Glancing down, I saw my belt was undone and my pants were unbuttoned. I couldn’t help but smile. I bet that was a shock for Miss Goody Two-Shoes.
“I’ve got to get out of here before he wakes up. The guy hates me, and if he sees me in his house, he’ll think I tried to seduce him or something. That’s the last thing I want him to think.”
Aw hell. I didn’t want Lincoln thinking I hated her.
“I have to pee, then I’ll try to sneak out of here. I’ll be home soon.”
I quickly ran back to the bed, attempting to lie exactly like I had been. The door to the bathroom slowly creaked open, and I could hear Lincoln making her way out of the room.
When the bedroom door clicked shut, I sat up in bed and scrubbed my hands down my face.
Why in the hell would I have asked her to stay with me last night?
I wasn’t going to deny being attracted to her. Who wouldn’t be? But asking her to stay? I must have been really drunk.
I crawled out of bed and had started for the bathroom when the bedroom door opened again.
I stopped instantly and turned. My breath caught in my throat when I looked at Lincoln standing there. Her cheeks were red, and she was chewing nervously on her bottom lip. I had to fight the urge to walk over to her and pull that lip out from her teeth.
“Um . . . so . . . I don’t know how much you remember about last night, but I was pretty much forced to bring you home, and I left my car at the bar. I . . . I don’t . . . I don’t have a way to get to my car.”
Bits and pieces of last night came to my mind but not a whole lot. “What do you mean, you were forced to bring me home?”
She shrugged. “Your brothers left. Ty said you could sleep in your truck, but Betty Jane said I had to drive you home, and she made me help you to your truck. And let me tell you, it was hard, ’cause you were drunk out of your mind.”
She smiled, but when I didn’t return it, the smile faded and she looked away.
“Why were you in my bed?”
The question was out of my mouth before I could stop it. I knew why she’d been in bed with me; I’d heard her telling Kaylee. But for some crazy reason, I wanted to hear her tell me why. A small part of me wanted her to tell me she’d wanted to be there. She’d wanted to stay with me after I had asked her to, as fucked up as that made me sound.
Her throat bobbed as she looked at the bed and then back to me. “It’s a little hard to explain.”
My brow quirked. “How about you explain it to me while I drive you back to your car.”
“O-okay.”
Shit. I hated how her voice sounded shaky. Why do I always talk down to her? And why is she letting me get away with it this morning?
That fiery personality from yesterday was gone. The woman standing before me seemed . . . defeated.
“I just need to hit the bathroom, grab some Tylenol, and then change.”
She nodded. “I’ll wait on your front porch.”
I wanted to tell her that she didn’t have to wait outside, that she could make some coffee if she wanted to, but I didn’t. I simply nodded and headed into the bathroom. Lincoln didn’t need to get comfortable in my house. Bad enough I wasn’t going to get that image of her in my arms out of my head anytime soon.
After quickly brushing my teeth and washing my face, I changed and slipped a baseball cap on my head, since my damn cowboy hat wasn’t anywhere in sight.
When I stepped out into the living room, I saw Lincoln sitting on the porch swing. Her eyes were closed, and she looked like she was lost to the morning. The peaceful look on her face made me envious. I longed for that sort of peace.
“What are you thinking?” I asked, making her jump.
“Crap! You scared me. I was enjoying the sounds of the morning.”
I folded my arms over my chest. The way her eyes dragged over my body said she was thinking less-than-pure thoughts, but she looked away.
Lincoln cleared her throat and started talking. “About last night . . . nothing happened. I went to leave, but you pulled me onto the bed and asked me to stay. I was going to wait until you fell asleep and then sneak out and just walk back to my house.”
“Walk? In the middle of the night? Lincoln, do you know how far of a walk that is?”
She shrugged. “I tried to stay awake, but I guess I fell asleep. I’m sorry. I meant to be gone by the time you woke up. I don’t make a habit of sleeping in strange men’s beds.”
“So, I’m a stranger?” I asked, a slight smirk on my face.
“You might as well be,” she replied.
Okay, that was deserved, but that hurts a bit.
“Are you ready to go get your car?”
She politely smiled. “If that’s okay. I’m sure you have things to do, so I was trying to think of anyone else I could call to take me. Kaylee obviously doesn’t have her car here, so I can’t call her.”
“It’s fine, and it won’t take long.”
With a nod, she stood. “I feel bad, pulling you away from Blayze, especially if you had plans with him today. Dirk said you’d be leaving for Billings in a few days.”
I balled my fists in reaction to the instant jealousy. “Dirk?” I asked, frowning. “You talked to Dirk?”
“Um, yeah. Last night at the bar. He was sitting at the table with all of us.”
Small bits and pieces of last night flashed through my memory. One of them was Dirk sitting next to Lincoln, deep in conversation with her.
“I’m not leaving for Billings until Friday. I don’t know when Dirk is leaving.”
Lincoln nodded. “Oh. Well, I hope you enjoy your time at home, then.”
She quickly turned and headed down the porch steps toward my truck. I’d seen the keys on the inside table, so I walked in and grabbed them.
I slipped into my truck and started it, and we headed down the dirt road. We sat in silence until I pulled into the parking lot of the Blue Moose. It was one of three bars in town, and the one where most of the locals went.
Lincoln opened the passenger door and glanced over to me. “Thank you for the ride.”
Before she could get out of the truck, I reached for her arm, stopping her. “Thank you for getting me home last night. I appreciate it. I don’t . . . I don’t normally drink like that. It was just a . . . bad day.”
Her smile seemed to make the inside of the truck brighter. “No worries. I’m just glad a deer didn’t run out in front of me last night on the way to your house. I’d have hated to wreck your truck, giving you another reason not to like me.” Her hand lifted, and she said “Bye, Brock” before I could even process what she’d just said.
The door shut, and I sat there for a few seconds before I got out of the truck. “I don’t hate you, Lincoln.”
Her keys were in her hand, and the sound of her car beeping and unlocking felt like her way of saying she didn’t want to talk to me. “It’s okay. I’m sorry I said that. I have a bad habit of not thinking before I talk.”
Her hand went to the handle, and she opened the door.
I pushed it shut.
When she glared up at me, I saw that feisty woman from yesterday appear.
“Excuse me, but you sure like to manhandle me, don’t you? I’m not one of the bulls you ride, Brock Shaw.”
I stepped closer, my heart hammering in my chest. “What did you and Dirk talk about last night?”
Her face constricted with a confused look. “What?”
“Did you dance with him?”
“N-no. He never even asked me to dance.”
That brought a smile to my face. It was already getting harder to ignore how much I was attracted to Lincoln, and knowing Dirk wasn’t gave me an odd sense of peace. Placing both of my hands on her car, I caged her against it. I swore her chest rose and fell at the same rate my heart was pounding.
“I’m sorry I acted like I did yesterday. It was hard, being back at my old place and knowing the changes you were making to it, and I took it out on you. But
I truly am sorry I acted like a dick.”
Lincoln swallowed. “It’s okay.”
“Please stop saying I don’t like you, Lincoln. That’s the furthest thing from the truth.”
Her eyes darted up to meet mine, and when her pretty little tongue swept over those pink lips, I had to hold back a moan. “Stop treating me like you don’t like me, then.”
The corners of my mouth rose, and my gaze landed on that mouth I so desperately wanted to kiss. “I can do more than that.”
Getting lost in those emerald eyes, I couldn’t stop myself.
Leaning down, I softly brushed my lips over hers. She sucked in a breath—and I lost it. Pressing my lips harder to hers, I pulled her body against mine and ran my tongue over her bottom lip, asking for permission to taste more of her.
She pulled back.
“Brock . . . I . . . I haven’t brushed my teeth this morning.”
Laughing, I put my hand behind her neck and brought her mouth back to mine, taking it fully this time. Lincoln lifted onto her toes and wrapped her arms around my neck. My other hand went to her lower back, pulling her as tight as I could against my body, while the one on her neck pushed into her hair, giving it a tug.
Lincoln practically melted into me, like she’d been banking on this kiss as much as I had. I hadn’t wanted to admit it to myself, but since the moment she’d looked up at me after falling yesterday in the barn, I’d been wanting to kiss her. Needing to kiss her. Afraid as hell to kiss her, and for good reason. The feel of her soft body against mine was already addicting. She gave me a warmth I hadn’t experienced in a very long time. A feeling of desire that I don’t think I’d ever really experienced before.
Lincoln’s kiss felt like it was waking up a part of me I had given up on.
A throat cleared from behind us, and Lincoln promptly pulled away.
“I see you got him home safely last night,” Betty Jane said, a shit-eating grin on her face.
The shade of red that covered Lincoln’s cheeks was adorable. “Um . . . yes.”
Turning, Lincoln slipped into her car and started it. I took a few steps back as she rolled her window down. She dug her teeth into her kiss-swollen lip before speaking.
“Bye, Brock.”
My hand lifted. “See ya around, Lincoln.”
I watched as she pulled out of the parking spot and made her way onto Main Street.
Betty Jane walked up next to me and bumped my arm. “You’d better not hurt her, Brock. I like her. She’s got something that says she’s a good soul.”
When Lincoln’s car turned the corner, I faced Betty Jane. “You played a little game last night, didn’t you, Betty Jane?”
She acted innocent. “Why, I don’t know what you mean.”
“I’ve gotten drunk here plenty of times, and you have Ralph bring me to my truck and I sleep it off, but last night, you had that poor girl haul my ass home. Why?”
With a wink, she said, “Because I saw the way you were looking at her, and I saw the way she was looking at you. It’s time you stopped punishing yourself for something you had no control over, and if that young lady can help you do that, then so be it.”
Groaning, I scrubbed my hands over my unshaven face. “Ah, hell, Betty Jane. Don’t be going and trying to fix me up with her. You know I’m not interested in dating. I’ve got Blayze, and he keeps me plenty busy when I come into town.”
She huffed. “Right. You just keep lying to yourself, Shaw. I’ve got to go inventory the booze in that joint,” Betty Jane said as she hooked her thumb over her shoulder. “Have a good one.”
“You too.”
As I made my way over to my truck, I couldn’t ignore the way my lips still felt from that kiss. Or how my body had come to life when Lincoln wrapped her arms around me. Or how good it’d felt with her next to me when I woke up this morning.
Pushing it all aside, I decided I needed to ignore it. I didn’t deserve a woman like Lincoln Pratt.
Not one single part of me did . . . not one bit.
Chapter Nine
LINCOLN
The entire drive back to my house, I couldn’t ignore how my body felt.
Because Brock Shaw had kissed me. Really kissed me.
My lips still tingled from his kiss. I’d never before experienced the feeling I got when he put his hands on me . . . intentionally put his hands on me, that is. I wasn’t counting last night’s liquid-courage word vomit he’d spewed or the way he’d touched me when he wouldn’t remember one moment of it.
Holy shit. He kissed me.
By the time I’d pulled in and parked in my little driveway, I was positive the smile on my face couldn’t possibly be wiped away.
Kaylee stepped out onto the porch of the house and watched me get out of my car. A wide grin grew on her face when she saw me. “Tell me you had cowboy sex or reverse-cowgirl sex—hell, any kind of sex—and that’s why you have a smile on your face!”
I laughed as I made my way up the steps. “No, I didn’t have sex. But I think it’s safe to say that Brock Shaw doesn’t hate me.”
Her brows rose in question. “Do tell.”
“I need coffee, and then I’ll spill everything.”
By the time I was finished telling her everything that had happened, Kaylee was staring at me with a shocked expression. She’d been oddly quiet as I told her everything that had happened after she’d left the bar, until Betty Jane had caught Brock and me kissing. A raised eyebrow here and there was all I had gotten from her.
“So, let me get this right. He kissed you in the middle of the parking lot of the bar.”
Nodding, I replied, “Yep.”
“For everyone to see?”
Taking a sip of my coffee, I replied, “Well, I think it was only Betty Jane.”
“Hence what I meant by everyone. That little kiss is going to be spread through town like wildfire. You have no idea how small towns are, and you even said she’d made that comment last night about people finding out.”
I brushed her off with a wave of my hand. “Nah, I don’t think so. She seems cool.”
Kaylee grinned wide. “If you say so. But this is huge, Lincoln.”
Frowning, I asked, “Why is this huge?”
“Okay, so last night at the bar, when I went into the bathroom, I got some scoop on the mysterious Brock Shaw.”
I laughed. “He’s not mysterious.”
“He is. Anywho, out of the two women I was talking to, I couldn’t get all the details of what happened to his wife, but it was something tragic; I got that much. And Brock blames himself for it. They said he hasn’t dated anyone or shown interest in anyone in a long time. I guess he’s been bull riding since he was, like, ten or something crazy, started professionally at seventeen, and that he lives, eats, and breathes the crazy shit. He didn’t come home a lot during his marriage, and I think that caused problems between him and his wife. Now, he tries to be home each week when he can, but he’s usually gone every weekend, bull riding.”
My eyes widened. “You got all that in the bathroom of the bar last night?”
She nodded. “I’m telling you. Small-town folk like to fill in the new people. I couldn’t say anything to you last night, with the subject matter sitting right there.”
“You said something tragic happened?” I asked, totally sucked into Kaylee’s God-given talent for telling a story—and praying she wasn’t about to tell me what I thought she was.
“I think she died.”
I covered my mouth with my hand. “Oh no.”
“Listen, I’m not really sure, but the way they kept saying how sad it all was, I sort of put two and two together. They said Brock was bound to not like you, since you bought the house that he and his wife had lived in.”
Sitting back in my chair, I nodded. “Brock told me himself the house brings back bad memories when he apologized to me, so that part I believe is true.”
Kaylee made a face like she agreed while nodding her head. “So, somethin
g tragic happened to the wife, and that’s why he sold this house.”
“I don’t think it’s just that. I think he loves what he does. And I can understand selling the house.”
She nodded like she completely got it. “Yeah. I can understand that too.”
I stood. “Well, I’m going to shower and figure out what project I’m working on today.”
“When do you officially start your new job?” Kaylee asked, opening her laptop.
“Two weeks, and I’m a working girl again.” Even I could hear the excitement in my voice.
Kaylee’s face lit up with delight for me. She knew how much I was looking forward to this fresh start. “I’m seriously thinking of heading back to Atlanta, packing up my stuff, and moving here.”
I screamed and grabbed her arm, pulling her into a hug. “Oh, Kaylee, that would be so amazing! Stay here with me!”
Laughing, she hugged me back. “Well, if you’re crazy enough to move halfway across the country to start a new life, I guess I can too.”
I knew part of the reason she was entertaining the idea of moving was to run away from her own ghosts. She probably understood Brock a hell of a lot better than I ever would.
“You’ve just made me so happy!”
She lifted a brow. “So happy you’ll make me those brownies I love so much?”
“Yes! I’ll even make you oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!”
The next day, when Kaylee and I made a trip into town, it was hard not to notice how everyone was looking at me.
Some even whispered, “That’s her” when I walked by them.
I smiled politely, but I refused to admit to myself Kaylee had been right about the gossiping.
Kaylee was thumping a cantaloupe when I walked up to her and bumped her arm. “Is it just me, or are people staring at me and whispering?”
Kaylee looked up from the melon and took a glance around. “It’s not you; they are.”
She put the melon down and picked up another one like it was no big deal that two strange women our age were currently shooting daggers my way.
Never Enough Page 8
