“Rox, you’re shaking like a tree in the wind. What’s wrong?” Randy slipped his arms around her waist, pulled her closer, but held her loosely.
“You terrified me stopping like that. I never expected it to be you.” Pausing, she tried to relax and being in his arms helped. Again, she lifted her arms around his neck to leave them there this time. “Randy,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry for putting this distance between us.”
“Shh, let’s go. We’ll talk at my house.” He lowered his cheek to hers, lingering before standing his six-foot one-inch frame straighter. “Yeah, get on in there and follow me home.”
Clinging to him tighter, she laid her cheek against his chest. Nice. Leather. He smells fantastic. “I don’t want to let you go.”
“Well, you have to, or we stand on the side of the road the rest of the night.”
Sure, alrighty. Like she’d be able to stand all night. She caressed the side of his face. Maybe her move had been too audacious for the moment, but she was about to turn it up. She raised her gaze to his while her other hand grasped the back of his neck. The longer hair falling over the back of her hand, tickled. She liked his thick hair, long. “Umm…”
Randy took her hand from his face. “Let’s go.” Like that, he turned and headed for his bike.
Her voice came out in a yell, “I didn’t know you had a motorcycle.”
He spoke with his back to her. “It belongs to Dane Carlson. I’m probably buying it.” Randy stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Earlier today, I did some work on it, then I was restless once I got home tonight. Nothing better than an open ride on a moonlit night while in a go-to-hell mood.”
She opened the door and slipped into the driver’s seat, but before he revved the throttle, she leaned out the window. “Don’t lose me because I forgot the way.”
He nodded.
Roxanne didn’t know if tonight would be the time to tell him. Maybe he was done with her like he had been done with his ex-girlfriend. After what she’d heard about Kim, he didn’t seem like the type to give second chances. Tonight, she’d see how it played out. His body language said a lot, and right now it said keep your distance. She couldn’t. But she must. She rested her hand atop her head and wanted to scream.
He put his blinker on down the road, and she knew there was no way she would’ve found it tonight—especially with the Rocky Road sign missing. It was easy to miss the path off it toward his place. It was more like an easement at the back of the Double Dutch Ranch property. She stayed back as dust curled behind the motorcycle as he increased his speed. The rumble of the engine boomed and cracked. He pulled up to the side of his house, and came to her door when she drove up. She lowered the window. Dang, he looked good in leather and long hair.
“Dane’s been keeping his bike here until I make up my mind, but I have decided to buy it. I’ll put it in the garage, so wait right here. The house is a mess. I’ve been busy working on three different ranches this week.”
“All right.” He climbed on the bike, and she got out and went to the back of the truck. His bike resounded in the distance, and then it was quiet. She lowered the tailgate, sitting her butt on it. The full moon left a haze bright enough to give a dim light to the night over his property and the older house. Only the brightest of the bright stars stood out in the moonlit sky. One outside light was on at the back of the house. No lights had been left on in his house, but light could be seen shining out a barn window.
“Come on inside, Roxanne.” Randy stood at the bottom of the porch steps holding his hand out for her.
Cocking her head for him to join her, she patted the metal of the tailgate. “Sit with me a bit? It’s a beautiful spring night.”
Randy ambled over to stand in front of her, and he moved in until his legs nearly touched her knees. “Want a beer? Water?”
“Nothing, but get something for yourself.” Funny, he seemed taller with a broader chest, or maybe it was the jacket that made him look stronger. Probably not the jacket. She scooted her knees to the left. Roxanne hated small talk, but she was at a loss for words. Night sounds were too eerie to enjoy tonight, though she had liked the sound in the past, and she shivered.
“Do you want my jacket?”
“No, I’m not cold. It’s the sounds. They kind of go through my body like sandpaper over metal. I don’t know why they bother me tonight.” She held her arms across her chest and stuck her hands in. Of course, she did know why and any minute, she could lose it. She took in a couple deep breaths, exhaling each one slowly. “I need to text Brett to let him know I arrived.” She took a few seconds to do that, but didn’t get a reply.
Glancing over his shoulder then back at her, he spoke, “It’s a Common Nighthawk unless you’re talking about the desert toad. A killdeer is off to the distance if you want to listen for it, or maybe a coyote will scare them all away.” Randy took a seat beside her. “Close your eyes and listen to the beauty of the night instead of the eerie. The sounds can’t hurt you.”
No, but they could trigger despicable memories. Roxanne scooted closer until their thighs touched, then she closed her eyes, taking in a long breath before letting it out in a sigh. She listened, trying to remember the good times when she had lived in Canyon Junction. Her breathing slowed. After a while, the sounds didn’t seem so foreboding after all.
“Better now? Stay out long enough and you’ll hear a lot of night sounds. I like them. Be careful of the hooded skunk, though.” He looked at her with a skewed smile.
“Yeah, better now.” Roxanne appreciated his smile and took a minute to survey the area around them. This wasn’t a working ranch, yet Randy kept it up. She tipped her head back to look upward.
They sat in quiet, for she didn’t know what to say, what she had wanted, or why she was here. Or, how he felt about any of it. The same calm man she had known waited patiently.
He stood and paced out a way in the driveway then turned and sauntered back. “I’m happy you moved home, Roxanne. At least you’re near your dad and Nora. Of course, you probably read that in the card with the welcome basket. I hope it didn’t seem too stupid.”
She’d read it when she got home. “It wasn’t stupid at all. More like thoughtful of you.” After a short hesitation, and a long examination of the Milky Way, she had done enough small talk. “I’m glad you came by earlier.”
“Are you? I took a chance. Well, I took a big chance not knowing how I’d be accepted. Then to have a guy answer kind of threw me.”
They both remained silent. The quiet between them caused her to question a lot of things. Seems he had nothing to say, either, but she found her voice. “I’m leaving. Maybe this was a mistake.” She scooted off the tailgate, but he didn’t move back but a half step, and he took her arm.
“Don’t go. You smell good.” He closed his eyes a moment and tilted his head as if sucking her scent inside.
“It’s my usual.”
“I know.”
Roxanne gulped, afraid to stay. Afraid to go. What had she wanted from this, from him? Did she have a choice now that she’d faced him? Why couldn’t she leave it alone? It came out unplanned and vague, “You stopped emailing and texting.”
Randy took in a slow breath before letting it out. “After a while I was only emailing or texting myself. Nobody answered back. Nobody returned calls.”
The way he traced his eyebrow with one finger while staring at the ground spoke of indecision, confusion. Her mind raced as she searched for answers. “I had good reason. Can you let that ride for now?”
“I don’t know.” He went to his truck and grabbed a bottle of water and offered her a drink, but she declined. After a drink, he turned his head to the side, and his lips pursed. “You wanted to talk? Now might be a good time. You’re the one who brought up the emails.”
Randy sounded a bit snobbish tonight, yet she had caused this. His reaction was normal for a man who had been shunned with no explanation. He was done with her. She wouldn’t get a second chance.
Maybe this wasn’t the right time to leave, but they’d both need time to think about tomorrow, or if there would be a tomorrow for them, now that they’d both made the first move. “Well, I’m taking off.” She nodded forward. “Do I just drive down this road, and turn right at the end, then the highway, and turn left? No little roads in between to miss? It looks unfamiliar since I haven’t been here in so long. Plus, you always drove.”
Kicking blowing tumbleweed, he mumbled, “That’s about it.”
Randy took a step in, close enough for her to smell his aftershave, and he towered over her. His secure and strong persona was something she had always admired. How safe it made her feel now after the torment at the hands of Nate. The smell of leather, too, drifted through the air between them.
“Look, Rox, do you want to come inside? You came over for a reason. Don’t leave yet.”
Roxanne sighed and peered at him with a cock to her head, almost wishing for an interruption around them to delay talking. “I need to know if a second chance is possible between us before I go on.”
“Is that why you’re here? It’s your call. I’m not the one who wanted to walk away six, no, eight months ago.”
“I…I’d…” Gulping and holding back enough emotion to bring on tears, she couldn’t say anything else. Leading him on was the last thing she had wanted to do, but she didn’t want to fool herself. Right now, it didn’t feel like she fooled herself, but she was as confused as him.
“Tell me, Roxanne. Something’s been bothering you. Is it the reason you didn’t want to see me anymore? If you’re saying you want to pick it up again, say it.”
“Well, that would be your call. We had fun together. Yeah, that is what I’m saying. Now we live in the same town. This isn’t what I had planned on saying tonight, or ever.” She paused, scared to tell the story, to bring him into this chaos, and scared not to. Why hadn’t she kept her mouth shut? Why the hell hadn’t she stayed home? Because this feels right.
“It wasn’t just about having fun together, dammit, Roxanne! I thought we had the beginning of something and could’ve had more. Was I wrong?” Randy shoved his hands into his pockets.
Roxanne visualized seeing him for the first time at Tristan’s barn door, and how she had dragged Nora down there to introduce her to him. “No. You weren’t wrong. I was.”
He took hold of her hand at their side and entwined their fingers. “Are you coming inside or do I have to pick you up and carry you like a big old bag of livestock feed?”
The fact she kept something from him didn’t help, but this wasn’t the time to spill her guts. “Not tonight. I’m sleepy and there’s so much work to do tomorrow, so I’ll head home.” Looking into his eyes like this, flashbacks of their times together told her she didn’t want to let him go. Dammit. She needed another night to think about how she’d tell him.
Releasing her hand, he held his out with his palms upward. “Where does this leave us?”
She gave a subtle squeeze to his forearm. “Um, I do want, want to go forth from this point on, but I’m not sure if I’m ready yet, plus—”
Flipping her hand away, he stepped back. “Not sure? You came here tonight. I’m not sure, either.”
“I n-need time. Trust me, Randy, I had a good reason for coldshouldering you.” Roxanne placed her hands on his shoulders. “If you have time, and patience, I’d love if you stopped by tomorrow. Would you come? Can we…can we go slowly?”
“If I have time I’ll try to stop over. I’ll get in my truck and lead you down the road. You’ll be okay getting home once on the highway?”
“I will. You can talk me home on the phone.”
Embracing her, he pulled her close, gazed down into her eyes, and lowered his face.
His soft breath swept over her cheek. He was that close and so irresistible, which made it hard to leave, but easier to come to a decision. She closed her eyes, waiting to feel his lips against hers, but he took a step back.
Randy took keys from his pocket. “Yes, ma’am, I can talk you home.”
She got in her truck. Coming here tonight, she had no idea what she’d wanted, but there was still a tall wall standing between them. Randy rolled his window down near the highway, and she pulled beside him on Rocky Road, doing the same.
He picked up his phone and hers rang. They sat side by side staring upon each other, and she answered. “Thank you.” She smiled.
“Turn left, Roxanne. Drive past the new gas station a couple miles down and keep going.”
Randy’s handsome face could be seen in the glow of the dash. Roxanne had wanted to jump out right there, yank his door open, and crawl onto his lap. To let him rip her shirt off and caress her breasts with his lips.
She didn’t have control over her fluttering eyelashes while peering into his eyes. To break their gaze, she turned left and pulled onto the road, making small talk, listening to the easy flow of his words on the way. Tomorrow I’ll know what to do. Tonight she needed sleep. It would all seem clearer tomorrow. A mile from home, she said into the phone, “I got it from here, Randy. Good night.” She hung up. What the hell had just happened?
Chapter 4
The next morning, Roxanne had a big coffeemaker ready for when the guys came over to help finish the painting and other jobs needing repair. She was lucky to have them help with the work. Once she got this house settled and made necessary decisions about her life, she’d take it one day at a time.
But she knew one thing. Randy Drake needed to be a part of her life, albeit she’d need to earn his trust again. It didn’t take long to figure it out, which was no different than when meeting him. How the sight of him blew her away. And geez, the same thing happened on her porch last night. She both damned and thanked him for coming over. He had no idea what faced him. No one was to blame but her.
A knock on the back door startled her as she poured herself a second cup of coffee. Peeking through the window, she saw it was Nora. “Come in, hon. I didn’t hear your truck.”
“I parked out front in case one of us had to go get supplies. Your pickup is gone. I wasn’t sure you were home.”
“Oh, Brett took it to get some bagels at the Coffee Shoppe.”
Nora gave her a once over. “You look really cute with your hair straight. What made you decide to go darker?”
“I don’t know why I went back to natural. Something different there, too, I guess. Come on, have a seat. I do miss the lighter blonde, and might lighten it again, if the sun doesn’t beat me to it.”
“You’ve lost weight.”
She held up the coffee pot in the kitchen then got a cup out for Nora. “Losing weight makes it less stressful to wear the prosthetic. Less weight to put on it, you know?”
“Makes sense. You were already thin after the accident. Are you eating?”
Roxanne set the cup on the table and put out the cream. “Of course, I’m eating. Have a seat. Hey, last night I thought about decorating this place. Do you know of a designer close by?”
Nora spooned powdered cream into her cup, then pulled the chair out and took a seat. “Julie Holt, a local rancher’s wife does interior design. She’s good.” Nora glanced around the kitchen where she’d grown up. “In fact, Julie might be willing to take this old furniture off your hands if nothing else. At least the good stuff like this kitchen set. I’ll give you her number. Where’s your phone?”
“I appreciate the recommendation.” Roxanne gave Nora her phone and waited while she added the number. Excitement bubbled over, and she couldn’t wait to see the look on Nora’s face when she told her about last night. Maybe Nora already knew. “Have you seen Randy this morning?”
Nora set Roxanne’s phone on the table. A nicely trimmed, arched brow lifted in question. “I did see him when I took Trista Rose over to Judy’s. He already had Dane’s new horse in the ring, but I didn’t talk to him, just waved. That guy has such a special way with problem horses.”
And women. Tapping a finger against her mug, Roxanne said sof
tly, “If you want to have another gathering and invite him, go ahead.”
The navy-blue mug stopped halfway to her lips. Nora’s eyes brightened. “You mean it? So, you thought it over, huh?”
“I saw him last night.” She diverted her eyes. Soon, I told you so, would be coming out of Nora’s mouth.
“Well, doggone, girl. You better believe I’ll pull together another little gathering. I’ll call Tristan’s mom, Judy, and she’ll help. You know her nickname is Miss Matchmaker.”
“The matchmaking has already been done, but we have a long way to go. The longing returned the moment I saw him. I even wanted to kiss him. Badly!” She chortled. “I swear, his chemistry draws me to him.”
Roxanne straightened her back, the dull pain in her lower leg reminding her of the upcoming conversation with Randy. She picked up her coffee and sipped to avoid talking to Nora about him. It wasn’t yet time to jump to conclusions in her mind, about the two of them. A scenario still waited to be told.
Nora set her mug down to check a text. A smile upturned her lips. “Tristan’s on his way with Jase, and Dane’s friend Wade might come. They plan on doing the rest of the heavy work today.”
“Fine. It’ll feel like my home when it’s finished.” Roxanne took her cup to the sink, and grabbed mugs for the men out of the cleaned and freshly painted cupboards. She faced Nora, who would be prying any minute.
“Yes, and Judy has a morning of fun planned with Trista Rose and the rest of the kids when they get home from school.” Nora gazed out the window. “Are you going to tell me how it went down with Randy?”
Roxanne folded her arms and took weight off her left leg. “Last night after I got home from dinner at your place, Randy came over. He brought a gift basket with a hand written welcome home note. Wasn’t that sweet of him?”
Lassoing The Last Dance (Double Dutch Ranch; Love At First Sight Book 4) Page 4
