and Lennon. “Hey, listen. About before. The treasure map thing. I hope you don’t think I meant anything by that. Because I didn’t.”

She speared a lettuce leaf with a fork. “What do you mean?”

Oh, great. She hadn’t thought anything of it, and now I’d made it worse. I wasn’t going to explain to my boss’ daughter that I might have thought I’d accidentally come on to her. “Never mind. Want to watch TV?”

“Sure. You pick something.”

I flipped on the TV but didn’t switch channels. I left us to watch whatever it was already on. I didn’t see it. I ate my dinner methodically, using all my concentration not to notice the woman sitting beside me.

5

The bed in Preston’s spare room squeaked and groaned every time I moved. But that was probably a good thing because it helped the frustrated noises that slipped from my mouth every time I thought about the fact he was just on the other side of a bit of plasterboard. The little cabin was small and stuffy, holding in the heat of the long summer day, which didn’t help the restless feeling I couldn’t shake. I’d tried sleeping with the door closed, but the window in my room didn’t let in much of breeze, and eventually, sweat beading on my skin, I got up and opened the door, hoping for a cross breeze from the open windows in the main room.

I’d sneaked a glance toward Preston’s room, noting his door was open, too, but I’d respected his privacy enough to not look any further. But that didn’t stop me getting back into bed and wondering what he slept in. I would have bet my last dollar he didn’t have a shirt on. I suspected he probably slept naked when he was alone, but since his door was open, he probably had shorts or underwear on.

The urge to sneak into his room and find out was both creepy and completely inappropriate. I tossed and turned some more until I fell into a sleep that was plagued with too-hot, nightmarish dreams. When I woke, it was still dark outside, no sign of Bucky, our rooster, awake and ready to greet the sun. I fumbled for my phone, noting that as always, I’d woken up just a few minutes before my five AM alarm.

I slid the alarm button to off, worried about waking Preston, but a moment later his own alarm sounded. It beeped for a good minute before a grumpy groan filtered through the wall. “Shit.”

I lay in bed, silently staring at the ceiling, barely breathing. His bed squeaked, too. Alarm silenced, the groan of his bedframe filled the little space as he pushed off it. His bare feet padded out into the living area, headed for the kitchen. He paused for a moment in my doorway, and I sucked in a breath at the sight of him. Even in the dim light of the slowly dawning morning, I drank him in. I was right about him sleeping without a shirt. Soft gray shorts banded around his hips, baggy enough that they looked like they would be on the floor if I gave them a sharp tug.

“You awake?”

I swallowed thickly, lips dry and resisting working after sleeping all night. “Yeah.”

He ran his hand through his sleep-tousled hair. It was short on the sides but long enough on top to flop in his eyes. Or to stand up in multiple directions, like it was now. I pressed my fingers into the mattress to give the urge to run my fingers through his hair somewhere to go.

“Kinda thought you might have turned into a city girl on me.”

I pressed up on one elbow. “What do you mean?”

“You know, sleeping ‘til noon. Probably not much need to get up at five where you live.”

He was right. There wasn’t any real need unless you were one of the fitness junkies who liked to run or go to the gym this early. The rounded curve of my belly and the jiggle in my thighs proved I was not one of those people. “I set an alarm now, but I don’t really know why I bother. I wake up a few minutes before five every morning. Ingrained habits, I guess. Been doing it my whole life.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, one arm leaning on my doorway. “You have an advantage on me there. It still kills me to get up this early, even though I’ve been doing it every day since I got here. Apparently, it takes longer than seven years to turn me into a morning person.”

I sat up, pulling my sheet with me to cover my chest, because even though I had a pajama shirt on, I’d taken my bra off before going to bed. The thin material of my pajamas had been welcome when I’d been sweating up a storm during the night, but there was a good chance it was sheer enough to show off a hint of nipple. And I did not want to be embarrassing myself in front of this man with a nip slip. “You mean your parents didn’t drag you out of bed before the sun every morning since you were a toddler? Just me then, huh?” I smiled at the core memory. Mornings were the busiest times growing up in our house. There was no such thing as a sleep-in when there were animals to feed, stalls to muck out, and everything had to be done before the school bus came.

“Nah, I’m a city kid. Grew up in the heart of Atlanta.”

“Really?” I’d never known that about him. But then, that probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise, because despite the horrifically awkward and intense crush I’d always had on him, I really didn’t know much about him at all. I’d always been too quiet and shy to say more than a few words to him. So I’d never gotten the chance. “Where did you learn to ride there?”

“I didn’t. You don’t remember how bad I was when I first got here? I was as green as Kermit.”

I shook my head. I didn’t remember him being anything other than amazing. Ever.

He chuckled. “I was so bad. I’d always loved bull riding and rodeo, though. I watched it obsessively on TV and in my teens I started sneaking out and catching buses to any meet that wasn’t too far out of town. I was never much good at school so when I heard about the program your dad was starting up, I applied. Still have no idea why he accepted me. I barely knew the bull’s horns from its balls back then.”

I knew why. “My dad has a knack for spotting raw potential. And he respects grit and determination. You have all those things.”

He paused, but a proud smile flickered at the corner of his mouth. “Yeah, well, that potential only gets you so far. I’m so behind all the other guys my age.”

“Does it matter? There’s no age limit on bull riding.”

“Not officially, but I’m already twenty-four. So’s Summer, and she’s been on the tour for two years already. All the guys coming up are barely twenty. If I make the tour this year they’ll probably nickname me Grandpa.”

My gaze dipped to the rock-hard planes of his abs and pecs for the tiniest of seconds. Nothing about Preston would be confused for an old man. “You’ll make it this year.” I had no doubt. Admittedly, despite growing up here, surrounded by bull riding and cowboys and constant all-day talk about it from my dad and older sister, I was no expert. But I was still confident in his abilities. I knew he’d won some local rodeos, and he’d been training for this for years.

Doubt flickered on his face for a moment before he covered it with bravado. “Damn right. Big meet on the weekend. You should come.”

My heart skipped. That almost sounded like he was asking me on a date…

He seemed to come to the same realization and rubbed his hand over the back of his neck awkwardly. “Summer will be riding. I’m sure she’ll want you there.”

The disappointment was ridiculous. I knew exactly how Preston saw me. I was his best friend’s little sister. Worse, I was his boss’ daughter.

An insidious voice in my head reminded me that so was Callie, and that hadn’t stopped him sleeping with her.

But I was well aware that Callie and I were two very different people. She was loud and outgoing. Confident. She drew people to her like flies to honey. I was quiet and shy. Nerdy in my love of school and reading and had never made friends easily. I never put myself out there the way that she did. Was it any surprise that despite only being four minutes apart, he’d seen her as a woman and me as a little girl?

From somewhere outside, the rooster crowed, announcing that not only was the sun up, but that it was time to get out in it.

“Bucky has decided we’re late. I need to get up to the house. My parents are doing a big welcome home breakfast since they weren’t really ready for a welcome home dinner last night.”

He pushed off the doorframe, nodding. “Right, sorry. I’ll leave you to get dressed. I need to get outside and feed some bulls.”

He grabbed the doorknob, pulling the door closed behind him. I dropped the sheet and went to stand when the door swung open again.

I jumped, but Preston had a frown on his face. “You know Bucky died, right?”

“What?”

“The rooster. He died. We got a new one. His name is Tornado.”

My mouth dropped open. “My mom didn’t tell me…I guess she didn’t think it was important enough to mention…”

“I thought she would have said something. You love those chickens. And you were the only person Bucky didn’t try to kill on a regular basis.”

I peered at him, shocked he’d noticed all of that when even my own mother hadn’t. Bucky had been as placid as a newborn baby with me. He’d let me pet him and hang out in his pen and collect eggs from his ladies without any sort of bother. But I’d heard Callie come screaming into the house on more than one occasion, yelling that he was the devil bird from Hell.

He was a good rooster. Just misunderstood. It was stupid to be upset over a dead bird, but it was just one more thing I’d missed while being away.

Preston took a step back out of my room. “Just thought you should know.”

The door closed behind him, and I battled back another surge of like for the man. I needed to tamp down on that before it got completely out of control again. I had to live with him. I couldn’t be pining away, harboring a little girl crush on him anymore. Not even if he did notice things about me in a way that apparently nobody else did.

I just needed to clear the air and move on.

The cabin was empty by the time I got out of the shower and dressed. I sat on my bed, pulling on boots I hadn’t worn since the last time I’d visited home, and fretted over whether I’d hogged the bathroom too long. Had he been waiting for me to get out so he could have a shower before he went to work? My father always showered at night, dusty and dirty from working outside all day, but who knew what Preston’s routine was. I didn’t want to get in his way.

It was right on six by the time I made it up to the main house, and it was a cacophony of chaos. To anyone else, the scene in the kitchen might have been overwhelming – my father flipping pancakes on the stove, my mother setting the big table with knives and forks and the same chipped, mint-green plates we’d had for over a decade. My grandma, Jacqueline, chatted with her from her spot at the table, and Isabel was lecturing her husband about the piece of bacon he was munching on, reminding him of the heart attack he’d had a few years ago. They all stopped and looked in my direction when I walked in, and my mom smiled widely.

“You made it! Come on, come sit. We have so much food. Your father insisted on pancakes and bacon, but we’ve got fruit and muesli for you, too, in case you don’t want something heavy. I tried telling him all that fatty stuff makes your brain sluggish, and you’ve got to study…” She eyed me cautiously. “You do have a lot of studying to do, right?”

I forced my mouth into a smile. “Sure do. Fruit and muesli sounds great but…”

My dad turned around from the stove and waved a piece of bacon in my direction. “My baby girl knows breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Nobody gets through a day on fruit and muesli.” He slapped his friend on the shoulder. “Well, not unless you have to, like you, you poor old man.”

Johnny grumbled at him. “Wait ‘til you turn fifty, Frost. Those abs of yours won’t last forever.”

But my father never showed any signs of slowing down, or ageing. A knee injury had taken riding out of the equation, but his job was so physical.

But I saw the flicker of concern in my mother’s eyes, though, and I knew she was thinking about the fact that Johnny wasn’t much older and ran a very similar ranch to ours. If he could have a heart attack, then anyone could.

Not wanting to think about a day where one of my parents might not be around, I changed the subject. “Where’s Callie and Summer and Dom?”

“Not sure about Summer and Dom, but can you run upstairs and make sure Callie’s awake?”

Not wanting to be argumentative, I nodded, even though Callie was probably the last person who wanted me waking her up. But we needed to clear the air. This had been going on for too long.

Her door was closed, so I rapped my knuckles across it.

“Yeah?”

“It’s me.”

I could practically see the door icing over in the silence that followed.

I sighed. “Can I come in?”

The door opened in my face, Callie fully dressed on the other side. Her style was so different to mine. She had a full face of makeup, heavy black eyeliner smoked out around her eyes and a deep red lipstick slicked over her mouth. On me, it would have looked like I was heading out to a nightclub in the city. On her, it looked modern and young and fun. She’d paired it with a short denim skirt and a cropped top that showed off the flat planes of her belly. I enviously admired her creativity that shined through in what she wore and the techniques she tried with her makeup. I barely wore makeup at all, because I didn’t really know what I was doing.

It was the first time we’d been face to face in a year, and it only drove home how far apart we truly were, even when we were standing in the same room.

“I’m going out.” She grabbed a purse from a hook by her bedroom door and slung it over her shoulder, moving past me to the hallway.

“Wait. You aren’t coming to breakfast?”

She paused, one foot on the top stair. “It’s not my breakfast. It’s yours.”

That stung. The breakfast might have been a reunion meal because I was home, but that didn’t mean it was solely for me. “I thought you’d be there. That maybe we could talk…”

“About what?”

She’d done this to me my entire life. Put defenses up and forced me to be the one to break through them. She was the older twin, but she’d never acted it. I always felt so ancient compared to her. Always the one who had to be responsible and watch out for her because she didn’t seem to care about looking out for herself.

“Come on, Callie. We haven’t spoken properly in years.”

“You haven’t been here.”

She was right. I hadn’t. Guilt pressed in on me. I’d been so upset after walking in on her in Preston’s bed. It had taken me a long time to get over that. I’d had to realize that I had no right to be upset over a man liking my sister more than he liked me. I’d never been bold enough to tell him how I felt. And even if I had, he still had the right to pick her.

But by the time I’d gotten to that place of acceptance, feelings for Preston pushed deep away where they wouldn’t show on my face, it had been months.

I hadn’t called Callie. And she hadn’t called me.

It had just been easier to bury my head in my textbooks and classes and pretend I was too busy for anything else. No boys. No friends.

No sister.

I swallowed thickly. “I’m here now.”

And for half a second, I thought I’d gotten through to her. I thought I saw a flicker of remorse in her expression. I almost reached out to touch her.

But then she turned away, thundering down the stairs in chunky summer wedges. “You are, but I’m not.”

The front door closed behind her with a bang. I was still standing on the stairs when her car engine started up, her tires crunching off down the gravel drive.

Her rejection stung like a wasp, sharp and painful, and left a miserable throb behind. It felt like losing her twice.

I wasn’t sure I would try again.

6

Like I did every morning, I banged on the front door of every trainee’s cabin as I made my way to the training rings. It was a role I’d taken on unconsciously, after watching group after group of trainees come and go. Most only stayed for the summer. A handful of times, we’d had guys stay on longer through the winter. Two of them had gone on to ride in the pros, competing against Summer.

I saw the pride in Frost’s eyes every time one of them competed beneath the bright lights of stadiums. In that moment, they were as much his kids as Summer was.

I wanted that.

I wanted to ride out there, in the arenas that held a hundred thousand screaming fans, knowing I was competing against the best of the best. I wanted that championship buckle on my belt.

Which was why I was still here. Years after Frost had first started his training school, I’d never left. Six months in, when I struggled to pay my tuition fees, he’d given me a job as a ranch hand. He docked my pay each week to cover my board and tuition, and the small amount left went into my pocket.

I was happy here. I worked hard. I trained hard. I made myself useful in any way that I could, and part of that was making sure the other trainees were all in the ring, ready to go, when Frost got there.

Nobody had assigned me the task. But it was my job nonetheless.

I knew he’d be late today, because of his breakfast with Lennon, so by the time he appeared at seven-thirty, I already had the trainees working on their core strength.

Frost came to stand by me, the two of us watching over the rest as they wobbled about on exercise balls, knees dug into the sides like they were on the back of a bull. They had their feet lifted, hands behind their backs so they either used their core for balance or face-planted into the dirt.

It was the beginning of summer, and early in this year’s program, so there’d been a lot of dirt-eating.

“Remember when you were this bad?”

I glanced at Frost, checking his expression beneath the wide brim of his hat. “Pfft. I was always magnificent.”

Frost rolled his ice-blue eyes. “You had your face in the dirt more than any trainee I’ve ever had. It’s a wonder you didn’t go crying home to your mama on the first day.”

The smile fell off my face. If he’d known my mother, he’d know why I wouldn’t have ever done that. And why for all the years I’d lived here, I’d never invited her to come visit.

I nudged him with my elbow as a trainee fell at our feet. “You aren’t as scary as you think you are.”

He shot me an annoyed look. “Don’t go sayin’ that loud enough for this lot to hear. They could use a healthy dose of fear to keep ‘em on their toes.”

He pushed off the fence and clapped his hands together. “Enough of this shit. Let’s ride some bulls.”

I let the others scramble ahead of me after they put their balls away. They jogged over to the stands to watch each other get tossed off by the weakest, lamest bulls we had.

But everyone had to start somewhere. I hadn’t forgotten where I’d come from.

I was itching to ride, though. And Grave Digger was home from tour, stuffing his face full of high-quality feed and probably trying to impregnate an entire herd of cows by himself. He was the best kicker we had and was making a name for himself on tour as a mean son of a bitch.

I couldn’t wait to get on his back again.

I waited until Kai was set up with the trainees, then made my way to the back of the pens where Grave Digger was living his best life.

A noise caught my ear as I passed the chicken coop, though. A noise I’d heard too much of throughout my childhood and one I couldn’t walk away from.

I rounded the fenced-off area, not finding anything but chickens strutting around, pecking at the ground. But the noise persisted. The door to the henhouse came open with a firm tug on the handle. The inside was tall enough for me to stand upright and lined on each side with boxes filled with straw for the chickens to sit in at night.

They squawked their displeasure at me, but it was Lennon, sitting on the dirty floor with a rooster on her lap, that stopped me. She jerked in surprise and looked up at me, quickly wiping tears from her cheeks.

Not quick enough to hide them, though.

My heart thumped harder. Her eyes glistened, and the sadness in her expression caught me by surprise.

Tornado flapped his wings in my direction and let out a menacing squawk that was most definitely a demand for me to get the hell out of his crib.

But I wasn’t going anywhere with Lennon crying at my feet.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Was it that fucking rooster?” I dropped down on my knees beside her so we were eye-height. A rooster could do you some real damage if it had the mind to.

But she stared down at the bird on her lap and shook her head. “No, we’ve met. He’s fine. Ate some seed from my hand and everything.”

I gawked at her. “He’s more ornery than even Bucky was, and yet you’ve still got him eating out of your hand.”

“He just wanted a friend.”

I cocked my head to the side, studying her. “He did, or you did?”

She glanced up at me again. “Maybe a bit of both.”

Giving Tornado a clear berth so he wouldn’t try to peck my eye out, I settled down on the floor beside her. My legs were too long for the small aisle between nesting boxes, so I had to bend my knees to fit. “Humans generally make better friends than roosters in my experience.”

She went back to stroking the rooster’s silky feathers. “Not so much in mine.”

My gaze rolled over her profile, the soft curve of her cheeks and her long dark eyelashes. She barely resembled the teenage girl I had her categorized as in my mind. Something had changed in her over the last year, and now I was struggling to reconcile the two versions of her.

But one thing I did know was that a woman as beautiful as her wasn’t sitting at home alone on a Saturday night. “Come on. I bet you’re the life of the Harvard parties.”

Her shoulders shook with laughter, and I relaxed a little at the reappearance of her smile.

“Did you hear what you just said?”

“What?”

“Harvard doesn’t do parties. Or at least not the people I’ve met. The only sort of party happening on a Saturday night is an all-night study session.” Her eyes sparkled. “They’re total ragers. I’d invite you to one, but you’d probably fall asleep from boredom in the first five minutes.”

“Okay, fine. No parties. Coffee dates?”

She lifted a shoulder. “No dates. Coffee or otherwise.”

A spark of interest caught my attention, and as much as I knew it wasn’t my place to ask, I found myself saying the words anyway. “You don’t have a boyfriend?”

“Tornado here is the closest I’ve been to the male species for a while.” She set the rooster down, thankfully on the side of her legs furthest from me. “I do have a male roommate, but we’re mostly ships in the night. He works at a bar six nights a week, so he sleeps most of the day. Which suits me because that means it’s quiet when I’m trying to study. We’re friends, I guess.” She raised her hands and shook them around. “Yay me. Twenty years old, and I have a single friend.”

It did sound a little sad when she put it that way. Making friends wasn’t something I’d ever had trouble with. I walked right up to people and just started talking. I often regretted it later, when I lay awake in bed at night, wondering if I’d bored them stupid with my mindless conversation, but that was kinda just how I rolled.

Big bravado hiding big insecurities.

Lennon was the opposite. She wore hers on her sleeve.

I could never. The thought of letting anyone see them tightened my chest to the point of physical pain. “I guess you don’t really need to make friends when you have a twin, though? You have a built-in bestie.”

“Or you just have a sibling who hates your guts.” She picked up a handful of the straw on the floor and let it fall through her fingers. “And then you find yourself sitting in a henhouse that reeks of chicken shit because you don’t want people knowing she made you cry. Sorry you had to see that, by the way.”

“Did you guys have a fight?”

Her shoulder lifted, then dropped heavily. “You probably don’t really want to know the answer to that.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Her gaze met mine and held.

She had the prettiest eyes I’d ever seen. Even more so with her lashes still wet from her tears.

“Never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s just sister stuff.”

She stood quickly, brushing stray bits of straw off her ass as she went to step over me.

I blocked her exit by standing as well. “Well, now I think it’s about me, so you have to tell me or I’ll be paranoid.”

“That’s probably better than you knowing the truth.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and leant back on the door. “There’s only one exit. I can stand here for a really long time.”

“You’ll need to pee eventually.”

“I can do that standing up. Can you?”

Her gaze dropped to around my dick height, like she was picturing me whipping it out to take a piss in the middle of the henhouse.

I would never, but her embarrassment amused me anyway. “Just spill it, Hunt. You know you want to tell me.”

She threw her hands up in the air. “Fine. I walked in on her in your bed.”

I froze.

“Naked.”

Like I’d forgotten the one and only time Callie had been in my bed.

My throat was suddenly dry, but I forced my lips to work. “After we…”

I was sure it was my cheeks that had turned pink now.

“Or before. I don’t know! I didn’t stick around to ask a survey, Preston!”

I was really regretting pursuing this line of questioning. Sleeping with Callie wasn’t something I was proud of. I hadn’t thought the experience through. I hadn’t considered that she’d been a virgin, and that her feelings for me might have gone past just a single night of fun between the sheets. I hadn’t considered how hurt she’d be when I’d tried to let her down gently or the guilt I’d feel every time I saw her afterwards. “I didn’t realize anyone other than Summer knew about that.”

“I wish I didn’t.”

“I don’t know what to say. I know it should have never happened. I was young and dumb, and we’d had a couple of drinks, which only makes it worse, I know.” I paused in my babbling. “But wait. Why are you two fighting about that night? It should be me you’re angry with. Summer certainly was for a short lifetime.”

She groaned, dropping her face into her hands. “You’re allowed to sleep with anyone you want to. You didn’t owe Callie a ring by going to bed with her. But yeah, you sleeping with her did put a dent in our relationship. None of that is your fault, though. It’s mine. I got jealous and stormed off without talking to her about it. I let it go for too long and now I don’t think either of us know how to get it back.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You were jealous. Of what?”

She folded her arms beneath her tits, scowling at me. “Don’t make fun of me.”

“I swear I’m not, because the only explanation is that you’re jealous she slept with me, and that is hilarious.”

She reached out and shoved me, sending my back bumping into the door. My eyes widened in surprise. But the anger in hers shook me.

I’d never seen Lennon angry, ever.

“Is it really so ridiculous that I liked you? And that I thought you might have liked me enough to…” She lowered her head. “Oh God. This is mortifying. Preston, let me go.”

“No way. You liked me?”

“You knew. You just didn’t like me back.”

“I didn’t know, Lennon.”

She stopped.

I cast my mind back, remembering hanging out with the twins at parties and dinners. Callie and I had taken to texting each other stupid memes, and we’d flirted a bit, but Lennon….

I hadn’t seen a single sign.

Without thinking about it, I reached for her hand. “I swear, I didn’t know.”

She looked down at our fingers then pulled hers from my grip. “It doesn’t matter. The whole thing is ancient history anyway. Callie and I both liked you. You liked her. I made a fool of myself, going to your place that night, thinking you would…deflower me and—”

I choked. “Deflower?”

She shoved me again. “Stoppit!” But then she stifled a laugh. “See, this is why I have no friends. I can’t even speak words around other people.”

I chuckled, too, glad a little of the tension had eased. “Did you seriously come to my cabin to ask me to take your virginity, only to find your sister had got there first?”

“Yep.”

“Awkward.”

She snorted. “You don’t say!”

I grinned at her. “Deflower.”

When she shoved me again, I stepped aside, letting her go.

But in the quiet of the henhouse, all jokes faded in the air around me. All I was left with was the fact that Lennon had liked me.

And a nagging thought that if it had been her in my bed that night, things might have ended up a whole lot different.

7

Ashiny gold bell above the door tinkled, announcing our arrival at the Cinnamon Bun Bakery. The sweet scents of caramel mixed with the plainer but no less delicious smells of fresh-baked bread, swirled around me in an intoxicating haze.

I sucked in deep breaths that reminded me of childhood and leaned in closer to Summer’s side. “Do you remember coming here on Sunday mornings after church?” I eyed the sticky pastries the locally owned bakery was named after. “I dream about these buns when I’m at school. There’s nothing quite like them in the city.”

Summer shrugged distractedly while she peered through glass cabinets at the different cake options. “I remember getting chastised for not paying attention in church, because I was too busy replaying the WBRA finals in my head. And Dad looking over at me with a knowing smile because he was probably doing the same.”

I grinned. My family weren’t regular churchgoers. But every so often, Dad would have an attack of conscience and drag us all into the little country town on a Sunday morning, each of us dressed in our best clothes. There was always the bribe of cinnamon buns afterward if we behaved ourselves.

It was a warning directed more at Summer and Callie. I never did anything but sit quietly and listen. It wasn’t in my nature to misbehave, but I also didn’t want to miss out on a trip to the bakery.

“Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in all the way from Harvard! Lennon Hunt, what are you doing back here already?”

Mrs. Jones had seemed old when I was a little kid, but now I realized she probably wasn’t that much older than my parents. Maybe in her mid-fifties, though her fully gray hair had made her seem older to young eyes. She picked up a pair of tongs and without asking me what I wanted, placed a cinnamon bun into a small white box and handed it over the counter to me.

I took it from her fingers, resisting the urge to shove my face into the box and inhale the sugary goodness. “Thank you. It’s good to be home—”

“It’s just for a few days, though. She’s got finals coming up.” Summer slung an arm around my shoulders. “You know she’s studying to become a doctor, right?”

Mrs. Jones wiped her hands on her glaze-smeared apron. “Oh, of course. Your mama updates me on your adventures every time she comes in for bread. She’s so proud of you, sweetheart. We all are. Imagine, one of our own, becoming a big-city doctor.”

I gazed down at my feet, my awkwardness demanding I look anywhere but into the woman’s eyes. “Thank you.”

But the woman’s praises only made the guilt sitting on my shoulders feel worse. Right now, I should’ve been sitting in a lecture about heart valves. But instead, I was standing on a chipped checkerboard floor that was as old as I was and feeling like there was no place else I wanted to be.

Summer and Mrs. Jones had an appointment to discuss the flavor of cake she’d be making for the wedding, but I zoned out as they chatted about the benefits of carrot versus chocolate. A fresh white piece of paper taped to the wall snagged my attention, and I wandered in that direction to read it.

“You’re hiring someone?” I asked at a lull in the women’s conversation.

Mrs. Jones glanced in my direction, nodding. “Oh, yes. Richard and I want to cut down our hours a bit and spend a little time traveling over the summer. Our daughter moved out to Texas… You remember her, Lennon? She was in yours and Callie’s class at school.”

“Of course. Michelle. How is she?”

Mrs. Jones beamed. “So well. She married last year, and don’t say anything to anyone just yet, because it’s very early, but she’s expecting.”

I nearly choked on cookie-scented air. “A baby?”

“No, a llama. Of course a baby.” Summer laughed.

She and Mrs. Jones went back to cake-testing, but I couldn’t stop the surprise that had taken hold of me. It wasn’t that someone my age being married with a child was unheard of. It was actually quite common around here. But I’d been so removed from this life, I’d kind of forgotten. Michelle was married with a baby on the way, and I hadn’t even had sex for the first time.

I was supposed to be this success story, living in a big city, going to a fancy school. I was the example that people held up when they talked about “getting out of here and doing something big with your life.” And yet here I was, no life experience and spending all my time studying or missing the family I’d left behind.

Somewhere between classes and papers, I’d missed out on growing up, making mistakes, and having fun. It was like I’d skipped a whole rite of passage in favor of becoming a boring old spinster. I could see my future playing out in more of the same…med school, long hours at the hospital, and coming home to an empty house each night because I was too exhausted and shy to put myself in uncomfortable situations.

Summer tucked her arm into mine and steered me toward the front door. “Penny for your thoughts?”

I took one last glance at the sign on the wall and then turned back to my sister. Just one of the many people proud and excited about me becoming a doctor and making a name for myself. I held up the box with my cinnamon bun inside. “Just thinking about how glad I am that you drove in, so I can eat this little piece of heaven on the way home.”

She clinked her own little white box against mine, and we left the bakery and the ‘help wanted’ sign behind.

When we got back to the ranch, Summer drove me right to the door of Preston’s cabin before continuing on her way to her own. I climbed the stairs slowly, uneaten cinnamon bun still clutched in my fingers. My appetite had gotten lost somewhere amongst my tumble of life-questioning thoughts.

Music blared from inside, telling me Preston was home, but his music choice was surprising. The classical piece was loud enough that he didn’t seem to hear me come in, but his bedroom door was open, his long legs sprawled diagonally across his bed, a paperback book in his hands.

“Good book?”

He peered at me over the top of it. “I’ve read better.”

“What’s it about?”

“Becoming the best version of you that you can be.”

Books like that didn’t really compute with my more scientifically geared brain. “Sounds very woo-woo.”

He sat up, discarding the book to his mattress as his gaze narrowed in on my cinnamon bun. He let out a gasp of mock outrage. “You went to the bakery without me?”

I held out the box as a peace offering. “I realize that’s an offence punishable by extreme measures around here. You take it.”

He shook his head. “Don’t be silly. Eat. Enjoy it. I’ve got this rodeo on the weekend, so no sugar for me until after that.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You take your training very seriously.”

He sobered at that. “Yeah, I do. But I don’t have the advantage that most riders have. I didn’t grow up on the back of a bull so I have to work twice as hard as anyone else.”

“You work harder than anyone I know.” It was true. He’d always been like that. Whenever he wasn’t rostered on to work, you would still find him saddling up a horse for cattle drive, or digging out a garden bed, or helping with the other trainees. I knew he liked a beer at the bar on occasion, too, but more than anything else, Preston was known around here for how hard he worked, both on and off the back of a bull.

“So. No sugar. No beer, too? Because I could drink one.”

He chuckled and got up from the bed. “Don’t talk crazy now.”

His big body moved toward me, long and lean, and I tilted my head back to look up at him.

“I’ll get you a beer if you get out of my doorway.”

I jumped. “Oh, right. Of course.”

I moved aside, forcing myself not to take a large inhale of his scent as he moved by me in the small space. Instead, I turned and set the pastry down on the coffee table that doubled as an eating spot. “So is that what the book is about, too?”

He opened the refrigerator door and pulled out two bottles of beer. He uncapped both, tossing the caps into the trash, and then passed one beer my way before sinking down on the couch beside me. “Yeah. Just trying to keep my head on straight, you know? Train hard. Eat right. Read a few chapters of a self-help book every day.”

“Do you enjoy that?”

“Do you enjoy reading your medical textbooks?”

I shrugged. “Sometimes.”

“Ditto. Sometimes it’s a punishment. Sometimes you actually get something from it. Better than sitting around watching YouTube or Netflix, though.”

“I don’t remember the last time I watched either.”

“Me neither. Damn. How sad are we? We should go to a movie before you leave. Maybe Saturday night, after the rodeo? It starts at twelve, so we should be done well before dinner.”

I hesitated.

“Come on, one night off from studying won’t kill you.”

It wasn’t the night off that I was worried about. It was the extended amount of time, sitting in the dark beside Preston, that was making me hesitate. How many times had teenage me wanted to do that? How many times had I thought about all the different places around town that we could hang out just to make out?

Now, it seemed kind of tortuous to sit next to him for that long and know he was only there to actually watch the actors on the screen.

But who was I kidding? I would never say no to hanging out with him, even if it was semi-tortuous. “Sounds good. But let’s wait and see how you do. You might want to go out celebrating with your friends when you win.”

“Seeing a movie with you would be celebrating with my friend.” He took a sip of his beer and then side-eyed me. “Right? We’re friends as well as roommates.”

“Of course.”

Exactly what I wanted to be. Right in the freaking friend zone. Sigh. It was for the best, though. I didn’t know what I thought was going to happen with him in the space of a few days. I was going back to Harvard. He’d be going off on tour with Summer when he qualified for the pros.

And all of that was moot when the man still clearly didn’t know I was alive. At least not in the way I wanted him to.

8

By the time Saturday afternoon rolled around, Lennon had spent three days at my cabin. Three days of her delicate floral scent floating around my space. Three days of shared meals, sitting side by side on the couch, talking about our days. Every other time I’d lived with someone, they’d got on my nerves by this point. Or I’d gotten on theirs. But seventy-two hours had passed, and I found myself bothered by the fact she would leave to go back to school soon.

Frost flicked up the brim of my hat. “Do you want to pay attention and win this thing? Or are you gonna keep staring off into oblivion?”

I refocused on my coach, knowing he was right. I hadn’t worked all this time to screw this up now. “Sorry.”

Frost sighed, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “No. I am. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I’m just nervous.”

I couldn’t help but tease him. Coach or not, the man was my friend, too. “What is this? The great Kai ‘Frost’ Hunt nervous at a rodeo? Don’t you know you’re a three-time world champion? Where’s the old poker face that spawned the nickname Frost in the first place?”

He glared at me. “It’s not me I’m nervous for.”

“Aww. Have you morphed from coach to Dad mode? You got nothing to worry about. Summer has this in the bag.”

He glanced over at his daughter, who was the first rider of the afternoon. She stood above the bucking chutes, dressed in her protective vest, her hat pulled firmly down on her brow. She already had a game face on. She barely registered the crowd around her, or the bull in the chute below who kicked the sides, making a hell of a racket.

Pride settled over Kai’s face. “It’s not her I’m worried about. I know that look. She’s in the zone. She’s better than she’s ever been.” He dragged his eyes away from his eldest daughter. “You, on the other hand…”

I chuckled. “No need to worry about me, boss. I’m going to be right there with her this year. It’s my time.” I wanted the words to be true. Because deep inside, I knew I was at the height of my game. I knew that I was never going to get any better than I was right now. I’d been training under the best of the best since I was seventeen. Eight years. If I didn’t have it by now, I didn’t have it at all. If I screwed this up, I needed to find a new dream.

The thought filled me with uncomfortable dread.

Kai didn’t seem to notice. “Good man.”

Frost had no idea how much words like that meant to me.

He turned away, crossing his arms over his broad chest, ready to watch Summer’s ride. I stood silently beside him while she climbed onto the back of the bull. She wound the rope around her fingers and hand, shifting her weight from side to side before going still. There was a pause, and then she nodded.

Her bull burst out of the bucking chute, immediately going into a hard right-hand spin. But Summer rode like the pro she was. A year on the pro tour had improved her skills beyond even that which her father could teach. There was nothing like the experience of riding every weekend and competing against the best cowboys in the world. She still rode with one hand strapped to her chest, an old injury preventing her from using it the way the rest of us did. I still had no idea how she did it. Her center of balance was like nothing I’d ever seen before, and I doubted any of us would ever see again in our lifetimes. Simply put, she was a superstar. I had no doubt in my mind that she was going to win as many buckles as her father before the end of her career. If not more.

The buzzer rang, signaling that her eight seconds was up, and she dismounted with ease. She jogged to the side of the ring, one eye on the bull, but the rodeo clowns had him under control, keeping him busy while she got out of the way.

We waited for her score to flash up on the screen, and the crowd let out a cheer when it was very impressive 93.1. The loudest cheer of all came from the family and friends’ section, though. In the roped-off area that marked them as VIPs, Lennon jumped up and down with her mom, the two of them cheering at the top of their lungs. My gaze lingered on them longer than it should have, considering I needed to ride next. But I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Lennon. She was wearing another one of those sundresses that hugged the curve of her hips and showed off a hint of cleavage.

It fit her to perfection, and some very male part of me couldn’t help thinking about sliding it up over her thighs, slowly revealing what she had underneath. My dick stirred beneath my jeans.

“You’re up.”

I glanced over at Frost in horror, thinking he’d noticed the very unfriend-like manner I was staring at his youngest daughter in and the movement it had caused in my underwear. “What? I choked out.

“Why do you look like you’re suddenly about to vomit? You’ve done this a million times. Seriously, Preston. Get your head in the game. Game face on, go ride. They aren’t just going to give you this spot on the tour. Every other guy here has earned it, too. You gotta take it if you want it.”

I tugged at a strap on my vest, re-tightening it and headed for the chute. “I won’t let you down.”

“You never do.”

I tried to clear my mind. I needed to concentrate on nothing but the bull beneath me.

But instead of doing that, I snuck one more glance at Lennon.

She caught my gaze, and a wide smile spread across her pretty face. That stirring behind my jeans happened again.

I dragged my eyes away from hers and threw myself over the top of the chute rails, landing on the back of the bull with about as much finesse as I had in my first day of training. Unsurprisingly, the bull beneath me didn’t like that much. Two of my spotters grabbed my vest as the bull fought valiantly to get me off his back. I patted his sweaty neck, murmuring softly beneath my breath. “Whoa, whoa. Settle down. I’m only here for eight seconds, and then you’ve got a nice bucket of feed waiting for you backstage. Let’s give the people a show, huh?”

I wrapped my hand with the rope, got my other arm into position, and finally, the bull seemed to agree with me. It was showtime, and he knew it as well as I did. We weren’t just here to qualify for the pro tour. We were here to entertain these people. I didn’t want to let anybody down by falling off prematurely.

I nodded to my gateman, and he yanked it open.

The bull kicked out, spinning to the left, which was by far my weaker side. I went with him but jolted off-balance on the very first kick. Fuck. This wasn’t where I wanted to be. He reared up, only to kick out again, and I felt myself jostle to the side once more. I squeezed my legs with everything I had, determined I wouldn’t slip another inch.

The bull had other ideas. He changed direction, spinning to the right. It was all I could do to keep my free hand up and count down the clock. There was no coming back from a slide like this. But if I held on, I could at least get a score.

Eight seconds felt like an eternity, each one agonizingly long while I clutched the rope for dear life.

The buzzer ringing sounded like angel song. I let go, smashing into the ground hard, the thud jarring through my arm and side. But I wasn’t stupid enough to stay there. It had been a shitty ride, but I wasn’t going to compound it by getting trampled. I pushed to my feet and scrambled for the gate, hoisting myself up it and out of reach of pointy horns.

I found myself staring into the VIP pit.

Lennon had her head bent toward Theo, one of Dom’s brothers. She smiled at whatever he said in her ear, her laughter clear over the rushing of blood in my ears.

A spear of jealousy spiked through me, watching the two of them. I had no right to have wanted her gaze on me while I rode. And fuck, I’d ridden like shit, so it was probably better that she hadn’t watched.

“Preston Innes with a qualifying ride of 82.5.”

That dragged her attention away from Theo. She politely clapped in my direction, nodding at me in recognition.

I nodded back, hating that she turned right back to Dom’s brother. But what did I expect? Her to jump over the handful of seats separating us and throw her arms around my neck in congratulations for a half-assed ride? I didn’t deserve any praise for barely hanging on and riding like I was a rookie.

Not to mention the fact that doing that would have been a girlfriend move.

And Lennon Hunt was most definitely not that. We were barely even friends. Temporary roommates at best.

And yet the scene played out in my head anyway.

I wanted to kiss her, I realized with a start, staring at her full lips that pulled up at the corners for another man. Her curves captivated me, proving to me she was no longer a waif-like teenager.

Her body screamed look at me. Touch me. Take me to bed and show me a good time.

Theo saw it. I could tell from the way his hand touched the small of her back when he leaned in to whisper in her ear. I could tell from the way he sat so close to her their arms brushed with every movement.

“You gonna get off this gate so we can get another bull in it, Innes?”

I stared blankly at the official. Fucking hell. How long had I been clinging here, watching her? The rodeo clowns had done their job, and the bull was back in his pen somewhere, while I still clung to a fence like I’d forgotten how to climb down it.

“Yeah, sorry.”

I jumped down, boots hitting the sawdust-covered ground.

“Good ride, Preston!” Lennon called out.

I couldn’t bring myself to look at her again. With my head down, I raised a hand in thanks and walked out of the ring.

9

“That was nice of you,” Theo commented, watching Preston walk out of the stadium. “He barely qualified.”

I frowned in his direction. “He got a score that gets him through to the next round. That’s more than half the other competitors got.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, any score is a good one, but he won’t be happy with it.”

“He won’t?”

I’d known Theo all my life. We lived on opposite sides of the country, but we’d made the trip to their place in Wyoming multiple times over the years and vice versa. With his older brother marrying my sister, I imagined there’d be even more travel between the two families. He’d grown up with a bull rider for a father as well, and we had a lifetime of shared memories. Unlike Summer and Dom, who had clearly put any brother-sister type of feelings to bed, I actually did think of Theo as an honorary sibling.

Disappointment for Preston washed over me. I’d watched seven seconds of his ride with bated breath, but the agony of watching him slip off the side, when I knew he desperately needed this ride to move on to the next stage, was too much. I’d turned away at the last second and told Theo to tell me when it was over.

He’d laughed, saying I was a poor excuse for a bull rider’s daughter if I couldn’t watch someone fall off.

That wasn’t it at all. Well, not entirely it. I’d watched my father and Summer take more spills off the back of a bull than I’d had hot dinners. I never liked it. But they knew what they were doing.

Preston did, too, but my feelings for him were different. Especially after the last few days of living side by side with him. They’d done nothing to dull the stupid emotion that kept threatening to rear its ugly head. I’d managed to confess my old crush to him with only minor embarrassment, but that was because I’d played it down, acting like it was all a silly teenage thing that was so far in the rear-view mirror I could no longer see it.

If I’d told him it was right there between us while we’d sat in the henhouse, this unspoken, physical yearning for the man, then I would have needed Tornado the rooster to peck me right in the jugular.

But he’d said we were friends. I didn’t really have any of those. Not proper ones. Not ones who were willing to hang out with me the way he seemed to want to. If he was disappointed with himself, then I should check he was okay.

As a friend.

“Excuse me,” I said to Theo, standing.

“Where are you off to?” My mother was sitting on my other side. She wasn’t running off to comfort Preston, even though he was like a son to her. But the urge to make sure he was okay wouldn’t leave me alone. I didn’t want to try to explain any of that to anyone. It would be as good as admitting to my crush. Which I did not have. No crush here. Just a regular old completely healthy and platonic friendship.

I was beginning to hate that word. As my sister would say with her love of creative swearing, buck friendship.

I shook my purse toward my mom, coins on the inside rattling. “Just going to get a drink. Want something?”

“Coke.”

“On it.”

I bypassed the snack food and drinks stands and slipped around the back to the locker room. I’d been here enough times over the years with Summer and my father. I knew exactly where they were and that most of the cowboys would be hanging out back there for a debrief or a pat on the back after their rides.

As I expected, Preston stood with his back pressed against the wall, my dad and Summer at his sides. Brad Pruitt, head of the WBRA, towered over all three of them, his barrel chest and booming voice audible from where I stood several feet away.

“Not exactly what I wanted to see from you, son. Knowing you’ve been training with Frost all these years, I expected more.”

My heart sank at the look on Preston’s face.

There was devastation in his voice when he replied, “It wasn’t my best, sir. I know. But I can do better next round.”

I stalled, not knowing whether to just wait until Brad finished being a jackass or to backtrack and try to disappear around the corner like I’d never heard the dressing down Preston was receiving. He wouldn’t want anyone hearing this, and Brad was doing it in the most public of places. The pink in Preston’s cheeks told me he was already mortified over my dad and Summer hearing it.

My dad’s shoulders were stiff. “We’ve still got another week to work on it, Brad. Cut the kid some slack. He got a qualifying score.”

“Not a good one.” Brad frowned at my father. “You’ve been stringing this kid on for years, taking his money. We both know he isn’t good enough to cut it in the pros. And that’s fine. You can have a lot of fun on the local circuits. But I won’t blow smoke up his ass.”

My mouth dropped open at the pure rudeness of the man. He was talking like Preston wasn’t even standing there in front of him. My anger boiled. I’d never liked Brad and I knew for a fact that my father and Summer hated him, too. He’d been a miserable, old, domineering prick for as long as I’d known him, but nobody could ever truly call him on his poor behavior because they depended on him for their livelihood. Preston wouldn’t stand up for himself when he was trying to qualify for the tour. Summer was basically the man’s employee. If she slipped up, he’d simply kick her out of the competition. And though my father didn’t ride anymore, he couldn’t afford to get on Brad’s bad side either. Our training business was there specifically to create great riders and feed them into the WBRA tour. If Dad stopped getting results, students would stop enrolling. And not only that, we were a supplier of bulls for the pros to ride. They brought in huge amounts of money, but that could stop at any minute. All Brad had to do was click his fingers. There were plenty of other breeders who could take my father’s place in a heartbeat.

No. None of them could stand up for Preston without risking their jobs.

But I could.

“How dare you.”

Four heads swiveled in my direction. Summer’s mouth dropped open, and my father’s lips pressed into a line. He didn’t say anything, though.

It was only Preston who spoke. “Lennon…”

Brad huffed. “Oh, here we go. His girlfriend has her panties in a twist because I called it like it is.”

“You can call it like it is without humiliating people, Mr. Pruitt. But that’s your go-to tactic, isn’t it? Just bulldoze your way right through people. No thought to the fact that they actually have feelings.”

“Len—”

I held my hand up, cutting my sister off. “No, it’s true. You can’t stand up to him because he has the ability to end careers on a whim. But that doesn’t mean he should get away with it.”

The big man stared down at me, his eyebrows raised. “Do I know you, young lady?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but he cut me off by putting his hand in my face.

“You know what? Never mind. Here’s a little cold hard truth for you. The reason Summer and Frost aren’t speaking up right now is because they know it’s the truth. Hell, I think even your boyfriend knows it, don’t you, son?”

Preston stared miserably at his feet.

Brad took that as a yes, obviously.

“I think that’s about enough.” My father clamped a hand on Preston’s shoulder and shot Brad a look that should have withered him on the spot.

If my father’s disgust and disapproval meant anything to Brad Pruitt, he didn’t show it. He simply tipped his hat at me and then walked away to talk to other riders.

My dad steered Preston away.

He didn’t glance in my direction once.

In a rush, I realized how far over the line I’d stepped. This wasn’t my place. Preston was a man and completely capable of defending himself if he wanted to.

He hadn’t wanted to.

Embarrassment flamed behind my cheeks.

Summer put her hand around mine, prying my fingers from fists.

I whirled on her. “Is that true? None of you think he’s good enough?”

“Len… Sometimes you have to know when to quit.” More gently she added, “And sometimes you need to let people fight their own battles.”

“What if Dom had thought that about you? What if he’d just let you say it was all too hard?”

She sighed. “Dom was in love with me. Are you in love with Preston?”

“Of course not!”

“Then why do you care so much?”

That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it.

And the one I couldn’t answer.

10

After every rodeo, local or on the pro tour, there was always a bar get-together afterward. All the riders attended, and it was a chance for both friends and fans to congratulate them. I’d gone to them all over the country when I was a little kid, watching my dad ride, but there was nothing like the hometown turn up.

The Black Bull Bar was heaving with people by the time we pulled up in the front. There was a lineup out the door waiting to get in, everybody dressed in their jeans and T-shirts and wide-brimmed hats. My own sat perched on my head, plonked there by Summer who had twisted around from the front seat of Dom’s truck to glare at me. “You’re coming.”

“Just go on without me. You don’t have to drive me home or anything. I can just sit out here and study until you guys are ready to go home. I’ve got e-books of some of my required reading on my phone.”

Summer’s eye roll told me that excuse wasn’t going to fly.

So I added a sweetener. “If I stay out here, you guys will have a designated driver. You rode so well, you deserve to go celebrate.”

“I’m not leaving my baby sister in the car to go get drunk. It’s the weekend. You’ll be back at school on Monday, you can study then. We all know you aren’t going to be sitting in here reading anyway. You’re just going to fret over what happened back there with Preston.”

I slunk down in my seat, hating that she knew me so well. “Ugh, please don’t remind me. Can I make a nest right here tonight? I can’t go back to the cabin either.”

Dom chuckled from behind the steering wheel. “Backseat nests are reserved for drunk idiots who I’ll have to haul back to the ranch later. If you want that to be you, you better get inside and start drinking.”

I scowled at the back of his head. “I’m underage.”

“By about five minutes. And like that matters here.”

He was right. The Black Bull had always turned a blind eye to underage drinking. As long as you were ‘pretty close’ to twenty-one, and there was a parent or friend around to make sure you got home safely, they looked the other way.

Not that I’d ever got drunk. Here or anywhere. But Callie had been carried home once or twice, and I knew Summer had come here for beers with the guys she trained long before she’d turned twenty-one.

The back door jerked open, and Summer grabbed my hand. “Come on. Rip the Band-Aid off.”

I knew she wasn’t going to take no for an answer, so I swung my legs out the door, planting my boots on the gravel of the parking lot. We joined the line up at the door, but it moved quickly, and all too soon, we were standing inside.

The room was packed with people, but there was only one I wanted to see…or rather, didn’t want to. I couldn’t see him sitting at the bar, though.

“Oh look, there’s Hallie and Nate. They’ve got seats for us.” Summer took my arm and pointed to her best friend waving frantically at us from across the room where she was guarding a table with several empty seats.

At least there was no Preston at the table. Maybe he hadn’t come after all. He might have just gone straight back to the cabin. Which was precisely why I hadn’t gone back there to hide. Maybe I could just climb in my bedroom window tonight and avoid him. And maybe I really would book that flight home for tomorrow, like everybody thought I had.

I untangled my arm from Summer’s. “You go. I’m just going to go to the bathroom first. I’ll meet you there.”

“I’ll order you a beer.”

I nodded, leaving her and Dom to go in one direction while I headed in the opposite, toward the back of the bar where images of a cow and bull differentiated the male and female bathrooms.

The one with the image of a bull opened, and I dropped my gaze to the floor, immediately recognizing the man. I scuttled faster for the door with the cow, but he was quicker.

“Lennon.”

I froze, unable to keep pretending I hadn’t seen him. “Ah, hey. I know I’m probably the last person you want to see, but it’s a big bar, and there’s heaps of people here. I’ll stay out of your way.”

I stepped toward the bathroom, but his fingers wrapped around my wrist, holding me in place. Despite a couple of nights sitting on the couch together, and years of living on the same property, this was the first time he’d ever touched me in a way that wasn’t an accidental brushing of limbs or fingers.

It wasn’t good. Tingles shot up my arm, his rough callouses grazing over my skin, which immediately broke out in goosebumps. A whole-body shiver ran over me, and I prayed he wouldn’t see. Or if he did, he’d at least attribute it to the air-conditioning vent we stood under.

“You’re exactly who I wanted to see.”

My heart sank. He deserved the chance to cuss me out for embarrassing him in front of both his boss and coach, and the head of the WBRA. Preston was a fully grown man. Not a little boy. He hadn’t needed me jumping in to defend him. My dad and Summer had understood that. But I apparently had not received the memo. “I’m so sorry,” I blurted out.

“What for?”

I paused.

His fingers were still holding on to my arm, and it was distracting as hell.

“You know. Everything?”

Why did I always have to blush? It gave away my awkwardness every time, and the fact I knew I was doing it only made my face hotter. It was a genetic flaw that I was sure one of my parents had passed down. Likely my father, since my mother’s skin was dark enough to hide it. I’d need to have words with him about that.

I made another attempt to run for the bathroom, and for a second, I thought he was going to let me go. I managed the two steps toward the door but then realized it was only because Preston was marching me straight past it. He pulled me deeper into the corridor, away from the noise of the bar and the bustle of the bathrooms. All that was down this far was the emergency exit.

My mouth ran on autopilot. “I’m so embarrassed. I don’t know what came over me. I just can’t stand the way Brad Pruitt lords it over everyone just because he owns the damn tour. He has no right to talk to people the way he does. But I know you don’t need me—”

“Who says I don’t need you?”

I stopped. Everything inside me ceased to work at the low grumble in his voice. If he hadn’t had a hold on my arm, I might have melted at his feet.

But then his regular good humor poked through, a tiny smile lifting the corner of his mouth. “I’ve never seen anyone stand up to Pruitt the way you did. I certainly didn’t have the balls to say it. You were amazing.”

My mouth dropped open. “I was…what? You aren’t mad?”

“Why the hell would I be mad? You were a total badass. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“Neither did I,” I admitted, still at a complete loss for words.

“We still on for that movie after this? Come sit with Hallie and Nate and me. I’ve got some food on order, but the movie isn’t until nine.”

I swallowed hard. “Uh, yeah, sure. I came with Summer, I can get her to drop me off at the cinema.”

“Or you can just come with me. My truck is outside.”

My stupid heart squealed about this sounding an awful lot like a date. Saturday night. A bar. Food. A movie.

But this wasn’t that. This was two friends, hanging out.

Exactly what I’d wanted.

When he let go of my arm, though, I knew I was in way over my head. I’d come back here to get a fix of small-town life before I had to go back to the city. It was supposed to just fill my cup, so I could get through the next six months of summer classes and then year three of my degree.

It wasn’t supposed to be about a guy.

He wasn’t supposed to make it harder to leave when I was already pretty sure that staying was where my heart was at.

11

Brad Pruitt’s words may as well have been carved across my chest and etched out of my skin. They went deep enough to show the bone. I don’t know how nobody else saw the gaping wounds they left behind.

Nobody but Lennon.

Frost had tried to come to my rescue. I’d watched his body stiffen as Brad had dressed me down in front of everyone. Kai had practically had steam coming out of his ears, but the second I’d saw his mouth open, I’d subtly kicked his ankle. He’d glanced at me and pressed his lips back together.

He was the closest thing I had to a father, and after seven years of seeing the man every day, he knew me as well as I knew him.

One look was all it had taken to tell him to let it go.

My stupid ego wasn’t worth losing his entire business over.

Then I’d really be up shit creek without a paddle. Because if the pro riding dream was all bullshit, and I lost my job on the ranch, I’d really have nothing.

The bartender pushed a tray of drinks in my direction, and I handed over some cash before taking them back to the table my friends had gathered around. I caught sight of Callie with a guy on the dance floor, but the others were all clustered around the table, laughing at something Theo had said.

I didn’t dislike anyone. It wasn’t in my nature, and Theo was a nice guy. But it didn’t escape my attention that he’d sat himself next to Lennon again. That stirred some masculine part of me, and instead of taking the seat I’d had before I went to the bathroom and run into Lennon in the hallway, I took the one on her other side. I set the tray down on the table, handing out beers to anyone who wanted one.

Even Theo. Though it was tempting to knock him over the head with it just so I didn’t have to watch Lennon smile at his jokes.

Which admittedly were funny. But still.

From across the room, I caught Kai watching me again. I gave him a tight smile and knew he was probably worried about how I was taking Brad’s assessment of me. But I inched away from his youngest daughter anyway, afraid he might have noticed that I was sitting a touch too close to her.

It probably wasn’t far enough, though. From where I sat, her arm brushed mine from time to time as she talked with Theo, the warmth of her skin perfect and soft. I took a long swallow of my beer, hoping the cold liquid would douse the kindling fire each touch lit up.

What the fuck was wrong with me? I needed to quit this. But her smile, even when it wasn’t directly squarely at me, was the balm to the injuries I’d sustained today.

Nobody had ever stood up for me the way she had.

“Thanks for the drink,” she said quietly, only loud enough for me to hear.

I’d never heard her raise her voice. In fact, it was normally the exact opposite. Anytime something bothered Lennon, she’d go quiet, tucking herself away where nobody could see her. Just like when I’d found her in the henhouse.

But not today. Today she’d been part warrior, going into bat for me, with nothing more than a sexy-as-fuck sundress and cowboy boots for armor. “You’re welcome. Thanks for coming today to support.”

She twisted the bottle in her hand, her forearms resting on the tabletop. “Thanks for not being mad.”

“Thanks for sticking up for me.”

Her eyes twinkled. “Thanks for saying thanks.”

I sniggered, leaning forward, mirroring her position. “How many things do you think we can thank each other for before someone runs out of things to say?”

She lifted one shoulder. “I could think of a few more.”

Her gaze flickered to my lips for the tiniest of seconds.

Fuck.

I sat back abruptly. Were we flirting? How the hell had I gone from little Lennon Hunt, thirteen-year-old with braces, to her looking at my lips, with me…wanting to do something about it?

She’d been on my mind ever since that first night where we’d sat on the couch having dinner together in my cabin. I sought her out around the ranch, and at the rodeo. I got jealous over Theo talking to her. And every curve of her body had my dick wanting her attention.

Theo put his hand on the back of her chair, his thumb dangerously close to her skin. “So, how’s Massachusetts, Len? I’ve never been.”

She turned away from me, her dark hair swishing over her shoulders as she looked over at him. I bit back a punch of annoyance for the younger man. I had no claim on Lennon’s attention. She could talk to whoever she wanted.

I just wanted that someone to be me.

“It’s great! I love it so much. The work is really interesting…”

Theo gave her his full attention, nodding along.

But I frowned, hearing something in her voice that hadn’t been there the last time I’d heard her speak about school. “You love it?”

They both stared at me.

Lennon nodded, but it was too fast. “Sure. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do.”

She was lying.

I could see it in her face. But about what, I didn’t quite know. For as long as I’d known her, Lennon had wanted to be a doctor. I’d seen her nurse animals back to health over and over, and she’d spent her teenage summers volunteering at the hospital, reading to elderly patients and helping visitors find their way around the building, just so she could be in the environment she one day wanted to work in.

The rest of the time she spent with her head in a textbook, diligently studying, making sure she had the grades to get there.

But something in her expression wasn’t right. I was even more sure of it when she quickly turned back to Theo. “If you ever go, I’ll take you to this little pizza and pasta place. I practically live there, but they have the best carbonara I’ve ever had. I’ve got bowls and bowls of it stuck right here on my hips. I probably should switch to salad occasionally.”

“Get out, you look great.” Theo’s grin was full-blown flirtatious.

She did look great. More than freaking great.

She looked downright doable.

It didn’t matter how much I knew I shouldn’t go there with her. I couldn’t just sit here and watch Theo flirt with her and say nothing.

I pulled out my phone. “Hey, Len? Which movie did you want to see tonight? Rom-com or action?”

It was petty, but I didn’t mind the expression on Theo’s face. It was clear he thought we were going on a date, and I wasn’t going to correct him.

“You choose. It’s your big day.”

“Rom-com it is then. But we really need to get going or we’ll miss the start.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “I thought you said it started at nine?”

“Got my times mixed up. It’s at eight. You ready?”

She nodded. “See y’all back at the ranch,” she called to the others.

Hallie, Nate, Dom, and Summer all waved distractedly, too busy with their own conversation to really care what we were doing. Theo looked like he’d just been punched in the gut. Poor guy. I kinda knew how that felt. Because watching him and Lennon at the rodeo had felt much the same.

She picked up her purse, and I pushed my luck, putting my hand on the small of her back, guiding her through the crowd toward the exit. It was still early, and packed with people, so we detoured around the edge of the dance floor.

Halfway, Lennon stopped abruptly.

So I did as well.

Callie stared at us from the dance floor, where she was wrapped around a man I was fairly sure I’d seen competing in the barrel racing earlier that day. Her gaze touched on my hand on Lennon’s back, and her expression morphed into something that might have been anger before she turned back to him, drawing his head down and pressing up on her toes to kiss him.

“Are they together?” I asked Lennon. “His name is George, right? Gerry? Something like that. I haven’t seen him around the ranch…”

Lennon shook her head. “You’d know more than I would. She doesn’t tell me anything.” The hurt on her face was clear. “Is he a nice guy?”

“I honestly don’t know. I can ask around…one of the trainees might know him better…”

She turned back to me, and we moved toward the exit again. “Don’t bother. If she’d wanted me to know, she would have told me. I just…I want her to be happy.”

We made it out into the warm summer air, and I dropped my hand from her back. I didn’t want to. But there was no crowd out here, and no reason for me to be touching her.

None other than I wanted to.

“Am I making this worse by taking you out tonight? Would you rather just go home?”

Lennon opened the passenger-side door of my truck and hoisted herself up onto the seat. “Honestly? I don’t know. I don’t want Callie to be upset with me, but she won’t even talk to me about it. So what am I supposed to do?” Her annoyance got the better of her, and she jerked the seat belt so hard it locked. She tried twice more, snapping at it, letting her anger out in the only available way she had. Eventually, she took a deep breath and pulled the seatbelt slowly. It drew down between her tits and clicked.

“You okay?”

She clearly wasn’t. “I don’t even know why she’s so mad with me. She’s the one who got to sleep with you!”

An uncomfortableness prickled at the back of my neck, a reminder that messing with these women wasn’t a good idea.

And yet here I was, about to drive one of them to a movie I wouldn’t watch because I was thinking about kissing her.

“I feel like shit about being the one who came between you.”

“Don’t. I’m being general when I say it was because of that night. It wasn’t. We’ve always been too different. I’ve always felt like I’m the only one who makes an effort in our relationship.” She blew out a long breath that lifted the loose tendrils of hair that hung around her face. “Sorry.”

“I’m the one who’s sorry.”

She let out a short laugh. “Are we going to see how many times we can apologize like we did with thank yous?”

“Or we could just go watch the movie?”

“Deal.”

I lied, though. I didn’t watch a second of the movie. I watched Lennon instead, my heart racing at being so close to her. From the corner of my eye, I took in her smile at the corny jokes. I loved that she thought they were funny, even though they were so bad. When the couple finally got their big kiss toward the end, she dropped her gaze to her nearly empty popcorn bucket, her cheeks going pink while she squirmed in her seat.

Goddammit. She was so beautiful.

I leaned in to whisper in her ear so we wouldn’t disrupt the people around us. My lips accidentally grazed over her cheek. “You’re blushing.”

She went still.

So did I. I should have moved back, but the scent of her floral perfume drifted around my nose, begging me to stay right where I was and inhale her.

“Onscreen kisses are so corny,” she whispered.

I wanted to kiss her.

Fucking hell. I wanted to kiss her so bad.

I traced my fingers down her jaw, guiding her to face me. “What about real-life kisses? Corny, too?”

Our lips were too close. Not touching, but there was barely an inch between us. Her warm breath mingled with mine, hitching, so I knew I was affecting her as much as she was affecting me.

“I haven’t kissed anyone in a really long time.”

That didn’t surprise me. She’d already admitted to not having much of a social life. I didn’t imagine that many doctors in training did.

“I shouldn’t kiss you,” I murmured.

Her teeth bit into her bottom lip, then released it slowly.

She didn’t even realize how sexy she was. On anyone else it might have been a deliberate ploy to appear attractive, but on Lennon, it was innocently and effortlessly hot.

“No, you probably shouldn’t.” Her voice was nothing more than a breathless whisper that begged for me to do the complete opposite.

My gaze dipped to her mouth.

The lights flickered on.

We jerked apart, both blinking too rapidly in the brightness of the cinema lights.

“Excuse me, could we get by, please?”

Lennon shot out of her seat, turning and apologizing to the woman who’d sat next to her and was now waiting to make her way into the aisle that Lennon and I were blocking by just sitting there staring at each other.

I wanted to glare at the woman for being so damn impatient. She couldn’t even give us a minute to leave? Not that I was going to kiss Lennon with the lights on and everyone milling around, rubbernecking at us.

The moment had passed.

I’d missed it.

I had no choice but to follow suit. I gathered our popcorn and candy wrappers, waiting for Lennon in the aisle before we walked down the stairs together. In complete silence, we shoved our trash in the bin and followed the rest of the crowd out to the parking lot.

With every step, I cursed the damn lights. And myself for not making a move earlier. And then in the next breath, I cursed myself for saying anything at all.

12

After watching him compete that afternoon, I knew there would be no missing him at the bar. There was no way he’d turn down an opportunity to bask in his glory. The thought sent jitters through me, and I shoved my hands into the pockets of my cutoffs to stop my fingers from trembling. But I’d spent too long avoiding him. Soon, everybody would know, but he had to be first. It was only fair. I’d already put this off for weeks, and it was on my mind twenty-four-seven, turning me into a grumpy cow who snapped at everyone or burst into tears and ran away like a little girl.

The bar door opened, and from my spot on the dance floor, I craned my neck to see if it was him.

But it was Summer who appeared in the doorway, her grin wide and friendly. I raised a hand to wave to her but dropped it when Lennon was behind her.

I stepped back, blending into the crowd. Lennon was the last person I wanted to talk to.

But I couldn’t stop sneaking looks in their direction. They settled at a table with Hallie and Nate, and a moment later, Preston joined them.

My stomach twisted, but not in the way it once had. Once upon a time, the sight of him had filled me with butterflies and nervous excitement. If I went back far enough through messages on my phone, I’d probably find all the ones we’d sent each other. Mine were full of flirting. His were more platonic, now that I was old enough and removed enough from my teenage crush to see them for what they really were. But at the time, I’d made every word into something more.

“Callie.”

I closed my eyes at the deep voice behind me. His breath tickled over my ear, just like it had every other time we’d done this dance.

I knew how it went. He said my name in that delicious voice of his, my knees went weak, and an hour later I found myself in his bed.

He’d already fitted himself to my back, his fingers digging into my hip, holding me in place. “Jeremy.”

“Did you watch me race? I won.”

“Even if I hadn’t, that championship buckle pressed to my back would have given it away.”

“You watched.”

“I did.”

“Want to congratulate me, then? I’ve got several ideas on how you could do that, but all of them involve getting off this dance floor.”

Lennon and Preston leaned their heads together, laughing and whispering with each other. They weren’t fooling anyone with their “we’re just friends” act. There was a vibe between them now that hadn’t been there the last time I’d seen them together. A little stab of jealousy speared through me.

Not because I still wanted Preston. That ship had well and truly sailed.

But it would have been nice to have someone look at me the way he was looking at her right now. Like he had all the time in the world to sit and listen to whatever she had to say. Like he cared about her as more than just somebody to warm his bed at night.

“So romantic,” I muttered in response to Jeremy’s proposal. But this was the bed I’d made for myself. I’d accepted this sort of behavior from him because he was handsome and popular, and for half a moment, I felt special when he picked me out of a crowd of women at a bar or rodeo.

“Come on, baby. You remember that night we snuck around the back and had sex in the parking lot?”

I remembered. It had been hot, the two of us both a little too drunk to drive, and taxis practically nonexistent in our little town. But we’d been too into each other to wait until we were sober enough to get behind the wheel. We’d ditched our friends and found a dark corner of the parking lot, and a car that didn’t belong to either of us.

Heat warmed its way through my body at the memory of him pushing me up against the metal, lifting my skirt while he fumbled with his zipper. His big hand had snaked around, grabbing a handful of my boob, while he got his dick out with the other.

It hadn’t been romantic. Nothing about the two of us was. But it had been fast and hot and satisfying. He’d slammed himself inside me and then had to cover my mouth so I didn’t let the entire bar know what we were doing out there.

That’s how it always was with the two of us. Fast. Hot. Explosive.

It wasn’t enough. I barely knew the man, and yet I’d let him inside me. Many times.

Lennon and Preston still flirted, completely unaware of me. Though I no longer wanted him, it didn’t take away the sting that he was another man who hadn’t wanted me for more than one night.

“We need to talk, Jeremy.”

His lips landed on my neck, sucking at the spot he knew turned me to mush. “We can talk all you want. Naked.”

I rolled my eyes, knowing he couldn’t see it. But I didn’t push him away. He was sinfully good-looking, and there was no doubt that my body wanted his, even if it was just physical. Every time we were together on a dance floor, or at a party, we drew envious gazes from other women. He knew it. He could have anyone he wanted, and probably did when I wasn’t around. We’d made no promises to each other. I’d tried. He hadn’t wanted it. So I’d let it go and accepted what I’d been given.

Which in the end, was a whole lot more than I bargained for. I tried to turn in his arms and push him away. “Seriously, Jeremy. We need to actually have a conversation. There’s something I need to tell you.”

He held me tight, lips against my skin. He was hard, his erection grinding against me as he danced. He was big and thick and so good in bed, which was why I’d kept falling into it, even though there was nothing else between us.

My gaze snagged with Lennon’s across the dance floor, Preston’s hand demurely at her back, ushering her her outside.

I already knew they weren’t going out there for a quickie, like Jeremy and I would have been. Lennon wouldn’t have done that. She was the smart twin. The one away at college, about to become a doctor, for buck’s sake. The one who had her life together and wasn’t chasing good feelings in a man who probably didn’t even know her surname.

Lennon and I stared at each other across the floor. It might as well have been a canyon. That’s how far apart I felt from her.

I hated it. But I couldn’t fix it either. Everything about Lennon made me feel like shit about myself. She was a constant reminder that I wasn’t smart. I wasn’t achieving anything. And that men didn’t respect me.

Jeremy would never have sidled up to Lennon in a bar and made a dirty proposition. Because people here respected her. She was the woman who got taken out for nice dinners and walks by the lake.

She wasn’t the idiot who got herself knocked up by a man she didn’t even care about in the seedy parking lot of a bar.

I spun in Jeremy’s arms, desperate to feel something other than the heartache of my situation. “Kiss me.”

I didn’t have to ask him twice. His lips landed on mine, his tongue pressing into my mouth. This wasn’t the talk we needed to have. But in that moment, it was all I had.

13

In the darkness of Preston’s car, neither of us spoke. It was a good twenty-minute drive back the ranch, but not one word was uttered by anyone other than the Saturday night radio DJ who rambled about that afternoon’s rodeo in between country songs. The ones about beer and tractors were good. The ones about kissing and love only thickened the air and the awkwardness between us.

He’d been about to kiss me.

That was all my brain could comprehend.

That and my pure bad luck that the movie had ended when it had. But his silence had me worried to my core. He had to regret it. That’s why he’d backed off so quick and rushed us out of the cinema. It was probably why the trees outside were flashing by my window at ten miles per hour over the speed limit.

The tension grew with every mile, until the point it was so unbearable I wanted to slink beneath the dashboard and suck in some exhaust fumes in the hopes it would kill the brain cells that remembered me staring at him, practically begging him to throw me down on the cinema seats and ravage me.

So embarrassing.

He’d barely stopped the truck outside our cabin before I was out the door, slamming it behind me and rushing up the steps. The closed front door put a halt to my plans to run straight to my bedroom and burrow beneath the covers until it was time for me to go back to school. I reached for the doorknob, but Preston’s boots thundered up the steps behind me, too close for me to escape. His hand caught mine, whipping me around to face him.

I stared up at him, drowning in the feeling that devoured me every time I looked at him. He was so attractive, with stubble on his strong jaw. His brown eyes gazed down at me, studying me like I was the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen.

“I should have kissed you.”

My brain short-circuited.

He took a step closer, pressing against me until my back hit the door I’d never gotten to open. He gripped my chin, keeping my head still while he ran his thumb over my lip. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t now, and I’ll let you go.”

I didn’t say a word.

“Thought so.”

His mouth dropped down on mine.

My eyes fell closed with no thought from me, and I melted into him. I clutched his biceps, my fingers digging into the hard muscles beneath his shirt.

Preston Innes was kissing me.

I kissed him back.

His tongue pressed to the seam of my lips, and with a tiny moan, I opened for him. His tongue moved with mine, leisurely at first, but then with more oomph when I dragged him closer to me. My head swam in dizzying circles, and I couldn’t quite believe this was really happening after so long of dreaming about it.

But it was.

Preston’s kiss sucked the air from my lungs and set my body on fire. He surrounded me, one hand tangled in my hair, the other pinning me in, palm on the door.

I couldn’t get enough.

He let out a groan that would have been downright indecent, except there was nobody around but a country night sky full of stars.

He pulled back an inch, gaze running all over my face. “Fuck, Lennon.”

It was only a second before he was kissing me again.

Kissing Preston was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. My heart pounded, and I realized now why people did this in the middle of bars and nightclubs, too impatient to get somewhere private.

Kissing someone your body wanted with every inch of its being was impossible to ignore.

Preston’s hand skated down my arm to my hip, his fingers pressing there so he could grind against me.

He was hard.

And big.

SO very big.

And suddenly, every insecurity I had came rushing to the surface. His kisses stole my breath, and I never wanted them to stop, and yet I knew if we didn’t, this was going to go a lot further than kissing on the front step.

We were both adults. We had an empty cabin. And no suddenly blinding cinema lights to put an end to this.

I had to tell him.

I opened my eyes, staring into his as they fluttered open. “I have to tell you something.”

He only paused for half a second. “Please don’t tell me you lied and you do actually have a boyfriend back home.”

Shit. Quite the opposite, in fact. “No boyfriend. Actually… Never a boyfriend.”

That got his proper attention. His body still pressed against mine, but his head craned back an inch. “You don’t date? Lennon… I wasn’t exactly asking for one…”

Oh God. Kill me now. This was even worse. He was thinking he was going to get a one-night stand, and while I was up for that, he needed to know the truth before that happened.

“I’m a virgin.”

He froze. “As in…”

“Never had sex? Yeah.”

He took a step back.

I rushed forward to fill the gap. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want this. I do! I just thought you should know first…”

He took his hat off, scraping his hair back with his fingers before putting it back on his head. “Shit, Len. I had no idea. You said you were one two years ago when you came to my room that night, but I just assumed that since then…”

Heat filled my face. I knew my lack of experience wasn’t exactly common in women my age. But I didn’t think it was completely unheard of either. I just had other priorities. “Does it matter to you? I know some men like it…”

He looked like I’d punched him in the chest. “Not me.”

He might as well have taken a knife and plunged it right into my heart. I fumbled for the doorknob behind me, almost falling over when it turned and gave way, opening into the cabin.

Preston caught me, but as soon as I was steady on my feet, I pulled from his grasp. “Right, okay. Gotcha.”

“Lennon, wait. I didn’t mean it like—”

“No, it’s fine. I understand. I’m going to go to bed. See you in the morning.”

I spun on my heel and took off for the safety of my bedroom, slamming the door behind me. I dove onto the bed, the mattress squeaking beneath me, and buried my face in the pillow.

“Lennon.” Preston’s muffled voice came through the door. “Can you come out? I want to talk.”

But I couldn’t. This was the night I’d walked in on Callie in his bed all over again. Only, he hadn’t minded that she was a virgin.

I got up long enough only to put some music on a Bluetooth speaker and cranked it up as loud as it could go.

Another goddamn country love song.

I groaned into the pillow until the song changed and Preston gave up calling through my door.

14

Even if Lennon had turned the music down, there was no chance of getting any rest. I tossed and flailed around, too hot in my stuffy bedroom to sleep. Sweat beaded on my skin, and after an hour of beating myself up over what had happened, I dragged my ass to the bathroom, stripped off my clothes, and got beneath the spray.

I needed to cool off. In more than one way. The erection that had begged me to take things further with Lennon refused to disappear, no matter how much I wanted it to.

The water washed off the sweat, but it did nothing to take away the feel of Lennon in my arms, her soft body pressed against mine. I dropped my forehead to the tiled wall of the shower and let the water tumble over me in a river. I closed my eyes, but that only gave my brain free rein to go straight back to thinking about all the things I’d wanted to do out there on that porch.

I’d been ready to hike her dress up, pull her panties to the side, and sink inside her. Given another five minutes of kissing the way we had been, I would have done it.

But her confession of being a virgin had stopped me dead in my tracks.

I couldn’t do that again.

I’d been there with Callie, and it had caused nothing but heartache for her and guilt for me when that was as far as it went. Summer was still pissed off about it, and fuck, I could only imagine the look on Frost’s face if he ever found out that it had been me who’d taken both his daughters’ virginity.

It wasn’t even that he’d be mad. He’d just be disappointed. And that was so much worse.

At least she’d told me. Callie hadn’t.

But my dick wished she hadn’t said a word. Because it still remembered grinding up against her, my tongue in her mouth, her fingers digging into my biceps.

My dick still remembered the tiny moans of need that she’d given up while I kissed her.

I grew harder and thicker at the thought. She was barely ten feet away, separated by walls and doors, and embarrassment over my rejection. I could have had her in this shower with me right now, running my hands over the slick, wet, soaped-up curves of her tits and ass. I put one arm up on the wall and pressed my mouth to it so I could let out a groan of lust that barreled down on me like a freight train.

I’d never wanted any woman the way I’d wanted Lennon out there. I gripped the base of my cock, my fingers strangling it, and viciously pumped myself, hating it with every stroke because it wasn’t her hand.

But there was nothing else for it. This wasn’t going away. Not until I came.

I picked up the pace, jerking off, gripping my balls with my other hand when working my dick wasn’t enough of a replacement for her.

God, I wanted her. I wanted to storm out of this shower and drag her back here with me. I wanted to lather her up, so her nipples were tight and needy, and her pussy was wet and throbbing for me.

“You’re a fucking idiot, Innes.” Because I wasn’t doing any of that. She was going back to school. Sure, she’d come home for visits, but she didn’t need a fuck buddy. She needed a boyfriend. She’d made it this long with her virginity, she was obviously waiting for someone special.

That person was not me. Brad Pruitt had cemented that today, reminding me of what I already knew. My mother would have been the first to agree with him. She hated ego of any sort and had reminded me daily that thinking I was too important was a surefire way to lose in life.

I pushed out the intrusive thoughts, not wanting to think of either my mom or Brad while I was hard. Only Lennon. But this had to be over with. I didn’t want to find pleasure in it, but I did. When I came, it was with a moan of relief. I kept up the pace, draining every drop, because I didn’t want to do this again.

She’d be gone in the morning. And then I could go back to my regular life of jerking off over nameless, faceless images that meant nothing to me.

Iwoke up with a clearer head. Lennon and I had kissed, but I’d stopped it before any real damage had been done. There was no problem here, just some minor awkwardness that could be addressed quickly, and then we could go back to just hanging out like we had the last few days.

So I got up even earlier than I normally did and started making a big, proper breakfast. Eggs, bacon, toast. The lot. I was a good cook. I’d had to learn because there wasn’t much choice when you moved out at seventeen and had to fend for yourself most nights. I added a few spices and kept everything warm while I waited for Lennon to emerge from her bedroom.

Muffled noises came from behind her bedroom door, so I knew she was awake, but I didn’t want to rush her.

A thump came from somewhere outside.

I peered out the kitchen window but didn’t see anything unusual in the early morning light.

Another thump sounded, this one louder. With the food just warming in the oven, I wiped my hands on a cloth and went out onto the porch. Another thump came, but from the rear of the cabin. From time to time, cows got out of their paddocks and liked to eat the untouched grass in the field behind us, so I prepared to shoo them back to their rightful place.

Instead, I found an unusual pile, made up of Lennon’s suitcase, text books, and toiletries bag.

I peered up at the window and raised an eyebrow when Lennon leaned out with another armful of her things. I managed to jump out of the way before they beaned me in the head, and blinked up at her. “I see you found the emergency escape route.”

She stared down at me. “Oh shit.”

“You planning on jumping?”

“I was. But I’m rethinking that plan with you out there.”

“You could abandon ship and just run for the front door. Do you really even need your clothes and books?” I couldn’t help the laughter bubbling up inside me.

She scowled. “Don’t laugh at me.”

“Why not? You were about to jump out of a window to try to avoid seeing me. That makes you kinda crazy, Len.”

“That makes me completely mortified. Not crazy.”

I rolled my eyes and picked up her suitcase.

“What are you doing!”

“Taking your things back inside. I made breakfast. It’s in the oven. So instead of breaking your ankle when you jump from that window, turn your ass around and go sit. If you still want to run away after breakfast, I will carry your bags for you.”

“How gracious.”

“I’m nothing if not gentlemanly.”

She mumbled something that sounded like, “Too gentlemanly for your own good if you ask me.” Then disappeared back inside, shutting the window behind her.

“You’re telling me,” I grumbled. Despite feeling clear-headed and determined about the path I needed to take with Lennon, I hadn’t forgotten anything that had happened last night. Not one moment.

I picked up the last textbook and hefted the entire pile back into the cabin, eyeing her with amusement as she watched me deposit them back onto her bed.

She was cute when she was angry.

I motioned to the couch. “Do you want to sit to eat, or are we going to stand at the counter?”

She glanced at the couch, then quickly shook her head. “I’ll stand. Over here.”

I frowned but didn’t argue. If she wanted space between us, then I would respect that. I had no right to want her on that couch beside me, her bare thigh pressing against mine…

I had to stop thinking about her like that.

“Fine.” I went to the oven and pulled out the meal I’d prepared, dividing it across two plates and handing one over to her. I put mine down on the coffee table and tried to hide my amusement as she stood with her plate clutched in her hand, clearly trying to avoid me in the tiny cabin.

“It’s a lot easier to cut bacon if you put the plate down and use your knife and fork. Just saying. I don’t bite.”

She shot me a dirty look and took her plate to the counter. There was no breakfast bar or stool there, the place was too small, so she had to stand, but at least she could cut up her food. “I’ll be fine over here.”

“Suit yourself.” I chewed for a moment and swallowed. “So you’re leaving today, right? What time is your flight?”

She sawed at her bacon, her knife squeaking across the plate. “Not until six,” she admitted.

“I’ll drive you.” The words took me by surprise as much as they did her. But I wasn’t taking them back.

“Summer or my dad can drive me.”

“Summer will be hungover, and your dad has a potential buyer coming this afternoon.”

Her lips pressed together. “Fine. My mom then.”

I sighed. “Just let me drive you.”

“Why? So we can have another long and uncomfortable, tension-filled drive?” She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the countertop, her food temporarily forgotten. “Are you going to kiss me at the end of this one and then reject me again?”

I choked on my scrambled egg. “I didn’t reject you.”

Her eyes widened. “Are you joking? You were all over me like a rash, Preston! If I hadn’t said anything, you would have had your dick inside me while we stood on the front porch!”

I needed water. My mouth was suddenly as dry as the Sahara, and neither my toast, nor being called out, was helping the situation. I got up and moved past her in the kitchen, grabbing a glass from a cabinet and holding it under the faucet. I gulped down half of it, using the time to find my composure. “I didn’t reject you. I just…stopped.”

“Same thing!”

The drink had been a mistake. Now we were both cornered in the tiny kitchenette, too close to each other. Her eyes flashed. She might have been trying to sneak out without doing this confrontation at all, but now that it was happening, she wasn’t backing down.

It only made me want her more.

Like a magnet, I edged closer, removing the tiny scrap of distance that existed before. “What exactly did you want me to do? You told me you’re a virgin. Did you want me to just sit you on this counter, spread your legs, and take that without a second thought?”

“Yes!”

I blinked.

She stared up at me, challenge in her eyes.

In a flash, I had her ass up on the countertop. I pried her knees apart then gripped her hips, dragging her forward so she was on the edge, me between her widespread legs.

She gasped. “What are you doing?”

I backed off.

I forced myself to take three steps backward until my spine hit the refrigerator door. I was going to need another cold shower. My dick was achingly hard behind my jeans. “See? This is why I stopped. You aren’t ready.”

“I’m twenty, Preston. I’m ready.”

I shook my head. “How far have you gone with a man?”

Pink blossomed on the apples of her cheeks. “What does that matter?”

“Answer the question.”

“Far enough.”

“That’s not an answer. How far?”

She closed her legs but remained sitting on the countertop. “There was a guy in high school.”

“He never wanted to fuck you?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Fool.”

Her breath hitched. “It wasn’t really like that.”

“Did he go down on you?”

Her gaze dropped to her feet, and she tapped them against the kitchen cupboard. “No. Nothing like that.”

My gaze widened. “Nothing? He never even made you come?”

She threw her hands up in the air. “He barely even kissed me, Preston! There. Is that what you want to hear? That I’ve managed to make it to twenty with nothing more than a brush of some guy’s lips against mine?”

She jumped down off the counter, her food forgotten as she tried to storm away.

I stepped in front of her so abruptly she smacked straight into my chest.

I wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her in tight. “This is why I stopped. Not because I didn’t want you. Fucking hell, Lennon. You’re right. If you hadn’t said anything, I would have had you in my bed all night.” I loosened my hold on her. “But you aren’t ready.”

“I’m an idiot for even saying anything.”

I brushed a tendril of hair back behind her ear. “You would have regretted it. And then we both would have felt like shit.”

Her voice went quiet, all the fight going out of her. “I’m full of regret now anyway.”

I let out a sigh. I didn’t want that, but better than regret over sleeping with me. “You don’t need to rush it. You’ll find the right guy. You’ll fall in love, and then it will be special.”

She turned away, picking up her plate and scraping it into the bin. “Yeah, sure. Can’t wait.”

I didn’t know what else to say. “I’ve got to go to training. I’ll pick you up at four to go to the airport, okay?”

“Sure.”

I didn’t have to train on a Sunday. But I couldn’t stand here in the cabin with her all day either. If I did, she’d be entirely too hard to resist.

I’d made my bed and now I had to lie in it. Alone.

15

Ihad hours to spare before we needed to get on the road to the airport. Preston didn’t seem likely to give up on his plan to drive me, so I tossed my suitcase in the back of his truck and bundled my books and laptop to go up to the main house.

Even though I needed to study, I wanted to be with my family. Being a Sunday, they were likely to be hanging around. There was probably a good chance of another big breakfast if I timed it right. Which would be nice since I’d sacrificed most of the one Preston had made me.

Dust kicked up onto my boots as I walked through the early morning sunshine. They’d need a good polish when I got back to Massachusetts. It’s not like they’d get used there. They’d get shoved to the back of my closet. Again.

“They’re just boots, Lennon,” I murmured. I skirted around my mother’s favorite dogwood tree that had bloomed since the last time I’d been here.

I reached my parents’ door and was about to let myself inside when a grumble of an engine came from behind me on the driveway. I had to step to the side to see who it was, the tree’s gently swaying branches getting in the way.

An unfamiliar white truck parked in front of the house, and the passenger-side door opened.

Immediately, a tumble of angry words spilled out into the quiet of the morning air. “I’d thank you for the ride, but that’s probably the very least you could do, considering.”

“Jesus, Callie. It’s not my fault.”

“Oh, of course it’s not! How stupid of me to think you might actually stand up like a man and take some responsibility!”

I stepped back behind the tree quickly, not sure what to do. I had no idea who Callie was arguing with, but obviously neither of them had seen me, because Callie was in full screaming-banshee mode.

My parents’ front door squeaked so bad, if I opened it, they’d hear it immediately. Callie’s anger would no doubt redirect to me, and I could already hear the accusations of eavesdropping on her personal business.

For the second time that day, I looked for an escape route. But there wasn’t anywhere else to go. There was no window to try to jump out of this time.

“And you wonder why I don’t want anything to do with you,” the man spat from inside his car. “You’re a crazy bitch. Call me in nine months when you have the proof that kid is mine.”

I sucked in a breath, but it did nothing to fill my lungs. Shock punched through my system, and I clapped a hand over my mouth to stifle my surprise. That…kid? What kid?

There was a slam of a door, and then a crunch of tires on gravel as the man put his foot down too hard and little rocks sprayed up everywhere, pinging off the undercarriage. His car bumped down the driveway, the same way he’d come, and for a moment, there was silence.

Then a sob ripped from somewhere deep within my twin, and she cried while the man pulled out on the road and disappeared in a cloud of dust.

It didn’t matter how long we’d been fighting for. I ran to her side, slowing down only after she jerked and turned in my direction.

“Are you okay?”

She swiped angrily at her eyes with the backs of her hands. “Oh, just great. You’re everywhere, aren’t you? At the rodeo, at the bar, here. Just leave me alone, Lennon.”

“Callie! Wait! What was all that about. What kid?”

Her bottom lip trembled. “It’s none of your business.”

She spun on her heel and strode away. The front door squeaked open and then slammed behind her as she disappeared inside.

More slowly, I followed the same path. Inside the house, everybody was gathered at the large kitchen table, busily wolfing down food. They all chatted animatedly, my dad and Johnny telling some story about the time their friend, Bowen, had been thrown in jail on one of their tours. My mother laughed, and Summer and Dominic looked on with grins on their faces.

Callie was nowhere to be seen.

My mother spotted me first. “Here she is! Our doctor in the making! Come eat something.”

But my stomach was too full of knots. “Where’s Callie?”

Summer shrugged with her loaded-up fork halfway to her mouth. “She came in a minute ago but said she wasn’t hungry.”

“Neither am I. I’m going to go talk to her.”

“Good luck. She’s clearly in a mood.”

They all went back to their food like they didn’t have a care in the world.

I frowned in their direction, but they hadn’t heard what I’d heard. So, of course, none of them were concerned.

I couldn’t tell them.

So making sure Callie was okay was on me. Whether she liked it or not.

I took the stairs to the second floor, passing the room that used to be mine but was now slept in more by my grandmother than me. Nothing had changed up here. There were still photos of me and Callie, little dark-haired twin babies, and then older, smiling five-year-olds on their first day of school. The photos petered out not too many years after that, likely when we’d gotten old enough to groan about having our photo taken.

It had been a long time since the two of us stood side by side in anything. And yet, if Callie was pregnant and I was the only one who knew…

I tapped my knuckles on her door.

“Go away, Lennon.”

“How did you know it was me?”

“Your annoying knock. It’s the same one we made up when we were seven.”

I hadn’t even realized I’d done that.

I twisted the doorknob and slipped into her room. Unlike my old one, hers looked different to when we’d been in high school. She’d gotten a bigger bed, with a neutral gray padded headboard. It was made neatly with a white bedspread and more throw pillows than a department store. Her desk had been replaced with an armchair, and framed prints took the place of the band posters.

Callie sat on the end of her bed, her head low. But she didn’t protest when I closed her door behind me and sat next to her.

Tear tracks stained her cheeks, and she still wore the clothes she’d been wearing the night before.

“You must be feeling pretty smug right now,” she said eventually.

Smug was the last emotion I was feeling. “Not at all.”

She huffed out a breath. “No? Not thinking, ‘Poor, messed-up Callie. So glad I’m not her.’”

I reached for her hand, but she flinched away. Even after all the other rejections, that stung.

I dropped my hand to my lap. “I would never think that. I am worried about you, though.”

“Don’t be. I’m fine.”

She wasn’t. “I haven’t been your twin all my life to not know when you’re lying.”

“You haven’t been here for two years, Lennon. Two whole years. You don’t know anything about me anymore.”

And the gut punch was, she was right.

“I want to know you again,” I said quietly. “But you push me away every time I try.”

She finally lifted her head. Her eyes were red-rimmed from crying. “I have bigger problems than your feelings, Lennon. Adult, real-world problems that you wouldn’t have a clue about.”

She pushed to her feet, grabbing a towel from the back of her bedroom door and heading for the bathroom. “Go back to school. Continue living your perfect life. Mom and Dad are real proud.”

She disappeared into the hallway, and a minute later, the sound of running water came from the bathroom.

She’d said similar to me before. During the fight we’d had after I found her in Preston’s cabin, and I’d done exactly what she’d wanted. I’d run off to school and hidden from the real world.

I’d hidden from the hurt we’d caused each other, and I’d let myself drown in my own jealousy and misery that she’d been growing in one direction, while I’d just felt like I was standing still.

But there was a reason I’d felt drawn to come back home.

And maybe this was it.

I picked up my phone and brought up the website of the airline I was flying home with. And in the click of a button, I cancelled my flight.

My professors would be outraged. My parents disappointed.

But in that moment, that twin bond I had with Callie, the one that would never go away, no matter how much distance came between us, was the anchor I’d been looking for. The thing that grounded me, keeping me from feeling like I’d lost my direction entirely.

If Callie was pregnant, she wasn’t going to be alone.

Not if I had anything to say about it.

At four, right on time, Preston walked into my parents’ living room, his gaze immediately seeking me out. His face was streaked with dirt and sweat, his T-shirt stuck to a defined chest.

I swallowed thickly at the heat that burned through me.

We’d said things to each other, both last night and this morning, that I’d barely had time to unpack, too absorbed by the impact of Callie’s accidental bomb-drop and being the only one who knew about it.

But now it all came rushing back. Him hefting me up onto the countertop and spreading my legs wide. Him admitting that I would have spent the night in his bed if I’d had the good sense to just shut up and let him do it.

He tipped his hat at my mom and dad, then turned to me. “You ready to go?”

My mother pouted and scooted over on the couch, so we were closer, putting her arm around me. “I hate when you leave. But at least this time you’ll be back in two weeks for the wedding.”

“You think you can hold out that long without your baby, Dad?” Summer teased from her spot on Dom’s lap.

Dad stood and placed a kiss to the top of my head. “We’ll see.”

I sucked in a breath and silently chanted the explanation I’d been working on all day in my head. “Actually, there’s been a change of plans.”

Everybody looked at me. Despite cancelling the flight hours earlier, I hadn’t quite worked out how to tell them I wasn’t going back to school just yet. I’d done all the math. I could take one more week off. The week after would be full of finals I couldn’t avoid if I didn’t want to fail. But I’d already shot off an email to my professors, claiming a family emergency as the explanation for not showing up to class for the next five days.

I’d gotten an immediate reply from my favorite professor, who’d been concerned about the missed time but assured me he knew it must be very urgent if I was missing this much class.

I agreed quickly, not feeling any guilt about lying. This was important. This wasn’t about me suddenly not wanting to do the work.

The urge to come home, and now to stay longer, went deeper than that.

It wasn’t forever. It was just an extra week.

“I’ve extended my leave from school. And I cancelled my flight.”

Dad frowned at me. “What do you mean?”

Mom shifted on the couch, twisting so she was facing me. Her expression suddenly full of worry. “Len, we love having you home, but can you really afford to take another week off? With finals coming up, I would have thought this was the most important time of year for you…”

“No, she can’t afford another week off,” Summer butted in, bossy big sister mode fully engaged. “I might not have gone to college but even I know nobody can take this much time off for no reason.”

I glanced at Preston, perhaps for some sort of backup, but he was scowling at me, too. At least he didn’t say anything.

“It’s fine. I promise,” I assured them.

My mother picked up my hand, rubbing it briskly between her own. “Has something happened? Is there a problem at school you need help with? If you’re struggling with your classes, your father and I can help pay for a tutor or—”

I shook my head. “No, no. It’s nothing like that. Everything is fine. Classes can all be caught up on online.”

I didn’t miss the way Preston’s eyes narrowed, like he’d picked up on the fact I wasn’t being completely truthful.

Thankfully, my mother and father didn’t. Dad squatted down on his haunches, the way he used to when I was a little kid. It only worked now because I was sitting. He tipped my chin up so he looked me in the eye. “You’d tell us if something was wrong, wouldn’t you?”

My insides twisted. There, in his gaze, was all the trust I’d built from twenty years of being the good child. The one who never lied. The one who was always helpful and polite. The one who took her studies seriously and never shrugged them off in favor of friends or a party.

Or a boy.

My gaze flickered to Preston.

But he wasn’t the reason I was staying.

Callie appeared silently at the bottom of the stairs, catching my eye. A panicked expression warped her pretty features, and her eyes were wide as she gave the tiniest shake of her head.

I gave a tiny nod of my own in return.

Fractured relationship or not, her secret was safe with me.

16

Everybody was still unhappy with me hours later when we’d finished dinner and night had fallen.

My parents’ disapproval was written all over their faces. Their gazes followed me around the room as I collected my things, readying to go back to Preston’s cabin. Callie was more obvious about it, storming back upstairs without saying a word as soon as the meal was complete.

“So happy you’re staying, Lennon. Thanks for all your help and support,” I muttered, not loud enough for anyone else to hear.

Preston shot me a look which gave me momentary panic that I hadn’t said it as quietly as I’d thought, but all he said was, “You ready to go?”

I nodded, I kissed my parents on the cheeks, knowing they’d be straight up to their bedroom to have one of their infamous chats as soon as I left. I wasn’t sure I’d ever been the topic of one of these serious discussions, that for as long as I could remember, had only ever happened behind closed doors. When we were little, and Callie had gotten in trouble over something, Mom and Dad had always taken to their bedroom to discuss it. Callie had dragged me into the hall, and we’d sat at the foot of their door, pressing our ears to it, trying to hear what her punishment would be.

She’d been full of sass even back then, quietly and defiantly whispering that she didn’t care if they grounded her. She wasn’t going to listen to them. While my stomach swirled with nervous nausea, even though I’d done nothing wrong.

I had that same feeling now, of not wanting to disappoint them. But back then, despite feeling sick over it, I’d sat there with my sister. Because that was what we did. Even when we didn’t get along, we were still twins. I’d been there for her then. I needed to be here for her now.

“I’m ready. See y’all tomorrow.” I followed Preston through the door and out to the truck where my fully packed suitcase still waited. My cancelled flight would be leaving about now. Without me on it.

All I felt was relief.

Preston didn’t speak on the way back to the cabin. The truck bounced over the gravel drive, and he stopped in his usual parking spot, hitting the brakes a little too hard. I put my hand on the dash to steady myself, but if he noticed, he didn’t say anything. He was already out of the truck and striding to the truck bed to pull my suitcase out. I got out of the car more slowly with my laptop bag and made my way up the stairs after him.

He dropped my suitcase by the cabin door with a thump and then turned and stormed past me.

I frowned, turning to watch him go. I assumed he was just going back to the truck for something he’d missed, perhaps his wallet or phone, but he kept going, marching down the path in the darkness.

“Preston?”

He didn’t answer.

A sick feeling washed over me. I dropped my laptop beside my suitcase, not at all worried about whether or not they’d be safe there, and ran after him. He’d taken the path that led away from the main hustle and bustle of the ranch, not that there was much of that going on at this time of night. Everybody had taken to their cabins for the evening, all due at work or training at first light. But Preston had walked between paddocks, fences either side that formed huge pens, homing more cows and bulls than I’d ever cared to count.

His long legs ate up the distance quicker than my own, and I had to run to keep up with him. My boobs jiggled, unsupported in a strapless bra. I was not made for running. “Preston, wait! If you don’t want me staying with you another week, I can just sleep on the floor in the main house.”

He whirled on me. “You think that’s why I’m mad? Because I don’t want you in my cabin?”

I stopped, breathing hard. “I have no idea. It was just an assumption because you ran off with steam coming out your ears.”

“Lennon, you can stay in that spare room as long as you damn well like. I’ve loved having you there this last week.”

“Oh. Well…thank you.” The word loved warmed me. But if he didn’t care about me staying, then he was mad for some other reason. One I honestly had no idea about.

“What’s going on at school?”

Uh-oh. “Nothing.”

“Bullshit. You turn up here out of the blue in the middle of the semester—”

“Not out of the blue. I wanted to help with Summer’s wedding preparations…”

“I’ve watched enough Grey’s Anatomy to know you can’t just take two weeks off, Len. Nobody is buying that you’ve just randomly got some time off before finals. We might be country folk, but we aren’t stupid.”

My mouth dropped open. “I’m country folk, too, Preston. I never said you were stupid.”

“Then quit lying, cos you’re really fucking bad at it.”

I didn’t say anything.

Preston glared at me. “You know what your father would say to me if I tried to take two weeks off training when I had a big rodeo coming up? He’d ask me if I had rocks in my head. Or if aliens had possessed me. Because that’s not what you do when you’ve spent years working for something. You don’t just suddenly throw in the towel at the last minute.”

It was a foreign feeling, but anger bubbled up inside me. “And what if you’d realized you’d worked two years for something, but it wasn’t what you wanted after all? What if you realized you didn’t actually care about that championship buckle? What if instead, you wanted to…make cakes.”

He squinted at me. “What? That doesn’t make any sense.”

But I was on a roll, and now there was no stopping me. “What if the pressure is too much? What if I don’t want to be a doctor, flashing around my money while my patients can barely afford to feed their families? Do you know how much I die inside, when insurance is the first thing anyone asks a patient about? I hate Massachusetts! So what if all I want to do is come home and…decorate some freaking cakes at the local bakery? Would that truly be so bad?”

He stared at me like I’d grown another head. “You’re not serious.”

“What if I am?”

He closed in on me, evaporating the space between us. His glare was hot and angry, sparks dancing in the darkness of his eyes. “You are not doing that.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t get a say!”

“Like fuck I don’t.” He gripped my arms and hauled me in, slamming his lips down on mine.

Instantly, the anger disappeared, and I kissed him back. This time it was me urgently seeking entrance to his mouth, my tongue running the seam of his lips. He opened, taking my mouth greedily, his fingers sliding up to my hair. He tugged on it lightly, tilting my head back and giving him better access.

The kiss turned dirty and hot, the two of us grappling to get closer in the moonlight, his lips dragging off of mine and down my neck. He nipped and sucked his way down my shoulder, a moan falling from my lips as my body came alight under his touch. An aching need rose inside me, one I’d had for so long and was so sick of.

“Preston,” I murmured. “Please.”

“Please what?”

Embarrassment swamped me. He knew what I meant.

He pulled back. “Jesus Christ. You can’t even say it, can you? Ask me to fuck you.”

“Do I really have to? We both know what we’re talking about.”

His eyes were full of molten heat, his lips glossy from our kiss. Suddenly his hand was between my legs, cupping me through my dress.

I jumped at the foreign feeling of someone touching me there.

His gaze narrowed. “Have you even touched yourself here?”

My cheeks flamed hotter.

He kept pushing. “Answer me, Lennon. Have you ever put your hand down your panties and touched your clit? Have you ridden your own fingers until you made yourself come?”

His hand hadn’t moved, and I didn’t want it to. But he was deliberately goading me.

He let out a growl of frustration that was so feral the cows in the paddock next to us edged away. He grabbed my hand and marched me back the way we’d come.

I dragged my feet reluctantly, but never did I tell him to stop. Some part of me relished the touch of him, and him bossing me around. I knew that if I’d told him to let me go, he would have in a heartbeat. But I didn’t want him to. I just wanted to be wherever he was. My heart raced overtime as we neared the cabin, and nerves butterflied around my stomach.

He was going to do it.

I bit my lip, scared and excited all at once. The cabin door crashed open, and he didn’t even stop to pick up my suitcase. He hauled me right to my bedroom, stopping in front of my bed.

My breath hitched.

I’d thought about this moment so many times. About what he’d say. How he’d touch me. I was desperate to find out if those dreams were as good as the real thing.

We both breathed harder than the short walk back warranted. The silence drew out between us, and my nerves ramped up until the point where I was sure they’d explode right out of me and swarm around us. I needed to get this over and done with. My virginity and complete lack of experience felt like an anchor pulling me down and taking up a space in my body I no longer had control of. I pressed up on my toes.

Preston put a hand to my lips, cutting me off. “Make yourself come.”

I dropped back down on my heels. “What?”

“Make yourself come. I’m not doing anything with you when you don’t even know what you like. You need to work that out first.” With a longer look at my body, he walked out of my bedroom stiffly, and a moment later, his bedroom door closed with a bang.

I stood there staring at the wall that connected our two bedrooms. “Preston!” I yelled. “Are you for real?”

“Make yourself come, Lennon. Maybe when you can actually say the words, we’ll talk.”

My irritation with the man notched up to about a thousand and mixed with my frustration that my entire body was aching for him and he was holding out. Flushed with a light sheen of sweat, I stomped out to retrieve my things from the porch, cursing Preston’s name none too quietly as I went.

I took my stuff back to my room and unzipped my suitcase. I wasn’t doing what Preston wanted. The whole thing was stupid. If he didn’t want to sleep with me, then so be it. He didn’t get to dictate what I did.

I yanked out a camisole top and a pair of sleep shorts, changing into them, all the while muttering to myself about the man in the room next door. I wasn’t some fifteen-year-old boy. And despite once being a teenage girl, I’d never really felt the urge to touch myself. Sure, I’d daydreamed about Preston kissing me and losing my virginity to him, but if I was being honest with myself, those thoughts had been more like movie sex. A big dramatic kiss at the end of the rom-com, and the tame roll around beneath the sheets, with nothing more than a bare shoulder popping out to give the illusion of being naked beneath them.

I’d never really considered the actual details of sex. Sure. Penis went in vagina. High school health class and the girls on the playground had taught me that much a very long time ago. Got it. But that wasn’t sexy enough to make me want to try to emulate it by myself.

Before the last few days, I’d barely even been kissed.

And certainly not in the same way that Preston kissed me.

His kisses sent a bolt of heat through my body with every press of his body and lick of his tongue. If I closed my eyes, it was easy to think about him doing that to me in places beyond my mouth.

I really wanted him to.

But buck him. I wasn’t going to do it just because he told me to.

I drew the sheets back on the bed I’d made neatly that morning, before I’d tried to escape, and got beneath them. I opened up a textbook on my phone and settled in to read.

“Are you doing it?” Preston called from the other side of the wall, his voice deeper than usual.

“No!”

His groan of annoyance was almost satisfying.

Except it hit right between my thighs and whispered that his groans of need would be even more of a turn-on.

I rolled to my side, propping my phone up, and tried to concentrate on the words. They swam across the page, my eyes blurring the text until they might as well have read Preston. Preston. Preston.

Buck this.

I tossed my phone to the floor and yanked the sheet up over my head. I rammed my eyes closed, squeezing them tight and hoping sleep would take me quickly just so I could stop thinking about him for a hot minute.

Like they had a mind of their own, my fingers found their way between my thighs.

Through the fabric of my shorts, I cupped myself the way he had outside. My core warmed, and the sensation was pleasant, but it wasn’t the same as the way he’d grabbed me, holding me tight.

I started up a slow rub over my clit, silently and defiantly chanting that I wasn’t doing this because he’d told me to.

After a while with nothing much happening, I knew I had to up the game. I slipped my hands beneath my shorts and pressed bare fingertips to my core. That was better, but I rubbed my clit, knowing the entire time that it would feel so different if he did it. I dipped a bit lower, but none of it was really working for me the way I thought it should. I knew the mechanics. How hard could it be to get myself over the line?

I flipped onto my back, no good. I shoved a pillow beneath my ass, raising my hips while the bed squeaked beneath me. That was no better. I tried grabbing a handful of my breast but I just felt like an idiot.

After fifteen minutes of writhing around the bed, and not in a way that was even remotely satisfying, I let out a groan that was fueled by pure annoyance. Other women seemed to find this so easy. What was wrong with me?

Great. New insecurity unlocked. I was bucking broken and doomed to live an orgasm-free life.

My bedroom door suddenly opened, and I yelped, yanking at my sheet. “What are you doing!”

Preston stood in the doorway, shirtless and entirely too delicious. “Question is, what the hell are you doing? You sound like a sexually frustrated seal.”

Oh God, let the floor open up and swallow me down. “I do not!”

“Yeah, you really do.”

He stared at me.

I peeked out from beneath the sheet I’d pulled up to my nose. “What?”

He bit his lip. “You naked beneath that sheet?”

“No.”

“Well, there’s half your problem.” He shook his head then padded across my room to tower above me. “Move over.”

I clutched my sheet tighter. “What? No.”

“Move over, Lennon.”

My stupid traitorous body obeyed his command before my brain could tell it not to. He slid in beside me.

Instantly, I went into overdrive. I’d never been in bed with a man before. And Preston was practically naked himself. His chest was bare, his lower half only covered by a pair of loose black running shorts. He lay on his side, facing me, but I didn’t dare look at him. I stared firmly at the ceiling, wondering if this was really even happening.

“Roll onto your side. Face the wall.”

I was more than happy to do that, because facing away from him meant he couldn’t see how awkward I was being.

I quickly realized my mistake when he tucked himself in behind me, fitting to my back like two spoons. His hand found my hip beneath the sheet, his thumb rubbing over the skin in the gap between my shorts and my top. “I couldn’t lie in there any longer, listening to you struggle.”

“I was fine.” My protests were weak.

His lips pressed to the back of my neck and then moved to the side, kissing and sucking. “It was my mistake. I left you without a guidebook.”

I didn’t want to admit how right he was. It felt like a complete and utter failure as a woman to not have any real idea how my own body worked.

“The first thing you should have done was get naked. Not always strictly necessary when you’re flying solo, of course, but it doesn’t hurt.” His fingers lifted up my top, exposing my belly inch by inch, and then my breasts. He couldn’t see them, they were still beneath the sheet, but my breath hitched as he pulled my top over my head and dropped it on the floor beside the bed. He kept kissing my neck while he drew my shorts over my hip and down my legs. “No panties? Fuck, Lennon. I love that.”

Heat flashed across my bare skin, and wetness gathered at my core. I’d never been this close to a man, and never completely bare with one, even if it was beneath a sheet. But I wasn’t stopping him.

He pushed his knee between mine and then used his hand to move my leg up and back a bit so it rested over his. I gasped at how open I was to him with my legs spread like this, but he soothed the surprise away by running his hand up my ribcage and taking hold of one breast. “You don’t have to go straight for the main meal. Start with an appetizer.” He took hold of my nipple, tweaking it between his thumb and forefinger, rolling it to a stiff peak while pressing against me from behind.

His dick was already hard at my ass but safely tucked away behind his shorts. They left nothing to the imagination, though. I could feel every long, thick, solid inch of him. And there was a lot of them.

“I wish I could suck these,” he whispered, kneading my breasts. “I’d run my tongue all over every inch of them and suck your nipple until you were pulling my hair and begging me to do more.”

My breaths turned to pants at the thought.

“But that’s not what this is about.”

As long as he didn’t stop touching me, I didn’t care what his motivations were. His hand grazed down my belly and moved over the neat patch of hair at the apex of my thighs. I wondered what he thought of that. I knew Callie waxed. I thought most women my age were probably as bald as the day they were born, but I’d never had any reason to. Sex was the furthest thing from my mind when I was at school, neck deep in papers and lectures. “I never expected to be doing this…”

His teeth pressed into my bare shoulder ever so slightly. “I like it.”

“You do?”

“Fuck yes. I like everything about you.”

“I like everything about you, too.”

He didn’t comment on that. Just put a fingertip to my clit.

Never had anything felt like that. Where my own touch felt medical and uninteresting, his felt like magic.

“Do you like that?” he whispered.

“Mmm.” I liked it entirely too much.

“Good.” He dipped lower, sliding through my arousal, gathering it up and drawing it back to lubricate my clit. He did it again and again, each time was foreign and surprising, but the closer he inched to my opening, the more I wanted his fingers there.

I moved my hips unconsciously, working them in time with his fingers. He refused to give me what I wanted, though, driving me high with my clit and letting the ache inside my core grow. His fingers and my inner thighs were coated in my arousal, and a desperate feeling rose inside me. It spurred on my hips, and I grabbed his hand, forcing it where I wanted him.

He chuckled in my ear. “See? You do know what you want.”

I wanted him.

I wanted to come.

He pushed one finger inside me, and I let out a shocked moan, even though I’d been prepared for it. He moved with me, me rocking against his hand, him rocking against my ass. He hooked his fingers, and a whole new wave of pleasure rained down on me. I moaned, and he added a second finger.

“Oh!” The extra width, stretching me just a little, was exactly what I hadn’t known I needed.

“This is what you do, Len. When I’m not here, and you’re all alone, thinking about me. You take your hand and you get yourself like this. You riding my fingers is the sexiest thing I’ve ever felt.”

He hit some place deep inside me, and the explosion of feeling sent me flying over the edge. “Oh! Oh!” I couldn’t stop the words. They came on a shout as my head spun and my pussy clenched in unfamiliar but mind-blowing ways.

Preston’s fingers never left. They pumped in and out of my body, and I twisted, looking over my shoulder so I could see his face.

It was full of pure, unadulterated lust. His dick was so hard it was like rock at my back, and suddenly, the size of him intrigued me. I gave a final clench at the knowledge my body could easily take him when I was capable of getting as wet as I was right now.

As the last moments of my orgasm faded, he pulled his fingers from my body. I was completely boneless but satisfied in a way I’d never dreamed possible. I knew women who liked sex, but it had always been something removed from me. Something that happened to other people.

He rolled me onto my back and propped himself up on one arm so he gazed down at me.

“I guess I don’t sound like a frustrated seal anymore?”

He grinned. “More like satisfied one.”

I elbowed him in the gut, but he just choked on a laugh. He brushed a kiss over my lips and then slid out from under the sheet, careful not to expose my naked body. “Now you know what you’re doing. For next time.” He took a step toward the door.

Something inside me lurched.

I didn’t want him to leave.

“Wait!” I pointed to the erection jutting from behind his shorts. “You didn’t…”

He raised one eyebrow, fighting back a grin. “Come on. Say the scary, dirty words, Lennon.”

“You didn’t come.”

“I will. But that’s what my hand and a box of tissues in my bedroom are for.”

Holy shit.

The thought of him doing that had a new round of heat coursing through my system. I let out words I never thought I’d say. “Or you could do it here.”

17

Iraised one eyebrow at Lennon. “Did you just say you want to watch me come?”

She had the sheet tucked tight around her body, determined for me not to see her, even though I’d just felt up every inch of her and had her pussy clenching around my fingers.

“Not in so many words…but you just watched me come, so…”

“Tit for tat?”

She let out a laugh. It was so cute and feminine I had to hold myself back from dive-bombing back on her bed and burying myself between her thighs.

“Meaning, I show you my tits, you show me your…tat?”

I laughed, but my dick loved the idea. It throbbed, painfully aware of her. And, I really did want to see her tits. Feeling her up beneath the sheets had been one thing, but I was male. I wanted visuals. “Is that what you want?”

In the pale light of the night, she sucked in a sharp breath. Blowing it out slowly, she drew down the sheets.

I leaned against the doorway, my voice going husky. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything as beautiful as you look right now.” It wasn’t a fake compliment. I meant every word. Moonlight from the clear, bright night outside spilled over her bare skin. Her long dark hair spread around her on the bed. She was so exotically beautiful, eyes dark, staring up at me through her lashes, with her high, perfect tits, nipples tight and hard, perfect for sucking.

I shoved my shorts off, letting them fall at my feet.

She sucked in a deep breath, her gaze glued to my cock.

I let her take in her fill before gripping the base and starting up a slow stroke. I pumped in and out of my hand, watching her carefully while she watched me.

She was still young. And so inexperienced. I didn’t want to scare her, but the longer I jerked off for her, the more I wanted to do to her. With her.

The scent of her arousal still scented the room, and now mine joined it. Her lips parted, her breaths coming faster.

She was turned on.

“Make yourself come,” I said again.

“I just came a few minutes ago.”

“That won’t stop you from coming again. You know how now. Show me.”

It took no convincing when she clearly wanted it. Like I’d shown her, she started by pulling at her tits, kneading and pinching her nipples. But then to my surprise, without turning away, she lowered the sheet further, showing me her pussy and the sweetness it was when pushed two fingers up inside herself.

“Ohhh.” Her moans told me she was already close to the edge. And fuck, so was I. I hadn’t come this quick in years, but getting her there first had already had me way too close to losing control. I wanted to now. With her.

The curve of her hips enticed me in, and she watched me in rapt attention, her fingers continuing to work herself up again, while I thrust into my steady grip. I walked to the foot of her bed, but she looked up at me with “come fuck me” eyes.

I could so easily give in to her. Because sinking inside her sweet wet pussy right now was all I could think about.

Her little moans of pleasure lit me up inside, each one coming quicker and quicker as she grew more confident in her ability to get herself off. I’d never watched a woman masturbate before, but now I realized what I’d been missing out on.

I was going to come.

The urge to claim her virginity roared in my ears. My blood pounded, culminating in my cock that begged to spear itself inside her and release. I knelt on the bed and opened her legs wide for me, inviting me between us.

Her fingers disappeared inside her, and when they withdrew, they were shiny and perfect. She rubbed her clit, waiting for me to take the sweet pink slit below.

“Fuck!”

I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t take something I couldn’t give back. It would cause nothing but heartache, and Lennon was the last person in the world I wanted to hurt.

My balls clenched, but I refused to give in to the basic urge to fuck her. Instead, I worked my dick hard, squeezing tight, thrusting my hips, and when I gripped my balls, there was no holding back. I came with a shout, her name on my lips, my balls spilling hot cum across her bared-to-me pussy. I marked her in the only way I could, that still left her whole.

She watched with hooded eyes, a moan escaping her lips, while I worried I’d gone too far.

But if I had, she didn’t let on. She pumped her fingers harder, not caring about the cum on her pussy and lower belly. She came for the second time with a cry of pleasure and surprise.

When her orgasm faded, I chuckled at her wide eyes. “Hey, look at that. You get an A-plus for your first masturbation class. Well done!”

She reached up an pulled me down on top of her. With my erection slowly fading, we both knew her virginity had been spared for another night. Neither of us cared about the mess between us. I just wanted to kiss her.

So I did. I kissed her until my dick stirred once more. And then I ran her a hot shower and left her to clean up.

Something had changed between me and Lennon. There was no going back. Whether we liked it or not.

18

Iwas going to study all day, because between helping Summer with wedding errands and Preston, I hadn’t managed much of it at all since I’d been here. But instead of causing panic, and a mad rush to shove every bit of medical knowledge down my throat, I was more relaxed than I’d been in months.

It was an odd, foreign feeling, to not be stressed to my eyeballs and terrified that if I didn’t study every minute of every day that I’d fall behind everybody else in my class.

I could have put that down to the two mind-blowing orgasms I had last night. That was the easier way to look at it. My roommate, Zach, talked about sex as stress relief all the time. But there was also a nagging feeling that the loosening of my shoulders, and the feeling of weight that had lifted, might have had less to do with getting off and more to do with being back here on the ranch.

From my spot on Preston’s porch, I breathed in the fresh country air. There was nothing like this anywhere else in the world. This ranch was in my soul, and though I loved medicine, I did not love Massachusetts. I didn’t love the city streets, or the hustle and bustle, or the classmates who were so involved in their study that even after two years, most didn’t know my name. I didn’t love that nobody had a need for cowboy boots, and that I hadn’t seen a full sky of stars through the smog in two years.

I didn’t love who I was when I was there. I didn’t love that I was just like my classmates, running along on a hamster wheel, desperately shoving knowledge into my brain but missing out on life.

Without analyzing it too much, I opened a new tab on my laptop browser and waited for the slow country internet to connect. I brought up a job search site and changed the settings to only reflect jobs in town. It didn’t mean anything. I was just being curious.

The search results loaded.

Zero positions found matching your search terms.

My shoulders slumped. But what had I expected? That there’d be some sort of doctor traineeship that I could do just down the road? Or that this website would give me some sort of mystical sign over what I should do with my life?

“Oh, you’re studying. That’s wonderful. How’s it all going? Has the internet been okay for your online classes?”

My mother stood at the bottom of the porch steps, one hand on the railing. She smiled, but I could see the concern around her eyes as they flittered over me and my textbooks.

Feeling guilty for worrying her, I closed the laptop quickly before she saw what I was looking at. “It’s fine. Everything is running along smoothly.

Apart from the massive pothole in the middle of my career path that I’d fallen into and yet didn’t want to get out of. But she didn’t need to know that.

“What’s everyone up to today?” I asked her. “Preston was gone before I got up this morning, so I didn’t get a chance to ask if there was anything you all needed help with?”

I prayed there was a ton of work to be done. Something where I could get my hands dirty and actually move my body.

But my mother shook her head. “Nothing you need to worry about. You just stay here and study. I’ll bring you some lunch, later, okay?”

I shook my head. “You really don’t need to do that.”

But she walked up the two steps and put a hand on my head, before bending down to kiss the top of it, the same way she had when I was small. “I just want you to know how proud we are of you. And that we see how hard you work. You’ve always been so diligent. So focused on your goals. I envy that about you, you know? When I was your age, I hadn’t even gone on tour with the WBRA yet. I was still working at this dinky little newspaper in the middle of nowhere Australia and getting distracted by men.” The corner of her mouth lifted at the thought. “I’m glad you’re more sensible.”

Awkwardness crept up the back of my neck. Parts of me were still deliciously sore from what Preston had done to me last night. And then what I’d done to myself, while I’d watched him come. If my mother knew any of that….

Nobody would have expected it from me. That was why nobody had thought twice about my sharing a cabin with Preston. I was the mature, sensible twin. Not the one who let herself be distracted from her degree by a man who was so hot my panties caught fire every time I looked at him.

My mother left me to my studying, and for a couple of hours, I did manage to get some work done. I pushed aside every memory of Preston’s touch in the dark of my bedroom and the feelings he’d pulled from places I barely knew existed.

But the day was quiet, and the open fields between the cabin and the main buildings left a lot of free air for sounds to float back to me. And every so often, I’d hear a yell from where the cowboys trained, my sister’s higher-pitched shout mixed in the middle.

I paused, fingers hovering over my keyboard. That hadn’t sounded like Summer. In fact, I was pretty sure it was Callie. Which was weird, because she avoided the barn and the training rings like they’d give her an STD.

Deciding to take a break that I really didn’t deserve when lunch would be in an hour anyway, I left my things on the porch and pulled my boots on. The shade of the porch had kept me in the dark over how hot the day actually was, and I wished I’d had the good sense to grab my hat to protect my face from the brutality of the summer sun. I followed the noises toward the training rings and the main barn. My father stood, feet notched into the metal fences, and barked instructions at the trainee preparing himself above the bucking chutes. The young man nodded repetitively, punctuating each of my father’s orders.

He couldn’t have been any older than eighteen and looked terrified.

“What’s the bet he pisses himself?”

Preston’s voice had my body on high alert. He’d appeared from God knows where to stand next to my father.

My father glanced over to glare at him. “Shut up. You were the same once upon a time, before you got too cocky for your own good.” His gaze flickered past Preston and onto me. “Oh, hey, baby. Shouldn’t you be studying?”

I forced a smile. “Just taking a five-minute break. I heard all the shouting and wanted to come see what was up.”

“Oh, that wasn’t us.” Preston pointed toward the barn. “That was your sister ordering around the delivery men. Summer and Dom had to go out, so they left Callie in charge of the guys who brought in all the tables and chairs for the wedding. Apparently, they brought the wrong shape or something? Ovals instead of circles? Anyway, Callie has been chewing them out for the past ten minutes.”

“If you’re on a break, you might give her a hand, Len. She sounded stressed, but I’ve got the guys to watch. I don’t know where your mother is, and I can’t send Preston because we all know Callie hates him.”

Preston’s mouth dropped open. “Wait. You know Callie hates me?”

Dad shot him a frown. “Just because I don’t say much, doesn’t mean I ain’t listening. She’s my daughter. I know she hates you and I know exactly why, too.”

Preston looked ready to fall off the fence. He wobbled slightly, grasping the railing tighter. He was a distinct shade of green beneath his tan.

Again, that need to protect Preston rose in me. “It wasn’t all Preston’s fault.”

“I’m well aware that it takes two, Len. Which is why I’ve always kept my opinion about it to myself.”

“Well, shit. You never said anything.” Preston’s face was so full of remorse. “Don’t you want to punch me in the face?”

Dad glanced over at him. “I’m not in the habit of punching people I think of as a son. You both fucked up. You both paid for it. Neither of you needed me putting the boot in. Just don’t do it again, because I hate that it’s been two years and the two of you still make each other miserable over it.”

He glanced at me, and I had the sudden suspicion he knew exactly what Preston and I had been doing behind closed doors.

Oh Lord. Kill me now. If my father had even an inkling of the fact Preston had come all over me last night, and that I’d liked it, he would probably have a stroke.

“I’m going to go find Callie and see if I can help her.” I spun on my heel, escaping the eagle eye of my father who apparently never missed a thing that went on around his ranch. I paused at the door to the barn and sneaked one last peek over my shoulder at Preston. He was watching me, too. He winked, a sly grin on his face that said my father’s warnings had fallen on deaf ears.

I was more than willing to pretend I hadn’t heard them either.

Callie’s shout of frustration tore me away from Preston, so I wandered inside the barn, searching for her. The cavernous space made me feel tiny, the ceiling high above my head and lined with wooden rafters. A mezzanine level created a loft filled with hay and other excess stock, but below that was a huge open area where my father kept our tractor and other large equipment. All of that had been moved out last week, the floors swept and scrubbed. With the big barn doors open, and some lights and candles, it would be the perfect spot for a country wedding reception. Excitement for my older sister and her fiancé rose. Their wedding was going to be beautiful and meaningful. I couldn’t imagine either of them getting married anywhere else.

“For the third time. We did not order oval tables! Who on earth wants an oval-shaped table at their wedding? I’ll keep the chairs, but these tables are not acceptable.”

Callie was on the warpath, facing off with a man a half head taller than her, but who appeared ready to turn tail and run. I couldn’t blame him. Callie’s temper was the stuff of legend. If she didn’t like something, everybody knew about it.

And she clearly did not like oval tables.

“Everything okay, Cal?”

“Fine,” she bit out through gritted teeth. “If these guys would just load these ugly tables back onto their truck and bring me the ones I actually ordered, then we could all get on with our days.”

“The paperwork really does say ov—”

“I don’t care! Leave!”

I blinked. There was a fiery personality and then there was just being downright rude. And Callie was definitely jumping into the latter with both feet right now. “Callie—”

“Don’t start.” She stormed to the smaller barn exit on the opposite side, watching to make sure the men packed up every single one of their offensive tables. She glared while the two of them got in their truck, muttering between themselves.

I could imagine what they were saying about Callie. It wouldn’t have been anything pretty.

She stood with her hands on her hips, defiant until the moment the truck disappeared out of the driveway and onto the main road.

Then she turned and vomited all over the grass by the side of the barn.

“Callie!” I rushed to her side, catching her by the shoulders as she put her hands to her knees, groaning.

I fished around in my pockets but came up empty of a tissue for her. But she pulled a little packet from the back pocket of her jeans and fished one out of that to wipe her mouth. “I’ve got water in the barn, could you get it for me, please?”

She glanced up at me with miserable, sad eyes, and my heart clenched. All the anger had disappeared, as well as the hurt and the space between us. All that was left was my twin who needed my help. “Wait here. I’ll get it.”

I raced back inside, feeling nauseous on Callie’s behalf, and found the water.

By the time I got back, she was heaving again, tears streaming down her face.

My heart clenched. “Oh, Cal. Here.” I pushed the bottle of water into her hand and guided her away from the mess. We sank down on the grass, our backs resting against the outside wall of the barn.

It was the closest we’d been to each other in almost two years.

She took a tiny sip of water then paused, as if debating whether she was going to throw that up as well. She took another sip, then twisted the lid back onto the bottle. Her head thunked back against the barn, and she closed her eyes against the sun that beamed down on her upturned face.

“Morning sickness?” I asked softly.

“I can’t stand it. I want to die. I feel like shit all day long. It never eases up.”

I picked up her hand and squeezed it, scared she’d pull away.

She didn’t.

“There’s medications for that. And if you’re struggling to keep anything down, you really need to seek medical help. You can get dehydrated so quick out here in summer.”

“I’m okay. The vomiting isn’t so bad. It’s the nausea and the tiredness…”

“All pretty normal for early pregnancy. Though I know that doesn’t make it any easier to bear.”

Callie sighed. “This is going to be the longest nine months of my life, isn’t it?”

I smiled tightly at her. “But then you get a cute little baby at the end.”

She sniffed, fighting back another round of tears. “One whose father doesn’t want to know about it. And a mother who still lives with her parents, is only half-trained in hairdressing, and basically just a hot mess express. Great life he or she is going to have.”

“That’s not true. You’re an amazing hairdresser.”

She moved her hand away. “How would you know, Lennon? We’ve barely seen each other in years.”

That was unfair. It’s not like I’d been off on a holiday. “I’m just trying to make something of myself.”

“And I’m not?”

“What? That’s not what I said!”

“You might as well have. Of course, perfect Lennon lives in her perfect world where it’s all top grades and polite chitchat.”

The words hurt. There was more to me than that…wasn’t there?

A voice in my head whispered that there wasn’t. I was straight. Boring. Vanilla and plain as a sheet of white paper.

Callie pushed to her feet and brushed off the back of her jeans. “Just go back to school, Lennon. I don’t need your help.”

I let her walk away, knowing she was right.

Preston came back to the cabin for lunch, his whistle heard before the squeak of the screen door announced his arrival. His usual smile faltered, though, when his gaze ran over me. “What’s happened?”

“Do you think I’m boring?”

He took off his baseball cap and tossed it on the coffee table. Then stole half a sandwich from my plate and flopped onto the couch beside me. He munched on it thoughtfully, considering my question.

“Geez, Preston. Take a bit longer to answer, why don’t you?” His silence told me everything I needed to know. I passed him the plate and the rest of my uneaten sandwich, no longer hungry.

He finally finished his mouthful of food and paused before taking another bite. “There’s a difference between boring and reserved.”

“Oh great. I’m reserved? Why not just say I’m about as interesting as watching paint dry?”

He chuckled at my drama. “Are you having a quarter-life crisis right now?”

“Maybe!”

“Who gave you this idea? Callie?”

“Possibly.”

He put my sandwich down and then twisted so we were facing each other. “Callie isn’t interesting just because she’s loud and confident and likes to have attention on her at all times.”

“The people who surround her at parties might disagree with that,” I muttered, gazing down at my hands. “I always wanted to be more like her. You know, the one time she took me to a party with her, I spent the entire night sitting with the host’s dog.”

Preston seemed like he was fighting back laughter, and I slapped at his chest. “Stop it! It’s not funny! You extroverts don’t know how easy you have it. You and Callie are both so similar, you’re perfect for each other.”

His fingers met my chin and tilted it up so I had to look at him. “You know what an extrovert doesn’t want?”

I shook my head.

“Another extrovert. Callie and I clash. We always have. Sure, we can have a good time at a party and goof around. But have I ever had a proper conversation with her? About anything beyond stupid, superficial stuff? Nope.”

I didn’t say anything.

“I’ve never had any real desire to push any deeper than that with her. But you know what does interest me?”

“What?”

He leaned forward and brushed his lips over mine.

I sucked in a breath, not expecting the easy but sudden affection. We hadn’t talked about this, or what we were to each other. But he’d just kissed me like it was no big deal.

It was a very big deal.

“The woman who sits with the dog at a party. When I’m in the middle of it all, surrounded by people, and I’m laughing and joking around, she’s the person who interests me most.”

“Shut up. That’s not true.”

“No lie. Dogs are better judges of characters than anyone else. If a dog wants to hang with you over anyone else, I know you’re worth knowing.”

A warm glow fell over me. “You’re very charming, you know?”

He winked. “Oh, I know.” He pecked me on the lips again and then held his hand out. “Come with me.”

“Where to?”

“I already know you aren’t boring or vanilla, but I can see you aren’t going to believe me just because I say it. Talk is cheap, right?”

He’d nailed it in one. I appreciated his sweet pep talk, but I didn’t entirely believe him either. “Yes.”

A wicked glint appeared in his eye. “Let’s go prove it then.”

19

Iclutched the handlebar above the passenger seat in Preston’s truck, my ass jolting off the seat with every bump and dip and rivet we drove over. I double-checked my seatbelt with a sharp tug, pretty sure he was going to roll the truck at any point.

“You okay over there?”

“Pretty sure my life just flashed before my eyes, but yeah, sure! I’m great!”

He laughed and cranked the music up louder. “The truck has four-wheel drive. Don’t sweat it. And hey! You’re the one who said she wanted to live a little more dangerously.”

I squealed as the truck listed to the side way more than I was comfortable with. “Is that what I said? I think you might have misunderstood the assignment, Preston! Oh my God, we’re going to die.”

He spun the wheel, avoiding a pothole the size of a small car. The glee on his face would have been adorable if I wasn’t regretting not making a will before leaving the cabin.

He pointed ahead through the dust-smeared windscreen. “Just wait. You’re gonna love me in a minute.”

I glanced at him sharply.

He showed no recognition that those words meant anything to him. The fact I’d pretty hardcore been in love with him half my life didn’t seem to register. Thank God.

He knew about my stupid crush, but not that it had really been a whole lot more for me than that.

The truck made its way to the top of the hill, guided by Preston gunning the engine and changing gears like lightning.

It all went silent when we crested the peak.

He took his foot off the accelerator, and the rumbling roar from beneath the hood died down. We coasted down the other side, and my mouth dropped open.

“What is this place?”

“Sutton’s Inlet. I can’t believe you’ve never been here. Everybody knows about this place.”

“Everybody but me, apparently.”

The name did sound vaguely familiar now that he’d said it. I had a hunch this was where Callie had gone four-wheel driving with friends when we were in high school.

I hadn’t been invited.

The slope was more gradual on the other side, and a much smoother ride down to the lake. Thick trees that had to be a hundred years old grew either side, and Preston wove his way through them, sticking to a well-worn track.

We passed a couple of other groups, and Preston raised a hand in greeting but kept going along the path, only stopping when we were a distance away from anybody else.

He grinned at me. “Well, what do you think?”

I gazed out at the beautiful scene before me. Grass covered the slope then ran down to the water, only changing to a rocky beach right at the edge. The tall trees around us provided shade from the sweltering heat, but also a sense of privacy. A small bend in the lake’s edge cut us off from view of the other groups, but their voices carried on the gentle breeze.

It cooled my heated skin, but then every time I looked at Preston, I got hot all over again. “It’s beautiful.” I didn’t just mean the view.

Preston out of his usual cowboy attire was just as hot as when he was in it. He’d switched to a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, his favorite ball cap perched on his head, all trace of the country boy gone.

I wiped at a bead of sweat rolling down my neck. “I wish we’d brought our swimsuits, though. It’s so stinking hot out here today.”

He raised an eyebrow at me.

I frowned. “What?”

“I deliberately didn’t bring them.”

“Because you like being a hot and sticky mess? You should really get the air-conditioning in your car fixed by the way.”

“We’re going skinny dipping.”

I glanced around, like someone might have heard him. There was still no one around. “I don’t do that.”

He sat back on his seat, challenging me with arms crossed over his chest. “Why not?”

“Uh, because it’s illegal? And besides that, nobody wants to see my Twizzler-fueled body while they’re trying to eat their lunch.”

“Uh,” he imitated. “I do.”

I glared at him. “No.”

“Yes.”

He got out of the car and went to the front, waiting for me to join him.

I didn’t. It was one thing for him to see me naked in the heat of the moment, in the dark, when I was so lost to the sensations he’d awoken in me that I could barely think straight. But what we’d done during the night…that boldness wasn’t me.

He didn’t even turn around, just called back to me. “Come on, Lennon. Do you even see anyone around?” He tugged his shirt off, draping it over the bull bar of his truck. “No one is gonna know!”

He’d know, though. He’d see every lump and bump on my body. There was no darkness to hide behind.

He pulled his shorts down, leaving him standing out in the open in nothing but his underwear.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re gonna scar those little kids back there for life.”

He stretched his arms over his head, popping something in his back loud enough I heard it from the safety of the truck. But all I could stare at was the way his muscles moved with him. His back was golden brown, kissed by the sun, and I was plain jealous.

I wanted to run my lips over every inch of him.

“You’re like, a baby doctor. Shouldn’t you know that kids have no better eyesight than adults? Ain’t nobody that can see clear across the other end of the lake and through all these trees.”

He had a point, but I still had so many reservations. “What if somebody drives up here?”

“What if they don’t and we miss out on swimming in this beautiful lake on what has gotta be a day sent straight from the heat of Hell itself?” He finally turned back to me. “I’m fucking hot, Lennon. I’m going in whether you’re coming or not.”

Without any sort of self-consciousness, he dropped his underwear and strolled down to the water’s edge.

I bit my lip at his white ass. He had a very distinct tan line, but other than that, his body was perfect. Long and lean, and toned in all the right places.

He hit the water, running out a few steps before sinking into the blue depths.

I got out of the truck, passing his discarded clothes, still looking left and right to be sure nobody was around. But there wasn’t a soul in sight. I couldn’t even hear voices anymore, though that might have just been because the wind had changed directions.

“Water’s warm. All you gotta do is get in.”

It was too tempting not to. I hauled my dress over my head, letting it drop on the soft grass at the lake’s edge. “Happy?”

Preston watched me, only his head and shoulders visible as he tread water. “I’d be happier if you took your underwear off and came swimming with me.”

I waded out a few steps. “I’m not taking my underwear off.”

He shrugged. “Suit yourself. Long drive home with wet panties if you ask me, but your call.”

He had a point, but I still wasn’t taking them off. The water covered my thighs as I moved toward him. I gasped when it was deep enough to cover me to the waist, the cold swirling between my legs and teasing at my core.

I was turned on just from watching him. The cold should have helped me find my off switch, but it didn’t. I wasn’t sure there was an off switch when it came to how I felt about Preston.

He stood, droplets glistening off his chest. He waded closer, and I stood like a stunned mullet, just staring at his chest and abs, dripping with water.

He used my distraction against me. I didn’t protest when he walked right up, so we were a mere inch apart. I was lost in my lust for him, fighting a torrent of feelings my body had been saving up for years.

He picked me right up off the ground like I weighed nothing.

I squealed and twisted and turned in his arms, fighting him to put me down before he noticed my tummy rolls and cellulite, but he ignored me. “You’re coming swimming. Proper swimming. None of this, ‘I don’t want to get my hair wet’ stuff. Proper, throw yourself in the deep end and have a good time, don’t care what anyone thinks, sort of swimming.”

He unceremoniously dumped me out of his arms.

The cold water rushed around me, but it was refreshing more than shocking. It washed away the stress and anxiousness I’d been holding on to. I knew it was stupid, I liked this new body I’d developed. And I remembered the way Preston had looked at me, his dick hard and surrounded by his fist. My body had done that to him.

I had done that to him. I had nothing to be shy about. Not when he’d already shown me how much he wanted me.

I came up, hair slicked back with lake water, feeling like a different woman.

So when he swam toward me and stared at me as he undid my bra and drew it down my arms, I didn’t stop him. He tossed it up on to the bank and then did the same thing with my panties, taking them off and leaving them on the bank to dry.

“Nothing vanilla about you, Lennon.”

He pulled me into his arms, kissing me on the mouth, his tongue instantly seeking access.

On instinct, I wrapped my legs around his waist, the water supporting my weight. His dick—hard and long—pressed between our bodies. I wanted it between my legs, touching the place that throbbed for contact. I tried to get a hand between us, but he murmured, “Don’t. I can’t have it that close to you and not want to fuck you.”

“So fuck me,” I whispered.

He kissed me again, our tongues moving in unison, and that ache between my legs building. He grabbed an indecent handful of my ass, squeezing it while we kissed, anchoring me to him, like I might float away if he didn’t lock it down.

“You know I can’t. That hasn’t changed just because of what we did.”

Disappointment crashed in. And then annoyance. “I’m a grown woman, Preston. Old enough to know what I want. And who I want.”

“And I’m old enough to know the repercussions of doing it before you’re truly ready. Lennon, you could barely even say cock two days ago. What’s your rush?”

I didn’t know.

So I let him kiss me, and I kissed him back until I’d forgotten about the fact he was firm on not putting his dick inside me.

His cock. His penis. His boner.

I could say it if I wanted to.

In my head anyway.

We stayed in the water a long time, kissing and touching, though we kept it above the waist at his request, so he didn’t give in to the urge to have sex with me.

But eventually, despite the warm water, my teeth chattered. I’d gone from not wanting to do this at all, to not wanting this to end, so I tried to hide the goosebumps and occasional shake my body produced.

He spotted it instantly, though. Without a word, he swam to the shore, powerful strokes taking him in quickly.

“Where are you going?”

He picked his way over the rocky edge and then jogged across the softer grass to the back of the truck. He took a couple of towels from the back, wrapping one around his waist before walking back toward me. “You’re cold. Get out.”

I bit my trembling lip. “Turn around.”

“Nope. I wanna watch you walk to me in all your naked glory.”

“Preston, no!”

“Lennon, yes!” he mocked. But then he turned serious. “There’s nobody here but me, and I’ve just spent thirty minutes feeling every curve of your body, while you were naked in my arms. Now walk over here, and strut like you own it.” He laid the spare towel out on the grass beside him, then patted it, enticing me in.

I didn’t strut. That was never going to be me. But I did need to get out of this water.

Preston sat himself on the bank, leaning back on his elbows, his gaze trained on me.

I stood, fighting back the urge to cover myself. The water was still around my hips but sluiced off my upper body in rivulets. My nipples were hard from the cold and being pressed against his chest. I flicked my hair back as I walked, forcing myself not to run.

With each step toward him, the water grew shallower, exposing first my belly, then dipping below my mound to swish around my thighs.

Preston’s gaze didn’t even pretend to stay on my face. It rolled all over my body, lingering on my breasts, and then lower.

My steps grew slower, some part of me relishing the power I held over him in that moment. The sun beat down on my shoulders and back, warming me instantly. The air was so hot, I knew it would only be a matter of time before we were forced either back to the water or into the shelter of his truck.

But until then, his eyes on me were all there was.

“Could I have my towel, please?” I put my hand out, waiting for him to pass it up from his spot on the grass.

“Lie down.” His voice was a guttural command, words forced out in a strain, like they caused him physical pain.

“I need to dry off before I sunbathe.”

“Unfortunate. Because I need to lick every drop of water off your body.”

My breath hitched. “I thought you weren’t doing that?”

“I said I wasn’t having sex with you. This isn’t sex.”

“Just…licking me dry, huh?”

“Licking you wet, if I have anything to say about it. Let me give you a good story to tell your college friends when you get back. Let them know that Lennon has a wild side after all.” He sat up and grabbed my hand, pulling me down onto the towel beside him.

I plonked down on my ass, and he moved quick to cover me, straddling my legs and forcing me onto my back with his presence alone, no need to touch me. He hovered over me, keeping his weight off me, while anticipation roared in my blood.

“This is indecent. We could get arrested,” I whispered, gazing up at him.

“True.”

“Preston! You’re supposed to reassure me that nobody can see!”

“Thing is, Len. I don’t even care if they do. Because there’s no way I’m waiting ’til we get back to the house. You walked out of that water like some fucking siren, and now all I can think about is your tits bouncing as you walk and your sweet little pussy all wet and glistening. Just how I like it.” He shifted his weight to his knees and ducked his head, nosing his way across my collarbone, licking at any last drops of water the sun had missed. He moved between my breasts before peppering kisses up the swell and circling my nipple with his tongue.

I glanced around, making sure we were still alone, but there wasn’t anyone but us. And when his fingers came up to pinch my other nipple, I let the pleasure spiraling from it blank out my brain. I was warm, in a beautiful place, and I had a sexy man promising to please me. What the hell was I arguing for? We’d hear anyone coming a mile away.

“That’s my girl,” he murmured against my skin. “Just go with it.”

I knew he didn’t really mean anything by that. It was a whispered word while he worked my body over, but I liked the way it sounded on his lips anyway. I’d never been anyone’s girl.

I so desperately wanted to be his.

He kept moving lower, licking and kissing his way over my tummy, tongue swirling past my navel, to the junction of my thighs.

My breath hitched.

He lifted his eyes to meet mine. “Nobody’s ever kissed you here, have they?” He placed sweet kisses all over my mound, and then lower, completely missing where a nervous ache built inside me, in favor of my thighs. His big hands massaged them, slowly drawing them apart so he could settle between my legs.

“No,” I confirmed.

“Are you nervous?”

I was barely breathing. “Yes.”

“But you want me to do this?”

Bucking hell. Yes. I nodded fast. The ache inside me grew, and I knew he could see how turned on I was. I was so on display for him, but he didn’t give me the chance to press my legs together, his body firmly in the way.

I yelped when he kissed the inside of my thigh, so freaking close to my slit it was almost torture.

“You’re wet here, Lennon.” His mouth hovered over me. “Wet and beautiful.” His tongue darted out to touch my clit.

It wasn’t enough.

The flat of his tongue stroked over it again, this time, giving me the friction I really wanted.

A moan fell from my mouth.

An almost feral snarl ripped from his. “Fuck going slow. I forgot how good you moan when you’re enjoying it.” He gripped my legs with his hands and spread me as wide as I could go. Then he put his mouth on me, his face pressed between my legs, his tongue licking right through my center.

My eyes fell closed as sensation roared over me. He licked me again, slow laps of his tongue that were so foreign and yet so good I never wanted him to stop. On instinct, I dropped a hand to his head, stroking through his hair, scratching at his scalp.

He hummed his approval and rewarded me with one finger sliding up inside me.

I whimpered, and he jerked away, checking on me. But whatever he saw in my gaze reassured him that any and all noises I was making were ones of need and lust and nothing less.

“How you doing there, kid?”

“Don’t stop.”

I could hear the smile in his voice. “Not a chance.”

His mouth went back to my clit, sucking and stroking my most sensitive of places. I squirmed beneath his touch, trying to get him to fill the void inside me that ached so bad for his fingers.

Or for his cock. I wanted him. Here, on a riverbank, where he’d forced away all my insecurities. It had to be here. “Have sex with me.”

He grinned at me. “Don’t need to have sex with you to make you come.”

I was set to argue, but then his mouth was back on my clit and he’d given me two fingers to grind on.

“Yesss,” I moaned, moving my hips, encouraging him to thrust his fingers inside me. I wanted it harder, faster. I needed to chase down the orgasm building just out of my reach. My hands lingered over his head, not trusting myself to touch him anymore because my body knew exactly what it wanted to do.

He pulled my legs over his shoulders, tilting my pelvis up to him like it was a meal. “Grab my head. Ride my face.”

My legs spasmed around his neck, my thighs squeezing. I was probably going to suffocate the man, but he spurred me on, pumping his fingers at the perfect rhythm, the perfect speed, each touch combined with his tongue so that I was sure he’d orchestrated the entire thing to blow my mind.

I grabbed his head.

The orgasm tried to take hold. The first sparks igniting inside me, starting deep in my core and spiraling outwards.

I rocked my hips with abandon, trying to find that edge where it would all explode. A scream built up inside me so quick I barely saw it coming, but Preston did. He clapped his free hand over my mouth and added a third finger to the others.

Bright spots of color went off behind my eyes. My brain shouted that I couldn’t take it, but my body had other ideas. I moaned and screamed and tried to say his name, all while he held me down, my mouth muffled by his hand, my body on fire from his touch. The orgasm came from deep inside, taking over my entire body, and in that moment, I realized all orgasms were not created equally.

This one had a power I hadn’t experienced yet. Arousal gushed around his fingers, and his groan of approval sent another clench of ecstasy through my core.

One by one, my muscles unlocked. My thighs that had held him captive let him go, though he didn’t seem to want to go anywhere. His head remained where it was, and he licked me slowly, riding out the last of my orgasm, until I couldn’t bear it a second longer and pushed his head away.

I lay spent on the riverbank, a whole new world awakened within me.

Lazily, I opened one eye and looked over at him. He lay out beside me, his towel disheveled from what we’d been doing, and now it hung off him, doing little to conceal his erection.

I reached for him.

He caught my hand before I could touch him. “Better not.”

“Why?”

“Because of that car that just drove past.”

“What? When?” I jerked up, scrambling for my towel to cover myself. I gazed around frantically but didn’t see anything.

Preston sat up with a laugh. “You didn’t hear it?”

“No!”

He laughed harder. “I thought you would have realized when I put my hand over your mouth.”

“Did they see?”

He grinned. “They paused and then drove off way too fast, so make of that what you will.”

I hadn’t even heard a thing. I’d been so concentrated on the pleasure between my legs that my other senses had apparently blacked out.

I was mortified that someone might have seen me like that.

But Preston leaned in and kissed me, the leisurely strokes of his tongue and his warm lips taking away any embarrassment I might have felt.

But even still… “You didn’t think, ‘Oh, maybe I should stop?’”

His hand found the back of my head, fingers tangling in my hair. “You were so close to coming, I wouldn’t have stopped if they’d all gotten out and stood around rating my technique on score cards.”

I pulled away to look at his face. My heart lurched at how damn cute he was. He was a goofball, and his eyes were always full of mischief. My heart thumped unevenly, but I let the urge to laugh push it away. “They would have given you a straight set of nines, I reckon.”

I laughed at the way his mouth dropped open.

“Nines!”

I stood, wrapping my towel around me and tucking it beneath my arms so I was finally covered. “Nines,” I confirmed.

He scrambled to his own feet and chased me back to the car. “I just went down on you in a public place and had you screaming so hard your juices ran down my hand, but I only get a nine?”

I shrugged nonchalantly. “I have nothing else to compare it to. There might be better.”

I hoisted myself into the passenger side of his truck while he muttered that he’d never gotten a nine in his entire life.

He was competitive. I’d deliberately pushed his buttons.

I smiled smugly to myself, knowing he’d be all over me until I left, trying to perfect his score.

20

Lennon got herself dressed as we bumped our way out along the four-wheel drive tracks and back on the main road. I darted glances at her, watching her full tits disappear into a bra and then her dress. Her panties came last, and it was on the tip of my tongue to demand she keep them off, but I’d already crossed the line with her today. And the day before.

At least I had managed to keep my dick in my pants. Or in my towel, as the case may be.

I hadn’t thought the skinny dipping through. She’d wanted an adventure, and that had been the first thing that came to mind.

It was only when she was naked, her thighs wrapped around my head, that I realized this was where I’d been hoping to end the day all along.

I really needed to quit that before sleeping with her became all too tempting.

When we rolled into town, I stopped on the main street. “You want something to eat?”

“I’m starving.”

“Ten-point orgasms will do that to you.”

She grinned. “Can’t be that then. Must be the fresh air making me hungry.”

She was goading me, but damn if I didn’t want her to admit that her orgasm had been out of this world. I could still taste her sweetness on my tongue. I was itching to throw her up onto the hood of my truck and try again.

But I forced myself to grab her hand instead and towed her down the road to the bakery. There was a meat pie with my name on it.

On the street, we passed a woman, but she handed me a sheet of paper with a smile before continuing on her way to hand out more of them.

“What’s that?” Lennon asked, peering over my shoulder.

I studied the brightly colored advertisement. “The fair is on this weekend.” I’d completely forgotten about it, despite it being an annual event. I’d been too busy concentrating on the fact my final chance to qualify for the pros was the day after.

“Oh, right. Of course. That’s always fun.”

I nodded, folding the flyer and tucking it into my back pocket. It was fun, but right now, all I was interested in was food.

The bell over the bakery door jingled when we arrived at our destination, and Lennon and I fell through it, her smile wide and her hair mussed up. She made a beeline for counter and studied the pastries inside the glass cabinet.

“Well, look who dropped in. Good to see y’all.” Mrs. Jones’ eyes narrowed in on Lennon. “What have you got in your hair, sweetheart?”

Lennon straightened and ran her fingers through her long, dark waves. “What?”

Her fingers snagged on a sun-dried leaf, and she pulled it from her hair, gazing down at it.

Her cheeks turned pink. “Oh. How did that get there?”

I stifled my grin.

Mrs. Jones glanced between the two of us with a raised eyebrow that then turned into the smile of a small-town gossip who’d just learned the juiciest secret. “I’ll give you two kids a minute to decide what you want. Just yell when you’re ready to order.”

She walked through the door that led to her kitchen, and Lennon spun on me, her eyes wide. “You could have told me!”

“But then I wouldn’t have had the delight of watching you try to explain it to her. And after giving me a nine, I was very distracted by analyzing my performance, trying to work out where I went wrong.”

She swatted at me, and I caught her wrist, hauling her in for a kiss. She pushed me away after the barest touch of lips, but I was getting off on these public encounters with her, where anyone could catch us.

“We’re ready to order,” Lennon called out. “Behave,” she added in a hiss to me.

But it was much more fun not to.

Still, we ordered some food, and while Mrs. Jones set to putting it on plates for us, Lennon and I picked a table by the front window. She paused, reading a ‘help wanted’ poster that had been there for a few weeks, and then plonked herself into the seat beneath it.

I took the seat opposite her, my stomach suddenly grumbling now that we were surrounded by the smell of fresh bread and sugary treats.

Lennon pulled out her phone from her purse and unlocked it. “Sorry. I just need to check my emails now that we’re back in cell service range.”

I waved a hand at her as Mrs. Jones put our plates down in front of us. “Go for it. I’ve got eating to do.”

She was already sucked into whatever she was looking at on her phone, so I started wolfing down my pies, taming the complaints from my stomach.

I couldn’t help watching her, though, like I often did when she didn’t realize it. A wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows.

“Something wrong?”

She glanced up and sighed. “Not really. It’s just my mother. She’s sent me about thirty texts while we were gone, wondering where I am and why I’m not studying.”

“Should you be studying right now?” I hadn’t even considered it when I’d dragged her off for an adventure. I’d never gone to college. I had no idea how much time she should have been spending on her work. It seemed to me like she always had her head in her laptop and could use more time off, but her mom would know better. Addie had grown up in Australia, so she hadn’t gone to college here either, but she would know the requirements better than I did.

Lennon’s frown line deepened. “Don’t you start, too.”

“You should be studying, shouldn’t you?”

“You and Mom could start selling T-shirts with that phrase on it, you know?”

I folded my arms over my chest, losing interest in my food.

She sighed. “Can we please just not? We had a nice afternoon, let’s not ruin it with talk of school. Or my mother. I’m really over the guilt trips.”

Ouch. “I wasn’t trying to guilt you,” I said quietly. “And I’m sure your mom isn’t either. Don’t mistake concern for guilt. Your degree is important. I don’t want to get in the way of that.”

“You aren’t,” she assured me quickly.

I studied her, and for the first time, really saw the misery beneath her organized, good-girl exterior. “What’s the real reason you’re home, Len?”

She stared down at her uneaten food. “Are you asking so you can report back to my mother?”

“I’m asking as a friend.”

She pressed her lips together at that. “I don’t think I can do another year in Massachusetts.”

“Okay. So transfer? There’s other schools, right?”

She lifted her eyes to meet mine. “What if I just want to quit instead?”

Ah, shit. “Is that why you’re really home?”

She lifted a shoulder, her gaze straying to the ‘help wanted’ flyer above us.

“Lennon. No!” I hissed. “You are not seriously thinking about dropping out of Harvard Pre-Med to…” I lowered my voice even more, because I didn’t want to insult Mrs. Jones. “Work in a no-name town bakery!”

“Why not?” she shot back. “Mrs. Jones loves it here.”

“Mrs. Jones was the girl who always wanted to get out of town but got knocked up too young and lost her chance.” It was harsh, but it was the truth. It was a pattern that had repeated in her daughter.

That wasn’t going to be Lennon.

Her eyes flashed with irritation. “God, Preston. Did you just morph into my mother before my eyes?”

I bristled. She had no idea how good she had it with Addie. And it pissed me off that she was complaining about her. “Your mom wants the best for you. She wants your dream to come true. You can’t blame her for that.”

“And what if my dream changed?”

“It’s a pretty big change, Lennon!”

“Well, it’s my change to make. You and Mom can mind your own business on this one.”

My annoyance rose. She was acting like a spoiled brat and proving exactly how young and inexperienced she was. That school and her studies had kept her sheltered. Hell, maybe even being the baby of the family had contributed to that as well. But Lennon was proving in one conversation what I’d suspected all along.

She wasn’t ready.

Not for the real world. And sex was part of that. It doubled down my resolve that I wasn’t going there with her. It would only end in tears.

I shoved away from the table. “I’m done.”

She stared up at me with big eyes. “You’re just going to leave me here?”

I blinked, insulted she would have even entertained that thought. “Of course not. I’ll meet you in the car.”

I walked away. I needed a freaking minute.

Outside, I drew in a deep breath of air and tried to calm myself. Something in that conversation had triggered me, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to analyze it too closely.

Lennon wasn’t far behind me. She got to the passenger-side door only a minute after I did and turned to glare at me.

I closed my eyes so I didn’t have to see it and dropped my head back on the headrest.

“Why take my mother’s side over mine?”

There was a hurt in her voice I hadn’t expected.

I twisted to face her. God, she was beautiful. Even more so with flashing eyes, filled with anger and outrage. I wanted to drop the seat right back and crawl over her and kiss her until she became pliable in my arms once more.

“Because your parents are the best people I know. And you take their concern for granted. Trust me, Lennon. You might be upset that she checks in and asks about your studying, but it hurts a whole lot more when nobody gives a shit.”

“Your parents—”

“Frost and your mom have been better parents to me in the last seven years than my biological parents ever were.”

Her face filled with horror. “What do you mean? Your parents didn’t…”

“Hurt me?” I shook my head. “No. They never raised a hand. But that’s not the only way to hurt someone. They don’t call me or check in unless pigs are flying. Or they want me to do something for them. They don’t have a single ounce of interest. They’ve never even come to see one of my rodeos. Not one, in seven years.”

Sadness filled Lennon’s eyes, and she reached across the center console, picking up my hand. I let her, because as it turned out, it wasn’t really her I was mad with.

“I’m sorry. I can’t imagine how it feels to ask your parents to come watch you and for them to say no. I know it’s a lot of travel, but surely in seven years, they could have found one that they could have attended.”

“Mmm,” I muttered. “Something like that.”

Lennon glanced over at me, her eyes narrowing. “You did actually ask them to come watch you, right?”

“I didn’t exactly leave on the greatest of terms. We’ve barely spoken since they told me I was ruining my life by dropping out of high school to chase a pipe dream.” They were probably right, as it turned out. Brad Pruitt’s premonition of me never making the pro tour ran in a constant loop at the back of my mind.

Deep down, I knew he was right.

But I’d never regret it. Moving out here to the ranch had been the best decision I’d ever made, whether I made the pros or not.

“How would they even know when you’re riding then? You can’t blame them for not coming to something you never told them about.”

“If they really cared, they would have kept tabs. They were happy for me to walk out of their lives.”

“I doubt that’s true.”

I turned the engine on, letting the familiar rumble drown out my doubts. They had my number. They never called.

Neither do you.

For a fleeting moment, I had the urge to call them. To find out how they were, and to ask if maybe they’d come watch me ride.

It wasn’t a little boy dream. I was a man who didn’t need a tolerating smile and a fuss made over him when he brought a new artwork home from school. But maybe I wanted to look my father in the eye, man to man, and tell him I’d made something of myself.

Dammit.

Now that it had spawned, the idea wouldn’t leave me alone. It followed me all the way back to the ranch, percolating in the silence of the cab.

But when I drove through the familiar gates, I remembered where my home was. It was here, with the Hunts and with the other trainees and with bulls that wouldn’t have minded goring me with a horn because I dared to try to ride one.

The scared, stupid kid who’d come here seven years ago was a different person to the man I was now.

There was no point dredging up the past.

21

Preston didn’t say much for the rest of the day. Neither of us seemed mad anymore, but things had been said. He was in his head about his parents, and I was lost in my own turmoil over the fact I’d actually put a voice to the idea that I maybe didn’t want to go back to school. At all.

I didn’t know what I was without it. Was I really going to quit to stay here and work in the local bakery?

I could admit that maybe that wasn’t going to be enough for me. I didn’t even really like baking. I didn’t have the patience for pastry.

But the part of it that did appeal was that the bakery was here. In my hometown. Visited daily by people I loved. This town was my roots, and I’d felt adrift without them for too long.

But people didn’t just give up on a degree two years in. Even with a scholarship, and help from my parents, there’d be a debt I had to pay off. One that would hang around me, reminding me I hadn’t been tough enough to stick it out and graduate.

And despite my complaints about my mother earlier, I didn’t want to think about disappointing them by dropping out. I was the first person in our family to go to college. They’d sacrificed so much to get me here, and they’d had my back through every step.

Quitting now would be throwing that in their faces.

Preston had been right about me being ungrateful. I was lucky to have them.

I shifted uncomfortably on my bed, stretching out my aching neck muscles from studying in a hunched-over position. Through the open door, Preston sat in the dark, a movie quietly playing on the TV. He glanced over at me slumped on my bed and frowned. “You need to sit at a proper desk.”

“Agreed. I think I’ll go over to my dad’s office and study in there for a few more hours before bed. There won’t be anyone over there now, right?”

Preston shook his head. “Should be all yours. Your dad would have gone in for dinner by now, and the rest of the employees would all be at home. I’ll walk you over.”

But I shook my head. “Stay. Finish your movie.”

“It’s dark out.”

“This isn’t exactly New York City. Pretty sure nothing worse than a wayward cow is going to get me out here.”

“A lost cow could trample you. People have died like that.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Name one.”

“Simon Eisenhower.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “You just made that name up. And even if you didn’t, I’d bet Simon Eisenhower was a city boy who hadn’t grown up on a ranch.”

“Hey! I grew up in the city!”

I picked up my laptop and walked past him on the way to the door. “Then be careful of cows when walking alone at night!” And with that, I let the screen door bang closed behind me, giggling to myself and relieved that with one short conversation, we were back where we’d been before we’d pushed too deeply into each other’s lives.

As predicted, no boogeymen, murderers, or cows tried to attack me on my quick stroll across the property. I let myself into the building my dad used as an office. It was little more than a freestanding shed, but he’d kitted it out with electricity, and it had a proper floor. The air-conditioner worked overtime during the summer because the walls weren’t lined and let in too much heat, forever leaving Dad saying he was going to do something about that. He probably never would, though. It was just one of many jobs around here that got put to the back burner because he was always more dedicated to his trainees and his family than he was to his own comfort.

The lack of cooling wasn’t such a bother at this time of night, though. I left the door open, allowing the breeze in, and settled myself behind the desk, stacked with piles of my father’s paperwork.

I cleared some space, closing a folder and dropping it onto a pile of others. I paused when I noticed the name printed to the side of the tattered gray file.

Preston Innes.

My father kept files on all his trainees, but Preston’s had clearly been here the longest. It was more than double the width of the others on the desk, papers spilling out the sides.

Idly, I flicked it open, knowing I probably shouldn’t, but curious to see what my father had written about him. I didn’t imagine it would be anything personal since anybody could walk in here at any time and he didn’t keep them under lock and key.

I didn’t even get past the first page, which was a form filled out in Preston’s messy scrawl. Name. Age. Date of birth. I smiled when I realized he’d filled this out as a seventeen-year-old. There was a cute question about what the trainee wanted to get out of his or her time on the ranch, and Preston had written that he wanted to become the world number one on the WBRA tour.

It made me angry all over again that Brad Pruitt had stomped all over that dream.

Preston was amazing on the back of a bull. And I knew for a fact that he worked and trained harder than anybody else here, including my sister.

He deserved that spot on the tour. And I believed with all my heart that he would make it at the final qualifiers on the weekend. One good ride was all it would come down to for him.

Despite the fact I was supposed to be studying, I let my mind drift into some alternate reality where he won and then pulled me out of the crowd, putting his hat on my head and letting the entire stadium know I was his.

Warmth wrapped itself around me, the daydream triggering old fantasies that had never really left. But Sunday wasn’t about me. It was about him and his shot at the big time.

His parents needed to be there.

His mother’s phone number was listed right there on the page, as his emergency contact. I had no idea if the number was still in use, but I shot off a quick text message with the details of the meet.

To my surprise, I got a message straight back.

I grinned at it and then got stuck back into my studying. Because even if my future at Harvard was up in the air, I at least needed to finish this year.

Anything after that remained to be seen.

Igot back to the cabin late, tiptoeing up the porch stairs and avoiding the board that creaked. I shuffled my things into one hand so I could grab the doorknob and gently eased it open, not wanting to wake Preston.

He was asleep on the couch, slumped awkwardly to one side, his long legs half hanging off the end. He breathed deeply, his expression peaceful. He was so attractive it should be illegal, with his brown hair that fell across his forehead softly. My fingers itched to reach out and brush it back, or to run my thumb over his full lips, or along the stubble that coated his jawline.

But he wasn’t mine to touch freely like that, no matter the fact we’d been messing around and touching each other a lot more intimately than a simple brush of my hand to his face. He’d made it clear this wasn’t a long-term thing. It was an attraction. A bit of fun. A few stories to tell my friends back at school.

He wasn’t having sex with me, and without him saying more, it was a clear message that a relationship was off the table.

I grabbed a thin blanket from the back of the couch and placed it over him. He wouldn’t need more than that. The cabin held the warmth of the day even though it was cooler outside. I moved into my bedroom, putting down my books in the dark before I paused, realizing something was different.

I lunged for the light switch and gasped as the weak bulb cast the room in a warm glow.

A raw wood desk had been placed opposite my bed. I gaped at the crude structure that smelled of fresh sanding. When I ran a hand over the top of it, my fingers came away covered in sawdust. A note sat on top, Preston’s messy writing in black Sharpie.

We’ll get you a chair tomorrow.

I glanced back at him in the living room and found him watching me quietly.

“Did you make this?”

He didn’t move. “It’s nothing fancy. Took me twenty minutes to knock it up just now. Already had the wood out in the barn. I just thought you needed a proper place to study in the cabin, so you don’t have to go to the main house, or your dad’s office all the time. And so you don’t develop a hump on your back from studying on your bed.”

Stupidly, a lump rose in my throat. He’d taken me in. Shared his space with me. He’d seen what I needed and went out and made it happen, with no obligation to do so.

Preston cleared his throat. “If you don’t like it, I can dismantle it just as quick.”

“I love it,” I assured him. “Thank you.”

He nodded and stood to go to his room. He lingered in front of me, indecision flickering in his eyes. His gaze lowered, sweeping over my chest and hips, before drawing back up to my face. He swallowed hard. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

There was nothing for me to do but nod.

He kept drawing lines in the sand, only to scrub them out with his foot and move them. Tonight the line was back between us.

It was one I couldn’t jump by myself.

22

The days went by too quickly, each one filled with a rising sense of dread at my impending trip back to school. “It’s just a few days of finals,” I mumbled, staring myself in the mirror over the bathroom sink. “It’s not the big dramatic deal you’re making it out to be.”

Except it kind of was. It wasn’t the work exactly. Preston and Summer were busy with training for that weekend’s final qualifiers, but I filled my time with wedding prep and study. The study was infinitely more interesting than tying bows around centerpieces. I was not cut out for the DIY craft lifestyle. I couldn’t see baking being any better.

But at night, when it was just me and Preston, sitting on the couch watching TV, it all came tumbling out. My constant questions over whether I was doing the right thing. Whether being a doctor was really the right path. And the fact I couldn’t see myself working in either a hospital or a clinic for the rest of my life.

None of the pieces felt like they fit, and that just left me adrift in an ocean with no lifeboat in sight.

Preston said little. He let me get it all out. Every doubt. Every fear. Every worry. He let me talk until I was sick of my own voice, and when I got to that stage, he kissed me until I forgot my own name.

He was exactly what I needed, even if he cut it off every night before I could start begging him for sex. The orgasms continued, but he never let me touch him.

It was both infuriating and sweet all at once. I fought a war within myself of trying to respect his boundaries and trying to convince him that we’d waited long enough.

On Saturday morning, he appeared in my bedroom doorway, chest bare, sweatpants low on his hips. He yawned and stretched, while every feminine part of my body woke up and started singing hallelujah.

I shifted on the bed to press my thighs together. “Did you only just wake up? You’re going to be late for training.”

“No training today. Your dad gave everyone the day off to go to the fair.”

“But qualifiers are tomorrow.”

“Exactly. Not much can be done this close to D-day. If I don’t have it by now, I don’t have it.”

“You have it,” I assured him.

“We’ll see. But that’s not why I came in here. You need to get dressed.”

My core was still singing the praises of his bare, muscled torso. “I’d rather get naked.”

He shook his head with a grin. “Who are you and what have you done with innocent little Lennon who couldn’t even look at me without blushing not all that long ago?”

I lifted the sheet, inviting him into bed with me. “You started it. Any chance you might actually want to finish it?”

“You have no idea how much. But you aren’t going to tempt me into that bed. We got places to be. Get dressed.”

I pouted.

He took a step closer and leaned down, so his mouth hovered over mine. “Get up and get dressed, and perhaps I’ll make it up to you later.”

“With sex?”

He shook his head and laughed. “Get out of bed, and maybe you’ll find out.”

He disappeared into the bathroom, and I got up, griping quietly at the closed door. What twenty-four-year-old man fought sex this hard?

But I already knew the answer to that.

A good one. One who was older and had more experience than me and wasn’t willing to take advantage of it.

But come on. Enough was enough. I was leaving again tomorrow for finals. And this time, I had to go, no matter what. I’d be back the week after for the wedding, but I didn’t want this on my mind that entire time.

When he emerged in a billow of steam, my mouth watered.

His towel was so low it showed off a trail of dark hair that started below his belly button and disappeared beneath the towel. I just wanted to follow it with my fingertips, but I dragged my gaze back up to his face, only to find him smirking at me.

“I think this is the definition of cock tease,” I whined.

He laughed. “You don’t have a cock.”

He had a point, but parts of me were definitely teased by him standing there half naked. “Where are we going anyway?”

“Uh, the fair, remember?”

I wrinkled my nose. “Really? I haven’t done that since I was about thirteen. That’s when I outgrew it.”

His mouth dropped open. “You’ve never been to the fair as an adult? Shit, Len. You really are vanilla.”

I glared at him. “Thanks. But seriously, it’s full of petting zoos and feral kids screaming…” I shuddered.

He pulled off his towel and threw it at me, no care that he was now buck naked, his dick hung for my hungry eyes to devour. But all too quickly, he turned away, walking into his bedroom, his white ass to me. “Exactly. You’ll hate it. Maybe then you’ll realize that Massachusetts ain’t so bad.”

I shoved my hands on my hips as his bedroom door closed in my face. “Is that your plan, then?” I shouted. “You’re just going to give me a shitty day out so I won’t want to stay?”

“It sounded good in my head!”

I stared at the door and couldn’t help my laugh. “It’s not going to work. I’ve made my mind up. I’m not going back to Massachusetts in the fall.”

“We’ll see about that.”

With that, I took his damp towel and headed for the shower.

I’d go to the fair. But he wouldn’t change my mind about school. Once finals were done, so was I.

The fair was held every year and always the same weekend. The same one that the final qualifiers for the WBRA tour were held. It was a double whammy for our small town, and people came from miles around to spend the weekend. All the B&Bs were booked, and free camping had been granted in several spots, so there were caravans and tents popped up in places that would ordinarily just be plain, flat grass. A carnival atmosphere was in the air as we drove in through the main street, passing all the little shops who had decorated with flags and streamers for the occasion.

I grinned, pointing to a poster stuck to a light pole. “Summer’s made it to the WBRA advertising.”

Preston slowed to look at the next one, and he shook his head. “She’s going to hate that.”

I laughed. “So much.” I stuck my hand out the window, the warm air rushing over my arm. “That’ll be you next year. The WBRA’s hotshot new recruit. Local hometown hero, Preston Innes.”

His mouth flickered at the corners. “Maybe. Gotta qualify first. The lineup tomorrow is intense. If I don’t get two big rides, I’m out.”

I reached across the stick shift and squeezed his thigh. “You have nothing to worry about.” Except there was one thing he didn’t know about. I bit my lip. “I need to tell you something.”

Preston slowed the car at an intersection, checking left and right before he answered. “When people say ‘I need to tell you something,’ it’s rarely anything good. I’m going to park here. This is as close as we’re going to get.”

He parallel parked on the side of the road, but neither of us made a move to get out. He twisted, watching me from beneath a cowboy hat tugged low on his forehead. “Spill it, pretty girl. What have you done?”

“Well, it’s not a bad thing. At least, I don’t think it is, and I really hope you agree.” I suddenly realized exactly how far over the line I’d been in texting his mother. At the time, I’d thought it a brilliant idea…but now…my stomach churned with nerves. “I might have maybe, accidentally, invited your parents to come watch you ride tomorrow.” I forced an awkward grin and shook my hands. “Surprise!”

He blinked at me. “What did they say?”

“Oh!” I probably should have led with that. “Your mom said yes, of course.”

He sat back in his chair, and worry descended over me once more. “Please say something.”

“I never thought she’d say yes,” he admitted. “That’s the real reason I never asked her. They were so against my decision not to go to college and to pursue bull riding. They hate rodeo. And the country. And basically everything I love.” He glanced over at me. “She really said they’re coming?”

I nodded. “They’re driving in tomorrow morning. I didn’t think you’d want to see them before you rode…but I can organize it if you want me to?”

“No, you’re right. I’ll need to concentrate tomorrow. Better I talk to them once my rides are complete. Fuck. I can’t believe they’re actually coming. I never thought I’d see the day where my dad wore a cowboy hat.”

Relief poured through me. “Well, you know they aren’t required attire.” I tapped the brim of his hat. “Despite your love for them.”

He tipped his hat back and leaned in to kiss me. “You love me in a hat. Admit it.”

My mouth dried.

He seemed to realize what he’d said and sat back quickly. “Uh, I mean…”

I shook my head, brushing off the awkwardness. “It’s okay. I know you didn’t mean it like that. I’m just glad you aren’t mad.”

“I probably never would have asked them if you hadn’t. So thank you.”

He reached over and picked up my hand. He brought it to his mouth and placed a kiss to my knuckles. “Now. Wanna go pretend we don’t both have super-important, high-pressure days coming up, and go eat our weight in hot dogs?”

“Only if we get cotton candy, too.”

“I’ll get you whatever you want.”

I opened my mouth to request the taking of my virginity for about the thousandth time, but he cut me off. “Except that. Keep your mind out of the gutter, Lennon. Really. Your thoughts are written all over your face, and I’m a gentleman.”

He sniggered as he got out of the car, and I was laughing by the time I met him at the front. Effortlessly, without thought, our hands found each other, fingers intertwining. We strolled the rest of the way along the main street, following the crowd of people doing the same. At the end, carnival music floated through the air, and the excited chatter from around us started seeping through my walls of resistance. Everybody was so happy, from kids squealing their excitement, to the screams of exhilaration from the rides that whirled around ahead of us. A ginormous Ferris wheel spun high above our heads, a little hand sticking out of one of the cages and waving down at us. I waved back but doubted they could see me.

Preston pulled out his wallet as we got to the front of the line of people waiting to get in. “Don’t tell me you’re enjoying this? You’re supposed to be hating it so you’ll want to go back to school and only return to your dinky hometown for holidays and funerals.”

My logical brain knew he was only trying to get me to stay in school. He was trying to help, but him pushing me to stay on the other side of the country also meant I was on the other side of the country to him. “Is that what you really want?”

He paid the cashier for both of us and then handed me a pass to get in. We flashed them at the gate, and then we were inside. “For you to not give up? Yes.”

I sighed.

He squeezed my hand. “I’ll stop harping on about it if you go on the bumper cars with me.”

I was willing to do anything if it meant we stopped talking about school and going back there. I raised an eyebrow. “You know I’ve been driving my father’s truck since I was about six. I’ve got years of experience on you, city boy.”

He laughed. “Yeah, but have you driven at all in the last two years? You’re a city girl now. That country twang you used to have is almost all gone.”

Was it? I’d barely noticed. I tugged him toward the ride, and the staff member waved us right on. “I’m taking the blue one.” I made a beeline for it, sitting behind the wheel.

Preston followed more slowly, grinning at me smugly the entire time.

“Come on!” I yelled over the blaring music. “Pick one so I can kick your ass!”

“Oooh, she trash talks. Maybe there is some country girl left in you after all.”

I contemplated flipping him the bird, but there were other people around, and I was already getting a dirty look from the woman in the car beside mine for using the ‘A’ word. “Sorry,” I mumbled to her, forcing an awkward smile.

Preston reached my car and started to climb in.

“Hey! What are you doing?”

“I’m not about to let you kick my…” He dropped his voice. “Ass.” He went back to regular volume with a grin. “So I’m riding shotgun.”

I laughed. “That scared, huh?”

“Something like that.” Beneath the steering wheel, he slid his hand beneath my long skirt and onto my thigh, fingers dangerously close to my panties.

I shot him a panicked look, tugging at my dress to cover his hand. “What are you doing!”

The attendant leaned into the microphone. For a mortifying second, I thought he was going to call us out, but he just started reading out the rules and instructions.

“Sssh.” Preston laughed, fingers sliding deeper between my thighs. “Nobody will notice unless you give them a reason to. Now drive the car.”

His fingertip pressed to my clit through my underwear, and I slammed my foot down on the accelerator. We jerked forward, and Preston braced himself with one hand, the other beginning a slow rub on my clit.

The last time I’d driven a bumper car, I’d been thirteen. I’d driven straight into the middle of the pack, slamming into as many people as I could, as fast as I could. That was the entire aim of the game.

But with Preston being completely inappropriate, I moved to the outer edge, trying to avoid people rather than run into them.

“Did you forget how to play this game?” Preston asked in my ear. “We’re moving about as fast a toddler right now.”

He was right. Pleasure shot through me, radiating out from my clit and deeper into my core. The attendant glanced over at us in confusion, and I put my foot down on the accelerator, not wanting the man to come over and see what was the matter.

Preston shifted my panties to the side. His fingertips moved faster over my clit, until the beginnings of an orgasm built.

The man knew how to play my body like a fiddle. And getting me off in public was clearly his favorite thing to do. I forced my concentration onto the driving, not willing to give him the satisfaction of stealing my attention with his ridiculously talented, orgasm-giving fingers.

I would not come here.

But with every spin of the wheel, Preston didn’t let up. He leaned in so close to me that I was sure anyone watching on wouldn’t have noticed his hand bringing me closer and closer to orgasm in a stupidly small space of time. But my body reacted to him like it had a mind of its own, my hips tilting so his fingers could go lower, pushing through my lips to gather my arousal.

“Run into someone,” he said in my ear.

I did it without thinking about why.

His finger slipped inside me at the exact moment of contact.

“Oh!”

The sound of the two cars crashing together covered my moan.

Suddenly, the ride powered off, and the cars all came to a stop.

“Thanks for riding with us today, ladies and gents. You’ll find the exit to your right, and we hope you enjoy the rest of the fair.”

I almost whimpered when Preston withdrew his fingers from beneath my skirt. And for a long moment, I didn’t move, mourning the fading orgasm that had never come to fruition.

“Everything okay?” the attendant asked.

I gave her a hasty smile and pulled off my seatbelt. “Fine.”

She nodded and walked away.

When her back was turned, Preston put his fingers to his mouth quickly, and my eyes widened. “You did not just do that.”

“I did, and you taste better than the cotton candy. But you didn’t come… Never mind, plenty of other rides.”

I gawked at him. “Is this what you do at carnivals as an adult? Find ways to have public sex?”

He laughed, slinging an arm around my shoulder. “I didn’t hear you complaining.”

He was right. I hadn’t.

But now I was on alert, knowing what his game was.

And maybe I wanted to play it, too.

In the haunted house, we slipped behind an upright coffin with a lid that flung open when you walked past it, the vampire inside shrieking in unison. In the darkness he kissed me hard, urgently. Taking from me what he wanted because we knew it couldn’t last more than a moment. I pushed my hand to his crotch and felt him get hard at the simplest of touches.

The moment we heard the screams of the people behind us we flew apart, laughing, and running the rest of the way through like naughty school children.

Deeper into the fair, Preston guided me toward a ring toss game. “Pick a prize.”

I nodded at a cute black-and-white stuffed panda. “That one.”

He handed over some money, and the attendant offered three rings to throw.

“Let’s see what you got, Len. You failed miserably at bumper cars, and you were so scared in that haunted house you screamed.”

I glared at him. He thought he was so funny. It had been a moan at best.

I put my hand out for the rings, determined to show him up on this one. He couldn’t try anything out here in full view of everyone.

My first toss went slightly wide. The second bounced right off. I squinted and tried to remember every lasso lesson my father had ever given me.

It had never really been my strong point.

I tried again, cursing softly when the third one bounced off as well.

“Damn, thought you had that one.” He handed over some more money to the attendant, then rolled up his sleeves and shrugged like he was preparing for a big race. “If my girl wants a panda, she’s going to get a panda.”

I ached at him calling me his girl again.

He had no idea what it did to me every time those words fell out of his mouth.

He tossed ring after ring, each one sliding off, just like mine had. I laughed and then wrapped my arms around him from behind. “Come on, let’s move on.”

“Nope. Gotta get you the panda.”

He stilled, focused all his energy on the tiny hook at the back of the game, and made a final throw.

It landed squarely on the hook, swinging, but didn’t slide off.

He shot his arms into the air, fingers clenched into fists. “I did it!”

From the look of victory and overextravagant presentation of the prize to my willing arms, you would have thought he’d just won the world tour.

But I clutched my panda to my chest, picking up his hand again as we strolled along. There was a simple pleasure in touching him this innocently. And the fact he’d spent thirty dollars, for a stuffed panda only worth two, had my heart thumping.

We stopped in front of the Ferris wheel, and he gazed down at me. “How are you with heights?”

I shrugged. “Good. That thing is higher than I expected for a county fair, though.”

“It’s huge.”

“But we gotta do it, right? Can’t go to a fair without a ride on the Ferris wheel. Bet the view is good from the top.”

He peered up at it skeptically. “I guess it looks pretty safe. Those cages are more reassuring than the type where your feet just hang.” He shuddered. “I hate those ones.”

Realization dawned on me. “Are you scared of heights?”

He shrugged. “It’s not like a crippling phobia or anything. But are they my favorite? Nope.”

I tugged on his hand. “Let’s not worry about it then. There’s other rides we can do.”

But he pulled me back and got us into the line. “Nah, come on. Let’s do it. If I can ride a cranky bull for eight seconds, I can ride a damn Ferris wheel.”

But when he gazed up at it, there was doubt in his eyes.

He’d had my back when four-wheel driving had terrified me, now I’d have his. “You’ll be fine. It’ll be fun. Come on.”

We’d reached the top of the line anyway, and the attendant had opened the swinging cage for us. “Stay seated at all times, okay?”

We both nodded and stepped inside. It had a solid metal bottom that carried on halfway up the sides. It stopped around mid-arm and opened up from there, with evenly spaced bars right around so nobody could fall or jump out.

Preston tapped the metal floor with his boot, as if testing it wasn’t corroded enough for us to suddenly fall through. Then he jiggled the bars and we moved up a notch, ready to let the next group of people into their cage.

“Satisfied with your safety inspection?” I asked.

“Seems solid enough. Though that sounds like famous last words…”

I shifted over on the bench seat, and he immediately put an arm around me. We jerked up another rung, waiting for the last group of people to get in, and then we were away. I snuggled into his side.

Music from the rest of the fair drifted away while we rose up the arc, only to get louder again coming down the other side. The ride moved at snail’s pace, so we had plenty of time to gaze out over the fair below us, the colorful lights of the other rides and games sparkling. Beyond, the town was lit up, the party atmosphere extended until darkness swallowed the long country road that led to our ranch.

“Thanks for bringing me here today,” I said, resting my head on Preston’s shoulder. “I know it was supposed to turn me off staying, but I’ve had a really nice day.”

“Was your favorite part the hand up your skirt?”

I elbowed him straight in the middle, and he laughed, holding me tighter.

“It was a good day,” he admitted. He put his finger beneath my chin and tilted it up to him. “It’s been a good couple of weeks.”

His unspoken words hovered in the air between us. We’d had a good time, but this was nothing more than a holiday fling. Maybe we’d hook up casually whenever I came home, or maybe next time I’d come home, he’d have a girlfriend. That tug to stay pulled again, not just for him, but for me.

I didn’t want to ruin the moment with my problems. Instead, I closed my eyes when he placed his lips on mine and let him take away the turmoil and indecision that kept me awake at night. His kiss stole my breath, and as we reached the top of the peak once more, he drew me slowly in, deepening it until it was just me and him and the country night sky of stars around us.

The ride screeched to a stop, the sound of metal against metal spearing through our perfect moment.

We pulled apart, my gaze unfocussed, and my heart too big for my chest.

Preston scooted to the side of the cage and gazed down. “Time’s up, I guess. They’re letting the people at the bottom out.”

I nodded, a little disappointed our time was up. His arm snaked around my shoulders once more, and he drew me in to kiss the top of my head.

It was in that moment I knew. I’d been falling for Preston since I was thirteen years old. I’d thought myself in love with him back then, but I realized now how wrong I’d been.

Love wasn’t the same as thirteen-year-old infatuation.

Love was what I felt now, sitting next to the man who’d given me the most whirlwind two weeks of my life. It was the feeling that engulfed me at the tender press of his lips, and the warmth of his body wrapped around me. It was the feeling that if I let him go, I’d be making the biggest mistake of my life.

I couldn’t tell him that.

But it was on the tip of my tongue anyway.

“What’s taking so long?”

I hadn’t even noticed. We could have been up here an hour and it would have felt like a minute. But we both moved to the sides to peer over.

“Uh-oh. That doesn’t look good.” I turned back to Preston. “They have a ladder out and are getting the bottom few cages out like that.”

His face paled. “We’re right at the top. No ladder is going to reach this high.”

I put my hand on his leg and squeezed. “You’re right, but take a deep breath. We won’t be stuck here forever. They’ll probably get the ride working again any minute now. At worst, they’ll get the fire department out with one of their ladders. “

His eyes widened. “And we just…climb out? From up here? Yeah, that ain’t happening. That fear of heights you asked me about? I lied. I fucking hate them. I reckon I was pushed off a cliff in a past life. And now that’s how I’m going to die again. Great. Apparently, I’m doomed to live multiple lifetimes of horrible, excruciating deaths that involve being scared out of your mind first. What’s a guy gotta do to just die old and wrinkly in his nice warm bed with a hot twenty-five-year-old wife ready to inherit all his money?”

I raised an eyebrow, and we both burst into laughter. I shook my head at him. “Good to see you still have a sense of humor while you’re on your way to meet your maker.”

He groaned, dropping his head into his hands. “You’re supposed to be reassuring me, Lennon!”

The cage rocked with the movement, squeaking now that there was no whirr of an engine propelling us around.

“Sorry, folks,” a static-laced voice came through a megaphone. “We’re having some technical difficulties. Please, everyone, remain calm and seated. There’s no reason to be alarmed. We ask for your patience at this time, and we’ll do our best to get you down within the hour.”

“The hour!” Preston turned to me in panic.

I could admit, it wasn’t ideal. But I wasn’t worried. There was nothing wrong with our little cage itself. We weren’t about to go plummeting to the earth. All they needed to do was repair the engine.

But Preston clearly didn’t see it the same way. When I picked up his hand, it was clammy, and his breaths came too fast.

“Hey.” I squeezed his fingers. “Look at me. This is all fine. We’re just going to sit here and enjoy the view for an hour.”

He barked out a laugh. “I’ll be in the fetal position sucking my thumb until then.”

I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped my lips. “So dramatic.” I reached for his belt buckle.

He grabbed my hand. “Whoa, what are you doing?”

“Distracting you before you have a panic attack.” I raised an eyebrow in challenge. “You going to stop me again?”

Slowly, his hand lifted off mine. My core gave a clench of excitement. “That’s all it takes for you to let me touch you, huh? A broken-down Ferris wheel?” I undid his belt buckle, letting each side rest on his thighs, while I flicked the button on his jeans.

He didn’t answer. His gaze was focused intently on my fingers. I drew down the zipper on his fly, and he shifted, helping to tug his jeans down a little to give me better access. Nobody could see us up here. It was probably the most privacy we’d had outside of his cabin, and yet there was still a sense of excitement and urgency. At least for me. Preston was still likely thinking about tumbling ten stories to his death. But I could change that.

I put my hand into his underwear, palming his already semi-hard cock. “Is it me turning you on or the fact we could reach out and high-five a plane?”

He leaned back on the cage, eyes glued to my hand. “Definitely you. You sure you want to do this?”

“I’ve been trying to do this to you for weeks. Just relax.”

“Easier said than done,” he gritted out.

I pulled his underwear down around his thighs. He watched me for my reaction. I’d seen his cock before, of course. But never like this. I’d never gotten to touch him and feel him harden. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” I admitted. “I don’t want this to be bad.”

He chuckled, tension falling out of his posture. “Trust me, there’s very little you can do that would make it bad. In fact, it would actually be good if you weren’t great at this, so I could hold on a bit longer.” He leaned in, pressing his face to the sensitive spot beneath my ear. “I’ve wanted you so fucking bad for weeks, Lennon. This is going to be embarrassingly fast no matter what you do.”

My breath stalled in my lungs, my core instantly damp from his words. I stroked him, his dick going from semi to fully hard in seconds. I slid my hand up and down his shaft, and he groaned, his hips moving in time.

His lips sucked and bit at my neck, until I was as turned on as he was. “I wish we were at home. Fuck, Len. I should have let you do this earlier. That feels amazing.”

I glowed under his praise. I didn’t just want him to stop thinking about where we were. I wanted him to feel as good as he’d made me feel.

I pulled away from his kisses and leaned down, licking the top of his cock.

His fingers immediately fell to my hair, scraping it up into a ponytail while I became more acquainted with him. I opened my mouth and fit it around the head of his cock.

His grip on my hair tightened ever so slightly, my scalp dancing with sensation. Like I’d seen him do, I gripped the base of his cock with my fingers, jerking him with my fist. But I added my mouth as well, taking in just the top of him, swirling my tongue around his head.

“Damn,” he swore, sitting back against the cage, his hand still holding up my hair so he could see. “You have no idea how hot you are right now. It would only be better if you were naked.”

I wasn’t doing that here. But later…I would do whatever he wanted if it meant his voice went all growly and deep like it was now. Every word sent a new wave of arousal through me, all of them centering between my thighs where a dull throb had taken hold.

“How do I make it better?” I asked, moving away to look up at him. “Tell me what you want.”

He swiped his thumb over my lips, swollen from kissing and the blow job. “You’re doing perfect.”

But I wasn’t totally sheltered. I had an idea of what he might like from things I’d heard other women talk about. I lowered my head once more, taking him deep into my mouth this time. His cock hit the back of my throat, and I was surprised to find that it sent a new lust through my own body.

“Oh, fuck.” Preston’s hips jacked up off the seat, so I knew I was doing it right. I took him as deep as I could with every plunge of my mouth, each one fueling my core with arousal until I was desperate to rip my panties off, straddle his lap, and ride him.

But I could wait. He couldn’t. Without letting up the rhythm I’d created, I slipped my fingers around his balls, gripping them softly and then a little tighter when the noises he murmured made it clear he was into it.

“Lennon,” he warned. “You keep doing that and I’m gonna come.”

I kept doing that.

His arousal was a heady combination of salty and sweet.

I wanted to finish him. I wanted him deep in my mouth when I did it, my core trembling with excitement.

“Fuck.” His hands speared into my hair once more, the slight pressure on the back of my head only spurring me on. I took him deeper, faster. I worked him in time with my hands. Until his groan of pleasure was accompanied by hot spurts of cum. I swallowed, taking everything he had to give, until he pulled me up.

His gaze was hot and raw, and he claimed my mouth with a vicious intent I hadn’t seen from him before. His tongue invaded, driving me wild until I was panting and desperate for him to take the ache away.

The motor roared to life once more, and below us, cheers rang out.

“Goddamn, really? Right as I was about lay you on this bench and lick you until everybody around us knew exactly what we were doing.”

I pressed my lips together, stifling a grin as we came down another notch and waited for the group at the bottom to disembark. “You would have stayed up there longer?”

“If it meant I got to watch you come? I’m down for that anywhere.” He kissed me again while he did his pants up. “That was amazing. Thank you for distracting me. Sorry for being a drama queen.”

I laughed as the ride jolted down again. “You were pretty dramatic. Do you really think you died on a cliff in a past life?”

He shrugged. “Probably has more to do with the time my mother goaded me into jumping from the high diving board at our local swimming pool.”

I frowned. “What do you mean, goaded?”

He shrugged. “That was her idea of encouragement. I’d been full of bravado, climbing up those stairs, thinking I was going to have no problem jumping off it. But when I got there…it was really freaking high. Way higher than it looked from the ground. My mom wouldn’t let me turn back. She pushed until I cried.” He shot me a glance. “I was ten. So don’t judge me on the tears.”

“Of course not. That sounds…” I didn’t want to say the word that came to mind. She was his mother after all.

“Cruel?”

“Sadistic might be a better term.”

He shrugged. “That was kinda just how she was. Always telling us to do more, do better, and if we were scared, well, that wasn’t acceptable. You had to just push through that and do it anyway. It worked out okay for bull riding. I was scared to do that at first, too, but I had her words in the back of my head, yelling at me to do it anyway.”

I wasn’t so sure about that. But if he’d chosen to find a bright side to his mother’s cruel behavior, then I wasn’t going to rain on his parade.

It made me realize again how spoiled I’d been complaining about my own mother when she clearly only wanted the best for me. I’d apologize when I got home. And I’d find Callie and make sure I apologized to her, too. I didn’t want to take my family for granted when Preston had made it clear how lucky I was to have a good one. I knew my mother would accept my apologies in a heartbeat. She’d hug me like she used to when I was a little kid and tell me that all was forgotten.

Callie wouldn’t be so easy. But one of us had to fight harder or this distance between us would only grow. If that person had to be me, then so be it.

She needed me, whether she wanted to admit it or not.

We finally clunked down to the bottom of the Ferris wheel. The attendant apologized again as we both stretched and moved out of the way so they could keep unloading people.

“What do you want to do next?” Preston asked while we tried to get through the crowd gathered at the bottom, all waiting for their stuck loved ones to be freed.

I opened my mouth to suggest calling it a night when the attendant behind us gave a shout. “Miss!”

I turned around, thinking she was talking to me. But she was inside the next cage, shaking the dark-haired woman who was the only occupant.

“Miss! Are you okay! Somebody call an ambulance! I can’t wake her up!”

“Shit,” Preston swore, pulling out his phone.

But I’d caught a glimpse of the woman’s slack-jawed face.

It was one I’d seen every day growing up, but now the pink that normally tinted her cheeks had washed away, replaced by a sickly color. “Callie!”

23

Abright light shined in my eyes, and I lifted an arm to bat it away, but it was heavier than one of my father’s bulls. All I could do was limply drop my hand to my belly.

The baby.

Oh God. Something was wrong. I needed to fight harder because it wasn’t just me I was fighting for anymore. It was for her, too. My heart thumped too fast behind my ribcage, forcing blood to zoom around my body, fueled by a giant dose of adrenaline.

I forced my eyes open, and suddenly a whoosh of noise engulfed me. It was terrifying, full of screams and people yelling and flashing light. My mouth opened, but no sound came out, stifled by my terror.

“Callie? Callie. Can you hear me?”

Lennon.

An instant balm soothed the fear. My heart slowed down a notch as her worried face swam into view, blurry and distorted, but her.

Tears leaked from my eyes. “Len? Something’s wrong.”

Her hand fell to my forehead, smoothing back my hair. “It’s okay. The ambulance is on its way. I think you just passed out because your blood pressure is really low.”

It was only then that I felt the constricting pressure of a cuff around my arm. “We’re still at the fair?”

She nodded. “You were on the Ferris wheel. Preston and I were a couple of cages ahead of you. Do you remember?”

I remembered getting on, tired of wandering the fair alone after Jeremy had stood me up. I’d been tired, and morning sick even though it was evening. “I just wanted somewhere quiet to sit for a little while, but I started feeling lightheaded…I haven’t eaten much lately because of the nausea.”

Lennon was in full doctor mode, listening intently. When the paramedics rushed in a minute later, it was her who explained my situation to them.

After a quick taking of my vitals, the male paramedic smiled at me. “We’re going to take you to hospital to check over the baby, okay?”

Panic filled me. “Is something wrong with her?”

Lennon squeezed my hand. “It’s just precautionary, okay?”

I nodded, soothed by her presence. Preston stood behind her, one hand on her shoulder.

I swallowed at the concern on his face. Some of that might have been for me, but he knew his role. He had Lennon’s back, so she could have mine.

Pain speared through me so sharply I wasn’t sure if it was physical or mental.

That’s what this baby needed. Parents who loved each other and could be there for her.

Not me and the man who clearly didn’t give a shit, no matter how many second chances I’d given him. The fact he wasn’t here right now as I was being loaded into an ambulance hurt.

We hadn’t been in love. I’d wanted to try, for the baby, but I hadn’t even bothered calling when he hadn’t shown up tonight. Because in my heart, I wasn’t surprised.

The baby changed nothing for him.

I was still just some woman he’d picked up at a bar and slept with a couple of times.

Nothing more.

The realization left me so empty inside.

“Right. Off we go to get you and your little bean checked out. Is the father coming with us?” The paramedic looked around, but of course, nobody stepped forward.

Nobody but Lennon. “I’m coming.”

She still had a grip on my hand. I wasn’t sure who was holding on to who, but I did know I didn’t want her to leave me. I held my belly with my other hand. My baby was in there. My little girl.

It was like suddenly admitting it all for the first time. The rush of protection and love was overwhelming, and tears pricked at my eyes. “I don’t want to ruin your night. You and Preston…”

But Lennon shook her head firmly, and climbed into the ambulance, and sat on a seat by my side. “He’ll go back to the ranch and get Mom and Dad.”

I shook my head. “No! They don’t know yet…”

Lennon pressed her lips together. “They’re going to worry if you don’t come home…”

Preston put a hand to the back of the ambulance doors. “I’ll think up something. As long as you keep me updated. If anything…I mean, if you need your parents…”

“I’ll call you,” Lennon assured him.

His worried face disappeared when the paramedics slammed the doors shut and sped off for the hospital.

24

Despite two years of pre-med, the back of an ambulance was a new experience for me. My heart still pounded from finding my sister so lifeless. But my first-aid training and days of shadowing doctors at the hospital had kicked in, assessing the situation like a professional would, putting aside my emotions because there was nobody else trained to do it. I was just grateful the fair had provided a pretty extensive first-aid kit, that had at least helped reassure me that she wasn’t in imminent danger.

The baby was a worry, though. Without a portable ultrasound machine, there was little any of us could do but wait.

Callie’s wide-eyed gaze darted around from me to the paramedics, then back to me. I tried to keep my expression as reassuring as possible, even though her fear was practically palpable. Her emotions had always affected mine. I felt them more keenly and was hyperaware of when she was sad or scared.

As kids, I’d always tried to fix it. Just wanting her to smile and be happy. And back then, I shared candy or sticker or a joke I’d heard at school would have done the job. But I couldn’t fix this one. Nobody could. It was just a matter of wait and see.

Something Callie had said earlier came back to me. “The baby is a girl?”

She bit her lip and nodded. “I had an ultrasound and blood test. They have these new ones now and you can find out the gender as early as ten weeks. It’s not one hundred percent accurate for a few more weeks yet, but I already know it’s true. She just feels like a girl.”

I bit my lip, feeling the emotion well inside me. “She’s going to be so beautiful.”

Callie nodded, her eyes welling, too. “Len?”

“Mmm?”

“I’m scared.”

I leaned down and pressed my forehead to hers, the way we’d done as kids. “Shh. I know. It’s going to be okay, though.”

“I’m so sorry for the way I’ve treated you lately. I’ve been so self-centered. So wrapped up in stupid little things that felt huge. It isn’t your fault you made something of yourself while I’m the typical small-town girl stereotype.” She laughed bitterly. “Bucking hell. At least I didn’t marry the homecoming king at eighteen.”

I screwed up my nose. “Tim Morgan was homecoming king, wasn’t he?”

She laughed. “Yes.”

I shuddered. “Thank God you didn’t do that. He was horrid.”

“I think he works at the funeral home now.”

“Seems a fitting job for his personality. Only dead people would be able to tolerate his obnoxiousness.”

She laughed. “I’ve missed you.”

The smile that spread across my face was wide and genuine. “You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to fix this thing with us. I’m sorry it took you getting knocked up and passing out to do it.”

“So…now that we’re talking again…you going to tell me about Preston?”

I shrugged. “Not really much to tell you.”

She frowned. “Oh bullshit. Has he told you he loves you?”

My mouth dropped open. “What? No. Of course not.”

A knowing gleam appeared in her eye. “He will. I saw how he looked at you just now. It was written all over his face.”

I laughed. “I think you might have mistaken his concern for you with love for me. We should get them to give you a head CT when we get to the hospital.”

The female paramedic sitting next to me glanced my way. “Preston the guy you were talking to before we left the fairground?”

I nodded.

She turned to Callie. “I’m with you. That boy is head over heels in love with her. I thought the two of you were married.”

“No, no. Nothing like that. Just…” I didn’t even know what we were. “He lives here. I go to school in Massachusetts,” I explained to her.

“What are you studying?”

“Medicine.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Really! Good for you.”

I tried to smile politely.

The woman chuckled. “Is it kicking your ass?”

I nodded. “A bit. I like the medicine side, but I’m having second thoughts on being a doctor. And I hate Massachusetts.”

“Ever thought about being a paramedic?”

I stared at her. I hadn’t.

But the rush I’d gotten from treating Callie in an emergency situation still lingered. I’d never felt anything like that while studying to diagnose plantar warts on some eighty-year-old’s foot.

The woman went on like she hadn’t just dropped a bomb of an idea into the middle of my world. “We have a lot of people transfer to the course after thinking they wanted to go the med school route. You’ll get credits. I was never one of them. I always knew I wanted the faster pace of being on a rig, rather than sitting behind a desk and barely even getting my hands dirty.” She shot a look at me. “No offence. If that’s what calls to you, then more power to you.”

“That’s not what calls to me,” I admitted.

Callie’s eyebrows raised. “What? Since when? I thought you were desperate to be a doctor?”

I shrugged. “It’s more of a desire to help people. I don’t think I need to be a doctor to do that.”

Callie shook her head slowly. “Somebody really is going to have to get me that brain scan because I cannot believe the words I’m hearing come out your mouth right now.”

The paramedic grinned at me and found a card in her purse. “Here. I only graduated last year. There’s more than one place you can get your degree, but this one is a good one.”

I stared down at the card. “It’s in Atlanta?”

She nodded. “Commute is a bit of a pain, but not unbearable. I took public transport and studied to and from. It’s doable.”

We pulled into the emergency room bays at the hospital, and they got busy unloading Callie and handing her over to the hospital staff. I tagged along, the idea percolating over and over in my head.

What if I could have a life here? One that still involved my family, the ranch, and medicine? The thought made my heart pound.

That was a life that could also involve Preston.

25

Ineeded to sleep. I had the biggest rodeo of my life in twelve hours’ time, and I was still awake, pacing the length of the little cabin I shared with Lennon. What the hell was taking so long? The more time that ticked by, the more worried I became. A hundred times, I strode to the door, ready to jerk it open and storm up to the main house to drag Frost and Addie out of bed so I could drive them to the hospital.

But Callie and Lennon weren’t little girls. Lennon had told me to wait, and so, I waited. I drifted off multiple times with my phone in my hand, only to jerk awake, the phone still blank of messages from my girlfriend.

Whoa.

I brushed the thought off, putting it down to being overtired. But it wouldn’t go away. When she went back to school, which she would, because you didn’t do two years of a medical degree to just quit, what would happen then?

I’d opened a new door for her, and I’d done everything but take her virginity. But she knew what she’d been missing now. How long would it be before she found someone else who wouldn’t think twice about having sex with her?

The thought turned my stomach. They wouldn’t be gentle. They wouldn’t worship her body the way I’d been desperate to do for weeks now.

I wanted it to be me.

Fuck.

Why had I held out so long?

When she got back, I wouldn’t wait a moment longer.

I sat back on the couch, letting my head hang back so my face was turned upward. I couldn’t stop the grin from spreading. It would be special. I’d make it romantic, with dim lights and rose petals and sexy music. My dick kicked to life just thinking about it.

But I couldn’t keep my eyes open. They fluttered back down, the smile never wavering until I was completely out.

Iwoke late, panic shooting through me at the amount of bright sunlight streaming in through the window. It took me a good minute to realize that I hadn’t actually slept through the start of the qualifiers, but that I’d fallen asleep on the couch without drawing the blinds. I’d left them open, hoping to see headlights returning Lennon to me.

I glanced into her bedroom, but her bed was still neatly made, same as before we’d left for the fair the day before. “Shit.” The fact she still wasn’t home couldn’t mean anything good. If Callie had simply passed out, they would have discharged her long ago.

A message waited for me on my phone, and I pounced on it eagerly.

Everything is okay, baby included. They’re keeping her for observation. I’m staying, too, but I’ll meet you at the rodeo later.

There was another message, right after the first one. Shit. Don’t tell anyone else about the baby. She’s not ready to announce that so that info is privileged. Capiche?

I’d been called a big mouth, or loud mouth many a time over the years. But I could keep a secret when I had to. And Callie’s secret wasn’t mine to tell. I quickly typed back a reply.

Got it. I’ll take it to the grave.

Her reply came back a minute later.

Probably a touch of overkill there, considering there’ll be a newborn attached to her in about six months’ time and no hiding it well before that, but Callie said to tell you she appreciates the sentiment. And that you’re going to be a great uncle.

My heart stopped. Then my fingers scrambled over the keys. Really?

Of course. This baby is going to be at the ranch twenty-four-seven. Someone needs to teach it how to get in trouble.

I’m the perfect person for that job.

I’ll bet. See you at the rodeo. Good luck. I know you’re going to smash it. I’ll be cheering you on from the stands.

A flutter of excitement lit me up from inside, coupled with a good dose of nerves. It was probably a good thing that I’d slept late because now I had less time to just hang around. I needed to shower, get dressed, then get my ass to the event.

My parents would be there. I didn’t doubt for a second that they might not show. If my mother said she was going to do something, she never went back on her word. She’d always kept us true to ours as well, and it was her voice that rang in my head while I got ready.

You said you’d make the pros. So make them.

A new sense of determination filled me. Seven years of hard work. It had to all mean something. What was the point if I didn’t make it onto the tour?

The thoughts focused me. I drove myself to the rodeo, following a long convoy of cars out of town into Masonville where the event was held.

Everybody would be in the crowd this afternoon, from toddlers in too-big cowboy hats, to their grandfathers, telling stories about their own long-ago rides. Local businesses had closed up early, and the fair had been wound up. The final qualifiers were a showstopper.

The backstage area swarmed with bodies. Summer pulled me over to her, barking orders at me like she was still my coach. I listened to every one and listened again when Frost repeated them all.

“You’ve got this, Preston. I’ve believed in you since you were a scrawny, seventeen-year-old city kid who didn’t know the bull’s ass from his horns. You’re not that boy anymore.” He swallowed, dropping his gaze. “Win or lose, tour or not, I’m real proud of you.”

My chest squeezed.

His words meant more than he knew. Despite the fact Frost wasn’t a hugger, I hauled him in for one anyway. “Thank you,” I murmured. “For everything.”

I owed him more than my ability to ride bulls. It was out here on Frost’s ranch that I’d grown up and become a man, always led by his example.

He thumped me on the back, clutching me to him for a moment, before letting me go. When he stepped back, he was back in Frost mode, game face on. The two of us peeked out into the arena.

I swallowed thickly. “Big crowd out there today.”

“Biggest I’ve seen in years. Heard your parents finally made it out.” His scowl told me exactly what he thought about it taking this long for them to come see me ride.

“I haven’t seen them yet, but they said they would. It’s been a long time.”

He nodded once. “Don’t let them get in your head, okay? You worry about all that after your rides.”

“I’m fine.”

“Good. See you out there.” He strode off, disappearing into the throng of people milling around.

Brad Pruitt watched me from the corner of the room. He raised one eyebrow in my direction, then nodded.

I wanted to rip his bushy, questioning eyebrow right off his smug face. I knew what he was thinking. And he could shove it up his ass.

I took one final look out, searching for the VIP section above the bucking chutes.

Lennon sat right in the middle, flanked by her mother and sister. My stomach flipped.

This could be my norm. Competing on the tour. Traveling around. Sleeping in hotels every night and eating meals in restaurants I’d never been to.

That was what I’d always wanted.

It all came down to two rides. I had to nail them both.

“Two-minute warning for all riders. Best of luck to you all, but let’s get this show on the road,” an official shouted. “Innes! Hunt! Doyal and Simonson. You four are first up. Let’s go!”

I fell in line with Summer once more. Neither of us said a word, though, both of us too deep in our own heads to make idle chitchat.

I’d drawn the number one spot, which wasn’t ideal. I normally liked to be somewhere in the middle of the pack, with an idea of how the other riders before me had scored.

But we didn’t get to choose these things. I had drawn a ripper of a bull, though, with a reputation for being a good kicker.

That was exactly what I needed. The quality of the animal could mean the difference between a good score and the top of the leaderboard.

At this level, good wasn’t enough.

You had to be great.

I strapped on my safety vest, tugged my hat low on my head, and climbed over the top of the chute fence.

“You got this Preston!”

“You can do it!”

The VIP section behind me yelled out encouragement, but Lennon’s voice was loudest of all. I chanced a glance over at her, but it was my parents’ faces that I got caught up on.

Lennon had gotten them VIP tickets. They sat in the row in front of the Hunt women, looking solely out of place amongst the sea of wide-brimmed hats and flannel. Neither smiled when they saw me, they just nodded.

It was about as personal as the way Brad had addressed me earlier. But what had I expected? It had been months since we’d last spoken. Years since I’d seen them at a family Christmas party they insisted I attend.

We were practically strangers. I had no idea what was going on in their lives, and they clearly had no idea about mine.

“Preston!” Kai snapped. “Get your shit together.”

He was right.

I had to block everything else out. Bulls demanded nothing but your full attention if you wanted to stay alive.

With Frost’s grip tight on my vest, I wrapped the rope around my hand, in the same, practiced way I had a million other items. The crowd around me built and swelled, their noise actually helping to block everything else out.

This was my moment. My year. My ride.

I nodded, and the gate was yanked open, the fifteen-hundred-pound bull beneath me driving hard into the dirt and sawdust, propelling us both into the spotlight of the arena.

One swift kick was all it took to send me flying over his horns.

I hit the ground, not even registering the fact I’d come off until the bone-jarring thud ricocheted through my body. Sharp pain splintered through my chest, but autopilot had me up and off the ground, sprinting for the sidelines.

It was only there that it sank in I’d ridden for no more than maybe two seconds.

It was embarrassingly bad.

“A very disappointing ride from Preston Innes. He won’t be happy with that one, ladies and gentlemen.”

Yeah. No shit, Sherlock.

I could still qualify on one ride. Nobody liked leaving it down to their last one. You always wanted to come out strong and get a qualifying ride on the board straight up, but at the end of the day, if I scored higher than everyone else with that ride, I could still make it. It would be fine. From the sidelines, I watched Summer ride, her bad arm taped to her chest, like it always was. How she managed to balance like that, I still didn’t know. But she made it look easy. And when the eight-second buzzer sounded and her score flashed up, the crowd went wild.

“That might be the ride of the night, folks. Hoo boy. That girl sure knows how to ride. And is it any wonder? Trained by three-time WBRA champion, Kai ‘Frost’ Hunt, his daughter Summer has become a star in her own right. She’s been on the circuit two years now, and I don’t know about y’all, but I think this might be the year she takes out the whole damn competition. She sure is giving the fellas a run for their money and setting a prime example for all the little cowgirls out there.”

My own cheers joined the crowd.

Summer jogged toward me, grin ear to ear.

I returned it, sweeping her off her feet and spinning her around in a hug. “That was insane. You’re going to qualify at the top of the board with that ride.”

She slapped me on the back. “Damn right I am. But you’re going to qualify right behind me, you hear? Don’t get in your head.”

“I’m not,” I assured her.

I wouldn’t do that. I had one last shot. And one shot was all I needed.

The other riders flew by in a blur of high scores or buck-offs. I watched each one, focusing on form, reminding myself over and over again of the things I’d learned, and why this time wasn’t going to be like all of the others.

I wouldn’t fail again.

Hours later, by the time the entire field had ridden once and I was climbing on for my second attempt, I was more focused than I’d ever been in my life. Kai didn’t have to tell me to concentrate. He didn’t try to last-second coach me. I didn’t look for his daughter or my parents in the stands.

It was all about me and doing the one damn thing I came here to do.

The gate flew open, and with a final clanging kick to the chute, the bull beneath me charged into the open space.

I was prepared for his left-hand spin. I went with it, engaging my core, squeezing my legs, keeping my damn free hand well away from the beast who snorted and huffed his annoyance beneath me.

His kicks were strong, jolting me forward, back, left, and right.

Each one I anticipated. I compensated for them all and then waited for the next.

The seconds flew by. Five…six…

The bull stumbled.

He went down onto his front knees, changing the angle of his body dramatically.

Just like before, I went flying over the top of his horns.

The buzzer sounded in what felt like the same second.

This time, though, I couldn’t move. The rodeo clowns rushed in, distracting the bull and sending him back down the tunnel to where fresh food and hay waited for him.

But I was still frozen on the floor, no idea whether the buzzer had sounded before or after I’d lost contact with the rope.

“Ooh, Preston Innes with a very nice ride. That might even beat out Summer Hunt’s corker from earlier in the evening…if it qualifies. We’re going to the video on this one. Stand by for the judge’s decision…”

A hush fell over the crowd. I couldn’t move, watching the slowed-down, live-action replay that flickered onto a big screen.

I knew it before the judges did.

I saw the moment every single one of my dreams turned to dust.

And when they confirmed it, noting that I’d not been in contact with the bull at the 7:54 mark, they disqualified the ride as a buck-off.

I didn’t have a leg to stand on. The ruling was right. I just hadn’t been good enough.

Brad had tried to tell me. I hadn’t been willing to listen then.

But I had no choice now.

26

“Well, that was a disappointment.”

The woman in the row in front of me nodded briskly at her husband, pulling her purse strap over her shoulder. “Only if you actually expected more. Shall we leave?”

The man glanced over at her. “Don’t you think we should at least wait to say goodbye?”

The woman pushed to her feet. “Yes, I suppose we should. But we can wait outside, can’t we? The smell of all these animals and dust is affecting my allergies.”

I knew exactly who they were. Preston’s uppity parents stuck out like a sore thumb in this crowd. I’d spent half the rodeo listening to their idle chitchat, which had not once been about the son they were supposedly there to see. I’d considered introducing myself at first but had fumbled over how to word it.

“Hi, I’m your son’s girlfriend?”

Or perhaps…

“Hi, I’m the woman who interfered and asked you to come here, but after what he’s told me about you, I’m not so sure I should have?”

In the end, I’d said nothing at all, thinking I would find Preston at the end and let him introduce me to them in whichever way he deemed fit.

Now I was one hundred percent sure I had no interest in meeting either of them. Ever.

“Your son is an amazing rider,” I called to them.

They stopped and turned to look back at me. His mother peered down her nose, taking in the hat and WBRA T-shirt I’d managed to get back to the cabin in time to change into.

“Shame he didn’t display those talents today then.” She turned and walked away, leaving me with my mouth hanging open.

“Is that bitch for real?” Callie asked. “How dare she speak about him like that.”

“Callie…” My mom warned, but I could tell her heart wasn’t in it. It wasn’t Callie’s fiery temper she needed to worry about anyway.

For once, it was me.

“Shame on you,” I called to Preston’s parents. “You judge him based on two eight-second rides. Do you know how many times he’s ridden over the past seven years? No. Of course you don’t. Because you weren’t there.”

“We weren’t invited.”

“Who needs an invite to be a part of their child’s life?” That one came from my mother, who stood up behind me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

Callie gaped up at the both of us, then jumped to her feet as well. She remained silent, but her expression was fierce.

Mrs. Innes scowled at us. “Who are you to tell me about my own son? What are you? His groupies?”

“We’re his family, actually. We’re the people who have been here to watch all the thousands of rides he nailed. And we’re the people who watched him fail but still kept cheering.” My eyes flashed with anger for these people who clearly didn’t give a shit.

The woman narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re the girl who texted me to come here, aren’t you? Lenny, right?”

“Lennon.”

She laughed. “I thought it was odd at the time, but now it makes more sense.”

“What does?”

“Look, if you were trying to get his attention by bringing us here, you probably would have done better with a trench coat and heels. He doesn’t care about our approval or our opinion. If he did, he would have listened to us in the first place and stayed in school instead of running out here to play at some silly pipe dream that he clearly doesn’t have the talent for.”

“Geez, Mom. Tell me what you really think.”

The woman whipped around to find Preston standing above us on the stadium stairs. A small backpack was slung over his shoulder.

His expression broke my heart. It was so full of hurt he wasn’t even trying to mask. He wore it all for everyone to see. Including every person in the crowd around us.

His mother didn’t seem to notice his pain. Or if she did, she didn’t care. “Preston. We raised you on the truth, even if it hurts. You know that. I’m sorry you had to overhear it in this way, but the truth still remains the truth. You’ve been at this for years. This isn’t a long-term career path for you, and it’s about time you realized that. What point is there in me sugarcoating it, so your feelings aren’t hurt?”

His eyes widened. “Oh, I don’t know, Mom. Perhaps because that’s what parents are supposed to do.”

“Not good ones.”

“So you’d rather tear your son down in a public forum than offer unconditional support?” My mother stepped forward, a fierceness in her tone that I’d only ever heard her use when she was defending one of her daughters.

The woman sniffed in her direction. “I don’t lie to my children.”

“Neither do I. Because I actually believe in mine.” My mother’s eyes flashed, and I was suddenly glad Callie and I stood between her and Mrs. Innes.

“Go, Mom,” Callie muttered.

I couldn’t agree more.

“Excuse me, folks.” A security guard stopped behind Preston. “You’re going to need to take this outside, you’re disrupting the event.”

I blinked, realizing he was right. The entire thing had come to a grinding halt. Summer and my dad watched on from the bucking chutes, where Summer was supposed to be making her second ride. Their faces were mirror images, both etched with anger and all of it directed at Preston’s parents.

“We were just leaving.” Mrs. Innes navigated her way up the stairs toward Preston who stood stiffly. “You’ll walk us out, son.”

His voice was deadly calm. “Not your son. Haven’t been your son for a very long time.”

The woman stared at him for a long moment, then huffed. “You’ve always been so overdramatic. Stop acting like a spoiled brat. This isn’t how we raised you.”

Preston simply pressed his lips together and watched the two of them walk away. He didn’t try to follow.

I pushed my way past Callie and along the row, meeting him on the stairs. He let me take his hand, and I pulled him toward the exit, out of view of thousands of curious onlookers. Once outside, I steered us to the parking lot, praying his parents had enough of a head start to have gotten lost in the sea of parked cars.

I didn’t want to see their faces again right now. I was too full of anger on Preston’s behalf.

And guilt that this had all been my stupid idea.

He’d been pleased when I’d told him they were coming, but there was a reason he’d never invited them himself. He’d preempted all of this and had saved himself the heartache.

Now I felt his pain like it was my own, the empath in me sucking it in until it surrounded me.

Preston walked like a zombie, his feet dragging over the ground like his leg muscles no longer worked properly. The life had drained out of him, and my worry grew with every step.

“Do you want me to drive?” We were at his car, but he hadn’t taken out his keys.

“If you want.”

I bit my lip and then moved to take the backpack from his shoulder. Inside, I rifled around, sorting past a bottle of water, his wallet, and eventually finding his keys in the bottom. He got in the passenger side, while I ran around and got behind the wheel.

For a long moment, we both just sat there. Him staring through the windshield numbly, me staring at him.

“Are you okay?” I didn’t know what else to say.

He shrugged. “I’m fine. Let’s just go home.”

“You don’t want to go to the bar or something?” All his friends would be there. And past experience had taught me that even when the guys lost, they still went to the bar. You either drank to celebrate or commiserate. But nobody went home sad and alone.

He shook his head. “Not tonight. They can celebrate without me.”

I wasn’t going to argue. I got us on the road out of Masonville, and silence settled for the rest of the trip. I darted little glances his way, but he had his head firmly twisted to stare out his window so all I got was the back of his head.

The ranch was dark when we turned into the driveway, everybody still at the rodeo or maybe on their way to the bar. We both got out of the car, and Preston climbed the steps, me following after, slipping in the front door behind him. Once it was closed, I leaned back on it, watching him.

He dumped his backpack just inside his bedroom door and sat on the end of his bed to pull his boots off.

He didn’t shut the door but he didn’t make eye contact with me either.

He hadn’t looked at me once since we’d left the rodeo.

“You should pack your things,” he said finally. “Your flight leaves in a couple of hours.”

I’d almost completely forgotten about that. I needed to be back in Massachusetts for my finals that started on Tuesday, but I’d wanted to be here for the qualifiers, so I’d booked an early evening flight that would still have me back at my apartment not long after dinner. Plenty of time for a last-minute cram session and a good night’s sleep before I got down to a week of finals torture.

But how was I supposed to walk out the door and leave him like this? With every single one of his dreams in tatters and his parents saying such awful things? He was here. And my heart screamed that this was where I belonged, too. Not in some cheap apartment with a roommate I barely saw, doing a course I didn’t love. “I’m not going.”

His head jerked up. “What?”

“I’m not going back.” The decision that I’d been wrestling with for weeks suddenly became crystal clear. He wasn’t the deciding factor, just the final piece of it. A weight lifted off my shoulders. So I said it again. “I’m done. There’s no point doing finals when I’ve already made up my mind.”

Preston’s gaze darkened. “You’re going back.”

My eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”

He shot to his feet, storming across the hardwood floors. “Are you kidding me right now, Lennon? You’ve been talking shit about this for weeks, and I’ve mostly said nothing, because of how completely absurd the idea is. I bit my tongue and turned it into a stupid game because I knew that when it boiled down to it, you’re the intelligent one out of the two of us. I knew you’d make the right decision in the end.”

“I am making the right decision.”

He threw his hands up in frustration. “You’re so damn smart. How on earth could you possibly think this is a good idea? You’re throwing away everything you’ve worked for!”

“So you’re saying I should just keep doing something that doesn’t make me happy?”

“I’m saying you need to grow up. The real world doesn’t run on hopes and dreams. The real world is work. You won’t always like it. But you show up and do it anyway.”

I shook my head. “I’m miserable there, Preston!”

He cringed but covered it quickly. “It’s temporary. Once you’ve graduated, you can come back and get a local job.”

“Graduation is years away. And what about us?”

He froze. “What about us?”

“What are we? We’ve been practically living together for the past couple of weeks. Are we just going back to being friends? Or are we something more?”

He sighed and turned away. “What do you want me to say, Len? I’m not going to give you a reason to stay here in this dead-end town when you’re so fucking good at what you do. I saw you at the fair last night. The way you stepped up and cared for Callie? You were nothing short of a complete pro. Anybody watching on would have assumed you were already a doctor.”

“But I—”

“Just stop with the bullshit excuses! You were bored. You came home looking for something different and you found it. But that’s it! Running away and hiding on a ranch is for people like me. The ones who aren’t good enough. Who work hard but don’t have the talent. I’ll be here ’til the day I die, and you know what? I’m okay with that. It’s what I’ve suspected for a long time, and tonight cemented it. I can have a good life here, working on the ranch. I’m happy with that.” He turned sad eyes on me. “But I’m not going to be the man who drags you down and clips your wings. You’re the one percent who has the talent and ambition to get out. Don’t fucking waste it.”

My blood boiled. “So that’s it? It doesn’t matter what I want? You just expect me to go back to school and forget all about all of this.”

Pain flashed in his gaze, but he turned on his heel, heading for the bathroom. “That’s exactly what you should do.” He didn’t pause when he hit the bathroom, and the door banged closed behind him. A moment later, the old pipes squeaked and the sound of running water filtered through.

I stared at the door, willing him to come back out and take back what he’d said.

But he didn’t. And eventually, when it was clear that he’d meant every word, I silently packed my bag. I cleared out the little bedroom that I’d called home.

Then I walked myself out of his cabin and out of his life.

Just like he’d asked me to.

27

Istared blankly at the TV casting flickering light around the darkened cabin. The warm summer breeze flowed through the open door, but it might as well have been arctic. It had been that way ever since I’d gotten out of the shower and found Lennon and all her things gone.

She was probably at the airport by now, boarding a plane that would take her back to her real life. I didn’t feel bad about what I’d said to get her to leave. It had been necessary.

But I already missed having her here. Her cute expressions and her gentle voice and the soft curve of her body that would have been pressed against me right now.

I hadn’t realized how much of a hole her leaving would create until I’d seen that screen door swinging.

Headlights flashed outside, and I leaned forward to see who it was. The headlights shone right into my eyes, but a moment later, four car doors slammed, one after the other.

I stood to see who it was, flicking on the porch light when the headlights were extinguished.

Addie, Frost, Summer, and Callie all traipsed up the stairs. Addie was first, giving me a tight smile. “Mind if we come in? We need to talk.”

I pushed open the door for her. “Yeah, of course. What’s going on?”

Frost was next. He didn’t say a word, his familiar stony expression firmly in place. I knew it well and could often read the true meaning behind it, but not this time.

Summer came next, glaring at me. “You’re an idiot.”

My mouth dropped open. “What did I do?”

Callie was the last. Her gaze met mine, and she grinned. “Family intervention time, Innes. And you’re in the hot seat.”

I didn’t even have time to process that before Frost was pointing at the couch. “Sit.”

“Yes, sir.”

He nodded, leaning back against my kitchen counter. “I’m not happy about what happened today.”

I hung my head. “I know. I let you down. I’m sorry.”

Kai sighed. “That’s not what I’m talking about. Preston, hold your damn head up. You have nothing to be sorry for. You were unlucky tonight. It’s the name of the game. I’m disappointed for you, yes. But not disappointed in you. Your age doesn’t matter. We’ll train for another twelve months, and you’ll get another shot.”

It was the same speech he’d given me every year. Every other time, though, I’d believed him. This time, I didn’t doubt his sincerity, but I wasn’t sure I had it in me to try again.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

Something Lennon had said had triggered something in me.

Dreams could change. Maybe winning the WBRA world championship title wasn’t supposed to be mine.

Addie gazed at me with sympathy shining in her dark eyes that were so much like Lennon’s. “About what happened tonight with your parents. I wanted to apologize—”

“For what! Mom! No!” Summer stopped short of jamming her hands on her hips, but the intent was there in her voice. “His mom was totally out of line.”

“Summer,” Frost warned. “Keep a lid on it for a minute, you hothead. You didn’t even let her finish.”

I shrugged. “I kinda agree with her. My mom has always been…difficult. To put it politely.”

Addie ignored us both. “What I was trying to say is that I’m sorry if I made it worse. But I couldn’t stand by and listen to her talk about my son like that.” She bit her lip. “I know you aren’t blood, but you’ve been here so long, and you were so young when you first came that I can’t help but feel that way about you.”

A lump rose in my throat.

“What she said,” Kai gruffed out. “Your parents don’t know shit all about what it takes to get to your level. How few people can ride even half as well as you. Whether you ever make the pros or not, that doesn’t change the fact that you’re a damn good rider, kid. And I’m proud to be your coach, and your family.”

I scrubbed a hand across the back of my neck, willing myself not to let the emotions slamming their way around my body free. They were saying everything I’d wanted my biological parents to say, even though I knew they never would.

But being a part of the Hunts’ family had never been a consolation prize. I choked on a laugh. “Does this mean I can come to Christmas dinner?”

Summer tossed a coaster at me. “You’ve come to like, the last four Christmas dinners, idiot.”

She was right. They’d treated me like family for years, even if they’d never officially acknowledged it like they were now.

I hadn’t realized how much I’d wanted to hear it.

But…they didn’t know the full story either. I cleared my throat, needing to return their kindness with honesty. “I need to tell you guys something.”

Four sets of eyes all focused on me. “Lennon and I…”

Summer snorted. “Are doing the wild thing?”

“Summer!” I shot her a dirty look and then turned to Kai with my face flaming.

He groaned. “I could have done without the detail, Summer, thank you.”

I wanted the floor to open and swallow me whole. “We’re not…not that. But… Oh, bucking hell.”

Summer and Callie both laughed at my use of their favorite alternate swear. Kai looked like he wanted to jump into the pit with me.

But Addie took pity on me. “Sweetie, we already knew. You and Lennon have been in each other’s pockets lately.”

My shoulders relaxed an inch. “You knew?”

“Of course we fucking knew,” Kai butted in. “Y’all think we don’t see the things you get up to because we’re ‘old.’” He made air quotes with his fingers. “We aren’t so old we don’t see what’s right under our noses.”

Callie chuckled. “That’s what you think.”

Addie leaned around her husband to her middle child, with one eyebrow raised. “We know all about what happened years ago with you and Preston, too. So don’t think you’re exempt from this.”

Callie’s mouth dropped open. “You knew? How? Oh God, you know what? Don’t even answer that. I’m already dying. Can everybody please just erase that from their memories?”

I cringed, wishing that were possible while trying to assess Kai’s expression. “Scale of one to Grave Digger, how mad are you right now?”

He rolled his eyes. “I’ve had some time to get over it. And a few reminders that my daughters are no longer babies.”

“And that falling in love with a cowboy isn’t the worst thing in the world.” Addie turned to me. “You and Lennon have our full approval.”

“Does that still apply if she drops out of college to move back here?”

Addie perched on the armrest of the couch. “Whatever decisions Lennon makes about her future, good or bad, are hers to make. She’s a grown woman. If Harvard isn’t right for her, then it isn’t right for any of us to try to stop her.”

But Addie’s worry was etched into every line on her face and the concerned press of her lips.

“You don’t need to worry about her, Mom. Lennon isn’t ever going to be the small-town girl who gets herself knocked up and never leaves,” Callie assured her.

I knew she was comparing her twin to herself there, but despite all the other things Frost and Addie knew, there was no look of recognition from either of them when Callie talked about pregnancy. So I schooled my features into something neutral.

Callie’s voice was sure and strong when she spoke about her sister. “If Lennon comes back here to stay, she’ll come back with big ambitions. Those don’t just disappear. I don’t know what she’ll do with them, but I have no doubt it will be something amazing.”

Indecision warred inside me. “Do you honestly think she could be happy here? For good?”

“We all are,” Addie said softly. “Is it so hard to believe she might feel the same pull?”

Frost stood, wiping his hands off on the front of his jeans. “We should get out of here. It’s getting late.”

The others followed his lead, moving toward the doorway. But Callie lingered, waiting until the others were in the car and the two of us had some privacy.

“I owe you an apology,” she started.

I shook my head. “It’s water under the bridge.”

“I was young, and stupid—”

“And I should have known better.”

She eyed me. “You’re a good man. I hope you actually realize that.”

It wasn’t said with any sort of hidden meaning. It was words straight from her heart.

Instead of denying it, or getting embarrassed, I simply accepted the compliment. “Thank you.”

She nodded, standing. “The wedding is next week. Lennon will be back…”

“She probably won’t want to talk to me after the argument we had tonight.”

Callie cringed. “Bad?”

“Definitely wasn’t good.”

She sighed. “You two are painful. She told me you’ve been holding out on having sex with her.”

I groaned. “I think I liked it better when the two of you weren’t on speaking terms.”

Callie chuckled. “I’m going to be trying real hard to make sure that doesn’t happen again. I…I need her. For my own selfish reasons, I want her to stay.”

I nodded.

If I was being purely selfish, I did, too. It had nearly killed me to stay in the bathroom long enough tonight to let her walk out. I’d had to clench my fingers around the bathroom sink so tightly I was surprised it hadn’t cracked.

“I should go. The others are waiting for me. But think it over during the week. Maybe you’ll realize what the rest of us already know.”

“What’s that?”

She smiled smugly. “That you love her.”

I opened my mouth to deny it but then closed it when a warmth washed over me.

Callie’s mouth dropped open. “Holy shit, I was right. You do love her!” It was an accusation, complete with a finger point. She ran lightly back to me and kissed my cheek. “Tell her. I’m pretty sure she loves you, too.”

She disappeared outside into the night, and I was left with an empty cabin once more.

But my heart felt pretty damn full.

28

Iwas so bucking mad I could gore someone. If I’d had horns. But since I didn’t, I had to satisfy my urge for murder by typing out furious, shouty, all-caps text messages to Preston, then deleting them before I actually hit send.

For the second time that evening, the loudspeaker in the corner came to life, and a tinny voice reported that due to unforeseen mechanical problems, Flight 252 to Massachusetts would be delayed.

Groans rang out around me, echoing mine. We’d already been sitting here for an hour.

Buck this. Buck him. Buck everything.

Across from me, an older lady leaned into her husband and none too quietly said, “Those people over there got moved to another flight. We should ask if we can change flights, too.”

My ears pricked up. “Excuse me, there’s another flight into Massachusetts tonight?”

The woman frowned, then deliberately ignoring me, elbowed her husband. “See? Now everyone knows about it and all the seats are going to get snapped up. Hurry!”

Her husband shuffled off to do her bidding, joining the customer service line.

The older woman smirked at me triumphantly.

I was willing to be the bigger person, because the alternative—shoving her frail old husband out of the way so I could take his place in line—was morally unacceptable. But I did powerwalk over and take up a spot behind him.

I was so over waiting in this airport. And men. And bitchy old ladies. I was over them, too.

The line shuffled forward, and then again. I eavesdropped on the old man in front of me and got excited when he and his wife were moved onto a flight leaving in fifteen minutes.

The woman behind the desk answered a phone call while the old man painstakingly slowly put away his ID and packed his new tickets into his fanny pack. I tapped my foot impatiently, fighting the urge to storm over there and do it for him.

Jesus, I was a cranky bitch this evening.

It was all Preston’s fault.

The woman finished her call and waved me over. I dragged my suitcase along with me and set it up right at the counter. “Hi.” I tried to make my smile as genuine and friendly as I could, even though I was far from feeling sunshiny. “Could you book me onto that earlier flight to Massachusetts as well, please? I really need to get back.”

The woman put her hand out for my ticket. “Sure thing, sugar plum. Let’s get that taken care of for you.”

I passed over the ticket and slumped on the counter in relief.

Her fingers flew over the keys. “Oh.”

That didn’t sound good.

She grimaced. “I’m so sorry. That man just took up the last seat on that flight.”

I ground my molars. Of course. Typical. Should have barged the old codger right out of the way.

Jesus, I was going to Hell. What was wrong with me?

“Is there another flight then, please?” I didn’t even try to keep the begging tone out of my voice.

The woman shook her head. “The flight you’re already booked on is the next one to leave. We do apologize for the inconvenience, though, and we’ll have you in the air within the next two hours.”

“Two hours!”

The woman passed over my tickets. “We’re allowing all passengers from your flight to wait in the first-class lounges. There’s food and drinks in there. Even showers if you’d like to use them while you wait. You’ll be much more comfortable.”

I sighed and got my annoyance under control. The idea of a warm shower after two days without one did take the edge off my annoyance a little. “Thank you. Where is that, please?”

She pointed behind her, and I picked up my things once more and followed the trickle of other passengers doing the same thing. At least the seats were comfier back here, and it was quieter. I dropped onto a chair and put my phone away in my purse.

I wasn’t going to text Preston.

I had my shower and then passed the time by studying for the finals I no longer saw the point in taking now that I’d decided I wasn’t staying. The paramedic’s card was still tucked away in my purse, the idea percolating in my head.

People would see it as a step down.

The hours would be terrible.

The pressure would be intense, and as a first responder, I knew the things I’d see would sometimes be horrific and scary and sad.

And yet the idea lit me on fire in a way that I hadn’t felt for a long time.

I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Finally, they fixed our plane and got us in the air. I should have already been home by now, and I’d texted Zach from the airport right before we’d taken off, saying I was on my way, and I’d see him soon.

I didn’t get his reply until I landed at the other end.

’Bout time you came home. It’s been too quiet without you. I actually made a woman breakfast just so I’d have someone to talk to.

I rolled my eyes. He was such a manwhore.

There were no other texts, though.

None from Preston saying he was sorry and that he’d made a mistake and wanted me to come back.

I got in the back of an Uber and brooded over my silent phone, like if I stared at it long enough, it might ring.

It didn’t. The streets outside were familiar after living here two years, but they all still felt cold, even in the middle of summer. None of them were the long, winding country roads I’d just left behind. None of the people wore cowboy hats or boots.

None of it was where I wanted to be.

Irrationally, it only made me angrier at Preston. And by the time the driver dropped me out the front of my apartment building, I was once again a melting pot of frustration over delayed flights, our argument, and the fact I’d slept on a hard plastic hospital chair last night while panicked over my sister.

I stomped up the stairs, struggling for the umpteenth time that day with everything I had to carry. “Where the hell are my keys?”

With my arms full, I tried to shake my purse.

Half the contents spilled out, my phone hitting the carpeted stairs and tubes of mascara and sun cream rolling back down the way I’d come. “Argh!”

I snatched up my phone. Enough was enough. I wasn’t going to be able to sleep like this. I needed to have this out with Preston.

I hit the call button by his name on my phone, then held it to my ear while I stomped down the stairs, picking up the rest of my belongings as I went.

“You’ve called Preston. I’m probably out on the back of a bull, but leave a message and I’ll get back to you when I can.”

I could scream. Of course he hadn’t answered my call.

That wasn’t going to save him from the verbal tongue-lashing I needed to get off my chest. “Hi, Preston. It’s Lennon. I know for a fact you aren’t on the back of a bull right now, so you probably just watched my name flash up on your phone, didn’t you?”

I tucked the phone between my ear and my shoulder and dragged all my stuff further down the hallway toward my apartment. “Never mind. Because I’m going to say it anyway. You’re wrong about me. Yeah, I wanted to be a doctor. But that dream has changed, and I’m a grown-ass woman, so it’s me who gets to make that decision. So get ready to spend all your time avoiding me, because I’m coming back after finals, and I’m going to enroll in a technical college in Atlanta for next year. I’m not giving up medicine altogether, because that’s one thing you were right about. It is what I’m called to do, but neither you, nor my parents, nor anyone else gets a say in how I do that.”

My anger bubbled up and spewed out. And God, it felt good to say it, even if I was standing outside my apartment door in a hallway that smelled vaguely of cat pee and stale pot smoke. “And don’t worry, I heard you loud and clear when you said things were over between us. I won’t come begging you for sex anymore, when you’ve made it perfectly clear you don’t want that with me. I’ll do exactly what you said. I’ll go find someone else who will want me like that.” My heart cracked as I lied, slumped against my door. Because despite the anger-fueled words that tried to hurt him as much as he’d hurt me, it was him I wanted.

It was him I’d always wanted.

Because I was so stupidly in love with him, I could barely see straight.

But he didn’t want me back. Tears pricked at the backs of my eyes. “You know what? I’m so sick of being a virgin. You would have slept with me without thinking about it twice if I’d just given it up to some random guy at a party. And then I would have had those memories with you.” My voice cracked, wishing I’d been like every other girl in my grade who had started having sex at sixteen like it was no big deal. I’d worked it up in my head so much that it had actually held me back.

I was never going to get to know what that was like with him. I knew that meant I’d missed out on something special.

Because I knew I was never going to feel like this with any other man. “I’m just going to go sleep with Zach. At least then this will never happen again.”

The door behind me yanked open.

“Like hell you will.”

It didn’t make any sense, but I’d know his voice anywhere.

Preston caught me as I stumbled back through the doorway and set me right on my feet.

I spun around, taking him in, my mouth hanging open. “What…how?”

He shrugged. “I got on a plane the minute your parents and sisters knocked some sense into me. Got the last seat. Zach let me in when I got here before he went to work. What took you so long?”

I was sure I looked like some sort of fish, opening and closing my mouth with no sound coming out. It was only then that I realized the apartment looked different. The lights were off, but a low yellow glow outlined him, and when I peered past him, I gasped. “What’s going on?”

He took my hand and dragged me inside, gathering up all the things I’d dropped in the doorway, so he could close the door. My phone clattered to the floor, and he pulled me into his arms. “You’re right. About everything. Dreams can change. You should take your finals. You’re here now anyway, and they might give you some sort of credit when you become the most kick-ass paramedic Atlanta has ever seen. But it’s your decision.”

A smile flickered at the corner of my lips. “You heard all that, then?”

He laughed. “Pretty sure the entire floor heard the chewing out you just gave my voicemail.”

I groaned at the idea of my neighbors all knowing about my sex life. Or lack of one.

Preston cleared his throat. “But about sleeping with Zach—”

I buried my face in my hands, the idea of truly getting naked with Zach not one I even wanted to consider. “I wouldn’t have.”

He pulled my hands away and put two fingers beneath my chin, tilting it up to face him. “I nearly lost it when you said that. The thought of anyone but me being your first is like a bull kick straight to the balls.”

“So, you’re saying…”

His smile softened. “I’m saying, I want to take you to your bedroom, take your clothes off, worship every inch of your skin—”

“And then stop short of actually putting your dick inside me?”

He snorted. “No, I was planning to put my dick inside you. But I was trying to be romantic. Thanks for killing the mood.”

I laughed up at him. “Is that what all the candlelight is about?”

He tugged me toward my bedroom and flung open the door. “But wait, there’s more.”

A rush of feeling flooded me. Inside my bedroom, every available surface was covered in candles and flower petals. Soft music played from my speakers.

“Do you like it?”

I turned to face him. His eyes were so full of hope that I pushed up onto my toes and put my arms around his neck. “I love it.”

He dropped his head so his lips hovered just over mine. “I love you.”

My eyes widened in shock, but then he was kissing me and showing me he’d meant every word.

I melted into him, the music swirling around us in the candlelight. His kiss was gentle and slow, like we had all the time in the world. We’d been apart mere hours, but in that time my emotions had run the gauntlet, and kissing him now felt like a coming home. His palms smoothed down my spine, stopping at my lower back, while his tongue met mine in a slow rhythm that promised of more.

His lips trailed off, kissing his way to my neck. I dropped my head back on my shoulders, giving him better access, and he ate it up greedily, his lips soft and sweet, his tongue wicked. His fingers worked at the buttons on my shirt, undoing each one swiftly, until the shirt was off my shoulders and in a puddle on the floor. The rest of my clothes followed soon after, until I was naked in the candlelight.

His gaze traced every curve of my body. From the swell of my breasts to the flare of my hips and all the spots in between.

I’d never felt more beautiful.

His gaze was full of worship, and desire. Not for one second did I think about my belly roll, or the cellulite on my thighs. It was clear that in his eyes, my body was all he wanted.

“Fuck, Lennon,” he murmured. “I don’t know how I’ve waited so long to have you.”

“Come here.”

He shook his head. “Just let me watch you for a moment more.”

Heat flushed through me, and wetness pooled at my core. His gaze scorched, heating my skin to the point where I might as well have been the flame in the candles.

He stepped in and kissed me again, right before I could ignite.

He walked me back to the bed, sitting me on the edge so I could watch him undress. His shirt and jeans joined my clothes on the floor, shadows dancing over his tanned skinned until he was as naked as I was.

His mouth found mine, and he pushed me back on the bed, my head nestled into a pile of pillows. I ran my fingernails up and down his back, desperate to touch his skin, loving the trail of goosebumps my touch left behind.

Then he lowered his head, kissing the tops of my breasts, before cupping one with his hand and fitting his mouth to the other.

I groaned at the pleasure it created. He sucked and licked my nipple into a tight bud, grazing it lightly with his teeth, and alternating with the softness of his tongue. His fingers tweaked my other nipple, squeezing and rolling, mimicking his tongue until I was arching my back into his touch, holding his head and begging for more.

“Once your finals are over, and we’re back at home, I’m going to do this to you every morning and every night.”

The promise sent a thrill through me. I opened my legs, wrapping them around him, trying to line his cock up with my entrance.

But he reared back, grabbing my calves and lifting them over his shoulders as he slid down the bed. “You’ve waited this long. You can wait until I have you ready.” His tongue hit my clit, and I immediately gave up the fight.

His lips pressed to my inner thigh. “I want you soaked for me, Lennon. I want you so turned on that this doesn’t hurt you in any way.”

I shook my head, trying to reassure him. “It won’t.”

But he wasn’t taking my word for it. He licked through my folds indecently, swiping his tongue from way down low, and up to circle my clit. Over and over he devoured my most sensitive place, licking every inch of me, lingering over the bundle of nerves. My arousal coated his lips and chin, and when he thrust his tongue into my opening, my hips moved with him, taking the shallow intrusion even though it created a desperate need for more.

He fucked me with his tongue until I was writhing, and then he replaced it with a finger.

“More,” I begged.

Another finger followed instantly, giving me something to ride. I bucked my hips, an orgasm building and demanding to be caught. I threw my arm over my eyes, grinding into his face, chasing it down.

His third finger was the stretch I needed. I moaned as the orgasm took hold of my body, my internal walls clenching down around his fingers while his tongue worked my clit. My head spun, my pussy spasmed, and a rush of arousal had him groaning out a satisfied, all-male noise that triggered another round of pleasure.

He withdrew his fingers, and I whimpered at the loss of him.

“Lennon, look at me.”

I dragged the arm off my eyes, knowing I was flushed and pink and as out of breath as if I’d just run five miles.

He had a condom in his hand and uncertainty written all over his expression.

“I need to see your face. If at any time you don’t want this—”

“I want it.”

I sat up, reaching for the condom.

He let me take it from him. But I pulled him down to lie on the bed beside me, so we were face to face. His dick was rock-hard between us, and I put my hand around it, gripping his base.

He groaned, hips giving the tiniest of thrusts.

But I wanted him as turned on as I was.

Working his cock slowly, I put my lips to his chest. He had the lightest dusting of hair there, and I kissed over it now, seeking out his nipples.

I bit one lightly, applying pressure in a way I already knew he liked.

He reached between my legs, and I yelped at the touch, already so oversensitive from my orgasm. But he coated his fingers once more and brought them to his dick. He was big enough that we could both have our hands there, and for a moment, we both moved in unison, his fingers covering mine, and his shaft, with my arousal.

He rolled me to my back and found the condom on the bed once more. “I want to be inside you, Len. I want to kiss you and tell you I love you. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“I can’t either.”

He ripped the top of the condom packet and pressed back on his knees to put it on.

I watched.

“Touch your clit for a moment while I do this.”

I slid my hand over my stomach, and then lower, spreading my folds and finding the little bundle of nerves.

It didn’t need much encouragement to spark back to life. It throbbed, and I kept my hand there, drowning in the sensation until he had the condom on and was nestled between my thighs.

“Say it.”

I didn’t hesitate. “I love you.”

He took a shocked breath. “I meant say yes, but fuck, Len.

I was so ready for this man. So ready to know what it was to be truly with him. “Yes.”

He slid into me on a single, slow glide, staring down at my face the entire time.

I waited for the bite of pain that I was supposed to feel.

But it wasn’t there.

“Are you okay?”

I moved my hand and wrapped it beneath his arms, pulling him down on top of me. My hips lifted, inviting him deeper, and we both groaned at the sensation. “I’m great.”

His hips began to move; he started a slow thrust. The feeling wasn’t completely foreign. He’d done this with his fingers, and his tongue, but being this connected to him was new. I stared up into his eyes and felt my heart crack wide open at the love there.

There was no hiding it. He wasn’t even trying. It was all right there on his face, and in his words, and in the way his body cradled mine.

“I love you,” I whispered into his ear. “I’ve loved you half my life.”

“I’m going to love you the rest of yours.”

I peered up into his face and then kissed him softly, letting him know that that was just fine with me.

They were big claims for a new relationship. There was something between us that felt so right it would have been incomprehensible to anyone else. But there in that moment, our two bodies connected, as well as our hearts, I knew.

He was it for me.

And he’d been well worth waiting for.

29

Isat my finals. They were difficult, but despite the time I’d had off school, I didn’t feel underprepared. All the months leading up to it where I’d worked hard had paid off, and I walked away from the school year feeling confident and proud of my achievements.

But it hadn’t changed my mind that med school wasn’t in my future, and that life as a clinic doctor or in a hospital wasn’t what I wanted to be doing for the next fifty years.

I let myself in the door of my apartment and found myself surrounded by chaos, Preston and Zach at the center of it all, a pyramid of boxes and packing tape and bubble wrap surrounding them.

Zach pointed a tape dispenser at me like it was a gun. “Your boyfriend is a slave driver. He’s had me working my fingers to the bone.”

Preston picked up an extra roll of tape and threw it in Zach’s direction. It zoomed across the room, but Zach leapt out of the way, and the tape bounced off the wall behind him.

Preston grinned. “We need to bring him home with us and teach him what a real day of hard work looks like.”

Zach made gagging noises. “And get up at five in the morning? No thanks. If I’m awake at that hour it’s only because I haven’t gone to bed yet.”

Preston rolled his eyes. “City boys.”

I giggled as he picked his way around the moving boxes he and Zach had spent the last few days packing for me while I concentrated on my assessments. “So I shouldn’t tell him you were once a city boy, too?”

Zach’s mouth fell open, and he stared at Preston like the two of them hadn’t been hanging out for days. “You? Mister ‘I’m gonna wear my cowboy hat in the middle of Massachusetts, despite the fact there’s not a cow in sight?’ You weren’t born and raised in the dirt?”

“Only if the dirt from the subway counts.” Preston wrapped his arms around me from behind, resting his chin on my shoulder. “How about you, just selling me out? I work hard to keep up the pretense that I’m a country boy. I don’t wear all this denim and flannel for fun, you know.”

I kissed his cheek. “Feel free to take it off anytime.”

Zach groaned. “You two are gross. I can’t wait for you to move out.”

I flicked the brim of his ball cap. “You’ll miss me. I bet your new roommate won’t remind you about making regular dentist appointments.”

“They won’t need to. I’m sure you’ll still text me when I’m due.”

I laughed, but he was probably right.

I cast an eye around the apartment I’d lived in for two years. It would be a lot emptier now, without all of my stuff in it. But I wouldn’t miss it. I’d been counting down the minutes until our flight back home for days. Speaking of…

“You ready to go?” I asked Preston. “Our flight leaves in a bit over an hour.

He placed a final box onto the pile he’d made by the front door. “Yeah, I think that’s everything. Check your bedroom, and there’s some room to throw anything I’ve missed into your suitcase, but I think I got it all.”

“You guys have done a great job. Thank you both.”

Zach leaned on a wall. “You know you can come back anytime, right? Say the word, and I’ll kick the new girl right out on the street, no questions asked.”

I laughed and walked into his embrace when he held his arms out for a hug. It wasn’t our usual style, but I think both of us knew I wouldn’t be back.

“The boxes will get picked up tomorrow. If I’ve forgotten anything, just send it on, I’ll pay you for the postage—”

Zach patted my back. “I’ve got it handled. Go be happy. He’s a good guy.”

I gazed at Preston over Zach’s shoulder. “I know.”

We pulled away, and Preston held his hand out to me. “You ready to go? We’ve got a wedding to get back to.”

And a life together. I put my hand in his, entwining our fingers. “Let’s go get on a plane.”

“Bucking hell,” I whispered as the Uber drove us beneath the swinging signpost that read ‘Hunts’ ranch and bull riding school’. “That’s new.”

It wasn’t the sign. That had been there all my life. But normally it wasn’t decorated with flowers.

Preston cringed. “They’ll be brown by morning.”

I slapped him in the chest. “Don’t even say that!” I was a tad worried, too, with the Georgia heat, but right now, they were nothing short of spectacular. The wedding was in less than twenty-four hours. Hopefully they’d hold out.

Preston let out a low whistle as we rounded a bend and my parents’ house came into view. “Looks like they started the party without us.”

There were cars everywhere, many I didn’t recognize. The Uber driver let us out at the front of the property, and Preston grabbed our two suitcases from the back. We wheeled them through the house, but the inside was quiet. Music and voices carried through from the yard, though, so we wandered in that direction.

A cheer went up when we stepped outside. “They’re home!”

My mother and father stood from a long table, surrounded by family and friends. Dad engulfed me in a bear hug.

Mom hugged Preston. “How was the flight? How was your last final, Len?”

“Good and good,” I assured her as she broke her hug with Preston to give me one. “I don’t like to sound cocky, but I really think I aced them.”

“Of course you did.” Pride shone from the smile my father gave me. “And you’ll ace your paramedics course, too.”

I held a hand up. “We don’t even know if I’ve been accepted yet. Don’t jinx me.”

Preston, Dad, and Mom all spoke in unison. “You’ll get accepted.”

We all laughed, and then I peered past them at the group of people they’d gathered. “What’s going on? You’re having a pre-wedding party?”

My mom shrugged a shoulder. “It was just supposed to be a small, pre-wedding dinner for family, but then your father just kept on inviting people—”

“Paisley and Bowen caught an earlier flight, and all their kids are with them. It just kind of grew from there.”

I glanced over at my Uncle Bowen and Aunt Paisley. Paisley waved frantically at me, and I grinned and waved back. They lived in Australia and weren’t my biological aunt and uncle, but we called all my dad’s old rodeo friends that. There were others gathered around the table, too. My Uncle Rem entertained everyone in his loud, boisterous voice, his wife, Whitney, rolling her eyes at his antics while she took a sip from a beer bottle. She’d been a city police detective when they’d first met. He’d been in police custody on a ranch in Wyoming. They’d had to pretend to be married, even though they hated each other. It was a story that got told whenever my parents’ friends all got together, and one that always made everyone laugh.

Mom shooed us away with a flick of her wrists. “But you two don’t need to hang out here with us old people. The girls are all at Summer and Dom’s cabin, and I think the boys have taken over the barn for stag night shenanigans.”

Preston’s eyes lit up at the thought of getting into mischief.

My father steeled him with a look. “Have fun. But if Dom doesn’t turn up tomorrow because he’s naked and strapped to a fencepost somewhere…”

Preston clapped my dad on the shoulder and then tugged me toward the cabins. “We would never! Your future son-in-law is safe with me!”

I don’t think anyone believed that for a second. But that was what bachelor parties were all about. Hopefully someone would stay sober enough to be responsible.

Preston and I waved to the rest of my parents’ friends, and then he held my hand as we made our way down the path that led to the cabins. We bypassed his, dropping off our bags on the way, and then he walked me to the door of Summer and Dom’s place.

Outside, I wrapped my arms around his neck and gazed up at him. “Have fun tonight.”

“You, too. I guess you’ll be painting your nails and having pillow fights in your underwear?”

I snorted. “Yeah, that sounds like something we’d do.”

He grinned, leaning down to brush his lips over mine. “I guess I won’t see you until the wedding.”

I was staying at Summer’s cabin and getting ready with her in the morning. The hairdresser and makeup artist would be out first thing. “Better kiss me good now then, so I’ve got something to tide me over.”

He gripped the back of my head with one hand, the side of my face with his other. “Yes, ma’am.”

His lips pressed to mine, his tongue immediately seeking entrance. I moaned into his mouth, accepting the deep kiss that sent tingles right from my lips to my toes.

“Bucking hell. I love it when you moan like that,” he murmured. “Makes me want to forget all about this party and go do some bucking of my own.”

I sniggered. “So cheesy.”

“Not cheesy if I have you buck-ass naked.”

“Stop.”

“Come home and buck me, Lennon.”

I shoved him away, both of us laughing. He patted me on the ass, sending me toward the cabin door. “Go on, go. And if there’s a lull in the conversation, can you tell Summer she’s annoying for starting the whole ‘buck’ thing in the first place.”

I saluted him from the porch. “I think it was actually Hallie who started that, but will do. See you tomorrow.”

He nodded in the setting sun of the late evening. “I love you.”

He’d probably said it a hundred times in the last week while we’d been at my apartment, but I never got sick of hearing it. “I love you, too.”

I slipped inside Summer’s cabin without knocking and watched Preston walk toward the barn through the window.

“Oh my, who was that you were kissing out there, Lennon Hunt!”

I grinned, spinning around. Bowen and Paisley’s daughter, Lily, grinned back at me from her spot on the couch, a cocktail glass of something fruity-looking in her hand. She was the eldest of the women gathered, five or six years older than Summer and pushing thirty. She’d always been the ringleader when our families spent time together, and we’d all followed her around, doing whatever she told us until we were old enough to know better.

I went over to hug her. “Preston. One of Dad’s cowboys.”

“They’re all shacked up and in love,” Summer teased from the floor.

Callie sat behind her, braiding her hair and grinning at me.

“Leave her alone,” Lily admonished. “I’d give anything to have a man look at me that way.”

My cheeks went pink. “Were you all watching?”

The women all nodded in unison.

“Making us all feel very alone, Len! Don’t mind me, I’m just going to drown my single sorrows in a cocktail the size of my head.” Avalon, Rem and Whitney’s daughter, got up and went to the refrigerator, pulling out a tray of margaritas. “You want one, Hallie?”

Hallie shook her head slowly. “Uh, no thanks.”

Summer frowned at her best friend. “Have a drink. Best woman duties don’t start until midday. There’ll be time to nurse a hangover before they start.”

Hallie shook her head again. “No, I’m good.”

Summer stared at her. Then her eyes went wide. “Oh my God! You’re not!”

I picked up a chip from the tray on the coffee table and glanced between my sister and Hallie. “Not what?”

Summer didn’t answer, and Hallie glanced at her nervously. “If I say I am, will you be upset with me for stealing your thunder? We were trying to keep it quiet until after the wedding because—”

Summer’s flying tackle hug cut her off, and their squeals of happiness and congratulations filled the cabin.

Pregnant.

I glanced at Callie, thinking that maybe this would be the time she said something.

She stared down at her hands.

Worry bubbled up inside me for my twin. I wasn’t sure she was coping very well at all, but not coping wasn’t going to stop that tiny baby growing inside her. This was happening whether Callie liked it or not. I subtly took her hand and squeezed it, a silent show of support, that I would be here whenever she was ready, but until then, her secret was safe with me.

The others quizzed Hallie endlessly about the baby, and I could feel Callie’s discomfort like it was my own. Eventually, I tried to steer the subject elsewhere. “So, Summer. Are you nervous about tomorrow? No cold feet?”

Summer tossed a piece of popcorn into the air and caught it, munching on it before she answered. “None.”

Lily side-eyed her. “Not even a little ‘Oh shit. I’m going to be stuck having sex with the same person for the rest of my life,’ niggling doubt?”

Summer grinned. “Nope. I can’t wait.” She tossed a piece of popcorn at Lily. “And trust me, the sex is so good, anybody else would be a massive letdown.”

Lily reached over and high-fived her, but when she settled back on the seat, she sighed. “How does it feel to be living my dream?”

“No Aussie men picking you up by the billabong and saving you from crocodiles?” Summer asked.

Lily’s mouth dropped open. “Wash your mouth out, young lady. You did not just ask if we hang out at billabongs. Your mother is Australian!”

“What on earth is a billabong?” Avalon asked, her forehead furrowed.

“I think it’s like a swamp?” I asked.

Lily threw her hands up. “You all need to come out to the station for a holiday. It’s clearly been too long, and we need to work on your Aussie lingo.” She shook her head, her blonde hair falling around her shoulders. “Billabong. Bloody hell.”

I giggled. “We made the Aussie swear.”

She sniggered. “Seriously, though. You guys haven’t even seen the place Henry, Aiden, Creed, and I bought.”

“Are they here?” I asked, referring to Lily’s brothers.

Lily nodded. “We all came.” She reached over and squeezed Summer’s hand. “Wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Still can’t believe you’re the first of us all to get married, though! I’m going to die an old, lonely spinster at this rate. Don’t even get me started on Henry and Aiden. They’re older. And they’re even worse with the opposite sex than I am.”

“They aren’t married yet?”

She scoffed. “Married would mean dating. The two of them are married to their horses.” She cast a sidelong glance at Callie and Avalon. “Watch my mother try to set the two of you up with them. She’s forever trying to marry them off to any available woman.”

Avalon groaned and pulled a face. “Bit old for me.”

The two men weren’t really that old at thirty-four, but Avalon was the youngest of all of us. At eighteen, even twenty was ancient.

“What about you, Cal?” Lily asked. “Care to be set up with eligible bachelor number one or number two?”

Callie shook her head. “Nope to both.”

Lily pouted. “Is it the age gap? I need a sister! Between Henry and Aiden and Creed, I’m so outnumbered. I need one of them married off so there’s some more estrogen around the place.”

“The age gap wouldn’t bother me, but him living in Australia is a bit problematic. My mother hasn’t even taught me what a billabong is, so I’m clearly underprepared for life down under.”

Lily groaned. “You guys are so American.” But she said it with a smile on her face, proof it was meant with love.

The rest of the night flew by in a daze of drinks, music, laughter and catching up with the women we didn’t get to see often enough. Eventually, Lily and Avalon left to find their parents and their brothers to go back to their accommodation in town. Leaving me with my sisters and Hallie. Summer was tipsy but not drunk when we called it a night, and she hugged both me and Cal before she and Hallie disappeared into the main bedroom. The two of them had decided to share the bed in there, while Callie and I were crashing on the single bed in the spare room, and the couch.

“You take the bed,” I told Callie.

She shook her head. “I’ll be fine here.”

But I wasn’t taking no for an answer. I hauled her to her feet and walked her to her bed. With my voice low, I whispered, “You need the proper night’s sleep more than I do. I know that morning sickness is still kicking your ass. You’ll toss and turn all night on the couch and then you’ll feel like rubbish tomorrow for the wedding.”

She nodded, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Okay.”

I turned to leave, glad to have won the argument.

“Lennon?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for not saying anything…about…you know.”

I leaned on the doorway. “Are you still sure about keeping it? You know you can change your mind if you want to?”

But Callie shook her head fiercely. “I can’t. I love it.”

My heart cracked. “So do I.”

“I don’t want to do this alone.”

I fixed her with a determined stare. “You aren’t ever going to be doing this alone. You have me. And Summer. And Mom and Dad.”

“They’re going to be so disappointed.”

I shook my head. “If they can get on board with me dropping out of Harvard, they can get on board with you having a baby. You haven’t even given them a chance.”

“I keep trying to tell them, but then the words get stuck in my throat and nothing comes out. I just can’t. Not yet. I’m not ready. Let’s let Summer have her day. She’ll go back on tour, and then I won’t be stealing anyone’s moment. A few more weeks won’t make a difference.”

I doubted that. In a few more weeks, she’d be showing. I was already noticing subtle changes in her body, but then I was her twin. Most people didn’t pay as much attention as I did.

“Lennon!”

Callie raised an eyebrow at the hiss from the living room. “There’s a snake out there calling your name by the sounds of it.”

“Psst! Lennon!”

“Is that…?”

Callie fought back a laugh. “Your boyfriend sounds drunk.”

So drunk. I left Callie to the spare room, closing the door behind me.

The main door to the cabin was open a crack, Preston’s face pressed through the gap. “Lennon!” he whisper-shouted again.

Fighting back a laugh, I went to the door and yanked it open.

He tumbled in, catching himself just in time to avoid falling flat on his face. “Whoa. That was nearly a disaster. But hey! You’re here.”

I folded my arms across my chest, amused with his antics. “I am. And you’re drunk.”

He nodded. “Yes, ma’am, I am.”

“Go home and sleep it off. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I went to close the door on him, but he grabbed my hand, shaking his head so quickly I was really worried it might make him puke.

But he obviously had a stronger stomach than I did. “Come outside. I have something very important to show you.”

“It’s one in the morning!”

“I know! Nighttime!”

I snorted on my laughter. “You’re so freaking tanked.” But I went with him, linking my fingers between his and towing him down the road toward his cabin. The man needed to go to bed, stat. He mumbled as we walked, muttering to himself, and searching for something in the darkness that I couldn’t see.

“What are you looking for?” I asked as we neared his cabin. “Come on, up the stairs you go.”

“Nope. Bad spot. Too many people inside. Some of Dom’s friends are staying over.”

I frowned. “Hopefully not in your bed, cos that’s where you need to be.”

He tugged me to the back of the cabin, shushing me as we went, which was comical when it was him making all the noise. It probably didn’t matter, though. If the other men were even half this drunk, they were probably passed out in their beds.

The field wasn’t anything exciting, so even when he pulled me to a stop, I had no idea what was going on. There wasn’t much to see. It was just an open field, and some cow pats, though the night sky was breathtaking.

“Okay, this will do.” He straightened me by the shoulders, his expression suddenly serious.

Then he dropped down on one knee.

“Oh Jesus,” I murmured, fighting back a laugh.

He tugged my hand. “Lennon. We should get married.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? You think?”

He nodded. “I’ve been thinking about it since…well, since I walked past Summer and Dom’s cabin.”

I sniggered. “This is a well thought out, completely sober plan, then, is it?”

He shrugged. “Not exactly. But we could do it. We could have a double ceremony tomorrow! How fun would that be? And even better because we wouldn’t even have to pay for it! Ha!”

He was utterly ridiculous, but damn, I loved him.

He stood. “So what do you say?”

His big eyes were actually hopeful in the dark, so it was almost like stepping on a puppy when I said, “I say, the next time you ask me that, you should probably be sober.”

He clutched his heart, staggering back like I’d stabbed him.

So dramatic.

But then he stopped, suddenly a whole lot more sober than he’d been a moment ago. “But that’s not a no…”

“Preston…”

He picked up my hand and leaned in to kiss me softly. “I just really love you.”

“I love you, too, you goose. But we’ve been a couple for a week.”

He nodded. “That is a point.”

“A good one.”

“Fair.”

“Mmm.”

He cocked his head to one side. “If I’d asked you for real, though. Sober. Would you have said yes?”

I grinned at the man I loved, brushing my lips over his. “I very well might have.”

“Argh.” He buried his face in his hands. But when he lifted them, his intent was crystal clear. “I will ask again, Len. Not tonight, or tomorrow. But I will ask again.”

I kissed him harder, touching my mouth to his and enjoying the way his body responded to mine. “And when you do, I’ll say yes.”

He walked me backward to the wall of the cabin, pressing me into it, using it as leverage to fit his body to mine. He pulled back and eyed me. “Are you too drunk for sex right now?”

I fought to contain my laughter. “I’ve had one drink. Question is, are you too drunk?”

“Not a chance.” He ground his hips against mine, proving that he was most definitely not as drunk as I’d initially thought.

His mouth landed on my neck, kissing and sucking his way across my shoulder.

“Wait, Preston,” I protested. “Here?”

“Can’t help where I want you. And where else? My cabin is full of half-passed-out groomsmen. Yours has a sleeping bride. It’s here, or we wait…”

I did not want to wait. His tongue flickering over my skin promised a good time that my body was already well in the mood for. “You’ve got to be quiet,” I warned him.

He chuckled against my skin. “Have you heard yourself when you’re into it? Babe, it’s not me we need to be worried about.”

He kissed me deep, and I knew he was right. The moan bubbled its way up from where his erection nudged at my core, but he clapped a hand over my mouth so it wouldn’t come out.

“Be quiet. Or I stop.”

I didn’t want him to stop. I hadn’t drunk much, and my one cocktail had probably actually had at least three shots of alcohol in it, so I did feel nicely warm, if far from drunk. His body pressed against mine was heavenly.

We both went for each other’s jeans, fingers fumbling over buttons and zips in a rush to get them undone. His dick was already so hard that I simply grabbed him, trying to guide his cock to where I needed it most.

“Wait,” he murmured. “Condom.”

“Please tell me they’re not all in the cabin?” I was sure my eyes were as wide as dinner plates. I did not want to stop now, with need coursing through my veins and him so close to satisfying the ache between my thighs.

“Nope. Got one in my pocket.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Did you plan to come find me tonight?”

“Of course. You didn’t really think I was going to go a whole night without you, did you?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but he spun me around so I faced the wall.

My breath hitched at the new position, my arousal blooming between my thighs. We’d done a lot of lovemaking in my bed over the last week, but this was different. Hot and exciting. It made my heartbeat quicken and my knees shake in anticipation.

He kissed my neck while his hands worked between us to get the condom on. His tongue licked at my skin, before one hand landed on my ass with a smack.

I jumped and glanced back at him. “Preston!”

He grinned, reaching his other hand around to the front to rub my clit. “What? You didn’t like it?”

“No, I liked it, but it was loud!”

“Might have changed my mind on the whole ‘be quiet’ thing. Cos, Lennon? You’re fucking dripping for me.”

His fingers dipped between my folds, gathering my wetness and spreading it over my clit. Every roll built my orgasm, taking my body higher. His free hand kneaded my ass and hip, and my core tingled, anticipating the slap of his palm once more.

When it came, I couldn’t conceal my moan.

“You sound so sweet, baby. Gonna take you now.”

He waited for me to nod, like he always did. His dick moved between my legs from behind, then up inside me, filling me up so good my pussy clenched down, welcoming him home.

“Oh,” I groaned. “That’s amazing.”

“For me, too.” His hips picked up the pace, matching the one he set on my clit. Rolling and thrusting, he brought me to the brink, backing off for a moment to let me breathe, before building it up again. His fingers dug into my hips. The smack of flesh against flesh should have worried me, but it only turned me on.

My orgasm was picking up speed, begging to be caught, and I knew from experience now, that once I was this far gone, there was no turning back.

Every man in the cabin I held on to could have come out with cameras and I wouldn’t have noticed.

All I knew in that moment was Preston and the way he made me feel.

He slapped my ass one last time, and it was enough to send me flying over the edge. My orgasm exploded inside me, taking him with me. He pressed me hard into the wall, pounding into me, not worried any more about my lack of experience or hurting me.

“Fuck, you feel so good. I love you so much,” he groaned in my ear.

I couldn’t even respond. My core was begging for mercy and more all at once, and my head swam in dizzying circles.

He pulled out, turning me once more, collecting me in his arms. He kissed my face, my cheeks, my eyelids, all the while murmuring I love yous to every part of me.

We slowly came back to earth, wrapped in each other arms. I didn’t want to leave, but I was well aware of the time. “I should get back. I need to sleep.”

“What if I just smuggle you into the boys’ camp?”

“We probably wouldn’t get much sleeping done.”

He grinned, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively.

My core gave another excited clench, despite the fact I’d just come. It didn’t matter. I was never going to get enough of this man.

I glanced around, rationalizing that makeup would cover the bags beneath my eyes. “Sleep is overrated anyway.”

30

Breathing in through my nose slowly, then exhaling at an even more sluggish pace was the only way I was getting through Dominic and Summer’s wedding. I was sure that beneath my layers of makeup, I was as green as grass. My stomach churned, and overwhelming exhaustion threatened to take me down at any minute.

But the smile on my face wouldn’t falter. I refused to let it.

Miserable on the inside, sunshine and rainbows on the outside.

I wasn’t going to be the one who ruined the wedding, though the Georgia summer sun, beating down on my bare shoulders while Summer and Dominic said their vows, was trying its darndest to force my hand.

“You okay?” Hallie whispered out of the side of her mouth. “You’re swaying.”

“I’m fine.”

She inched a little closer to me anyway, like she was prepared to catch me if I went down. I watched her from the corner of my eye as the celebrant droned on about love and respect and all those other things that my sisters and Hallie had found. Jealousy mixed with bile in my stomach, making me feel worse. From what I’d worked out last night, Hallie and I were due only a few days apart. How did she look so…healthy? Her eyes were bright, her skin clear.

I looked like I’d spent half the morning with my head over the toilet.

Because I had. I’d lied and told Summer that Lennon and I had had a few more drinks once she and Hallie had gone to bed, and that was the cause of my vomiting. Lennon had covered for me, and Summer hadn’t questioned it further. I was well known for drinking too much and being hungover the next day. So this was nothing new.

Only this was the hangover that never went away.

I couldn’t wait for second trimester when I’d been assured this would all disappear.

Only then, I’d be left with a growing belly, and then eventually, a baby whose father didn’t want it.

Not for the first time, I watched Summer and Dom, smiling at each other while they said their wedding vows, and wondered if I should ask them to adopt this baby. I already loved it so much, I just wanted it to have a good life, and Dom and Summer could give it that.

Preston and Lennon could, too. Any fool could see the love between the two of them was as rock-solid as my parents were, and they’d lasted twenty-five years and counting.

The one sister who couldn’t was me.

I sighed through a forced smile as another round of nausea hit me.

I forced myself to focus on the couple. Summer’s dress was short and flirty, flaring around her hips and stopping at her knees. Beneath, she wore her favorite pair of cowboy boots. Flowers were placed meticulously around her long, dark curls, and Dominic looked like he hadn’t heard a word of the ceremony, because he was so busy just drinking her in.

The way he adored her probably would have made my nausea worse if I weren’t so damn happy for them.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride!”

A cheer went up from the crowd, complete with wolf whistles and hollering. Dominic in his classic, dark suit, swept Summer into his arms, dipping her just a touch so her hair dangled down her back, and then kissed her.

It was a kiss that lingered, and then deepened, the two of them not caring that everyone watched.

My heart ached to be wanted like that.

When they finally broke apart, it was with huge grins on their faces. Dom held her hand tightly and yelled, “Now let’s get on with the party!”

Another round of cheers rang out, and then people were moving toward us, all wanting to congratulate the newly married couple.

I slipped away, backing out of the crowd and needing air. They’d be chatting with family and friends for some time. No one would miss me for a while.

I wandered toward the shady side of the barn, seeking refuge from the heat. Every step was carefully placed, with my fingers crossed that I didn’t get too dizzy and fall on my face.

That would be a lot harder to explain than my puking this morning. I couldn’t even blame my shoes because we all wore boots without a heel. As I swayed across the yard, I’d never wished to be wearing high heels so bad, because I was pretty sure I was going down and would need an excuse.

Well, this was going to be embarrassing. My vision blurred, and the ground rushed up to meet me.

“Hey.” Strong fingers circled my upper arm, yanking me upright.

He acted like I weighed nothing, hauling me back to my feet. He steadied me, ducking his head to look me in the eye. “Shit, you nearly hit the decks. Are you okay?”

The blue of his eyes smacked into me like a wrecking ball. One that slammed straight into me, stealing my breath and sending me flying. There was something vaguely familiar about him, and yet I was sure we hadn’t met. I blinked hard, making sure I wasn’t hallucinating, but when he was still there after I opened my eyes, I took him in fully.

Tall. Broad-shouldered. In a light jacket, a dress shirt, and jeans, like most of the guests. But his eyes…I’d never seen that sort of blue anywhere. Not the color of ice like my fathers, but a deep-sea blue, the kind you only saw on tropical islands.

His gaze turned into a squint, the skin at the sides of his eyes wrinkling.

He was older, I realized with a start. Probably mid-thirties, and he was fine as fuck. His skin was so deeply tanned it was a match for mine. He had a few grey flecks in his beard, which only made him hotter.

“I’m fine. I think. Maybe.” But my head spun, and I wasn’t entirely sure I wasn’t going to try passing out again.

“You were standing in that sun for the best part of an hour. Come ’ere. You need to sit.” The man’s hand still lingered on my arm.

I wondered if he could feel the electricity sparking from the connection or if that was all in my head.

He took his jacket off and laid it out on the grass at our feet.

“Oh no,” I protested, watching him place it down carefully. “I don’t want to get your jacket all dirty.”

“You’re doing me a favor. I was roasting. Sit.”

I found myself following his commands.

“Mind if I sit with you?” he asked.

I gazed up at him. “I’m sitting on your jacket, so I think it’d be pretty rude if I said no.”

He shook his head. “More than happy to stand six feet away if you prefer.”

But his gaze swept over me, and I got the distinct impression that moving away was the last thing he wanted.

Heat prickled across my skin, like his gaze was a physical touch. “You can sit.”

He sank down beside me, long legs sprawled out in front while he leaned back on his hands. “I’m Abel, by the way.”

“Callie. Nice to meet you. Are you a friend of Dom’s?”

The man shook his head. “No. Actually, I don’t know the couple at all. I’m a bit of a ring-in. My brother and his wife dragged me along. I know a few people from the bull riding world, so they thought it would be a good idea for me to get out of the house and socialize.”

“Is it?”

A wry grin lifted the corner of his mouth. “Not really. Socializing isn’t really my thing anymore. I leave that up to my brother these days.”

I wondered at the ‘anymore.’ Like perhaps he’d once been the life of the party but now sat on the outside, watching in.

I could relate to that. “Well, I appreciate you turning up, if only to save me the embarrassment of passing out in front of everyone and ending up with a face full of gravel rash for the rest of the photos. That would not have been a good look.”

He snuck a glance over at me. “I think you’d pull it off. The blood from your broken nose would have matched nicely with that dress.”

My dress was a deep crimson, and he was probably right.

“So you ride?” I didn’t even really know why I was asking. In this crowd, if you were male, young enough, and fit, you were probably a rider. Abel seemed to be all those things.

But to my surprise, he shook his head. “Nah. I’ve had a go, back when I was young and dumb. Wasn’t much good. But I worked on the WBRA tour for a few years, as a rodeo clown.”

“Bet you looked good in face paint.”

As soon as I said it, though, heat rose in my cheeks. I had no business flirting with anyone in my…condition. I coughed. “I mean, everyone looks good with red circles on your cheeks and overdrawn lips, right?”

But Abel laughed. “Face paint was optional.”

“Did you ever get gored by a bull?”

“Yeah. Hurts. Leaves a nice scar, too. You?”

I laughed. “No, not recently. I know to stay out of their way. Not like you guys who jump right in front of them. You’re all crazy.”

He shrugged. “It was good fun at the time. Didn’t think too much about the consequences. Too old for that shit now, though.”

“What do you do now?”

“Same thing everyone does. Work. Sleep. Eat. Repeat.”

“No wife?” I’d already sussed out his hands, searching for a wedding ring. There wasn’t one, but so many guys around here didn’t wear them. They were a hazard when you worked with machinery and animals.

“Not anymore.”

I cringed. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m not.”

Music started up in the barn behind us, and the stomp of people on the dance floor rang out. Abel’s gaze lingered, and heat sizzled through me. His gaze locked with mine, and it was impossible to turn away from. Out of nowhere, my libido made an unexpected appearance, pushing through the constant morning sickness to kick up her heels and suggest a party for two. A last hurrah of sorts, perhaps.

“Do you dance?” I asked.

He raised an eyebrow. “Be more specific.”

“You know…” I wriggled my shoulders to the beat floating out on the air. “Dancing. What you do when there’s music playing.” Or what you do when you find someone you’re attracted to at your sister’s wedding and want an excuse to get close to them.

His amusement spread to his eyes. “There’s a big difference between a waltz and a head bob at the bar when your favorite song comes on the jukebox.”

“How about something in between?”

“You asking me to dance, Callie?”

I lifted a shoulder. “Don’t think I’m in the headspace for dips and spins, but if you’re up for a slow shuffle…” I held my breath, hoping he’d say yes.

Because how long would it be before I got to date again? In no time, this baby was going to change my body. And then dating would be done. Probably for years, because who was going to date a woman with a young baby?

This might be my last chance to have that. And I liked the way Abel looked at me. It made me feel sexy.

Wanted but respected. Jeremy had always lacked the latter.

Abel got to his feet and held his hand out. “I think I can handle a slow shuffle.”

My heart thumped. He pulled me to my feet, steadying me with his other hand. We were too close, but neither of us moved back. His gaze flickered all over my face, finally settling on my lips.

“Callie!”

The two of us jumped apart like we’d been caught in the act of something debaucherous.

My father strode over, his face serious, as it always was. “Are you okay? You didn’t seem well during the ceremony and then you disappeared. I’ve been searching for you.”

“I’m fine, Dad.”

“Dad?” Abel glanced between us, his eyes wide. “You’re her dad, Frost?” He half choked.

He knew my father. Oh Lord. The look of horror on his face did not bode well for the sexy night I’d started imagining.

Dad put his arm around my shoulders and kissed the top of my head. “You two didn’t meet yet? Callie’s my middle daughter. I’m not even sure we’d had the twins the last time I saw you?” He turned to me. “Abel was on the tour with me, once upon a time. He’s your Uncle Rem’s brother.”

“Uncle…” Abel suddenly looked as green as I had earlier. For a split second I wondered if I was going to have to catch him, though he had to realize Rem wasn’t related to me by blood. Abel had gone pale, and he wiped his hands on his jeans like his palms were sweating.

Well, that wasn’t at all insulting.

Dad waved a hand in front of my face. “Cal, we need to go inside. You’re needed for a family photo.”

I nodded and held Abel’s jacket out to him. “Thanks for that.”

I made my voice polite and distant, so my father wouldn’t realize that until he’d shown up, I was contemplating going to bed with his friend.

Abel nodded without making eye contact.

Our fingers touched when he took the jacket from my hand.

Sparks might as well have exploded.

His head snapped up, and he stared at me, eyes wide.

He’d felt it, too.

But then my dad was pulling me away, and Abel disappeared into the crowd.

I looked for him for the rest of the night while the party swirled on around me.

But like Cinderella at midnight, he’d disappeared without so much as a boot left behind.

EPILOGUE

The day after the wedding was as exhausting as the day of it, only worse, because everyone had sore heads to go with it. The party had gone on into the night, and then the early morning. I’d never seen anything like it, and I’d been in my element, talking bulls and riding with some of the greats from Frost’s generation.

I sprawled out on my bed that Lennon had neatly made that morning and sighed with contentment. “I can’t believe you never told me your dad was friends with Bowen Barclay.”

Lennon glanced over at me, her phone in her hands. “He’s just Uncle Bowen to me.”

I shook my head. “I still fly the flag that he’s the best rider Australia ever produced. His sons were nice, too. Their ranch in Australia sounds amazing.”

“I don’t think they call them ranches there.”

“Oh yeah. Aiden said it was a cattle station. Sounds pretty much the same as what we’re doing here. But, man, I’d love to go visit them one day.” I nosed my way up her neck. “Maybe on our honeymoon…”

“You’d have to ask me to marry you—sober—for that to happen.” She didn’t stop staring at her phone, but there was a smile on her lips.

I would ask her. One day, when we were both ready. She needed time to settle into her new career, and I needed to find new dreams. But one day, and I suspected it wouldn’t be too far away, I knew I’d be down on one knee, asking her to spend the rest of her life with me.

I couldn’t bucking wait.

“What are you looking at anyway?”

She glanced over at me guiltily. “I’m waiting on an email saying whether I got accepted into the paramedics course.”

“You know your phone does this little ‘ping’ noise when you get an email, right? You don’t actually have to stare at your inbox.”

She tossed her phone aside. “Ugh, I know! This is ridiculous. I’m as nervous as I was when I was waiting on my acceptance letter to Harvard.”

I kissed her check, inhaling the sweet, fresh scent of her, and loving that she cared so much. “You’re adorable when you’re nervous. But stop stressing. You’re gonna get in.”

She didn’t seem convinced.

The knock at the door was a welcome distraction, and Lennon’s grandmother, Jacqueline, called out, “Yoo hoo! Lennon, are you down here?”

Lennon sprang off the bed, her eyes wide. “Well, this is awkward, me walking out of your bedroom in front of my grandmother.”

I tapped her on the butt. “Go see what she needs. At least you aren’t naked. Say you were cleaning my room for me if she asks.”

“That wouldn’t be a lie, your room was gross before I got in here.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “We could have slept in your room if you’re picky about a few dust bunnies.”

“Lennon?”

She kissed me softly, then straightened and called out to her grandmother, “I’m here. Coming!”

I followed behind more slowly, and when I got to the porch, Lennon had the older lady wrapped in her arms. Jacqueline peered over Lennon’s shoulder at me with a proud smile. “Preston. Here you are. I just wanted to tell you how thankful I am.”

“For what?”

“For letting Lennon stay with you while I occupied her bedroom. I was just telling Lennon that I’m leaving. Kai is taking me to the airport in a few minutes because this old lady has well and truly outworn her welcome.”

“Never,” Lennon disagreed, hugging her grandmother again. “You can come stay anytime. I’m always happy to sleep on a couch if you need my bed.”

“No, no, dear. You’ve been so accommodating, like you always are, my sweet girl. But you can have your room back now.”

Lennon smiled and thanked her grandmother, but the thought left me cold.

I’d forgotten that my cabin wasn’t her actual home. And that all her belongings, bar a few sets of clothes and toiletries, had probably been delivered to the main house, where they waited for her to unpack them.

Jacqueline hugged me, patting me on the back with her wrinkled hand. “Take care of my granddaughter, young man.”

“Never has there been an easier promise to make.”

She smiled at that. “You remind me of my son. He was a good bull rider, too. And funny and handsome.”

I’d heard the story of her son—her only child—before. He’d been Frost’s best friend, and Addie’s boyfriend at the time. He’d been killed in a car accident with Frost behind the wheel, though he hadn’t been at fault. But when Addie and Frost finally got together, they’d adopted Sunny’s mom as their own, and their girls had been raised, knowing her as their grandmother. I’d never realized I reminded her of him, though.

Her eyes watered a little, but then she sniffed and patted my cheek. “Thank you for entertaining an old woman’s memories for a minute. I’ll leave the two of you to it.”

“I’ll walk you back to the house,” Lennon offered.

But then the email alert on her phone pinged.

We both froze.

Jacqueline smiled at us both. “You go on and do what you need to do. I’m not so old I can’t make my way back to the house alone.”

Lennon kissed her weathered cheek once more then grabbed my hand, dragging me back into the cabin. She closed the main door, then ran to my bedroom, retrieving her phone from the floor where she’d tossed it earlier.

“This is going to really suck if it’s a spammy pizza coupon or something,” I joked.

Her fingers shook as she picked the phone up, and I knew exactly how distracted she was because she didn’t even comment on my lame attempt at humor.

She tapped the screen, and her thumb hovered for a moment.

I bit my lip and prayed like hell that this email held good news.

She looked up, her eyes filled with tears.

Oh Jesus Christ, no. She hadn’t gotten in? What the hell, were these people insane? But in a second, my outrage switched to horror. If she didn’t get into this course, maybe she’d go back to Harvard after all. I couldn’t even imagine how I’d feel waking up every morning without her. The thought was unbearable. “Move in with me,” I blurted out.

She blinked. “Huh?”

“Move in with me,” I repeated. “Live with me. Permanently. Not in the spare room, but in one we share.” I stepped in and tilted her head up so I could kiss her lips. “The people who run that course are idiots. But I’m not. They might not want you, but I do.” My breaths were coming too fast, and nerves rioted around my stomach. Fuck. She couldn’t say no. Even the thought of having her in the main house was miserable.

She let out a startled laugh. “Okay, first, I was not expecting that. At least not in this very moment. And second, yes, of course I’ll move in with you.”

I let out a whoop. This was where she was meant to be. Here. In my arms. In my bed. In my life. “I bucking love you.”

“Ditto.”

I grabbed her in my arms, kissing her lips and holding her tight to me.

When we moved away, we were both breathless, and I didn’t know about her, but I was ready to take her to bed. I gripped her hips, picking her up, and she wrapped her legs around me, her arms around my neck. “Wait! There was a third thing.”

I paused. “What was it?”

“I got into the course. I cry when I’m happy. Sorry for the confusion.”

All the tension flew out of my body. “Are you serious? You looked like someone had run over your puppy!”

She laughed as I stormed into the bedroom, tossing her down on the bed which squeaked beneath her weight. “Well, now you know for future reference, that’s my happy face.”

I shook my head, looming over her, covering her body with mine. “You’re one of a kind, kid. You know that?”

“That just makes me special.”

“The most special.”

She reached up and pulled me down on top of her, and we kissed long and deep.

My dreams might have been up in the air, but as long as hers were coming true, that was all I cared about. I’d be right here, a step behind her for the entire degree. I couldn’t wait to quiz her on procedures and be there the night she’d get to go on her first ride-along, and eventually, I’d watch her graduate.

Her happiness was all I needed.

The next day, we had more send-offs to do. First Bowen and his family. Lennon’s Uncle Rem and his family were next to leave. And then eventually, all we were left with was the hardest goodbye.

One of the ranch trucks, loaded up with a mean-ass bull on the back, sat with its engine grumbling behind us. Dom was already at the wheel, ready to get the show on the road.

Summer stood in front of me, grinning like a loon. Her shiny new gold ring sparkled on her left hand. “Take care of the place while I’m gone, huh? Don’t let Dad work too hard. He’s getting old.”

“I heard that,” Frost grumbled.

I nodded, pulling her in for a hug. “Enjoy your honeymoon tour. I expect you to come back pregnant.”

“Don’t even joke about something like that. Not until I’m done with riding bulls. Being out on tour is no life for a baby.”

Callie made a muffled noise from the other side of Lennon, and I hid a cringe, realizing too late that bringing up pregnancy around her might not have been the smartest idea. Lennon and I were still the only ones who knew, and Callie didn’t seem to be making any plans to tell anyone else anytime soon.

I moved aside to let the twins say goodbye to their big sister, and then she climbed in beside Dom, ready to head off. Grave Digger kicked the metal rails, one final fuck you to all of us gathered around to see them off, and then Dom got the truck rolling down the drive, a toot of the horn the last we heard as they disappeared around the bend and out of sight.

Addie sighed and gazed around at those of us left behind. “Just us again.”

Then she smiled at Lennon. “With one addition. Have I told you how glad I am to have you home? And how proud I am of you? You’re going to be the most amazing paramedic.”

“They’re gonna name scholarships and memorial halls after her,” I chimed in, putting my arm around her proudly.

“Only if you pay for them yourself,” Lennon snorted, but she snuggled into my side anyway.

“Do you two want to come up to the main house for dinner tonight?” Addie asked.

I looked down at Lennon, and she nodded on behalf of both of us. “Sure.”

“See you then.”

We turned to leave, but Kai called me back. “Preston? Do you have a moment?”

“Uh-oh, you’re in trouble,” Callie said around a grin.

The others laughed, but on the inside, I was worried about the same thing. That only got worse when Frost said, “Walk with me.”

Lennon shot me a questioning glance, and I shrugged. Kai was my boss and my girlfriend’s dad. If he wanted to talk to me, I wasn’t going to refuse.

We were both silent, moving side by side toward the training rings. They were empty today, all the boys given the day off, but Kai gazed over them like he was seeing all the hundreds of times we’d coached from this very spot. Or maybe all the times he’d watched me ride from it.

“I need to ask you something,” he said eventually.

Shit. I really was in trouble. But I was still going to try to lighten the mood. “If it’s about my intentions with your daughter—”

He shut me up with a glare.

“Right. Not about that.”

“Do you really think I can’t see your intentions written all over your face?”

I gave him a nervous smile. “And you approve of them?”

He rolled his eyes and looked back into the pen. “I’ve loved you like a son for years. ’Bout time you became my son by marriage.”

I let out a relieved breath. “Okay, good. Got the Dad approval. That’s one thing off the list. But what am I in trouble for?”

“Are you serious about being done with training for the pros?”

A couple of weeks ago, that question would have floored me. But with time to think it over, I’d kept coming to the same decision. I could keep trying. Keep disappointing myself when it didn’t happen. Or I could move on. It had been seven years. I wasn’t the same kid I was when I first came here. And everything in me was saying it was time for a different challenge. “Yes. I’m serious. I’m done.”

The silence drew out again, as it often did with Frost. He’d never been a man big on words. But what he did say, mattered.

“Are you upset by that decision?” I asked eventually.

He shook his head. “No. It’s your decision to make, not mine. And I know from experience, that once you’re done, you’re done. I can see it in your eyes that you’ve reached that point.”

I nodded and waited for him to say more.

“I want you to take over the training program.”

My mouth dropped open. “What?”

“And I want you to run the ranch.”

I couldn’t even talk after that one. My tongue had to be lying in the dirt somewhere, my jaw was so far open.

Kai waited for me to get myself together. And when I did, it was a barrage of questions and self-doubt mixed together. “I can’t. Nobody is going to want to come here to be trained by some no-name who couldn’t even make the tour.”

“Then they’d be stupid, because I trained you, and you’re one of the best natural coaches I’ve seen. And you’re closer to their age. You get them, and they look up to you. Nobody asked you to check in on them the way you do or to encourage them like you do. You took on that role all by yourself, and now I want to make it permanent.”

“What will you do?”

“Oversee. But I want to cut back on my hours. This was the role that I’d always intended Summer to fill, and then I thought Dominic might. But the two of them are off fulfilling their own dreams. And now I need someone to take over the dream that was mine.” He regarded me with a steady gaze. “I think this one could be yours.”

I didn’t think. I knew. It didn’t instantly dissolve the fears that I wasn’t good enough for the position. But I’d never loved a piece of land like I loved the Hunts’ place. When Lennon talked about this place being in her soul, I understood it because it was in mine, too.

“So what do you say?” Kai offered me his hand to shake.

I stared at it, then slowly put my hand into his. But my grip became stronger, and more confident until Kai’s grin spread. “Good man.”

Lennon had once said the same thing about me. So had Callie.

And for the first time in my life, I believed it.

This place was where I was meant to be. This job would bring the challenges I needed to keep growing.

And my woman…she’d given me everything else I ever wanted.

I’d spend the rest of my life, here, in the dirt of her family land, making sure I did the same for her.

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Read on for a sneak peek of Callie and Abel's story. 

MOTHER BUCKER SNEAK PEEK

I watched her from the back of the wedding I’d crashed.

It was hot out, the summer sun unrelenting, but while everyone else smiled at the bride and groom reciting their vows, all I could see was a bridesmaid’s fight to stay conscious. She swayed, sweat beading on her brow, her face taking on a green tinge.

I took a step forward, ready to sprint up the aisle and break her fall. This was going to cause the biggest scene, but there was nothing inside me that could let a woman pass out and not attempt to catch her.

She caught herself, sucking in a deep breath, and forcing her lips into something that was probably supposed to be a smile but came out more like a grimace.

I stepped back, shrugging some of the tension out of my shoulders. She needed water. Someone to get her out of the sun. Couldn’t anyone else see how badly she was suffering? This was going to end in disaster, I could just see it. She was going to pass out right as the groom leaned in to kiss his girl.

Wouldn’t that be a romantic moment? Your first kiss as a married couple with a bridesmaid passed out at your feet.

The officiant droned on, announcing the pair man and wife. Cheers erupted around me, the crowd all rushing forward and engulfing the new Mr. and Mrs., their calls of congratulations ringing out across the ranch.

Nobody else seemed to notice the bridesmaid slip away.

My feet were on the move, following, before I’d even registered a decision to go after her.

She stumbled across the patchy, uneven grass, zigzagging for the shade of the prettily decorated barn where the reception was taking place.

It was all too little, too late. She’d made it through the ceremony, but the heat had done a number on her. Horror speared through me as she gave up the fight and tipped toward the ground.

I got my fingers around her upper arm, right before she face-planted into the dirt, and hauled her back up onto her feet. “Shit, you nearly hit the deck.” I steadied her, gripping her shoulders tightly for fear she’d stumble again. “Are you okay?” I ducked my head so I could check her expression.

I would never be able to explain what I felt in that moment.

The wave of pure attraction hit me so hard it was like I’d been struck by lightning.

The pounding of my heart changing from adrenaline to desire.

I didn’t believe in love at first sight, but lust? Absolutely.

Up close, she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

Big brown eyes stared up at me, blinking rapidly, trying to focus. Her confusion settled on my face for a moment, like she wasn’t quite sure where she was, or why some stranger had her in his arms, but then her gaze cleared.

Just as quickly as lust had overcome me, it filled her eyes too. She studied me, gaze sweeping over my face, my chest, my shoulders. Lingering.

Fuck, that was hot. The way she looked at me was everything.

“I’m fine. I think. Maybe.” She wobbled slightly again.

Fine, my ass. “You were standing in that sun for the best part of an hour. Come ’ere. You need to sit.” I couldn’t seem to remove my hand from her arm. I told myself it was purely to be sure she didn’t fall, but the truth was, an electricity pulsed between us, one I didn’t want to stop.

She was going to think I was some creep, if I kept staring at her the way I was. I took my jacket off and laid it out on the grass at our feet.

“Oh no,” she protested, watching me place it down carefully. “I don’t want to get your jacket all dirty.”

The jacket had been stifling in the heat anyway. “You’re doing me a favor. I was roasting. Sit.”

She did, slowly sinking onto my jacket and smoothing her dress around her knees.

I couldn’t walk away. I was glad she could no longer fall, but she’d nearly passed out twice. “Mind if I sit with you?”

She gazed up at me, already looking better for sitting in the shade. “I’m on your jacket, so I think it’d be pretty rude if I said no.”

I shook my head, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. We’d had a moment, or at least I thought we had, but maybe I’d read it wrong. “More than happy to stand six feet away, if you prefer.” God, she was pretty though. The cowboy boots with the crimson-colored dress were sexy as hell. If she wasn’t sick, I’d be thinking about exactly what she was wearing underneath. I really did not want to stand six feet away. I wanted to sit beside her, inhale her scent, ask her name, and if she had a boyfriend.

Fuck. I hoped there was no boyfriend.

She patted the spot beside her. “You can sit.”

I dropped down, sprawling my legs out in front and leaning back on my hands. “I’m Abel, by the way.”

The color was returning to her face rapidly. “Callie. Nice to meet you. Are you a friend of Dom’s?”

“No. Actually, I don’t know the couple at all. I’m a bit of a crasher. My brother and his wife dragged me along. I know a few people from the bull riding world, so they thought it would be a good idea for me to get out of the house and socialize.” Rem had badgered me until I’d agreed. I hadn’t seen our friends—his friends really now, since I hadn’t stayed in touch—in over twenty years. I’d spotted Bowen, Frost, and Johnny in the crowd, all as fit as they had when we’d been on tour together, but with the addition of a few gray hairs.

“Is it? A good idea to socialize?”

A wry grin lifted the corner of my mouth. “Not really. It isn’t really my thing anymore. I leave that up to my brother these days.” It had been a shitty year, and my lackluster attitude had been better kept to myself. I didn’t want to be a burden on anyone.

“Well, I appreciate you turning up, if only to save me the embarrassment of passing out in front of everyone and ending up with a face full of road rash for the rest of the photos. That would not have been a good look.”

I snuck a glance over at her. “I think you’d pull it off. The blood from your broken nose would have matched nicely with that dress.”

She smiled at me curiously. “So you ride?”

In this crowd, she meant bulls, not horses. Though I’d been on the World Bull Riding Association Tour once upon a time, I’d never been a rider, so I shook my head. “Nah. I’ve had a go, back when I was young and dumb. Wasn’t much good. But I worked on the WBRA tour for a few years as a rodeo clown.”

“Bet you were hot in face paint.” As soon as she said it, pink flushed her cheeks, and she coughed. “I mean, everyone looks good with red circles on your cheeks and overdrawn lips, right?”

I laughed. They didn’t even call them rodeo clowns anymore. They were the bullfighters. “Face paint was optional.”

“Did you ever get gored by a bull?”

My fingers ghosted over the old injury to my thigh. “Yeah. Hurts. Leaves a nice scar too. You?”

She grinned. “No, not recently. I know to stay out of their way. Not like you guys who jump right in front of them. You’re all crazy.”

I shrugged a shoulder at her assessment. “It was good fun at the time. Didn’t think too much about the consequences. Too old for that shit now though.”

“What do you do now?”

“Same thing everyone does. Work. Sleep. Eat. Repeat.”

“No wife?”

Interesting question. I liked that she wanted to know. “Not anymore.”

She cringed, glancing down at her hands. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m not.”

Music started up in the barn behind us, and the stomp of people on the dance floor rang out. Callie’s gaze lifted and locked with mine. I couldn’t turn away. The draw between us was thick and strong and completely undeniable. Mutual attraction at its finest.

“Do you dance?” she asked.

I raised an eyebrow, the question taking me by surprise when I’d been so lost in memorizing the exact color of her eyes. “Be more specific.”

“You know…” She wriggled her shoulders to the beat floating out on the air. “Dancing. What you do when there’s music playing.”

“There’s a big difference between a waltz and a head bob at the bar when your favorite song comes on the jukebox.”

“How about something in between?”

I cocked my head at her. “You asking me to dance, Callie?” The thought of pulling her onto a dance floor was a big fat hell yes. It was an excuse to take her into my arms again, to feel her close against me. To watch her move and smile up at me while I spun her around the floor, getting braver with every step, closing the distance between us until she was all I could see.

“Don’t think I’m in the headspace for dips and spins, but if you’re up for a slow shuffle…”

Heat flashed in her eyes, a promise there I so wanted to take up.

It spoke of getting too close in a darkened corner. Of taking her lips with mine. Of finding somewhere private, where I could get to know her better. With our clothes on.

Fuck, she was a siren with those big doe eyes and a body made for sin. Too fucking tempting.

I got to my feet and held my hand out. “I think I can handle a slow shuffle.”

It took no coaxing to get her in my arms. She came so willingly it was nearly impossible not to sweep her right off her feet and go find somewhere to be alone.

I wanted to kiss her. To know what she tasted like. To run my hands over every inch of her naked body and to lick between her thighs.

Like she could read my mind, her eyes practically begged me to do it. She pressed herself against me, hardened, turned-on nipples against my chest.

“Callie!”

The two of us jumped apart like we’d been caught in the act of something debaucherous.

Frost had been a good, solid, loyal, and dependable friend when we’d been on tour. He strode over, his face serious, as it always was. But he only had eyes for Callie, his expression full of concern. “Are you okay? You didn’t seem well during the ceremony and then you disappeared. I’ve been searching for you.”

“I’m fine, Dad.”

The world slowed down, to where that was all I could hear. I choked on the word. “Dad? You’re her dad, Frost?”

Horror over every dirty thought I’d just had flooded me. My palms burned from where I’d been touching her.

Frost put his arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. “You two didn’t meet yet? Callie’s my middle daughter. I’m not even sure we’d had the twins the last time I saw you?” He turned to me. “Abel was on the tour with me, once upon a time. He’s your uncle Rem’s brother.”

“Uncle…” I was sure I was as green as she had been earlier. Obviously, she wasn’t blood related to my brother. I would have known about her if that were the case, but fuck, did it even matter? She was my friend’s daughter, and clearly younger than I’d thought. I’d assumed she was late twenties, but doing the math in my head, she had to be younger. More like twenty-three, maybe? At best. I wiped the sweat from my palms on the back of my jeans.

Frost motioned Callie to go into the barn. “Cal, we need to go inside. You’re needed for a family photo.”

She nodded at her father, then turned back to me. “Thanks for that.” She held my jacket out.

Her voice was suddenly polite and distant, where moments before it had been deep and husky with need. I wasn’t sure I could do the same. Just flick that attraction off like it had a switch. I nodded without making eye contact and reached for the jacket.

Our fingers touched.

That electricity between us was undeniable. Sparks may as well have exploded.

I stared at her, eyes wide, matching hers.

She’d felt it too.

But her family was waiting. Without another word, she followed her father into the barn.

I ran out of the wedding like my ass was on fire.

The summer night air was still too warm for my liking, or maybe that was the flames of Hell lapping at me, because that was definitely where I was headed. Straight down to see the Devil.

“You’re a fucking asshole,” I muttered to myself, crunching over dry grass and weaving my way between the array of pickup trucks parked around the Hunts’ yard. The soft, romantic music playing inside the barn where the reception was taking place followed, each note reminding me I’d very nearly taken Callie Hunt into my arms and swayed around a dance floor with her.

Twenty-something-year-old Callie Hunt who I had most definitely not recognized as one of my oldest friend’s daughters.

Until she’d gone and called him “Dad” right in front of me.

Asshole really didn’t even come close to how bad I’d just fucked up.

I found my pickup in the sea of similar vehicles and slid behind the steering wheel. For a moment, I just sat there, letting the darkness engulf me while my entire body burned. I wished I could have written it off as embarrassment.

But the fact was, even hearing her call him Dad hadn’t done anything to extinguish the heat inside me.

I’d never experienced an instant attraction like that.

Hell, I’d once married a woman I felt less for than when Callie had turned big brown eyes on me and quirked her lips in a small smile.

I needed to leave before I did something stupid. Like walk back in there, throwing all care to the wind, just so I could hold her hand.

Instead, I shoved my key into the ignition and turned it so sharply I was surprised it didn’t snap. Sliding the gearshift into first, I made myself steer the truck along the gravel drive and out onto the road.

Every inch of my body wanted to do anything but. My every instinct was to spin the car around and storm back through the wedding to find her. To finish what we’d started.

She’d felt it. I swear, the whole ranch had to have felt it.

I pushed my foot down harder on the accelerator, racing along the quiet country roads, putting distance between me and a woman who would never be mine.

Not for a night. Not for an hour. Not even for a moment.

Callie Hunt was temptation wrapped up in the prettiest of packages.

With a label clearly written for someone else.

2. Abel

I rolled over in my hotel bed, hands absentmindedly groping around the white sheets for her. Her long dark hair, those gorgeous eyes, and the scent of her perfume so sweet and perfect.

My bed was empty. The other side still neatly tucked in; pillows stacked from when housekeeping had been here earlier.

I didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed that she’d occupied my dreams for the third night in a row.

My dick was definitely disappointed. Just like I had the last two mornings, I dragged myself to the shower and put my hand around an aching erection that wouldn’t go away until I did something about it.

The water cascaded down over my shoulders, and I leaned one arm heavily on the white tiled wall, dropping my head as the images of the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen played on repeat through my head.

I’d done everything I could not to think about her. But it was all to no use. I pumped my cock, hating myself with every stroke but completely powerless to do anything about it.

It would fade. It was a temporary infatuation, a wholly inappropriate one, but it would dim.

It had to.

I came with a groan of dissatisfaction. The release was needed, but it was barely enjoyable compared to the images my damn brain kept conjuring up at all hours of the night and day.

Wrapping a threadbare white towel around my waist, I padded barefoot back into the carpeted main room and perched on the edge of my hotel bed. I needed to get out of here. But I had no idea where I was going or what I was doing. I’d been hoping to pick up some work on the Hunts’ ranch, but now that was absolutely out of the question.

My phone rang on the bedside table, and I reached across to grab it. The caller display flashed up a photo of my brother, Rem, that I’d taken two decades before when we’d both been working on the pro bull riding tour. It had always been one of my favorites, and every time I’d gotten a new phone, one of the first things I did was update his image.

I hit the answer button. “Bit early for you, isn’t it?”

Rem scoffed into the phone. “Says the man who’s been sleeping off a hangover for two days.”

It was the excuse I’d given him when he’d asked where I’d disappeared to during the wedding. I’d made up some bullshit about finding a bar and getting so drunk I’d needed two days to recover.

Really, I’d just needed some time out to get my head on straight. Apparently, I hadn’t had enough because I was still thinking about her. It was clearly time to change tactics. “What are you doing today?”

“That’s why I’m calling. We’re getting on a plane to head home tonight, but I want to see you before I go. Breakfast at that bakery in town? They do hot meals as well.”

My stomach gave a grumble. I’d been living on rubbish hotel room service meals that were barely food, and a proper hot breakfast sounded like heaven. “Perfect.”

“See you there in thirty.”

I put on deodorant, brushed my teeth, and found a clean pair of jeans in the duffel bag that held all my worldly possessions. It was a sad little collection of things, but it was all I really needed. I’d had the pretty house filled with useless shit. I’d lost it all, but it hadn’t bothered me much.

The only thing I really missed from my old life was my dog.

Which probably said a lot about the state of my marriage.

I found the bakery easily, since it was the only one on the main street of town, and pulled open the door, a quaint bell above it tinkling as I walked inside. It took a second for my eyes to adjust, and I blinked, trying to clear the bright spots caused by the sun outside.

“Abel.”

I spun around, my stomach dropping at the man who raised his hand in my direction.

Kai ‘Frost’ Hunt gave me one of his rare smiles and waved me over to a big table he sat at with his wife, Addie, and some old friends of ours from tour days. I’d lost contact with them over the years, but there was no missing Bowen Barclay, Australian champion, and his wife, Paisley. They sat with Johnny and Isabel West, whose son, Dominic, had been the one marrying Kai’s other daughter, Summer, a few nights ago.

There were three seats left at the table, presumably for me, Rem, and his wife, Whitney.

I had not realized when Rem invited me out for breakfast that this was a group outing.

If I’d known I was going to have to face Callie’s parents, I probably would have declined the invitation. Said I was still hungover or something equally lame.

But there was no getting out of it now.

I walked over slowly, unable to even look Frost in the eye after what I’d done that morning while thinking of his beautiful adult daughter. I’d honestly thought she was at least close to thirty, which still left a decent age gap between us, but one that would have been respectable.

It had been a long time since Kai and I had worked together, and he definitely hadn’t had a daughter then. But there was no way Callie was any older than twenty-five.

I was so going to Hell.

I avoided the open seat next to Kai, who was deep in conversation with Johnny, and instead took the one next to Bowen.

He turned to me and gave me a slow grin. “Fuck, it’s been forever since I’ve seen you. Was hoping to catch up at the wedding, but you disappeared so quick, none of us even got to say hello. How are you?”

Twisted up over a woman I only spoke to for ten minutes. Jacking off twice a day like a fucking teenager because I can’t get her out of my head.

“Fine. Good. Same old thing, different day.” It wasn’t true at all, but it was the sort of thing that didn’t invite further questions.

Bowen didn’t seem to get that message. He leaned an elbow on the table and studied me. “What are you doing for work these days?”

I lifted a shoulder. “Not a lot, honestly. You heard my wife left me?”

Bowen blanched. “Shit. Don’t think I even knew you were married. Sorry, man.”

I grabbed a sugar packet from a container in the middle of the table and played with the edges absently, so I had something to do with my fingers. “It’s fine. But shit went down, and I decided it wasn’t worth sticking around and dealing with the gossip. So now I’m just floating around until I figure out what’s next. Seeing a bit of the country. Picking up whatever work is around where I can along the way.”

Bowen sat back and crossed his arms over his broad chest. He grinned. “So you’re reliving the touring days? All fancy free and no responsibilities? You sure you aren’t having a midlife crisis?”

I was barely forty, so that seemed a little premature. But then I thought about how badly I’d wanted to take Callie to bed a few nights ago and realized that going after a woman almost half my age made me the stereotypical midlife crisis in a nutshell. “I think I might be,” I confessed to Bowen.

He laughed and slapped me on the shoulder, clearly taking it as a joke, even though I wasn’t quite sure I’d meant it as one. “Aren’t we all? This getting older thing is bullshit.”

Bowen barely looked a day older than the last time I’d seen him, but I would take his word for it.

He cracked his neck, as if to emphasize his point. “We’re swamped back home and can’t get anyone who wants that sort of work. We almost didn’t make it here at all because we have so few staff members we can leave in charge of the place. We think about selling it sometimes…”

Kai overheard and glanced at him sharply. “You wouldn’t? You love that place. It’s your entire legacy.”

Bowen shrugged. “I do, but I’m getting older. The boys—”

Paisley rolled her eyes. “You have to stop calling them that. Henry and Aiden are both over thirty. They’re hardly boys. Even Creed is over eighteen.”

“Fine. Our sons,” Bowen corrected himself, “want to take over the place, but sometimes I feel like I’m just handing them over a lifetime of hard work and heartbreak.”

Paisley rubbed a soothing hand down his back and glanced between me and Kai. “Drought has been rough the last few years. Everyone back home is feeling it.”

I nodded, sorry for them. “Ranching is a tough life.”

Bowen straightened in his seat, pulling his shoulders back. “It is, but at the same time, what else would I do? I don’t know anything but bulls and five a.m starts.” He glanced over at me. “If you ever get bored of traveling around here, jump on a plane and come over for a few months. We can get you a work visa, no problem, because of how rural we are. There are special allowances for how desperate we are out there.”

I laughed at the idea of traveling halfway around the world to work, like I was a teenager on a gap year, but the sound died on my lips when the tinkling bell above the door rang again, admitting a group of young women. I didn’t recognize the first two, one tall and blond, the other curvy and brunette. But behind them was my niece, Avalon, Rem and Whitney’s daughter.

With her arm linked through Callie’s.

Callie stopped abruptly when she spotted me, and my gaze slammed into hers.

That same rush of attraction hit me like a freight train, running right over the top of me. A physical need so strong there was no denying it. I clamped my fingers so hard around the sugar packet it punctured, spilling a little pile of white sugar all over the tabletop.

“Fuck.” I jumped, shoving my chair back a few inches and dragging my gaze away from Callie’s. I brushed the sugar crystals into my palm, but nothing could stop me watching as Callie moved through the room with my niece and her other friends, taking up a table just across from ours.

She was friends with my niece.

My eighteen-year-old niece, for fuck’s sake. This just kept getting worse.

Through lowered eyelashes, Callie glanced my way.

I could barely contain my groan of need.

I had no idea what it was about her. But just like when we’d met, the urge to be near her was overwhelming.

I had the sudden realization that this sort of attraction didn’t come along every day.

And that it was the sort of thing that would ruin me.

Ruin her.

Bowen nudged me with an elbow. “You good?”

I forced myself to breathe normally and nod. “Were you serious about that job? Because I think a change of pace might be exactly what I need.”

That, and being half a world away from Callie Hunt.

3.Callie

Abel James was even better-looking in old jeans and white T-shirt than he’d been in fancy wedding clothes. His brown forearms were corded with muscle and had no business being all out on display like they wouldn’t turn any woman’s eye.

I sat heavily in my seat, then immediately adjusted it so I could peek over Avalon’s shoulder at her uncle.

Her uncle. Sweet baby Jesus.

I still couldn’t come to grips with the idea the man I’d met at my sister’s wedding was also in my parents’ friendship group. Never once had any of my father’s bull riding friends turned my head. It would be like crushing on a family member.

But Abel hadn’t been around my entire life, putting me on his shoulders like Rem and Bowen and Johnny had. He’d never once sent me a birthday card with five bucks in it or been roped into attending a school musical or family vacation at a theme park.

Maybe if I’d first been introduced to him as my dad’s friend, this wouldn’t have happened. Maybe we both would have just politely said hello and gone on with our lives, none the wiser to whatever the hell it was I’d felt when I’d looked into this man’s eyes a few nights earlier.

I’d had full intentions of going home with him.

Brought to a crashing halt when he’d realized who I was.

I’d downplayed the entire thing in my mind over the last few days, letting myself get swept away with helping Summer pack for her honeymoon, and hanging out with Avalon and Lily while their families were still in town. My twin, Lennon, was caught up in her own romance, but at least I’d managed to pull her out of her love nest in order to come to breakfast with me, Avalon, and Lily this morning.

I’d assumed Abel had left town after he’d hightailed it out of the wedding.

If I’d known he was still hanging around, I might have accidentally shown up at his hotel.

My cheeks flamed at the very thought of where that could have led. Just me and him. Alone in a hotel room. No family judging us for being two consenting adults, even if there was a hefty age gap between us.

I bit my lip watching him now. I was barely subtle about it, nodding every now and then while the other women talked, but watching Abel over Avalon’s shoulder the entire time.

Lily snapped her fingers in front of my face, jolting me out of my own head. “Hey, pretty lady. What you thinking about? You aren’t even on the planet this morning.”

I shook my head, focusing on her fully, despite the overwhelming urge to keep glancing back at Abel. “Sorry. What were you saying?”

Lily swatted me with a laminated menu. “I was trying to tell you about the new guest cabins I’m building at home. Two are already done, but two are still in the works. I’m going to rent them out as Airbnbs…or as bed and breakfasts. Something like that.” Lily was almost thirty, but she bounced on her chair like an overexcited child. “It was my idea.” She glanced over her shoulder at her parents sitting with mine.

Paisley caught her daughter’s eye and blew her a kiss across the restaurant.

Lily blew one back, then turned to us, dropping her voice. “They think I don’t know they’re considering selling our property.”

My mouth dropped open. It had been a long time since I’d been there, but Lily’s family property was as beloved to their family as Hunts’ Bull Riding School and Ranch was to mine. “They can’t sell it!”

Lily nodded in agreement, her blond ponytail bobbing. “I know. But my dad keeps talking about how hard it’s getting to make a living off the land. The property would be worth a lot, just for how big it is.”

I frowned. “So, what? You sell it and then go live in the city? I can’t see you doing that.”

She shook her head unhappily. “Me neither. Which is why I’m pushing for us to supplement our income in other ways. Dad is so old-school. Cattle and sheep. Sheep and cattle. But I can see other areas of potential. If we had enough accommodations, we could do destination weddings out there.”

Lennon clapped her hands together. “That sounds amazing. It would be so beautiful. And you could officiate them! You can get ordained online.”

Avalon pointed at her phone, wrapped in a hot-pink case. She was the youngest of all of us at eighteen. “You could have the best Instagram account. And TikTok. That stuff goes viral all the time. It could bring in so many new guests for you.”

“Yes!” Lily thumped her closed fist on the tabletop in excitement, drawing curious glances in our direction, which she ignored. “That’s what I’m talking about! Nobody else seems to agree with me, but I think we have to start looking outside of the cattle and sheep box if we’re going to survive. My brothers are just as bad as Dad. Right now, I’m pretty sure they’re all just humoring me.”

I picked up her hand and squeezed her fingers. “They’ll come around when they see how wildly successful it is.”

“You think?” Lily asked hopefully, glancing back over at her parents.

I used the opportunity to sneak a glance at Abel.

Bucking hell. He was talking to my father. Kill me now.

I focused on Lily instead, musing over her plans. I admired her ambition and the clear direction she had for herself. Lennon had that too. She’d always wanted to be in a medical field, and she’d just been accepted into a paramedic’s course in the city. She wasn’t even bothered by the commute because she was that excited about her future career.

Even Avalon knew where she was headed, enrolled for her freshman year at University of Michigan.

And then there was me. College dropout. Sweeping the floor at the local hair salon when they needed an extra set of hands. Zero direction nor any idea what she wanted to do with her life.

And now I had ‘knocked up by the local cowboy who didn’t give a shit’ to add to my list of stellar accomplishments.

They may as well have spray-painted me black and tossed me out into the fields at Lily’s place. I was the proverbial black sheep amongst a family of overachievers, and there was no denying it.

I pushed the thoughts away. I’d been doing that a lot lately. Living in denial felt easier than living my truth.

That truth would be placed into my arms in six months’ time. I’d have no choice but to face it then. But in the meantime, especially since my morning sickness seemed to have magically cleared up in the last few days after I’d hit the second trimester mark, I was going to pretend everything was just peachy.

“I’d love to go back to Australia,” I mused. “We haven’t been in years. It’s been forever since we’ve seen family on Mom’s side.”

Lily’s eyes widened. “Oh my God, I always forget your mom is Australian. She doesn’t sound it anymore.”

Lennon laughed. “Living here over half her life has definitely dulled her accent, but every now and then she’ll call someone ‘mate’ and then you hear it. I swear it resurfaces when your family visits.”

Lily grinned and leaned back so a waitress could set a steaming mug of coffee in front of her. “You guys should definitely come over soon. You can be the first guests in the new cabins! The weather is nice right now. Not too hot yet.”

Lennon let out a sigh of displeasure. “As much as I’d love to, school starts again soon.”

“Me too,” Avalon said, scrunching her pert nose. “Most disgusting.”

Lily peered at me. “What about you?”

I laughed and shook my head, but then something occurred to me.

I would soon be very noticeably pregnant. You couldn’t fly in your third trimester, so that ruled out any sort of travel after the end of the year. Which would have been fine, except…I’d then have a newborn. Nobody wanted to travel with a brand-new baby. Especially not all the way to Australia. That was at least fifteen hours on a plane, plus another however many hours of shuffling through airports, and then a very long car drive out to Bowen and Paisley’s place. You couldn’t do that with a baby.

Then I’d have a toddler…and they seemed even worse to fly with. How did you keep a squirming two-year-old entertained for that long? I had no idea, and I was pretty sure I didn’t want to find out.

So what? It would be five years before I could travel to see Lily’s new business venture? Five years before I could go and see my grandparents and aunts and cousins on my mother’s side? We lived on opposite sides of the world, but we FaceTimed regularly. I didn’t want to wait half a decade to see them in person.

What did I have keeping me here? Jeremy had made it perfectly clear he didn’t want anything to do with the baby.

There was only one thing stopping me. “I don’t have the money for a ticket.”

Lennon glanced at me sharply.

She was giving me that annoying ‘older sister disapproves’ look. Even though she was younger by a few minutes. I knew why. She and her boyfriend, Preston, were the only people who knew about the baby.

Lily’s eyes widened, and she paused with her coffee halfway to her mouth. “Is that honestly the only thing stopping you?”

I ignored Lennon’s big-eyed glares that clearly tried to convey the words she couldn’t say. “Well, I don’t have school or a boyfriend or a job I wouldn’t leave.”

Lily reached across the table and clutched my hand with a low squeal of excitement. “If I can get you a ticket, will you do it? You’ve got dual citizenship because of your mom, right? You can legally work so we could pay you once you get there.”

“After you dock me for my ticket costs.”

Lily let out another squeal. “Is that a yes?”

Lennon pinched my leg beneath the table. “Callie!” she hissed.

She always was the responsible twin. Normally I ignored her straitlaced advice, or worse, rolled my eyes at it. I’d even been known to make fun of her, back in my teenage days when I’d truly been awful to her. But we’d only just mended our relationship, and now I saw her objections for what they really were.

Concern. Worry. Fear over what could happen to me and the baby when I was so far away.

I squeezed her leg in response to her pinch. “Three months. I’ll be back for Christmas.”

Lennon pressed her top teeth into her pink bottom lip. “If you don’t come back, I’ll come over there and drag you back by your ear.”

Lily clapped her hands in excitement, and I leaned in to kiss Lennon’s cheek. “I’ll be fine, little sister. You don’t need to worry about me.”

Lennon sighed. “We both know I will anyway. I mean it, Cal. Home by Christmas.”

I nodded happily. I didn’t need her permission or support. But I wanted it.

My gaze slid over to Abel and my dad, deep in conversation. Abel would be flying out with Avalon and Rem and the rest of their family this afternoon probably.

I doubted I’d ever see him again.

I truly didn’t understand why that thought left me feeling quite so hollow.

To keep reading, Mother Bucker is available now to purchase or download with Kindle Unlimited.

ALSO BY ELLE THORPE

Dirty Cowboy series (complete)

*Talk Dirty, Cowboy (Dirty Cowboy, #1)

*Ride Dirty, Cowboy (Dirty Cowboy, #2)

*Sexy Dirty Cowboy (Dirty Cowboy, #3)

*Dirty Cowboy boxset (books 1-3)

*25 Reasons to Hate Christmas and Cowboys (a Dirty Cowboy bonus novella, set before Talk Dirty, Cowboy but can be read as a standalone, holiday romance)

Buck Cowboys series (Spin off from the Dirty Cowboy series. Ongoing.)

*Buck Cowboys (Buck Cowboys, #1)

*Buck You! (Buck Cowboys, #2)

*Can’t Bucking Wait (Buck Cowboys, #3)

*Mother Bucker (Buck Cowboys, #4)

The Only You series (Contemporary romance. Complete)

*Only the Positive (Only You, #1) - Reese and Low.

*Only the Perfect (Only You, #2) - Jamison.

*Only the Truth - (Only You, bonus novella) - Bree.

*Only the Negatives (Only You, #3) - Gemma.

*Only the Beginning (Only You, #4) - Bianca and Riley.

*Only You boxset

Saint View High series (Reverse Harem, Bully Romance. Complete)

*Devious Little Liars (Saint View High, #1)

*Dangerous Little Secrets (Saint View High, #2)

*Twisted Little Truths (Saint View High, #3)

Saint View Prison series (Reverse harem, romantic suspense. Complete.)

*Locked Up Liars (Saint View Prison, #1)

*Solitary Sinners (Saint View Prison, #2)

*Fatal Felons (Saint View Prison, #3)

Saint View Psychos series (Reverse harem, romantic suspense. Complete.)

*Start a War (Saint View Psychos, #1)

*Half the Battle (Saint View Psychos, #2)

*It Ends With Violence (Saint View Psychos, #3)

Saint View Rebels (Reverse harem, romantic suspense)

*Rebel Revenge (Saint View Rebels, #1)

*Rebel Obsession (Saint View Rebels, #2)

*Rebel Heart (Saint View Rebels, #3)

Saint View Strip (Male/Female, romantic suspense standalones. Ongoing.)

*Evil Enemy (Saint View Strip, #1)

*Unholy Sins (Saint View Strip, #2)

*Killer Kiss (Saint View Strip, #3)

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Guys…Did you love Preston and Lennon? I hope so, because this was by far my favorite book to write EVER. The words flew out of me so quick and smoothly. It was a writer’s dream. After spending a whole year writing in my Saint View series, coming back to the dirt and small town of the Dirty Cowboy series was everything I needed.

I probably don’t need to tell you that Abel and Callie are up next! Then we’ll be heading back down under, because Bowen and Paisley’s three boys, and one daughter are all sadly single! We really need to fix that, don’t we? Haha. I may spend more time on Saint View these days, but the cowboys are never going away. That I can promise.

Thank you to Jolie Vines, Zoe Ashwood, Emmy Ellis and Karen Hrdlicka who make up my stellar editing team. And an extra thanks to Jo and Zoe for being my author besties too! Thank you to Sara Massery for the chats, sprints, and graphic design advice. Thank you to Shellie and Karen for your early feedback. A massive thank you to my promo and review team for always being there for me.

And as always, a huge thank you to my family. To Jira, Thomas, Flick, and Heidi. You four are the loves of my life and I couldn’t do any of this without you.

Love, Elle x

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elle Thorpe lives on the sunny east coast of Australia. When she’s not writing stories full of kissing, she’s a wife and mummy to three tiny humans. She’s also official ball thrower to one slobbery dog named Rollo. Yes, she named a female dog after a dirty hot character on Vikings. Don’t judge her. Elle is a complete and utter fangirl at heart, obsessing over The Walking Dead and Outlander to an unhealthy degree. But she wouldn’t change a thing.

You can find her on Facebook or Instagram(@ellethorpebooks or hit the links below!) or at her website www.ellethorpe.com. If you love Elle’s work, please consider joining her Facebook fan group, Elle Thorpe’s Drama Llamas or joining her newsletter here. www.ellethorpe.com/newsletter