“There’s a cinnamon roll in there with your name on it.”
“You got me a cinnamon roll?” Her expression twisted with surprise as she lifted her eyes from the bag to me.
I shrugged it off like it wasn’t a big deal. When I’d stopped by Lottie’s earlier this morning, she might have thrown me a bone that Devin had been obsessing over them the night before.
I’d seen Devin’s car parked outside her house during my early rounds on the farm. It didn’t take Lottie long to figure me out. She knew I’d shown up unexpectedly to see if Devin had stayed over, not because I was hoping Tucker was already home, as I claimed. He was due back today, but we both knew he wasn’t arriving until this afternoon.
Devin bit at the corner of her bottom lip as she stared at me from across the truck. “Why would you do that?”
“Figured you might be hungry. Lottie said you liked them. It’s not a big deal, Devin. Really. Just eat it already.”
She reached for the bag, pulling out the cinnamon roll.
“Mind handing me the muffin?” I asked.
“Sure,” she agreed, pulling out my favorite breakfast muffin from Ida’s—maple pecan—and passing it to me.
Taking the first bite of her cinnamon roll, she hummed in appreciation, and my dick rose in appreciation. I shifted in my seat, adjusting myself discreetly. We both ate as I drove us through town, turning right at the courthouse, taking the highway that led out of town.
“Where are you going?” she asked, covering her mouth as she spoke through her last bite of the cinnamon roll. “This is the wrong way,” she mumbled, and then swallowed.
“Didn’t I mention I have a small errand to run first?”
I felt her eyes burning holes in my profile as I continued to stare out the windshield. We both knew damn well I never said a word about my errand. And to be honest, I hadn’t meant to bring her along with me, but now that I had her in my truck, I wasn’t in any hurry to let her get out of it. Plus, having a vet with me for this particular errand wouldn’t hurt.
“Wes,” she reprimanded.
“Doc,” I mocked.
“This isn’t funny. I have plans. Take me to my car. Now.”
“What plans?” I asked, my muscles stiffening, wondering if she had a date planned with the jackass from last night.
“I need to finish unpacking my house.”
I relaxed only slightly with her response, a self-inflicted tension still lingering in my body. I shouldn’t care if she had a date, I reminded myself.
“That can wait. And no sense in arguing. You might as well relax and enjoy the road trip.”
“Your list of criminal offenses is growing. First breaking and entering, now kidnapping.”
I laughed, glancing to the side. Her tone had been full of amusement. She tucked her lips between her teeth, holding back a smile.
“What can I say, you bring out the worst in me.” I leaned on the middle console with my right elbow as I steered the truck with my left hand. Her sweet perfume flooded my nose at our closeness.
She scoffed a laugh. “Oh, now it’s my fault?”
“All I’m saying is, I’ve had a clean record up until you showed up.”
“I doubt that. You probably just never got caught, or were given a free pass because you’re you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She sighed, shaking her head. “Nothing… Where are you taking me, anyway?”
“Dillon.”
“Dillon! Wes, that’s almost four hours from here!”
“Nice to know you’re familiar with your Texas geography, Doc.”
She squinted her eyes at me as she kept up the ruse of being angry, even though it seemed she was anything but.
“So, you kidnap me and take me to one of the smallest towns ever to exist.”
“Less witnesses that way.”
She rolled her eyes, slipping off her flips-flops, resting her pretty little toes on the dashboard. “What’s in Dillon?” she asked, picking up the coffee I’d bought for her and taking a sip.
“A horse. There’s a man just outside of Dillon who has a filly for sale. We’ve been looking for a horse, so Lily can have one of her own. Tucker sent me a message this morning asking if I could drive over there to check her out.”
“That’s nice of you.”
I lifted my left shoulder in a shrug. “It’s not a big deal. I know he’s anxious to get home to his family today. Besides, it’s a gift from both of us, so no reason I shouldn’t go instead of him. If it works out, we plan to give it to her for Christmas.”
“That’s sweet.”
“What?”
“Just that you guys would do that for her.”
“You think she’ll like it?”
“What little girl wouldn’t want her own horse for Christmas?”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
I snuck another look at her as she focused her attention on the road ahead of us, seeming more relaxed than she’d been when I first showed up on her doorstep, but still struggling to just let loose. We rode in silence as the music played on the radio. Chris Stapleton’s voice began to croon through the speakers, singing the song we’d danced to the night before.
She stiffened as a blush crept across her cheeks and then groaned, playing off her uncomfortableness as she reached for the dial. “Does anyone listen to anything other than country music around here?”
“Like what? That music you were listening to back at your house?”
“Well, yeah. Exactly,” she said, turning it to a local alternative station.
Her toes—still on the dash—started to tap in sync with the beat, drawing my eyes to them. How could anyone’s feet be so damn sexy?
I cleared my throat, needing to get something off my chest, needing to clear the big-ass elephant the last song had inconveniently conjured. “I’m sorry about last night… For Mandy…”
She looked out the passenger window, hiding her expression from me. “It’s fine, Wes. What you do or who you do, is none of my business.”
From any other woman I was hoping to sleep with, the words from her mouth would’ve been music to my ears. But from her, it felt like a slap to the face. And I didn’t like to think about why that might be.
“Either way, I didn’t like how our dance ended.”
“I’m sure things turned out just fine for you at the end,” she commented under her breath.
“Hey.” I reached over, squeezing just above her knee.
Her eyes lingered on my hand that remained on her leg before she raised them to my face.
“I didn’t sleep with Mandy last night,” I stated simply, my eyes flicking back and forth between her and the road.
I wanted her to know the truth.
She didn’t respond verbally. She let her body do all the talking, dropping her feet to the floorboard and shifting her knees away from me, so I’d be forced to remove my hand.
I wanted to insist on keeping it there, but it was obvious she needed whatever space she could get in the confines of my truck. I pulled back, shifting my own body away and placing both hands on the wheel, tightening my grasp as I clenched my teeth. Putting more space between us was the last thing I wanted to do, but if it was what she needed, I’d respect that.
* * *
Parking the truck outside a roadside diner, I opened my door without saying a word. When she didn’t make a move, I looked over at Devin. We’d both been silent for the last couple hours as we drove, listening to music. I allowed her to continue to control the radio. It was the only peace offering I could make that she’d willingly accept. I’d caught as many glimpses of her as I could on the drive without steering us into a ditch, but she hadn’t returned a single one of them. She’d been lost in her head the whole ride.
“Are you coming?” I nodded my head toward the diner. “Figured we could use a break from the truck. Grab a bite to eat for lunch.”
She nodded, attempting a half-smile, unbucklin
g her seatbelt.
I itched to touch her as we walked toward the entrance. As soon as the moment presented itself, I brushed her lower back with my fingers as I opened the door for her, guiding her inside first. That slightest touch triggered the strongest need I’d ever felt for a woman.
I smiled at the hostess, raising two fingers. She seated us immediately in a booth by the window. We looked over the menu without a single word uttered between us, only speaking to give our orders to the waitress.
The uncomfortable silence that persisted was driving me nuts as I stared at Devin sitting directly across from me. Physically, she was mere feet from me, her knees mere inches. But mentally, she was miles away. She fiddled with the straw wrapper in front of her, tearing it into tiny pieces, concentrating on it like it was the most important task in the world.
When she could no longer shred the paper any further, she glanced up, her eyes locking with mine. The throb in my chest increased.
She was fucking beautiful.
She had no idea.
Her phone vibrated on the table in front of her, drawing both of our eyes to the screen. I barely caught the name of a guy before she was hitting ignore and turning her phone face down. Her expression flipped like a switch, going from somber contemplation to irritation.
That same possessiveness I’d felt the other night simmered below the surface. The feeling scared the hell out of me. I’d never felt it before for any of the women I’d been with, much less for one who could barely stand to be in my presence the way Devin seemed she couldn’t.
She turned her head to stare out the window, drawing herself back into the seat, her hands falling to her lap under the table. She was pulling farther away from me, making me only more desperate for her attention, her voice.
“You’ve got beautiful eyes,” I stated, telling her exactly what I’d been thinking.
With a hard swallow, her eyes fell shut. Her chest heaved as she took a deep breath.
“I don’t even mind that the left one’s lazy,” I added with a teasing smile, hoping to ease the tension my compliment was obviously causing. The last thing I wanted to do was cause her more turmoil.
A throaty laughter erupted from her mouth as she looked back at me, her head shaking slightly as she did.
I grinned, winking at her, relieved it worked.
“I do not have a lazy eye,” she argued with a smile.
“Maybe not. But it’s nice to see you laugh… Every time I see you, you look sad. Or pissed.”
She casted her eyes downward as she sighed. “I guess I’m not great at this ‘starting over’ thing…”
“Not sure I follow.”
From where I was sitting, she was doing just fine. She’d already managed to get my sister-in-law, Hannah, and Leighton on her side. I had to grovel just to get any information out of Lottie this morning. If she gained their respect and protectiveness already, she’d have no problem finding her place here.
She shrugged, her shoulders curling inward as her hands lifted to fidget with the straw in her water. She remained quiet for a few beats, stirring it around, creating a mini tornado inside her glass.
“It’s like I’ve been sleepwalking through life,” she finally spoke, “trying to be this person expected of me for the last four years and somewhere along the way I lost myself. I’m finally waking up and I have no idea how I ended up here or where to go from here.”
“Does this have anything to do with that phone call the whole town is talking about?”
She turned her head back to the window without answering me.
“I’m sorry,” I immediately apologized, knowing it was none of my fucking business. But I couldn’t help my curiosity.
I wanted to know every damn thing I could about this woman. I wanted to protect her from whatever asshole had made her upset, and was still making her doubt herself. It was a complete contradiction to the strong, confident woman I’d witnessed over the past week.
Leaning forward, I started to reach for her hand that sat idle on the table, but was interrupted by the waitress bringing our food. I eased back, dropping my hands under the table, annoyed by the interruption.
“Two burgers, all the way,” the waitress announced, setting our plates in front of us. “Can I get you two anything else?”
“No. Thank you,” I replied quickly, hoping she’d leave as suddenly as she appeared.
Devin gave the waitress a small smile in agreement. There was a beat of awkward silence as our server walked away.
“I need to say something about our conversation in the truck earlier,” Devin fiddled with the napkin in her lap before meeting my eyes.
I picked up my burger, nodding my chin for her to continue. I didn’t have a good feeling about whatever it was she was about to say.
“I’m the one who should’ve been apologizing, not you. My life is a mess at the moment. And I shouldn’t have let things…progress the way I did. I can use all the friends I can get right now, so the last thing I want to do is ruin a potential friendship.”
“There’s that word again…friends,” I grumbled as I picked up my tea, taking a drink.
“You say it like it’s a bad thing.” She reached for a fry on her plate, dipping it in the side of ranch dressing she’d ordered.
I set my glass down, pinning her with my eyes. “What if I told you I’m not sure I can be your friend?”
“I don’t know…” she admitted nervously, her hand halting. “Is that what you’re telling me?”
Shit. Was I? What if she told me it’s all I could have with her? The thought wasn’t a pleasant one. It’s not what I wanted. Maybe she was right to insist on it, though.
We were on dangerous ground, and as much as I wanted to risk it, wanted her to fall into my bed, there was no guarantee that one time would be enough for me. Enough to get Devin Chaplin off my damn mind. And the last thing I wanted was to dig myself into a deeper hole.
I wasn’t a one-woman man. Pursuing things with Devin might push me into a corner I didn’t want to be in. I was already having stronger feelings for her than I was prepared for. She was a heartache waiting to happen.
“No, brown eyes. If friends is what you want, that’s what we’ll be.”
She dropped her eyes to her plate, a partial smile on her lips as she resumed dipping her fry. “Thank you.” She popped it into her mouth, seeming relieved.
* * *
After our lunch, the atmosphere of the truck had been the opposite of the first half of the drive. Devin was fun as hell when she let loose. She was schooling me on all her music as we compared the playlists on our phones. While mine was full of country music, hers was full of alternative bands.
I actually liked some of what she had and planned to download the songs later. Specifically, the one currently vibrating through my truck, which she informed me was “Electric Love” by the Borns. But I wasn’t about to admit that out loud, because I loved how fired up and passionate she got about the songs when I’d scrunch my nose at her selections, pretending to hate them.
Eventually, we agreed to disagree on who had the best music, moving on to other topics. Most of them were about our families and our lives growing up.
“When the sheriff showed up, I thought your uncle was gonna kill me,” I said, smiling as I got lost in the memory. “She went wild child, riding in the bed of my truck. She was screaming, her arms spread wide, like she was Rose on the Titanic. I was too busy watching her in my mirrors going crazy as hell to worry about anything else.” I laughed, thinking about one of the best times I’d had with her cousin, Jenna.
I wasn’t sure how Cricket had come up. Maybe because both our childhood memories involved her.
She laughed with me. “Sounds like you brought out a different side of Jen.”
“Yeah, guess so,” I agreed, my laughter slowly dying as I remembered the way Jenna and I were together.
“Did you love her?”
My eyes flicked to Devin, caught off guard by her qu
estion. I cleared my throat as I looked back at the road. “Of course. She was one of my best friends.”
“That’s not what I meant,” she pressed, and for the first time, I had my answer on how much Devin might know about our could’ve-been relationship.
I frowned as I considered her question. “I thought at one time, maybe I could love her as more than just a friend…but I don’t know that I was ever truly in love with her. We never took that step for me to really know,” I admitted. The last thing I wanted to do was lie to Devin.
The way she continued to study me made me feel like I was under a microscope. “She’s happy. I think it’s important you know that. She’s very happy with two beautiful little girls. You did the right thing that day.”
“What are you talking about?” I played dumb. I knew exactly what she was talking about. The moment she was referencing.
“I don’t know that I should be telling you this, it’s not my place or my business,” she sighed as she struggled with an internal debate. “I know what happened the day of her wedding. I know she went looking for you. I know what she told you and what you told her. She’s my best friend, Wes. We tell each other everything… You broke her heart that day, but you also freed her heart, so she could love her husband fully.”
I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. I didn’t want to talk about Jenna anymore. Not because I was harboring old feelings, but because I was more interested in the woman sitting next to me.
9
DEVIN
“Have you ever had your own horse?” Wes asked, immediately changing the subject.
I didn’t push to discuss his history with Jenna any further, figuring it might still be a sore subject for him. But I meant every word I’d told him. He’d made the right choice for her, and part of me hoped it’d been the right one for him, too.
“Sadly, no. I’ve lived in the city my whole life. Growing up in a condo in downtown Austin doesn’t exactly allow for having a pet horse.”
Taming Wes: BOOK THREE|BILLINGSLEY SERIES Page 8