The Return (BookShots Flames)

by Erin Knightley

  “Well, look what the cat dragged in,” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “I haven’t seen you in years. How ya been, cowboy?”

  “Trying to stay in one piece,” he answered wryly. “How are you? Still blowing the competition away?”

  As she laughed and started in on her recent wins, Mack could feel Ashley’s presence beside him; her unspoken desire to be introduced hung between them like a weighted clothesline. He ground his teeth. If she was being more civil to him, maybe he wouldn’t be resisting so much.

  He was still technically holding up his end of the bargain by taking care of all the logistics of entering the competition and accompanying her here. And he had plenty of time to introduce her after she rode, when he wasn’t standing beside her like a well-trained dog. She could hold her damn horses for the time being.

  Apparently, she didn’t agree.

  Before he could wrap up his conversation with Jocelyn, Ashley leaned in and smiled apologetically. “Don’t mean to interrupt, but I need my gofer,” she said, her voice as sugary as Ms. Letty’s sweet tea even as her dark gaze was all daggers. “Come on, Mack. They’ll be calling my name soon, and you know how I need my hired hand at the ready.”

  If steam could actually come out of ears, Ashley was pretty sure Mack would be a human teapot. She kept her fake beauty queen smile firmly in place as they walked away from his flirty friend, practically daring him to say something within hearing distance.

  There were people everywhere, but he dragged her over to a quiet corner. “What in the hell was that?” he hissed, anger rolling off him in waves.

  Well, he wasn’t the only one who was pissed. “Yes, my question exactly. We have a deal, Mack. Part of that means introducing me to the people you know so I can make some contacts.”

  “And I will—on my own daggone terms. I’m not your lapdog, and I’m not your ‘hired hand.’”

  “Aren’t you? Because I’m pretty sure you came begging on my doorstep for help. I agreed in exchange for your cooperation. If you aren’t going to hold up your end of the bargain, I sure as hell am not going to hold up mine.”

  She could almost hear his teeth grinding. “This is supposed to be a fair bargain, but you’re treating me like I’m beneath you. And I’m pretty sure you’re enjoying every second of it.”

  “How am I treating you like you’re beneath me? By expecting you to show common courtesy? Introducing me to your friends and offering pointers for my riding? Oh, yeah, I can see how that would be so degrading to a demigod like yourself.”

  “I’m talking about all the ways you like to keep me on a leash. Not letting me drive, not giving me the promised per diem unless you’re in my damn pocket. Making me sleep in the truck when you have a perfectly good king bed that you can’t possibly use up all by your little self.”

  She was actually a little taken aback by the resentment that colored every word out of his mouth. Did he really think she was taking advantage of him? And worse than that—was she? She shook her head, unable to forget the years of resentment she had harbored toward him. He had treated her like pond scum all those years ago, and she had a right not to roll over and give him whatever the hell he wanted.

  “You know what? I have—”

  She was cut off midsentence as a rodeo worker rushed over. “Miss Montoya, you’re next. Head to the chute, please.”

  All the air whooshed from her lungs. Oh, God, this was it. She wasn’t ready. Not even a little bit. Her nerves were shot, Mia was prancing beside her, and she was fighting with the only person she knew in this entire city.

  She turned to him now, her eyes wide and her stomach somewhere in the vicinity of her boots. The sound of the roaring crowd finally pushed through her ringing ears, and she realized that in her arguing, she hadn’t comprehended how big the crowd was, or how hot her clothes suddenly were.

  Dear Lord, she was going to faint.

  Mack looked back at her, unflinching, all the anger in his green eyes completely dissolving in the space of a heartbeat. He stepped forward, taking her arms in his hands and tilting his head down until they were nearly forehead to forehead.

  “Listen to me,” he said in a low, insistent voice. “You’ve trained for this for years, whether you realize it or not. You are going to go out there, ignore every person in the place, and imagine the darkened sky and wide-open field in your backyard. Don’t think about how to ride, or what to do; just let your body do what it does best. Think of the nights it was you and Mia under the stars, alone in the world. Tune out the crowd, the loudspeaker, and the other competitors. Look for me. Only me. I’ll be right there, at the fence, waiting for you to come back to me. Okay?”

  She breathed in a long, deep breath, trying to will the light-headedness away. His intense gaze seemed like an anchor amid the sudden chaos in her mind. Licking her lips, she nodded twice. “Okay.”

  “Okay, what?”

  “Okay, I’ll look for you. And picture the stars.” And remember my mama. That thought came from nowhere, but instead of distressing her, it calmed her. It was as if her mama was with her right now.

  “Good girl. Now go out there and knock ’em dead. We can finish arguing when you get back.” A hint of a smile teased his lips, and she almost smiled back, but her mouth couldn’t seem to remember how.

  Why had she thought she could do this? Why hadn’t it been enough to mess around on her own property?

  He squeezed her hand. “This is your dream, Ashley,” he said as though he could read her thoughts. “Make it come true.”

  She nodded again, more firmly this time. She let him help her mount, then got in line. The announcer called her name, and she was off.

  Chapter 11

  In all his years in the rodeo, Mack didn’t ever remember holding his breath through an entire ride. He watched, heart pounding, as Ashley rocketed into the arena, riding hell-bent for leather toward the first barrel. She pocketed it like a champion, with Mia seeming nearly horizontal in the turn. Then she raced toward the next barrel, then on to the third, before flying back toward the entrance.

  Ashley was absolutely glorious with her dark hair streaming out behind her from beneath her black hat. Her face was set in a mask of concentration and determination. She looked like a warrior riding into battle, and his heart nearly burst with pride when she pulled to a hard stop in front of him.

  He let out a whoop and wrapped her in a bear hug the moment her feet hit the dirt, not even caring that his spine lit up with pain with the movement. He felt euphoric, almost as if he was experiencing the high he used to get after he’d killed it during his own rides. Never in his life had he gotten that feeling through someone else’s ride.

  And she did kill it. The red numbers on the timer sat frozen at 14.012, a damn good time for anyone, let alone a newbie. When she saw the numbers, her mouth dropped open in shock, then delight, and he hugged her all over again. She laughed. Tears spilled down her cheeks, and it was all he could do not to kiss her right then.

  It was nuts, he knew, but that was how he felt. Instead of giving in to that crazy thought, he pulled off her hat and kissed the top of her head. “I’m proud of you. Whether or not that’s a good enough time to place, you deserve to celebrate tonight.”

  Wiping at her eyes, she grinned and nodded. “Sounds like a plan, cowboy. Where to?”

  “Everyone will be at the bar next to the hotel tonight. I have a feeling a few of them will want to raise a glass to you.”

  “Oh, so you’re not too embarrassed to introduce me now that I didn’t bomb?” She was teasing, her voice holding none of the bitterness of only a few minutes earlier.

  “Well, that and I don’t think I can get any of them to buy me drinks a second night in a row.” He winked, and she laughed. It felt damn good that the tension of the past ten days had lifted. And it felt even better that her smile was directed squarely at him.

  “I see. And I suppose you can introduce me as your friend, if you must. I don’t imagine any of them will le
t that news slip to anyone back in Sunnybell. After all, I have a reputation to uphold back there when it comes to you.”

  He squeezed her waist, unwilling to break the connection between them just yet. “Don’t worry, princess. What happens in Dallas stays in Dallas.”

  The bar lacked the familiar charm of the Yell in Sunnybell, but the beer was cold and plentiful, the music good, and the company even better. Ashley smiled to herself as she lifted her beer for another sip.

  It was hard to believe that she was thinking of Mack as good company. Great company, actually. Since her third-place win—at least she was calling it a win—he hadn’t left her side. He’d introduced her to everyone at the bar as his old friend, winking to her as he said it, before asking who wanted to buy the newbie protégé a drink. That was two hours and three beers ago, and she’d yet to pull out her wallet.

  And she’d yet to stop thinking about Mack.

  All that animosity that had been building between them seemed to have fallen away during their moment before her race. He had been amazing.

  Focused, kind, confident in her ability—he was all the things she had not been. He soothed her in exactly the right way, and when she’d ridden into that arena, it was as though she were back in her own backyard.

  A hand slid around her right side as warm lips pressed against her left ear. “Come on, princess. Let’s call it a night.”

  She twisted around to see buzzed Mack, smiling down at her with heavy lids. The effect was seductive as hell. He always had been too attractive for his own good—not to mention her own good—but her resentment had created a solid wall between them. Now that she could see through the widening cracks in that wall, the grown-up Mack wasn’t quite the villain his teenage version had been.

  In fact, she rather liked this version.

  “All right, Mr. McHandsome. Lead the way.”

  His eyebrows shot up as one corner of his mouth tugged into a lopsided grin. “Mr. McHandsome? Remind me to give you alcohol more often.”

  She giggled at that. “Oh, please. Like you don’t know you’re handsome. Your looks were never the problem.”

  She could feel his chest rumble with low laughter as he tucked her against his side. “Neither were yours, darlin’,” he said with a teasing wink.

  Slipping her hand into his, she let him lead the way through the packed crowd to the door. The night air was deliciously cool against her skin as they spilled out the double doors and into the parking lot. It had been so warm inside that she hadn’t realized the temperature had dropped so much.

  She gave a little shiver, and he immediately pulled her closer and wrapped an arm around her. “Never let it be said that chivalry is dead,” he said blithely, making her laugh. “At least not in Texas.”

  “What, using my body heat to warm yourself?” she said. “Oh yes, so very chilveraous. Chivrous. Chivalrous.” She was proud to have gotten the word right in her giggly, just-this-side-of-tipsy state.

  “Hey, now—you women weren’t supposed to figure that part out. Though I don’t really see anything wrong with it being mutually beneficial. I’m a big fan of mutual beneficialness, actually.”

  He was warm and solid against her side, and she happily breathed in the scent that was so uniquely his. Somehow, this time it brought back more of the good, and fewer of the bad, memories of him. Her first kiss, for example. Her first time doing a lot of things, actually, though not that big one that counted. Even now, after all these years, she could remember the incredible taste of his lips.

  “I’m not sure ‘beneficialness’ is actually a word,” she said as he pushed open the stairwell door and led her up the single flight to her floor. “But you know what? As of today, I think I may actually like you again. You’re a good guy when you want to be, Jacob Reed McLeroy.”

  He tilted his head down to look at her, surprise lifting his brow. “You remember my full name?”

  She nodded, liking the way her cheek slid along the soft fabric of his shirt. She could feel the hard plane of his chest, too, which was definitely a bonus. “Mm-hmm. And your birthday, and your favorite flavor of ice cream, and the name of your first dog.”

  As they slowed to a stop in front of her door, she pulled away, but only enough to look him fully in the eye. His pupils were wide, his irises dark emerald in the dim hotel corridor lighting.

  “I also remember the way your lips fit across mine, and the way you used to slide your hands over my body when we kissed. I remember exactly the way the butterflies always took flight in my belly whenever your fingers so much as grazed my skin.”

  The humor in his features faded as something much more intense took its place. “Ashley,” he breathed, lacing his fingers in hers.

  Lord, did she love the sound of her name on his lips. She dropped her gaze to his mouth—his beautiful, perfect mouth—and slid her tongue across her own lips without even thinking. Those old butterflies were back, fluttering away in her middle.

  Squeezing her fingers, he leaned down and kissed her, sending a shot of electricity through every inch of her body. Even her toes curled as he slanted his lips more fully across hers and delved with his tongue into her mouth. He tasted exactly the same beneath the tang of beer. She moaned softly and leaned into him, happily allowing him to wrap their joined hands behind her back.

  The key to the room was in her back pocket. Maybe, just maybe, she could invite him in. He didn’t have a room, after all, and it was a big bed. She started to pull away, to ask him the question that she never imagined would leave her lips. But then the stairwell door clunked open, startling them both.

  A pair of giggling, big-haired, and even bigger-boobed buckle bunnies spilled out into the hallway. Their eyes widened at the sight of Ashley and Mack before they dissolved in a fresh bout of giggles. “Hi, Mack,” one of them said saucily as she shimmied by them.

  The sound of his name on her glossy pink lips was like a cup of cold water to Ashley’s conscience. What was she doing? As much as she was enjoying the throwback make-out session, this was Mack McLeroy, the biggest player—no, man-whore—in the business. She needed to keep things on a professional level with him.

  Drawing a deep, much-needed breath of sanity, she smiled at Mack and stepped away. “Good night. Thanks for the encouragement today. I don’t think I could have done it without you.” He was an amazing kisser and sexy as hell, but she wasn’t stupid enough to go down the path to heartbreak twice.

  He seemed utterly confused for a moment, blinking a few times. “You’re not going to invite me in?”

  She shook her head firmly even though she knew she had been about to do exactly that. “Nope. I hope you sleep better in the truck tonight. I bet if you lay across the backseat, it will be more comfortable.”

  A muscle tightened in his jaw as he stepped back and looked at her as if he were trying to work out a puzzle. Glancing in the direction in which the women had gone, he smirked and said, “Don’t worry, princess. I’m sure I’ll be able to find a bed tonight.”

  She gritted her teeth and gave her best beauty pageant smile. “Great. See you in the morning.” With that, she shut the door, trying to convince herself that it was a good thing that they’d been interrupted. She’d learned her lesson with him years ago, right?

  And if she wanted to open the door and tug him back in to lose herself in his kiss and his touch, well, that was just the celebratory beer talking.

  Chapter 12

  As the road slid by beneath their tires, Mack pondered for the hundredth time why the hell he’d said that to Ashley last night. He had had absolutely no intention of sleeping with anyone else, and it had been a jerk thing to act as though he would, given the kiss they’d just shared.

  God, that kiss. It had damn near singed his boots. He hadn’t remembered the way she’d felt in his arms until that moment. Once he had, he couldn’t for the life of him believe he’d ever tossed her aside for any reason, let alone for the dubious pleasure of a high school dropout with big boobs an
d a short skirt.

  “I’m an idiot,” he said aloud, surprising them both.

  “No argument here,” she answered glibly, her eyes trained on the road. With the next rodeo only a few days away, they’d decided to head straight to the arena, since it was in the opposite direction from home. A handful of other competitors had made the same decision, so at least he and Ashley wouldn’t be alone for the next few days.

  Leaning back in his seat, he sighed. “I don’t know why I said what I did last night. I slept in the truck, and it never occurred to me to do otherwise.”

  “What you do is your business, Mack. Don’t worry about it.” But even as she said the words, he could hear the disappointment in her voice. In her mind, he’d probably reaffirmed everything she’d ever thought of him with that stupid line.

  “Contrary to popular belief, I’m not the bad guy you think I am. I’ve changed a lot since I was nineteen, you know.”

  The first drops of rain peppered the windshield, and she turned the wipers on low. She flickered a glance in his direction before giving a light shrug. “Like I said, what you do is your business. I do think it’s safe to say that you love women as much as ever.”

  He couldn’t help but offer a small smile at that. “Well, that hasn’t changed. I still love women and they still love me, but I learned a huge lesson from our breakup. I’ve never cheated on another woman, and I never will again. I’ve never felt like more of an asshole in my life, and I plan to avoid feeling like that ever again.”

  The corner of her mouth tilted up. “You felt like an asshole because you were an asshole. But I’m glad to hear some good could come of it, at least.” She added, her eyes still on the road, “For the record, you’ve proven yourself to be a pretty good guy these last few weeks. I couldn’t have done it yesterday without you.”