“He likes me? As a friend, you mean?”
Dirk tossed his head back and laughed. “Darlin’, if you can’t see the way he looks at you, then you might need glasses. Brock is my best friend. I know him better than he knows himself. Trust me when I say, he wants to be more than friends with you.”
I blew out a breath. “Should I go talk to him?”
He gave me a wink. “That is up to you.”
With a smile, I said, “Sorry about the dance.”
Holding up his hands, he laughed. “Plenty of other pretty little things to dance with.”
I shook my head and chuckled. Then I quickly made my way out of the barn and turned in the same direction Brock had. He was sitting on the fence of a pasture about twenty feet away from the barn.
As I walked over to him, he took a drink of beer. “I’m not in the mood, so you might as well just go back in the barn.”
I stopped walking. Does he know it’s me? Or does he think it’s Dirk?
“Want to tell me what that was all about?” I asked, deciding to push forward. I stopped at the corral fence and leaned against it, turning my head to look at him.
“I thought you were Dirk.”
“Nope. I’m sorry if me almost dancing with him upset you, but you’re really going to have to explain to me what’s going on here, Brock. You’ve got me all kinds of confused. You kiss me one day, then spend an incredible day with me, and then treat me like a distant friend, only to dance with some girl and then get mad when I go to dance with someone.”
“You were the one who told me to dance. So I did.”
“Because you made it seem like you didn’t want to be around me.”
“What?” he said, clearly frustrated.
“You introduced me as a family friend.”
“What did you want me to introduce you as, Lincoln?”
I went to open my mouth and snapped it shut.
What did I want him to introduce me as?
“Why did you get upset when Dirk asked me to dance? If we’re just friends, why do you care?”
He looked away and took another drink of his beer.
I let out a soft sigh and shook my head. “Okay then. I guess we’re back to the other Brock, the one who’s distant and a jackass. I think I’ll go back into the barn. I can call Kaylee to pick me up if you want.”
When he didn’t say anything, I felt tears sting the backs of my eyelids. I’d never before let a guy make me feel this way, but for some reason, Brock Shaw could bring me to my knees without uttering a single word.
Pushing off the fence, I headed back into the barn. My heart raced, and I was trying like hell to keep my face neutral. Dirk was the first person I saw. His smile faded when he saw me. Before he’d had a chance to come my way, I pushed myself into the middle of the crowd and into a back corner. I pulled out my phone and sent Kaylee a text.
Me: I don’t suppose you could come pick me up? I have no clue where I am, but I can drop you my location.
It didn’t take her long to text back.
Kaylee: Oh no. What did he do?
I swallowed hard as I typed back my response.
Me: Nothing. Really. He’s a moody son of a bitch, and I’m not in the mood to play games. Please come pick me up.
Pulling up my map, I got my location and texted it to her.
Kaylee: Pulling on a pair of sweats now. I’ll be there in a few.
Me: Thanks, Kaylee.
Kaylee: That’s what best friends are for. You’re just lucky I haven’t gone back to Georgia yet to pack up my shit.
I smiled. I was lucky. Otherwise, I would have had to ask Brock to drive me home, and that would have been a long, silent drive.
Shaking my head, I tried to figure out what in the world was going on with him.
And why did he instantly turn into an asshole? Where’s the sweet guy I’ve spent the entire day and evening with?
I spent the next few minutes in the dark corner, hiding from everyone.
I saw Brock walk back into the barn. He searched around and then walked over to Dirk. When Brock dropped his head and looked at the ground, Dirk placed his hand on his shoulder to comfort him.
Well, isn’t that nice?
They’d managed to ruin my evening, but they’d kissed and made up. They were both jerks, and they deserved to spend the night with each other.
My phone dinged with a message from Kaylee. She was five minutes away.
Pulling up her number, I called her and started for the door, making sure I kept along the side of the barn, ducking in and out of people.
“Hey, I’m getting ready to turn down the driveway.”
“I’ll head down so you don’t have to pull all the way in.”
“Lincoln Pratt, are you sneaking away?”
Rolling my eyes, I groaned. “Something like that.”
I peeked over to see Brock was busy talking to Brad and Kimberley. Dashing out the door, I hightailed it past all the parked cars and to the gravel driveway.
“Almost there. Almost. There,” Kaylee said.
“Lincoln!”
The sound of Brock’s voice had me picking up my pace. I could just jump into the car, have Kaylee do a three-point turn, and hustle out of here.
“Lincoln, stop! Please.”
Ugh. Why does he have to sound so pleading?
I turned around and walked backward as I forced a smile. “It’s okay, Brock. I’m tired, and Kaylee can give me a ride back home.”
“Lincoln, for fuck’s sake, just stop. You’re gonna—”
I was pretty sure he was about to say I was “gonna fall” . . . just as I started to fall.
I tripped over something, and before I could stop myself, I landed right on my ass. Hard.
“Ouch!” I cried out.
Brock was there in an instant. “Are you okay?” he asked, helping me to stand.
“Yeah. Except for my pride, I’m peachy keen.”
“I didn’t think you were serious about leaving. Why didn’t you even say goodbye?” Brock asked.
Kaylee pulled close and stopped. I was silently praying she would get out of the car and call for me. Tell me she needed to get back to editing the book she was working on.
“I, um . . . I just thought it would be best.”
“Why?”
I stared at him. Is he for real?
He had just ignored me a few minutes ago, and now he wanted to know why I was leaving?
“Are you for real, Brock? You just acted like a dick, and you want me to just hang around and let you take me home? Listen, I’m not looking to get involved with anyone, but I’m not going to lie. I find myself really attracted to you, and I have no flipping clue how you really feel about me, so I think it’s probably best if we just go ahead and stop this here. I mean, it might be nothing, and I was reading into you being all sweet and kind and inviting me to hang out with you and your son today. The kiss the other day was a fluke.”
“It wasn’t a fluke, princess. Not one thing about that kiss was a mistake,” Brock said with an intensity that wasn’t his typical asshole self.
“Well, whatever it was, you’re clearly putting this in the friend zone . . . at least, I think you are. I’m not even sure. I’m going to head on home. Thank you for a lovely day, Brock.”
Before I could turn and walk away, he took my arm and pulled me against his body.
“You’re confusing the fuck out of me, Lincoln.”
My eyes went wide. “Me? I’m confusing you? One minute you’re hot, and the next you’re cold. You have my head spinning, Brock!”
He leaned down, and my breath hitched.
Oh, holy hell. He is not going to kiss me again. No. Stop him right now.
But I didn’t. I actually rose up some so our lips were inches apart.
Right before his lips met mine, Kaylee honked the horn, and I jumped.
Typical Kaylee, trying to be funny in her own twisted little way. It was probably her payback for me havin
g her come out to pick me up.
Brock smiled, and as if on cue, my stomach fluttered.
“Come to Billings.”
“Excuse me?” I said, not thinking I’d heard him right.
“I want you to come to Billings with me. You can drive with me. Kaylee, too, if she wants. My whole family will be there. Let me show you what I do.”
My insides went all weird on me again while my head started to pound from all the whiplash this guy was causing me. “I don’t know, Brock.”
“Stay with me tonight.”
With a shocked gasp, I went to speak, but Brock did it first.
“No, wait. I didn’t mean it like that. I meant, stay here, at the dance with me, and I’ll take you home. Let me at least explain why I got so upset earlier.”
I looked at Kaylee, who was sitting in my car, a shit-eating grin on her face. She probably knew all along I wouldn’t end up leaving with her.
“Maybe we should call it a night,” I finally said.
“Lincoln, please? I’m not any good at this. Just give me two hours, and if you still want to go home, I’ll take you.”
“Fine,” I said with a sigh. “Let me go tell Kaylee.”
A huge grin appeared on Brock’s face, and a part of me wanted to slap it off of him, but those damn dimples got me every time. Not to mention he was wearing a baseball cap today. Give me a guy in either a cowboy hat or a baseball cap.
Ugh.
As I made my way over to the driver’s side of the car, Kaylee started to shake her head.
“What did he promise you to make you stay? Hot sex in a stall of the barn? Lord knows, your vajayjay could use some action. That’ll bring new meaning to the phrase ride a cowboy if you are gonna have sex, romping around in the hay.”
Smacking her hard on the arm, I said, “Shut up! He wants to talk, so I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt—for right now.”
“Uh-huh. And the fact that he almost kissed you has nothing to do with your change of heart?”
I glared at her. “No.”
She laughed. “God, you’re such a terrible liar. Lincoln, just admit that you like the guy.”
My eyes peeked over to Brock, who was now pacing as if he was worried I’d jump in the car and take off. Or maybe he was wondering if Kaylee was trying to talk me out of staying. Either way, nervous Brock almost made me giggle.
“I already said it . . . to him.”
“What?” Kaylee shouted.
I hit her again. “Be quiet! And by the way, the little honk was totally not called for.”
“But it sure was fun watching you lift up on your tippy-toes, so ready to kiss him, and then bam! You jumped out of your skin!”
Rolling my eyes, I replied, “Payback is a bitch. Listen, I’ll see you in a couple of hours, if you’re still up.”
“I took a nap an hour or so ago. My eyes needed rest. I’ll be up. Don’t worry.”
She flashed me an evil grin that said she planned on staying up to hear all the details of today . . . and whatever was about to transpire tonight.
“Be careful driving back.”
“I will. Make sure you put a saddle on that stallion before you ride it!” she called out as I walked toward Brock.
My face instantly heated. Lifting my hand, I shot her the finger, dying of embarrassment. “Okay, you have two hours,” I said to him.
Brock took my hand in his. “First, I want to dance with you.”
My stomach dipped at his touch and the softness in his voice.
“Okay,” I replied, letting him lead me back into the barn.
The band was doing a cover of Brantley Gilbert’s “Fall into Me.”
Brock pulled me into his arms and against his body. His leg went between both of mine, and his hand pressed on my lower back, drawing me in closer. I had never two-stepped this close with a guy before, but with Brock, it worked. We were practically one as we slowly danced on the makeshift dance floor. I’d never had such an amazing dance partner before. It was as if we had danced together a million times.
Neither of us said a word as we danced. Brock kept his blue eyes pierced on my gaze. His face was filled with an emotion I couldn’t read. A part of my mind started to drift off, and I couldn’t help but wonder how many women he’d danced with like this. He certainly hadn’t danced with his cousin like this, that was for sure.
As he expertly guided us around the floor, the song changed to a faster one.
Brock smiled. “Tell me you can swing dance, sweetheart.”
Laughing, I nodded. “I can.”
“Let’s show these people how to do it, then.”
And show them we did. Brock spun me, dipped me, and ground against me to the point that I almost felt like I might pass out from being so close to him. I hadn’t even noticed the crowd of people watching as I was spun around. Finally, he nestled his knee between my legs as he dipped me again and then slowly pulled me back up.
My heart was pounding, and it wasn’t from all the fast spins and dance moves. It was because Brock was looking into my eyes like he wanted me more than the air he breathed.
Then, the shouts and clapping came, and we were both pulled out of our trance.
Dirk came up and slapped Brock on the back. “Damn, son, if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you two had done that a time or two.”
I pulled in a few deep breaths as I tried to focus on the pounding in my chest and not the throbbing sensation between my legs.
“I need a drink,” Brock said, taking my hand and guiding me off the dance floor.
“So I have to know . . . are all the stares because you’re the local famous guy?”
“It’s probably because you’re the first woman they’ve seen me with since my wife, Kaci.”
“Oh.” It was the only thing I could get out. That seemed to be the only word I used when he talked about his wife, because I was afraid of asking for more information on what had happened between them.
“Come on. Let’s go somewhere quieter.”
I nodded as I followed him out of the barn and down a path. “Where are we going?” I asked.
“Dirk and I used to hang out in the old hunter’s cabin when we were in high school. If I know Dirk’s mom, she still keeps it clean in there.”
We walked up a rock pathway to the cabin and stepped up two steps, and Brock fished for a key under the old mat. He held it up and smiled.
My hands started shaking at the idea of being alone with Brock in a small, private space. It wasn’t that I thought he would try something; it was because I desperately wanted him to. This feeling of wanting him shook me slightly. I hadn’t known him long, and our first interaction hadn’t been very pleasant. But spending today with him had made me giddy with anticipation.
I bit down on my lip to keep my threatening grin at bay.
As we stepped inside, Brock turned on the lights and illuminated the cutest little one-room cabin. There was a bed on one side, a sofa on the other, and a table and two chairs in the middle.
Doing a quick spin, I took it all in. It was small, so it didn’t take long to scope it all out. “How cute is this place?” I said.
“Yeah, I can’t tell you how many times we got drunk in here or fu—uh . . . or had fun in here.”
I lifted a brow. “Uh-huh. I hardly think that was what you were going to say, Brock Shaw.”
His face blushed, and it was sinfully sexy. “I brought you up here so we could talk, Lincoln. I want to explain a couple of things to you about why I’ve been acting like I have the last few days.”
I sat on the sofa as Brock pulled out a chair. He spun it around and then sat, straddling it. He turned his baseball cap backward and took a long drink of his beer.
My tongue ran over my lips while I tried to remember how to swallow. There was no denying that I was sexually attracted to Brock. No denying it at all.
“I wasn’t a part of selling the house you bought because, honestly, I wasn’t ready to face saying g
oodbye to that part of my life just yet.”
“Ty said you hadn’t lived there in years.”
He nodded. “That’s true. Kaci, Blayze’s mother, died, and I never went back in the house after that.”
My hand came up to my mouth as I gasped. “I’m so sorry, Brock.”
He didn’t respond and kept staring at the ground before finally speaking. “I guess, as much as I wanted to sell the place, knowing you bought it and were already making changes to it . . . well, it pissed me off. I don’t know any other way to say it but to tell you the truth. It was shitty of me to treat you the way I did that first day we met. I’m sorry.”
“It’s already forgotten and forgiven.”
Brock smirked. I was quickly beginning to love that smirk of his. Taking off his hat, he ran his hand through his hair. Did the man have any idea how sexy he was? Every little thing he did sent my libido off the charts.
Okay, it could be the fact that not even my vibrator has seen any action lately.
“Tonight, about the whole Dirk thing . . . I was jealous.”
With a scoff, I replied, “Why on earth were you jealous? Brock, he asked me to dance; that was all.”
“Were you jealous when you saw me dancing with my cousin?” he asked, the left side of his mouth slightly turned up.
“No,” I lied.
“Liar. Your eyes don’t let you lie, Lincoln.”
My gaze dropped to the floor.
“There’s a history between the two of us. Dirk and I both loved Kaci. She knew it, and we told her she had to pick one of us.”
Snapping my eyes back up to him, I was pretty sure my mouth also dropped open at the same time. “You made her pick between y’all?”
With a nod, he replied, “Yes. I fought hard for her because the idea of losing to Dirk . . . well, let’s just say, I don’t like to lose. What I probably should have done was stepped aside and let them be together. They should have been together. Not me and her.”
“Why do you say that?”
He shrugged. “I made her miserable. I couldn’t see it at the time—or hell, maybe I did see it and didn’t want to admit it. But I put bull riding before her. I hadn’t done it on purpose, though. I knew Dirk loved her enough to walk away from bull riding, and I couldn’t. She had begged me to stop riding, and sometimes I resented her for it. We fought a lot, and then Kaci thought maybe we should try for a baby. We had hoped it would bring us closer, and a part of me thinks she thought it would pull me off the road. Hell, maybe it would have. I don’t know.”
Never Enough Page 12
