Wet: A Small Town Romance (Love in Lone Star Book 1)

by Ashley Bostock

  “That works!”

  “Did you hear the latest on the meeting last night?”

  “No,” I shook my head slowly. I had just finished typing my article about it. “What about it?”

  “Did you hear Jean Yates got into a fight afterward? Someone banged him up pretty good, I hear.”

  What? Not that I had forgotten the events from last night, that particular moment I’d chose to put at the back of my mind. No, instead I had been consumed with Ryan’s rough hands, the hungry look in his eyes when he’d unbuttoned my shirt, his unbelievably soft lips and the way they’d felt against my skin. No. I had been so consumed with naughty thoughts of him all night long I had hardly slept.

  “Did you hear who did it?”

  “Nope. Did you see anything?”

  I swallowed. Did I see anything? Shit, I was the cause of it! But there was no way I would ever admit that. Nor would I ever say it had been Ryan and that Yates deserved what he got. Jerk.

  “I didn’t see anything,” I swallowed again. “I need to get these figured out. I’ll see you over there right after work, right?”

  “Yeah, I’ll see you over there,” she yelled as she started running to answer the ringing phone.

  Chapter Six

  Ryan

  “Let’s go, you guys. I don’t want to be out all night. You guys need showers tonight.” Getting Brianna and Alex rounded up was like herding cats. How hard was it to get your shoes on? It seemed to take these two forever – all the time. Maybe it was because I was their brother and they didn’t take me half as serious as they did our parents.

  “I’m coming, Ryan. I had to brush my hair. I couldn’t dare go out in public the way it was. Calm down.”

  Air whistled through my teeth as I told myself to keep it in check. Honest to God, I just wanted to get some fucking grub, a nice cold beer and come back home. Tonight was family night at the West Side Tavern and they’d both begged me to take them. It had been a while since we were there last, so I obliged. But as I stood by the door, my truck keys clenched in my hand, waiting for Alex to come down the stairs, I questioned what the hell I was thinking.

  “Let’s go. I’m leaving. Brianna, come on.”

  Alex jumped down and over the last four stairs, landing at my feet. “I’m ready, let’s go.”

  I rolled my eyes and resisted the urge to slap the back of his head.

  “She has to make sure she looks good for Adam.”

  “Do not!”

  “Do too.”

  “You guys, please. Shut up. Adam Hansen?”

  “Yes.”

  “His parents are good people. He’s a good kid, but-”

  “I know, Ryan. No dating until we’re sixteen.”

  “Yeah, kid. That is exactly what I was going to say.” I smiled at Brianna and tuned them out while they argued about which one of them was going to sit in the front seat. I had to have a fucking quarter everywhere we went because they couldn’t agree on anything. Ever.

  We finally got to the tavern. Alex won the coin toss and he and Brianna jumped out of the truck the second I shifted into park.

  “What’s the rush?” I yelled after them. “Get us a booth!”

  I doubt they even heard me. The place was packed as usual on family night. For about the fifteenth time that I day, I wished my parents hadn’t got killed in a car accident. They should be the ones who were here taking Bri and Alex out to dinner, asking why Alex got a ‘D’ on his math test and telling Brianna that she was too young for boys.

  Not me.

  I suck at this shit. I’m not even sure where to begin about Brianna. Teenage girl. Boys. Puberty. Ugh. I’d given her twenty dollars when she was eleven and made her go into the drugstore and buy “women’s supplies” for that dreadful day when THAT would happen. It had been a little premature, she’d been almost thirteen by the time that had rolled around when I had not-so-nicely informed her that she needed to make sure she had her supplies every month – not me. From then on, I have abided by the don’t ask, don’t tell policy, turning a blind eye when she would casually throw them into our shopping cart.

  I opened the glass door to the tavern and the smell of fried catfish hit me instantly causing my stomach to growl. Tonight’s special. Pulling off my baseball cap, I glanced around the throngs of people trying to find the twins. I said my hellos to a few people I knew as I made my way to the back. Pop music blared from the speakers and most of the middle school kids were huddled in the back around the few video games the tavern supplied, including Bri and Alex. Brianna caught my eye and motioned toward the booth they’d claimed by throwing their stuff into the seats. Got it.

  That’s when I spotted her. My feet slowed and my heart slammed into my chest as I drank in her features. Her light brown hair fell in waves around one side of her face showcasing her exposed shoulder on the other side. She had tied it with a purple flower cut from the same color of fabric as her top. Why did she have to be so fucking beautiful? Was I the only one in this town whose skin she got under? In a good way.

  She hadn’t noticed me yet and I glanced around the restaurant confirming that I was in fact, the only person staring at her. She sat alone, her ever-present notebook sitting open on the table next to her glass of beer. A reporter was never off duty I supposed. My heart felt slightly heavy at the fact she was sitting by herself with no one giving her so much as a second thought. Unable to stop myself, all reasoning of why I shouldn’t be seen with her in public flew out of my mind as I passed our booth and came to a stop at hers.

  She glanced up at me then, her wicked brown eyes widening in surprise and I couldn’t help but smile.

  “Working?” I asked.

  “Waiting for the waitress to take my order.”

  “Alone?” God. Why was I questioning the obvious? Could I be any denser?

  “I wasn’t. My co-worker was meeting me here, but her son’s father had to run out so she went to pick him up.”

  “Mind if I sit down with you?”

  She glanced up and around the tavern then and I followed her gaze. Not a soul was paying any attention to us. A few women who were always trying to snag my attention, but no one that counted. Except for Alex. He furrowed his eyebrows at me and cocked his head. He was questioning what I was doing and I turned my neck silently conveying it was nothing.

  She straightened her back, “If you’d like but that goes against your whole-”

  “The more important question is would you like me to? I don’t want to ruin your dinner.”

  “I haven’t ordered yet, but I can assure you, you aren’t going to ruin it.” She glances around once more before turning to me, “You already made it clear what it would do to your reputation if you hung out with me. You don’t have to do this. Sitting with me because I’m alone or because you feel sorry for me. I’m used to it.”

  Her bare shoulder lifts in a slight shrug as she says those last words so matter of fact, I don’t believe her. Well, I believed that she was used to being alone, but not for one second did I believe being alone was something she didn’t mind. I was born in Lone Star, grew up here my entire life and suddenly, I felt ashamed for all of the people who couldn’t forgive and forget. I realized too, in that moment that I was the biggest hypocrite of them all. Wanting her so badly I could almost taste her and yet not enough to jeopardize people’s opinions of me and the kids. Not enough to take a chance.

  “I’m sure I’ll hear about it later. But I assure you, I want to. I find you intriguing.” Even if I’m not man enough to admit it to anyone else.

  “Is that so?” she raised her eyebrows and I suspected she couldn’t help the glinty-come-hither look in her eyes. “Not many girls you run into in darkened hallways, darkened empty streets?”

  I laughed, “You’re the one and only. I have Brianna and Alex with me, how do you feel about us eating dinner together? Strictly as friends, of course. I don’t think any harm could come of that. A city council member and a journalist.”


  Her eyes dimmed, “Of course. I’m not so sure that’s a good idea though.” She pointed at me, “Your words. Not mine.”

  Why were women so fucking exasperating? This one in particular. Leave it to her to throw my words back into my face. She was intriguing and straightforward and truthfully, I found that I enjoyed it. The last female I was with had been flighty, superficial and not much of a conversationalist. Which was completely fine because she was fully capable of getting it on and that was all I was interested in. Somehow in the past five years though, getting it on with anyone was nothing like it used to be. Perhaps becoming a “parent” changed that.

  Not to say I was considering what Miranda and I had a relationship of any means. Finger-fucking a woman inside a stranger’s office didn’t constitute a relationship. At least in my mind. Who knows what the opposite gender thought. She stared at me, her bottom lip jutted out, her eyebrows high on her forehead and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

  “Miranda, Miranda. You continue to surprise me.”

  The waitress came by and offered me water which I took and asked for two waters for the kids and a beer for me. Alex came up then, his hand stretched out to Miranda, “I’m Alex John.”

  Surprised by his manners, she took his hand into hers, “Well, hello Alex, I’m Miranda. It’s so nice to meet you!”

  Alex turned to me then, “I want the meatballs. Do you have any ones? I forgot my wallet. I’ll pay you back at home.”

  I’d like to wring his neck. Alex always forgot his wallet and he never paid me back. I reached in my back pocket and gave him the three ones I had. “It’s all I have. Ask Brianna what she wants will you? The waitress wants to get our order.”

  “Thanks. Sure.”

  Alex walks off leaving Miranda and me alone once again. I take my time studying her features. The light splatter of freckles across the bridge of her nose. The pink flush in her cheek, which I’ve noticed seem to only get darker when she is flustered. Or turned on. And of course, her fuck-me lips. Soft and supple, I knew from memory, hinting and teasing me in my sleep of all the wild and wanton things they would do to me. I’ve always noticed Miranda Phillips, but I’d never, ever done anything as crazy as I had the night of that wedding. As I sit across from her, I remind myself why she is a bad idea, why sitting with her is a bad idea. A civil war was going on inside my head. The left: why she was such a bad idea. The right: Why she was such a great idea. I couldn’t make sense of it. How could something so good be so bad?

  Brianna and Alex were my life. My parents’ farm was my life. I barely got by, making ends meet by paying the note on the farm from which they owed before they died. The holder of the note was a local lady in town, mid-fifties and sweet-as-pie. I was able to farm the section of land and pay on the note each month but, fuck, farm life was hard. It wasn’t easy and I didn’t love it. Never had. There were acres to be plowed, seeds to be planted and harvested, cattle to feed and sell, plus it seemed like there was always something that went wrong.

  Last week I’d had to have Tim from Old Man Hank’s fix the baler I used to bale hay. It wasn’t brand-new or in the best of shape but it got the job done. Yesterday morning when I went to get the mail, I’d seen tire tracks where someone’d run off the road and into my fence, knocking a section of it down. The asshole hadn’t had the decency to let me know. Luckily, I’d had the cattle out to pasture or they’d have gotten out.

  As it was, I struggled on a single income. Trying to do right by my dead folks and by the twins. I worried about paying the note but so far, five years in, I’d managed to scrape by. As Miranda sucked water through her straw, her lips puckered, her cheeks sallow, I knew damn well that I would fuck her. Just like she wanted. Like she’d practically begged. My cock was hard thinking about all the ways I’d fuck her, all the ways I’d make her scream my name as I pounded into her wet, pink flesh. I wondered how well she’d do with my cock in her mouth, down her throat, swallowing all of my come.

  She tilted her head up and met my eyes. Her wet tongue swiped her bottom lip in a deliberate move. Man, she was trouble. I swallowed wanting to take her into my truck and feel her wet heat as she sat on my face.

  “You know, you continue to look at me like you’d like nothing better than to hop in bed with me. Your eyes say one thing while your mouth says a whole lot of something else.”

  Before I can answer we’re interrupted by Brianna, “I want the catfish, Ryan. I always get the catfish.”

  She walks off quicker than I expect and then the waitress was there taking our orders. Everyone orders the catfish except Alex. Once the waitress has gone, I quickly get back to the subject at hand.

  “Let’s get back to what we were just discussing before we got interrupted.”

  She glances hungrily at my hands, which are folded on the table in front of me, “Yeah, let’s get back to the topic at hand. You know you want me,” she whispers so softly I find myself moving in my seat to hear her better.

  “How could I not? Your pussy drips for me.”

  “It’s dripping for you right now, Ryan.”

  “I bet it is. Would you want me to lick your juices, Miranda? Kiss and suck on your clit until you come all over my face?”

  Her cheeks flush the crimson I’d begun to anticipate and she merely nods her head.

  “Let’s make a deal.”

  “What kind of deal?”

  “You and me. One night. But in return, I would like you to do some research for me.”

  “What kind of research?”

  “The kind you’re good at. I was sent an offer from some corporation to buy my water rights. I want to know who it is – the people who own the business. Where they are from and what connection they have to Lone Star. I want to know why the hell they want my water.”

  Chapter Seven

  Miranda

  Oh boy, sit on his face? Orgasm all over his mouth? I could hardly believe he’d just said these things to me inside the tavern, crowded and noisy such as it was. I must look like a wild woman that was ready to hop over the table and do exactly as he’d just asked. I wanted to suggest we high-tail it out of there and head to his truck. He was giving in to what I wanted and it thrilled me. I had been fantasizing about all of the ways I’d get him in my bed or wherever really – how hard it was going to be to convince him and he’d handed me an invitation. I’d take him anywhere. I wasn’t picky when it came to him.

  Our food came and the twins returned not allowing me the opportunity to answer him. But I could tell by the smug look in his eyes that he knew he had me. I repeated over and over that he was simply enjoying my company because he wanted sex and wanted me to do some investigating. But the small thrill of excitement I kept experiencing wouldn’t stop reminding me how long it’d been, if ever, that I got to be a part of something. Someone’s family. Even if it was for a quick hour inside this crummy tavern. He was great with his siblings and I enjoyed watching them, interacting with them…well, as much as I could with Brianna. She was too quiet. But Alex was talkative and funny, resembling his older brother’s looks and attitude almost to a T.

  Brianna was not as friendly or forthcoming. Probably because she was a girl, wondering what I was possibly doing with her older brother, wondering what this meant and if I was going to become her new step-mom/sister-in-law. I didn’t blame her. We women were hard to please and when we thought another woman was encroaching on our territory, our hackles went up. Luckily for me, my job was to squeeze information out of people even when they didn’t want to talk to me. She would come around.

  I laughed at the thought that I was already intertwining myself into their lives and all he’d confirmed so far was that he was willing to fuck me as long as I provided him with some information. Whatever excuse he needed to allow himself to sleep with me, was fine by me. He’d do it once for this agreement. But he’d damn well do it again on his own free will.

  Once he realized how good we were together.

  “What’s your favorite subject,
Brianna?” I had to get my mind out of the gutter. With Ryan sitting across from me and me trying desperately not to play footsies with him, I had to think of other things. His jeans kept brushing the outside of my leg and it was almost too much to ignore the desire to spread my legs and invite him underneath the table to finish what he’d suggested moments ago.

  “It’s English.”

  “That’s great! Those were all of my favorite types of classes, too. Do you like the writing or the reading parts?”

  She fiddled with her straw before she answered, “I like both. But writing is my favorite.”

  “Wait until you get into high school and you can take Creative Writing. You will enjoy it.”

  Brianna and Alex started getting into a conversation about which one of them was the better student and I found Ryan’s attention back on me.

  He raised his sexy eyebrows, “Well, what do you think of my offer?” His grin had me melting in my seat. If he could feel my panties right now he’d know what I thought of his offer. So I nodded in agreement because holy hell! What else could I do?

  “Good choice, Miranda.”

  “You’ll have to contact me in the next day or so, that way I can collect more information from you and we can nail down the details.”

  I swallowed the last of my beer, reached into my purse and pulled out enough to cover dinner for the four of us, “Next time, it’s on you.”

  Not waiting for his protest of me buying their meal, I stood up, hooked my purse on my arm and smiled at his brother and sister as I left the tavern, fighting with all my will not to look back. My heartbeat quickened with every thought of Ryan: his suggestions, the lust in his eyes and especially what he looked like in his birthday suit!

  That night at home, I did what I do best. I opened a brand new notebook and picked out my favorite set of colored pens. I scribbled in Ryan John as the headline and okay, I doodled a little, making a heart, a star and was tempted to write my name and his last name. But I refrained. I did like the way it sounded in my head though. Miranda John. Seriously perfect.