“Filters and lube. Dammit. Thanks for reminding me. I guess I’ll be running to town tomorrow too.” He looked around. “Where’s Daisy? I miss my girl.”
“I don’t think she’ll mind sleeping at your place, but Bucket’s going to get jealous.”
He grinned and tipped his forehead against mine. “I have to let you go so we can get home.”
My heart surged when he said home. I was home, but I missed his place too. I could get all sappy and think that wherever he was had begun to feel like home, but at his place, he could move around without bumping his head and shoulders. And at his place, I could find the peace that I’d never known.
When I was in his home, even after my leg had healed, I was taken care of. For the first time in my life, I had help. Each time I went back there, I was reminded of what my little RV, and the cabin I was putting off moving to for the summer, couldn’t provide. Security. Shelter from my financial problems. All I had to do in the RV was open my eyes. Would it stand up to the next big thunderstorm? Would the patches I’d made to the cabin’s roof hold in the next downpour? How did I demolish the trailer when I needed its bathroom?
Those worries didn’t touch me at Dawson’s. I could get real sleep without staying half alert the whole night, waiting for a gust of wind or the whack of hail to pound through my shelter.
It wasn’t the sturdy house that Gentry had built. It wasn’t that Dawson had the know-how and money to fix any minor or major problem that arose. It was Dawson. It was not being alone all the damn time. It was having support.
My stomach picked that moment to disturb my thoughts and stop the words that wanted to tumble out of my mouth. Words I’d never told anyone before.
Dawson chuckled at the low rumble in my belly and twined his fingers through mine. “I’ve got something for that.”
“You always do.” I let him lead me to his pickup. I usually drove myself if I stayed at his place, but like him, I didn’t want to be apart.
Dawson
Morning sex was a double-edged sword.
I kicked my hips forward, loving the low moan I earned from Bristol as her body clamped around me.
It wasn’t like an early workout. With one of those, I’d get done, feel better, wash up, and bounce out to work. A workout felt good. I damn well felt better each time I got Bristol to lose control around me. But I didn’t want to go to work when I had a naked redhead with long legs and perky tits in bed.
I pumped faster. She was close to another orgasm and I couldn’t believe I was ready to go again after last night. But all I’d needed was to see the fall of hair over her face and feel her tight body against mine and I’d been ready to go.
And I’d wanted to blow her mind as much as she had mine in the entrance of her shop.
Goddamn.
It’d been a while since I’d gotten head, and it wasn’t like it’d ever been a common occurrence in my life. It wouldn’t have mattered. What Bristol had done to me was unparalleled. She didn’t drop to her knees to get ’er done and get it over with. She’d strung me along and enjoyed it too.
I changed my angle to one I knew was sure to drive her nuts and was rewarded with her body convulsing around me. Pulsing heat surrounded me and her fingers curled into my shoulders, the bite of her nails enhancing my own pleasure.
I hissed and thrust hard, losing myself inside of her. I managed to keep my weight off her as I shook through my release. Good thing I was already on my knees.
This woman.
I collapsed and rolled to my side, sliding my hand down to rest over her rounded breast.
Her hair was spread around her, fiery like a sunrise. She ran her fingers up my stomach, tracing my abs. “I’m going to be too sore to work today.”
“Leftover pizza will help.” I’d made enough last night for breakfast. I didn’t want Bristol to leave this house without one decent meal today.
“Mmm. I happened to work up an appetite.”
We both rolled out of bed. I let her use the bathroom first, gave her a kiss when she walked out, then ducked in. By the time I was out, she’d let Daisy out and had the pizza in the microwave to heat up. My coffee cup was filling.
She still didn’t drink coffee, but that didn’t stop her from making my morning dose.
“Thanks.” My phone buzzed. It was a message from Tucker. He was working early today to get out in time for his daughter’s softball game. “Damn.” He’d found a hydraulic leak on the main tractor we used for feeding. “Looks like my day is going downhill from here.”
I rotated the phone to show Bristol the message. “Need anything from town? I’m going there first.”
“I’ll message you if I do, thanks.”
We chowed down on our food and put our dishes in the sink like we were a synchronized team. Then we went outside and were rushed by Daisy.
I bent down to get my special greeting from the excited dog that’d seen me just an hour ago. “I’ll give you a ride back,” I told Bristol.
“No need. I remember the way.”
I straightened and looked at the path between the pastures we used to run when we were kids. “You’re taller than the fences this time.”
I gave her a long kiss before she left. When I turned around, Tucker was exiting the shop. I crossed to meet him in the middle of the drive.
Tucker adjusted his hat and squinted in the direction Bristol and Daisy had disappeared. “She’s getting to be a pretty common fixture at your place.”
“Yeah.”
He cocked his head. “Don’t mean to be a downer, but what happens if this thing doesn’t work out between you two?”
“It’ll work out.”
“I hope so. You haven’t acted this way with anyone else.”
“What way?”
Tucker screwed his face up, like he couldn’t believe I had to ask. “Like you thought about them longer than a half a second after your date.”
“I wasn’t like that.” I made sure I wasn’t a callous dick. Most of the women I’d been out with were still on friendly terms with me. I was invited to weddings and shown pictures of their kids.
He lifted a brown brow. “ ‘Hey, Dawson. How was your date last night?’ ” He turned like he was continuing the conversation with himself. “ ‘Fine. Did you get the pallet of mineral moved or do you need me to do it?’ ”
“I’m not one to kiss and tell.”
“From the talk I’ve heard, you’re not one to kiss much at all.”
I scowled. “I . . . did things.”
“Maybe with a select few. But if someone asked you out, you didn’t want to hurt their feelings telling them you weren’t interested, so you said yes. You’d have a nice old meal, you’d pay, and then you’d keep seeing them until they got the message there was no future or met someone who gave a shit.”
“It wasn’t like that.” It’d been exactly like that. I had fooled myself, thinking I’d fooled any of them.
“Whatever. My point is, it’s not like that at all with Bristol. You’ve actually missed her. She’s sleeping over. But you’re still neighbors. I get the relationship is young, but other than that one time you two went to Hogan’s, you’ve kept it quiet.”
“It’s no one’s business.”
“No, but we all know better. You said you’ve been dating since she was almost out of her cast. That was, what? A month and a half ago? Where have you gone?”
Tucker knew what had happened at Hogan’s, and that I’d taken her to Billings. What was he getting at?
“You can’t hide out here and pretend you’ve got a good thing going. The town loves you. They love your family. They hate her. You tried to champion her and then you quit. Maybe she wanted you to, hell, I don’t know. I never thought I’d be sticking up for Bristol Cartwright, but either you’re with her . . . or you’re just stringing her along like everyone else.”
Because I was a nice guy. Wasn’t that what Bristol had said? Tucker certainly had. “I’m not doing it on purpose. I don’t
want to see her hurt.”
“I get it. But you know why I got divorced?” Tucker never talked about his marriage. He’d talk about being a single father, and that he’d been married, but he didn’t speak about the specifics. “She was a people pleaser on steroids. She’d do whatever anyone else needed until she ran herself into the ground and inside a bottle of pills. Couldn’t have anyone dislike her. Wouldn’t talk about her issues. Had to put on a show. You can do that for Bristol until you implode or she starts to feel like a dirty secret. Your choice. But the cost comes out of somewhere.”
“Jesus, Tucker.” What he said resonated, but I lashed out anyway. “I had a really good night and you’re making me feel like shit.”
“I get it. I do. But I’ve also never seen you . . .” When I arched a brow, he leveled me with a steady gaze. “In love.”
I wasn’t about to admit something like that to him. Bristol would be the first to know after I admitted it to myself. I’d told one other girlfriend that I’d loved her and I hadn’t meant it. I hadn’t felt it, but I’d wanted to. I had thought I should.
What I felt for Bristol diminished the puppy love from college. Swamped it. Trampled it.
So, yeah. I’d fallen in love with Bristol and it’d been inevitable. It was right. If Mama hadn’t died, would we be married with kids already? Would we have been childhood sweethearts? Would we have snuck around on her pop? Would we have been friends, seeing others, until we came to our senses and realized the only half to our whole was each other?
That was what had happened, but rockier, so much rockier for her. I might’ve pulled her out of a frozen pasture, but I hadn’t saved her from anything else. I hadn’t taken her out again to show the town the girl I was crazy about was one of our own.
Except for the day she’d hurt herself, she didn’t need saving. I’d been conscientious of that. But I’d swung too far the other way.
I adjusted my hat to keep the sun out of my eyes. “I’ll think about what you said.”
“Good. Cuz I need you to move that pallet of mineral while I help Kiernan fix the feeding tractor.”
“I’m still not telling you about my dating life.”
“Don’t want to hear it, man. I think Bristol would gut both of us if you spilled too much.” He swaggered around the shop to where Kiernan’s truck was parked. The back end of his pickup was weighed down with mineral for the cattle. He’d back up to the shop. I’d get it from there.
I wandered into the building. Cool air hit me, along with the faint scents of exhaust and oil. Large ceiling fans circulated the air. In the hottest part of summer, it would stay pleasant inside.
I hopped in the little electric forklift and whizzed to his pickup. He’d already dropped the tailgate. By the time I was done maneuvering the pallet to the other end of the shop, I’d decided where I wanted to take Bristol.
We needed to go to the bar. I usually went a few times a month when my brothers weren’t around. I didn’t need to troll for women. I had friends that I hadn’t seen in months—since I’d brought Bristol home.
My friends should know I was seeing someone. Tucker was right. Part of the reason I avoided town with Bristol was because I didn’t want to deal with the bullshit. I didn’t want her to deal with it either, but nothing was changing if I didn’t go anywhere with her.
The crap I didn’t want to shovel wasn’t just how others treated her and the way they might act around me because I was seeing her. It was the damn trust. Last night, we’d connected on a deeper level than ever before. She trusted me.
I loved her.
No question she was the one for me. We were making progress, and after so many years of feuding, we’d gone this far despite our past. What Bristol and I had wasn’t ordinary. She was special. We clicked together like two links of a chain. The two of us were stronger together.
But in town, there’d be more than the two of us and I’d have to work harder to keep her from withdrawing. I didn’t have time to deal with the doubts others might put into her head.
She trusted me. Did she love me? I didn’t know. But I needed all the time we had to add links to our chain before it was tested by the damn trust.
Chapter 11
Bristol
A cool breeze blew through town, wicking the heat of the afternoon sun off my skin. June was the perfect month. Not too hot yet. Not too cold. And the snow was gone. Cattle were in the pastures they’d stay in all summer. Since it was just me, I didn’t have as many head as the land could hold. They could stay in the same pasture all season and have enough to graze. My biggest concern was keeping my haying equipment running.
I wouldn’t have to hay until the middle of July, but thanks to all the help from Dawson and the guys last month, I had time to check on all my equipment before a rainstorm barreled down on King’s Creek and forced me to rush baling.
Which was why I was in town in the middle of the afternoon.
I needed an oil filter for the pickup. I tossed my sunglasses on the seat next to me and slid out. The hardware store was in a new building on the opposite end of town from my place. Nelson Hammond, the town’s mayor, had built it a few years ago. The farm and ranch industry around King’s Creek, and the hour-plus drive to either Miles City or Billings, kept the store in the black.
Inside, I went directly for the filters—and stopped when I saw Emma. I rounded the end cap and stared at oil plugs in the next aisle. I didn’t need any, but I wouldn’t have to make nice with the nurse who used to date Dawson.
It wasn’t that I was jealous. It was that . . . I didn’t know how to act. She’d been kind to me. She’d seemed to care and it hadn’t been an act to impress Dawson. Did I just say hi? Did I nod? Or since we weren’t at her work, she could act differently and I’d realize she’d only been nice because it was her job.
I didn’t people well. I only knew how to be a Cartwright, and I didn’t want to default to that.
I peeked down the aisle to see if she’d moved on yet. A man curved around the other side just as Emma selected a box from the shelf.
“Whaddya need, Emma?”
My stomach dropped. Ugh. I knew that booming voice. Creeper Hammond. His real name was Crawford or something that was supposed to be cultured enough for the son of Nelson Hammond, whose father had also been mayor. But every female under the age of thirty called him Creeper. He’d embraced the nickname like it was Bruiser or Maverick.
Creeper strutted around town like he was a gimme for the next election his daddy didn’t run for. In high school, he’d tried to pin me against the lockers and feel me up when the hallway was empty. I’d shoved him away, late for class, then gotten detention because he’d told the teacher I’d punched him.
I had. I’d kneed him in the balls too.
So Creeper didn’t mess with me, but I’d heard enough murmurings over the years to know he hadn’t changed and he was body positive in the worst way. Several pictures of his privates floated around the internet and landed uninvited in women’s inboxes. When in doubt, whip it out had become his motto. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had some date-rape experience under his belt that his daddy had swept under the rug.
“Uh, nothing,” Emma said cautiously. “I’m just getting some oil.”
Creeper’s voice dropped a few octaves. “You have a leak that needs to be plugged, Emma?”
I could’ve gagged. How could a grown man not hear how gross that sounded?
“No. I’m finding what I need. Thanks, Creeper.” Emma held strong, but that wasn’t going to be enough to get Creeper to leave her alone. It was coffee time. All the old ranchers that shopped here in the morning would be at the diner on Main Street. Everyone else would drop by during their lunch hour or after work. Creeper thought he had Emma to himself for a few minutes.
“Come on,” he coaxed. “Tell me what you need. I bet I’ve got it.”
“Actually, if you could just move over a few inches, I can find what I need and be on my way.”
“A fe
w inches,” Creeper purred and a shudder raced down my spine. Ick. “Let me show you that I have more than a few—”
I charged around the end cap and strode down the aisle. Creeper saw me first and dropped his hand from his fly. His face lost a few shades of color before annoyance took over.
“Hey, Creeper.” I didn’t slow. Emma’s eyes grew wide. “Do you still have my footprint on your nuts?”
“Cartwright.” His mouth twisted like I’d shoved a lime between his thin lips. “Go on about your own business. We don’t need—”
“But you’re going to show your junk to Emma? I didn’t hear her ask for it. In fact, she asked you to back off.”
“What are you talking about? I’m not dropping trou in the middle of the store.”
Emma spoke up. “I heard that you like to flash, and I wish I could continue not believing it. Should we call you Flasher instead?”
Creeper flushed a blotchy red.
I cocked my head. “I agree. Creeper isn’t strong enough to describe how you shoved your hand up my shirt.”
He sneered. “Why would I do that? You ain’t got no tits.”
I was about to tell him that he was an asshole who should be in jail, but Emma beat me. “You open your mouth and insult Bristol one more time and I’m going to be the one to kick you in the balls, Creeper. Don’t talk to me. Don’t touch me. We all know that you won’t get in trouble cuz your daddy swoops in to save you, but I will stomp on that little dick if I see even a shadow of it. Do you understand?”
He reared back, glaring at me as if the words had spilled out of my mouth instead of hers.
Emma shoved a finger in his face. “I’ve dealt with irate drunks. I’ve been vomited on. And I’ve had old ladies try to bite me. I’m not afraid of you, Crawford Hammond, and more importantly, I don’t get paid to put up with you. There’s no other place in town to get some oil, so get out of this aisle and leave me and Bristol alone.”
She stuffed her hands on her hips and glared at him. She was several inches shorter. Not even her messy top bun reached his nose. But she loomed over him.
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