Quarter Miles

by Devney Perry

  Five years, and in that time, he’d never once disappeared to a woman’s bed. Hell, he hadn’t even bothered to tell me he had a girlfriend.

  A trip to Oregon and back was just what I needed to erase the sting of his silence.

  “Be careful,” Easton said, giving me a hug goodbye.

  “I will.” I stepped to the door, ready to get in, when the sound of a diesel engine caught my ear. My gaze flicked to the road as a truck appeared.

  Shit. That was Cash’s truck.

  Call it petty, but I’d hoped to give him a dose of his own by keeping this trip of mine a secret.

  The urge to hop in the Cadillac tempted me toward the driver’s seat. But damn my feet, they stayed rooted in place, waiting as he eased into the empty space beside my truck in the driveway.

  Had Gemma been waiting for him? Was that why she’d been looking down the road?

  No. No way. This trip was her idea. She’d been at dinner on Friday night when Cash had arrived with Dany. Gemma knew how hard it had been for me to see him with another woman. This trip had been her idea. She’d suggested I take the Cadillac, get some distance and give my heart a chance to heal.

  Though she didn’t look surprised as he shut off his truck and stepped out. No, she looked . . . guilty.

  Cash sauntered over wearing the same clothes he’d had on Friday night.

  Nice. That was exactly what I needed—a reminder that he’d been sleeping somewhere other than his own damn bed.

  “Hey.” His voice was gravelly and rough, like he’d just woken up.

  It was the voice that made my knees weak every morning when he shuffled into the kitchen in search of coffee. His dark hair would be sticking out in all directions. He’d be wearing only a low-slung pair of pajama pants, his broad, naked chest and washboard abs on full display.

  Was that where things had gone wrong? Maybe I shouldn’t have moved in with Cash. Any hot-blooded woman would fall for a sexy cowboy with a strong, stubbled jaw and a sleepy, devilish smile.

  Convincing myself that living together was the problem might have been plausible if this crush of mine hadn’t started years before we’d ever shared a roof.

  My feelings for Cash had grown like the evergreens, ring by ring until the trunk was so massive I couldn’t wrap my arms around it.

  Still, when I got back, I was moving out. If I managed to get my feelings under control, great. Even then, I didn’t want to hear Cash’s bedsprings squeak when he let Dany sleep over.

  I’d never liked that girl. She was too perfect, with her satin blond hair and perpetual smile.

  Dany. Ugh. My lip curled.

  “What?” he asked, stopping in front of me, his gaze on my scowl.

  “Nothing.” I waved it off.

  “How’d it go?” Easton asked Cash.

  Really? Couldn’t they do the play-by-play of Cash’s weekend spent screwing his girlfriend after I left?

  Cash shrugged. “Meh.”

  Meh? I guess Dany wasn’t so perfect after all. It cheered me up a smidge to know she was mediocre in bed.

  “Did you see the lion?” Easton asked.

  Wait. What? “Lion? We have a lion?”

  Cash nodded. “Gemma said she saw a mountain lion at the expansion property.”

  “When?” My eyes bugged out. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Didn’t I?” She twirled a lock of her chocolate-brown hair. “Huh. I thought I did. Pregnancy brain is no joke.”

  I narrowed my stare but she refused to make eye contact.

  “We need to change activities,” I said, instantly switching to crisis management mode. “We can’t have guests out hiking if there is a lion in the area. Should we call that guy? What was his name? The one with the hound dogs?” My vacation had just taken a hiatus, but I couldn’t leave guests at risk. “I’ll go to the office and call the game warden.”

  “Hold up.” Easton raised his hand, stopping me before I could race to my truck, and looked to Cash. “Did you see any signs?”

  He shook his head. “Not a sign. I hiked all over, looking for paw prints or scat. Didn’t see a thing.”

  “When?” I asked.

  “Where do you think I’ve been for the past two nights?”

  My heart stopped. He hadn’t been with Dany.

  “Glad you missed me at home. Did you watch our Netflix show?”

  Yes, I had watched the show we’d been binging, but I hadn’t felt guilty about it until now. “Uh . . .”

  “I knew it.” He frowned. “Watching our show without me, eating my popcorn while I was sleeping in the back of my goddamn truck, trying to find this mysterious lion.”

  He hadn’t been with Dany. My spirits soared like a kite on the wind, flying into the open blue sky. But before I got carried away, I tugged them back in. Cash still had a girlfriend. They hadn’t had a tryst this weekend, but it was only a matter of time. He had a girlfriend. And I was only his best friend.

  “Gem, are you sure you saw a lion?” Cash asked.

  She lifted a shoulder. “I thought so. It was big but pretty far away. Maybe it was a coyote.”

  A coyote. A toddler could tell the difference between a mountain lion and a coyote even at a distance. What was she up to?

  I planted my hands on my hips and willed Gemma to look at me. She was six inches taller than my five one and she kept her gaze carefully lifted above my head. With Easton and Cash both standing inches above six feet, I was by far the smallest in the group.

  The runt.

  I hated being short. I squared my shoulders and lengthened my spine, demanding attention. Maybe I was short in stature but that didn’t mean I didn’t have my own force. “What’s going on, Gemma?”

  “What?” She feigned innocence. “I thought I saw a mountain lion.”

  Easton dropped his gaze to his boots, shuffling and kicking at a rock on the gravel driveway. That asshole had never been a good liar.

  Regardless of their motives for this lion stunt, at the moment, I could hug them both. Cash and Dany were an inevitability that I’d have to deal with. But for today, I’d get to leave for my trip and not have mental images of them together clouding my windshield.

  Gemma finally met my gaze and gave me a small smile.

  I mouthed, “Thank you.”

  She winked.

  “Are you guys taking the Cadillac out today?” Cash asked Easton, covering a yawn with his fist.

  I shook my head, willing Gemma to keep her mouth shut. She did. It was Easton who I should have kicked in the knee.

  “Actually, Katherine’s taking a vacation,” he said.

  “What?” Cash asked at the same time I shot Easton a glare.

  So much for disappearing. Part of the reason I hadn’t wanted to tell Cash about this was to punish him. The other part was because he wasn’t the only overprotective Greer in the mix.

  “Where are you going? Why? When?” Cash asked, crowding me with that imposing body. It was a classic Greer intimidation tactic and once upon a time, it would have worked. But I’d become immune to the way they hovered and glowered to get their way.

  I was a woman in charge. After all, I’d been taking notes from Carol for years.

  I poked a finger in his chest, sending him back a step, and held up my chin. “Today. And I’m not sure exactly where I’m going yet.”

  “Huh?” Gemma asked at the same time Easton said, “I thought you were going to Oregon.”

  “Yes, eventually I’ll get to Oregon. But Carol stopped by this morning and gave me an idea. So I’m going to explore before I go see Aria. I’m going to flip a coin and see where it takes me.”

  Easton shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. “That’s dangerous.”

  “But you’re fine with me driving to Oregon? It’s the same trip with a few more turns along the way.”

  “It’s different.”

  “No, it’s not.” I was still going on a trip. Alone.

  “Well, I love it,” Gemma declar
ed.

  “Didn’t Grandma do that with her dad once?” Cash rubbed the beard he’d grown over the past month.

  “Yes, she did.”

  He hummed, his eyes darting to Easton and Gemma’s house. “Mind if I use your bathroom?”

  “Go for it.” Easton waved him inside.

  Cash squeezed my shoulder as he walked past. “Don’t leave yet.”

  “Okay.” I’d expected some sort of objection to this trip, but maybe he’d hug me goodbye and that would be the end of it. That was a good thing, right? If Cash wasn’t worrying about me, thinking about me, then I could go and attempt to not think about him.

  “I don’t think this is a good idea,” Easton said.

  “I think it’s great.” Gemma jabbed her elbow into his ribs, hissing, “Be supportive.”

  Easton’s shoulders fell. “Drive careful.”

  “I will.” I gave him one last hug, then did the same with Gemma.

  Easton held the driver’s side door open as I slid behind the Cadillac’s smooth, white steering wheel.

  The matching leather seat wrapped me in a buttery hug as I inched it forward so my feet would touch the pedals. The interior was impeccable and smelled like polish and pine—Easton’s doing, no doubt. When I turned the key, the engine purred. The moment the temperature was above seventy, I was lowering the convertible top and driving with the wind in my sable hair.

  This Cadillac was a dream. Londyn had done the restoration right, maintaining the car’s classic appearance while enriching it with modern touches. It was hard to believe this was the same car that had been parked beside Gemma’s and my tent. The rust and wear were gone. The doors closed without squeaks. The windows were uncracked.

  It was a masterpiece.

  Easton pushed the door closed, shutting me inside.

  I rolled down the window and let my palms rest on the wheel, excitement bubbling through my fingertips.

  “I love this quarter flip,” Gemma said, crouching as low as she could next to the window. “I wish I could go with you.”

  “Next time.” I smiled as Cash emerged through their front door. I did a double take as he jogged down the porch stairs.

  Why was he carrying a backpack?

  Cash clapped Easton on the shoulder before rounding the hood toward the passenger side. He flung the door open and bent in half, sliding into the seat.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  He answered by shutting his door and buckling his seat belt.

  “Cash,” I warned.

  “Hand over the quarter.” He held out his hand. “I’ll flip the coin.”

  Chapter Three

  Cash

  I needed a shower and a nap, in that order, but I doubted I’d get either.

  “Where are you going?” I asked as Katherine took a right on the highway. “I thought heads was left.”

  I had flipped heads, hadn’t I? I was nearly delirious after two sleepless nights in the backseat of my truck.

  Camping out had been fun in my teens and twenties, but damn it, I was thirty years old and wanted to sleep in a bed. The next time Gemma confused a mountain lion with a coyote or a grizzly bear with a Black Angus bull, I was making Easton track the animal.

  “We’re going home,” Kat said.

  “Mind if I hop in the shower before we take off?”

  “There’s no we.” She shook her head. “I’m dropping you off.”

  “Didn’t we just have this conversation?”

  Kat had tried to kick me out of the Cadillac but I hadn’t budged. We’d sat in Easton’s driveway long enough that both he and Gemma had given up observing the argument and had retreated inside. When Kat had finally reversed away from Easton’s place, I’d thought she’d consented. I should have known better.

  Once, I’d bought her a coffee mug that read, Though she be but little, she is fierce.

  “You’re not coming with me, Cash.”

  “You’re not going alone, Kat.”

  “Yes, I am.” Her nostrils flared and her face was turning this violent shade of red that meant soon she’d be spewing profanities and calling me every dirty name in her arsenal. But Kat could yell and rant and curse me up one side and down the other.

  There was no way I was letting her drive aimlessly around the country alone.

  It wasn’t safe. It wasn’t smart. And it sure as fuck wasn’t happening.

  “I don’t want you along,” she barked.

  “Tough shit, sweetheart. I’m coming.”

  “No, you’re not.” Her foot jammed the accelerator, jolting me into the seat. “Jackass.”

  The names would get more creative, but unless she developed superhuman strength in the next five minutes, there was no way she’d be able to haul me out of this car.

  I’d stolen some clothes from Easton’s closet—thankfully we were the same size—and some toiletries from their guest bathroom. After Gemma had moved in with him, she’d stocked the place with the essentials. I’d taken the liberty of acquiring a toothbrush, toothpaste and bottle of shampoo.

  “You’re a dickhead,” Kat muttered.

  “I know.” I relaxed deeper into the seat and closed my eyes. The Cadillac was surprisingly comfortable, and though it wasn’t as good as a bed, I’d survive. Twisting and turning, I shifted until my head was propped up between the seat and the door. “Give me a couple hours, then I’ll take the next shift to drive.”

  No response.

  I waited five breaths, then cracked an eyelid.

  Katherine’s mouth was pursed in a hard line and if she didn’t let up on the steering wheel, her fingers were going to make permanent indentations.

  “Hey.” I reached across the cab and brushed my knuckle over her elbow. “Don’t be mad.”

  She jerked her arm away. “Prick.”

  “I don’t want you taking this trip alone. Easton is right. It’s dangerous.” Too many things could go wrong. There were too many sick fucks in the world. “It’s for your own good.”

  Kat gave me a sneer that would eviscerate most men. “I’m not some hopeless waif who needs your protection.”

  “I know.” Katherine Gates was the strongest, toughest woman I’d ever met. That still didn’t mean I was sending her off into the unknown alone. “Then what if I just want a vacation too?”

  “Take a vacation.”

  “I am.” I grinned. “With you.”

  “What about work?”

  I scoffed. “Some of us are replaceable.”

  That got her attention. Some of the fire in her crystal-blue eyes faded. “That’s not true. What about the expansion?”

  My family was in the middle of expanding our operation to include a state-of-the-art equine breeding and training facility. It would be mine to run with Gemma. When Easton had announced his plans to expand the ranch, she’d invested as a partner.

  “Now’s the time to leave, before we get busy. Besides, if I’m not there working, Gemma might actually relax.” My soon-to-be sister-in-law wasn’t one to sit when other people were standing.

  Kat sighed. She knew I was right. “Jerk face.”

  I chuckled and sat up straighter. “Why don’t you want me to come along? Are you mad at me or something?”

  She’d been noticeably quiet on Friday night at dinner with the family and it wasn’t like her to exclude me from anything. It also wasn’t like her to arrange for a spontaneous trip without so much as mentioning it to me.

  “Kat?” I prompted.

  No answer.

  Okay, she was mad. “What? What did I do?”

  “Nothing,” she muttered.

  “Then let me come along. Mom and Dad will check on the house. Easton already knows I’m leaving, so he’ll rearrange the schedule to cover my shifts.”

  There were plenty of other guys on his payroll who’d be happy to lead the guided horseback tours and private lessons. I didn’t do many of those these days anyway with work ramping up at the training facility.

  �
�Please?” I begged.

  “What about Dany?” Kat asked. “Won’t she get the wrong idea?”

  “Nah.” I shifted in my seat, slumping down so far my knees jammed into the glove box. “We called it off on Friday.”

  The car jerked to the side.

  “Whoa.” I sat up and glanced behind us. “What was that?”

  “Uh . . . gopher.”

  She swerved to miss them. I swerved to kill. The pests would be running around from now until the end of summer, digging holes in our pastures for the cattle and horses to step in.

  The turnoff to our place approached and Katherine slowed the car, easing us off the highway. Damn it. She wasn’t making this easy.

  Well, she wasn’t the only stubborn one in the car. She could park at home for hours and I’d just take my nap until she realized, whether she liked it or not, I was going on this trip.

  She wasn’t the only one who craved a spontaneous vacation. These past few months had been exhausting. Planning at the training facility was going well and the construction crew was slated to break ground within the month.

  But working with family—my family in particular—was tough. Everyone had a different opinion.

  We need twenty stables. No, we need thirty.

  We should hire a separate staff. No, we should utilize the existing hands.

  Let’s only buy colts this first year. No, we should buy fillies.

  There were days when I held up my hands, said fuck it and disappeared to the arena to work with the horses.

  Ultimately, how we ran the facility was my decision. But I wanted to let my family feel comfortable expressing their point of view. I valued their experience and input, even when it was overwhelming.

  A vacation to let it breathe for a week or two sounded damn nice.

  I wasn’t sure how Easton did it with the ranch. No wonder he’d been so frustrated these past few years. If not for Gemma, he might have blown a fuse.

  But I didn’t have a beautiful woman to come home to at night. Well, except Kat. When I needed to vent, she’d always lend an ear. She’d find a way to make me laugh.

  Not that I wasn’t grateful for this new opportunity. The training facility had been Easton’s idea. He knew my talents with horses were wasted on guest excursions and routine ranch work. When this facility opened, if we could just get it running, it would be a dream.