by Maisey Yates
But that guy was.
“Excuse me,” Jack said, grabbing the sodas and moving away from the bar.
He stalked across the room, his eyes on Kate and the cowboy. And then he stopped, the two frosty glasses sweaty in his hands. He had no clue what the hell he was doing. About to bust in on Kate flirting with some guy... Chad something, if Jack remembered right. Your standard frat bro with spurs.
Not the kind of guy he would recommend she talk to. But she could if she wanted to, and he had no say in it.
She was right. He wasn’t her older brother.
A fact he was very aware of right then.
So instead he paused at an empty table for two and set the drinks down, flicking an occasional glance over to Kate. But he didn’t sit. Not until he got a read on the situation.
She looked over the guy’s shoulder and locked eyes with him, just for a moment, and then her expression turned defiant. She flipped her hair over her shoulder, batting her eyelashes in a near-cartoonish manner.
Then she arched her back, thrusting her breasts outward, and Jack about choked on his Coke. She was... Well, she was being pretty obvious but Jack wasn’t sure she knew what the hell game she was playing.
She isn’t a kid.
No, she wasn’t, but she flirted like a fifteen-year-old who’d only ever seen it done in bad teen movies. Why hadn’t anyone ever...talked to her about this shit?
She was over there throwing herself to the wolves. She was playing the game, and she had no idea what the prize was.
He thought back to his rodeo days. To the way he and the other guys had been with women. Love ’em and leave ’em...fast. But those women had known just what they were asking for and Kate so clearly didn’t.
Watching her with this guy, who couldn’t touch the skill the guys on the circuit had, Jack had a sudden vision of her surrounded by the type of guy he knew waited for her in the pros...
Yeah, lamb to the slaughter was what came to mind.
She was just so damned naive.
She tilted her head to the side, putting her hand on the guy’s shoulder, laughing loudly enough for him to hear her.
Then the cowboy leaned in and said something, and Kate’s face flushed scarlet, her posture going rigid against the wall. She was saying something back and then the guy leaned in closer.
Jack took a couple of steps closer to the couple—so he could tell Kate her ice was going to melt and make her Coke taste like sadness, not for any other reason—and it put him in earshot of the conversation.
“If you want to get out of here,” Chad was saying, “we can get in my truck and I’ll take you for a real ride. Especially if you’re into giving a little head.”
And in a flash Jack saw Kate walking out of the bar. Getting into that truck. Undoing that asshole’s belt and lowering her head to...
“Okay. Enough.” Jack took two long strides forward, his blood pounding hot and hard. It was time to intervene.
* * *
KATE FELT A SHIFT in the air, and it was welcome. Her conversation with Chad had started out well enough, and she could tell it had annoyed Jack. Which was sort of the idea after the shit he had pulled earlier.
Buying her alcohol to make her sweet, pressing her up against the bar, looking at her like she was a fucking sunrise or something. Setting off a burst of heat low in her stomach that made it impossible to pretend anymore that she didn’t know what was happening.
Attraction. That was why his presence made her feel itchy. Made her feel restless and hot, like a spark ready to ignite.
It was the worst. It was literally the worst. Worse than knocking over a barrel at a key moment, worse than a fresh cow patty between your toes and even worse than trying to eat a salad without ranch dressing.
Worst. Worst. Worst.
And so she had decided to try to parlay that attraction into an interaction with Chad. Because if she was that hard up for a little male attention, Chad was certainly a better bet. Also, the idea of being into Chad didn’t fill her with terror and a whole lot of “dear God no.”
But that was before he leaned in and told her just what he’d like to go in the back parking lot and do with her.
And she had no idea if she was supposed to want to, if she was supposed to be flattered, or if she was supposed to punch him in the face. She was just too shocked to process it. Fascinated, really. That somehow a little conversation and back arching had turned into...that.
But she didn’t have any time to process it, because a deep voice broke the interaction between her and Chad and broke into her muddled thoughts. “Is there a problem here?”
It was Jack. And she wondered then if him moving closer was the shift she had felt. Disturbing. On so many levels.
“I don’t think there’s a problem here,” Chad said, tugging his hat down, when only a few minutes earlier he had pushed it back. “Kate?”
“No,” Kate said, “no problem.” She was feeling completely at sea and in over her head, but she wouldn’t admit that, not to Jack. She would fight her own damn battle. If she was even going to fight it. Maybe she would go in the back parking lot with Chad and undo his belt in his truck as he had suggested.
The thought did not fill her with arousal. In fact, it kind of made her feel sick. So she supposed she wouldn’t be doing that. But Jack didn’t have to know that.
“You look uncomfortable, Kate, and from where I was sitting, it looked like this bonehead was blocking your exit.”
Chad turned to face Jack, pushing his hat back again. That was one annoying nervous habit. “How is it your business, Monaghan?”
Jack chuckled and crossed his arms over his broad chest, the muscles in his forearms shifting, and in spite of herself, Kate felt her heart rate pick up a little bit.
“It’s my business because anyone who’s bothering Kate has to deal with me.”
“Oh, really?” Kate all but exploded. “Anyone bothering me has to deal with me, Monaghan. End of discussion.” And now she was just pissed. She turned her focus back to Chad. “And you. I wouldn’t go out back with you and do...that...even if you bought me a whole dinner at The Crab Shanty.”
“Oh, come on, Kate. You are obviously asking for it,” Chad said, his tone dripping with disdain now. “Shoving your tits in my face like that.”
And suddenly, Chad was being pulled backward, then spun around and slammed up against the wall. Jack was gripping the collar of his shirt, his forearm pressed hard against the other man’s collarbone. “If you’re in the mood to get your jaw broken tonight, then keep talking,” Jack said, his voice a growl. “Otherwise I’d walk away.”
A hush had fallen over the bar, all eyes turned to Jack and Chad.
And on her, too. She had lost control of the situation, and she didn’t like it at all.
“Jack, don’t,” Kate said.
“Are you actually defending this dickhead?” Jack was incredulous.
“No. But I don’t need your help to say no. Let go.”
Jack released his hold slowly, but there was still murder glittering in his blue eyes. “Whatever you want, Katie.”
And then Chad lunged at Jack. It was a mistake. Before Kate could shout a warning, Jack was in motion. His fist connected with Chad’s jaw, the sound rising over the lap steel that was filtering into the room from the jukebox.
“What’d I tell you, asshole?” Jack looked down at Chad, his expression thunderous. “I would’ve let you off because she asked. But since you made it about you and me... Hopefully, you don’t have to get that wired shut. Drinking out of a straw for six weeks would really suck.”
Jack stepped over Chad’s crumpled form and walked out of the bar. Kate looked around the room. The only people who were still watching were members of the rodeo club. Everyone else had gone back to their darts a
nd their drinks. A punch-up in Ace’s wasn’t the rarest of events. But seeing as Jack had just punched out one of their own, the club was still interested.
“Well, he was being an ass,” Kate said, turning and following the same path Jack had just taken out of the bar.
It was downright chilly out now, the fog rolling in off the ocean leaving a cool dampness in the air. She could hear the waves crashing not too far away but couldn’t see them because of the clouds.
The moon was a white blur of light mostly swallowed up by the thick gray mist. She could see only the faint outline of Jack, walking to his truck, thanks to the security light at the far end of the parking lot.
“Are you just gonna leave me here?” she shouted, breaking into a jog and going after him.
“I figured you could get a ride,” he ground out.
“I did not need you to come over there and intervene.” She stopped in front of him, and he turned around to face her.
She could only just make out the strong lines of his face, could barely see the way his brows were locked together, his expression still enraged. “It looked like you did. Don’t be such a stubborn child all the time. If Connor or Eli had been here, they would’ve done the same thing.”
“You aren’t Connor and Eli,” she bit out.
“No,” he said. “But I’m something. And I’m not going to apologize for being mad about a guy talking to you that way.”
“Maybe I wanted him to talk to me that way.” She hadn’t.
“Then raise your standards.”
“As high as yours?” she asked.
“At least I know what I’m doing. You’re like a...lamb being led to the slaughter.”
She laughed, an outright guffaw, in spite of the fact that she found very little about this funny. She was attracted to Jack, she had just caused a major scene in Ace’s, and now this. “Does anything about me look adorable and woolly? I didn’t think so. I’m like a...a bobcat. I’m not a lamb.”
“I thought you were a badger.”
“That is beside the point. Maybe I’m a badger-cat. Anyway, the point is I don’t need you to take care of me.”
“Maybe not. But I’m not going to stand there while he says things like that to you.”
“Why not? Why do you care?”
Her words hung in the silence, resting on the mist. And she wished they would just go away, because they felt exposing. And he was looking at her, making her heart beat faster, making her stomach seize up. Now that she knew, it didn’t seem so irritating. It seemed like something else entirely.
Her shower the other day, the way her skin had felt so sensitive, the way Jack had flashed through her mind, rose up to the top of her thoughts. She nearly choked on her embarrassment then and there.
But she didn’t say anything. She didn’t back down.
“Because I could tell he was asking for things you weren’t ready for,” he said, his voice muted now.
“You don’t know what I’m ready for.” She forced the words out, her throat scratchy and dry.
He took a deep breath, lifting his head, his expression concealed by shadow. “I guess not. But I’m going to go ahead and assume based on knowing you and the way you were flirting that you don’t have a whole lot of experience.”
Heat flooded her face. “I don’t really want to talk about this with you.”
“Why not? As we have established,” he said, his voice lowering slightly, “I am not your brother.”
A shiver ran down her spine and settled in her stomach, leaving it feeling jittery and uncomfortable. “Right. That’s been well established.”
He looked pained. “I mean, look, you could maybe...talk to Sadie about this? Or Liss?”
“I’m not looking for advice,” she said. “Anyway, Liss feels like crap, Sadie’s busy, and they would both rat me out to my brothers, who would... It doesn’t bear thinking about.”
“Right.”
“And I’m good at flirting, Jack.”
“You’re not.”
“Yes, I am. I could have closed the deal with him. All I had to do was shove my boobs in his face and he was good to go. It’s not like it’s hard. I mean, I didn’t really expect for him to say...all that. But it’s not like I repelled him.”
“That’s not how you flirt. That is how you get...not a date. You get something else. And really, what you did had less to do with it than...just the guy you were talking to. You have to understand some guys are just after one thing. You have no idea what you’re doing.”
The air felt thick between them, and she couldn’t blame it on the fog. It was just like earlier, when he dropped her at the bar. When she reached out and grabbed his chin, his stubble rough beneath her skin, so undeniably masculine, so undeniably something she’d never felt before.
Damn him, he was right about her experience. Or lack of it.
She’d never even been kissed. Which put Chad’s offer firmly in the no column. But...what would it be like to kiss Jack? To feel his lips, warm and firm, and that stubble, all rough and...
“Maybe I’m the one who’s wrong,” he said. “Did you want to leave with him?”
Jack’s question pulled her out of her fantasy. And she was relieved. “No.” She was certain about that.
“So obviously, shoving your... Doing the... That isn’t what you want to be doing.”
Jack tongue-tied was almost funny enough to make the conversation less horrifying. Almost. “And you’re an expert?”
“More than you. Look, what is it you want? The way you were acting is definitely going to work for one thing. But if your end goal is a date, you might want to approach it in another way.”
“If I want a date?” she asked, blinking slowly, not exactly sure how they wound up in this conversation.
“Yes, a date. And not like...an invitation to go down on a guy in his truck.”
Her face burned. “It’s not my fault he said that stuff.”
“I know,” he said. “I’m not blaming you. But you know...if you set a trap for a horny dillweed, that’s all you’ll catch. And there’s a lot of those in the circuit. If you intend to go pro, you’re going to be exposed to a lot of it.”
She let out an incredulous sound. “Are you...are you actually offering to help me hook up?”
“No. I’m not offering to help with that. But obviously, you could use a little bit of help figuring out how to deal with this kind of thing. Teaching you how to use...different bait.”
“Instead of horny-dillweed bait?”
“Yes,” he said. “I can help you.”
“I’m twenty-three,” she said.
“I know. And you’re fast and strong and smart. You’re the best damn barrel racer around, whatever you think about yourself. You’re ready to go pro and take the circuit by storm. You’re a hard worker and a good sister.”
“So what exactly are you...offering?”
“If you’re going to flirt, you should flirt with me.”
CHAPTER FIVE
JACK WASN’T QUITE SURE what devil was possessing him at the moment. The same devil that had possessed him when he crossed the room and intervened in Kate’s interaction with Chad. Something hot and reckless, which he was used to but not in connection with his best friends’ little sister.
You’re just looking out for her.
True. It might not be God’s work, but it was Eli and Connor’s work. He was helping.
Leading her not into temptation, and away from idiots who only wanted to get into her pants.
“Chad didn’t hit you, did he, Jack?” Kate asked, her tone suddenly filled with concern.
“No. Why?”
“Because you’re talking like someone who has a head injury.”
“Lesson one,” he said,
his tone firm. “Don’t insult the guy you want to hook up with.”
Kate took a step back, her expression hidden from him by the dim evening light. “I don’t want to hook up with you.”
“Obviously.” He felt like a moron for phrasing it that way. Things had gotten weird in the past hour and this wasn’t helping. “I didn’t mean that. I only meant that I can teach you how to talk to men.”
“I was raised by men,” Kate said, holding her hands wide. “I know how to talk to men. I know about horses, sports and even some of the finer points of tractor mechanics. I even like to compare scars.”
Jack’s throat clamped down hard on itself at the image of Kate shuffling clothing around to show off the various scars she no doubt had on her body.
Want to compare scars, baby?
Yeah, that might actually work as a pickup line. The other stuff, not so much.
“You know how to talk like a man, Kate. That’s different than knowing how to talk to men. And it’s also different than talking to them the same way you would your brothers but adding the...back arching you were doing.”
“How?” she asked, sounding totally mystified.
“It just is. I mean, I don’t talk to women the way I talk to Connor and Eli.”
“You pretty much talk to me the way you talk to Connor and Eli. Except condescending.”
Jack let out a heavy sigh. “Get in the truck.”
“See? You’re all ordery.”
“Kate,” he said, through clenched teeth, “get in the truck.”
This time something in his tone spurred her to obey and she got in the passenger side of his black F-150. He breathed into his nose and then let a slow breath out through his mouth. He was insane.
He shook his head as he got into the truck, slammed the door behind him and started the engine before Kate could say anything.
He put the vehicle in Reverse and drove out of the parking lot, gripping the steering wheel tight, tension creeping up his shoulders.