by Susan Arden
Hell, even his twin sister was getting hitched and her fiancé had a ranch near Dallas. So officially, he was the only one still living at home.
“We do click. Especially in bed. I can tell and so can you,” he replied.
“Really. Cause I think my parents thought the same thing. Getting married in white was so important to my mom. But divorce is more popular than staying married. Somehow and somewhere people lose their love. I want to make sure that doesn’t happen to us.”
“Sommer, your parents had issues to combat. We don’t have those same things to worry and drive us apart.”
“How can you say that? We don’t have anything stable. Right now, we aren’t standing on our own two feet. We should be doing crazy things. Eventually we’ll be stable and steady, ready to put down roots, and we won’t be sorry that we missed out on something. Don’t you want to be young and carefree? With me?”
No wonder Sommer didn’t take his idea of getting married seriously. What were they supposed to do? Say their vows and then he’d carry her over the threshold and up to his room, down the hall from his sleeping parents.
“It’s not just about being carefree. Are you willing to risk getting pregnant? You’re not on birth control and condoms break more often than you might realize. Then what? Sommer, marry me and we’ll still be young and carefree, together.”
“I want to, but not until I’m sure.” She wiggled her arms and he glanced down at their entwined hands—specifically her third finger, and envisioned the engagement ring he wanted to see placed there. He stepped back from her, giving them both room to breathe. “We should call one of the bouncers to make sure Lonny is all right.” Sommer moved and now stood in front of him, lightly pulling on his hand.
“All right?” he asked, his voice rising incredulously, and he jerked off the building, coming up to her. He dropped her hand and shook his head. “That shithead just attacked you and he deserves to go to jail.”
“He’s drunk and hurtin’. I think when he’s sober he’ll feel awful. I haven’t seen him like this before.”
Rory took a step closer and she arched her neck to maintain eye contact with him. He bet she didn’t have a clue about that loser down on the ground. “And how well do you know him?”
“Same as you do.” She wrapped her arms around her middle. “Why?”
He clamped his jaws together. Sommer was so sheltered, even though she had this desire to be wild and free. He wasn’t going to be the one to burst her bubble. Another reason why the idea of her visiting a big city made him weary. “Just because we come from a small town doesn’t mean we’re family with everyone around here. We got cops same as those big cities you dream about running away to and for a reason.”
“That isn’t true…not the part about running away. I’m not trying to escape my life here. I just want to be in a place that has a few more opportunities. Sometimes.”
He caught her elbow rather than enter into this debate—again. “Let’s go back.”
“Please, let’s go check on Lonny.”
“Fine. But only because you’re asking.” Rory steered her around the back of the Diamond. The building was small, surrounded on two sides by open fields, where tomorrow there’d be a band playing, grills offering up all variations of barbecue, and people kicking back.
Lonny was propped up with his back against the wall and he moaned, glancing at them. “I’m sorry,” he muttered.
“You’re going to be,” Rory said, tightening his fingers along her arm. “You ever look at Sommer again, and I’ll make sure you drink your dinner through a straw for a month. Or two!”
“Let’s go get someone,” she pleaded.
“That’s not what I was thinking. More like giving Lonny something to really remember.”
Sommer squeezed his arm and slowed down, forcing him to halt. “Promise me, you’re not going to do something you’ll regret. And I do mean tomorrow or the next day.”
He looked back at Lonny. “That jackass is fine. Just drunk and maybe had some sense knocked into him.”
Rory regarded the man he’d trounced and still felt edgy from the adrenaline pumping through his veins. The words that shithead had slurred still rang in his ears. McLemores… use up and disregard any woman who comes your way.
The urge to punch the side of the building flared inside him again. Tonight, he sure as shit wouldn’t mind disappearing into a large city with Sommer, where no one knew his name from Joe Schmo. Or where his family’s history didn’t equate to fighting and chasing women. He lived up to his brothers’ badassery for the brawling part. Didn’t seem like he had a choice. Not when it came to something this serious. It was the ‘blazing a trail through the town bedrooms’ that he’d made the choice to forego. He had no intention of becoming another McLemore with a skirt-chasing reputation. Not when it came to Sommer.
Starting toward the entrance, he curled his fingers over the delicate bones in her wrists and tugged gently. He noticed that Lonny had come staggering around the building and was headed out into the parking lot. “See, that jackass is just fine, so no worries, baby.”
“I guess.” Sommer stared for a beat.
Good, he wasn’t interested in seeing to that sack of shit, not about to waste another moment of concern over the likes of Lonny.
“C’mon, sugar,” he guided her to the front.
At the entrance, Rory yanked open the door. Inside, the sound of people cheering and yelling sent a twisting snap to his gut. He stopped right inside the doorway and pulled on Sommer. “Listen, I understand that you want certain experiences, but I just can’t disappear from here. Not when I’m learning the ropes and trying to do just what you said: find my place. I won’t up and leave for another point on the map by throwing a dart and seeing where it lands. But I don’t want to lose you either.”
“Then we have to find a way to meet both of our needs,” she said. “I’m not a little girl anymore.”
He breathed out a sigh. “Baby, I got that memo a long time ago. Neither of us are children, and it’s getting harder and harder to say no.”
“There’s no point. I don’t understand why you’re trying to be noble. Most of the people around here believe that we’re doing it.”
“Not everyone does.”
“Don’t you want me?”
“I think it’s obvious I do. A lot. But I’m not like the other guys in this town. I didn’t chase women when we broke up before.” He gazed into her face and wish he had the way with words some of his brothers did. He’d gotten the stoic gene from his father. Silver-tongued devil was not part of his MO.
She nodded. “Are you saying if we had… you know. That you’d be doing things with other women?”
“I don’t know. How can I answer something that didn’t happen? I only know that I didn’t ‘cause I don’t want to be another McLemore sowing his oats. Except for Stephen, none of my brothers and cousins ended up with their first loves. Maybe they weren’t supposed to and that’s worked out in their favor. But baby, when it comes to me and my first love, I don’t want you to be the girl that got away.”
Chapter 5
Sommer closed her mouth that had fallen open from the shock of Rory’s confession. “That won’t happen, if each of us is willing to give. A little.”
“There ain’t no little where we’re concerned.” Rory brushed his mouth over her jaw, stopping at her ear. “You can’t imagine just how much I want you. That’s the problem. I doubt if I got you naked, I could stop with just a taste.”
Straightening his torso, he arched a brow, and the pressure of his fingers on her arm sent jolts igniting the slow burn spiraling through her body. His touch reminded her of being tight up against him on the side of the building. Touching his hard-on and finally tasting him. The memory was a scorcher—so much her nipples beaded into aching points. “You got me going. Bad, Rory. To the point of breaking.”
Breaking. Bad!
It was true. The
y’d had a slow burn going on for the last couple of years. But now, after turning up the heat to the point of becoming so hot and bothered that her panties were soaked, something had to give. Soon. Getting this close to naked with Rory, she’d crossed a line. A wildfire ignited her veins, scalding her senses. With his warm hands on her skin, she swallowed the lump in her throat, practically melting under his startling sapphire gaze that laid to waste her thoughts and worries. All of it.
“Sommer, this isn’t an all or nothing.” He cupped the back of her head and pressed his lips to hers, sucking her tongue into his mouth.
Unlike all the other times, her cowboy didn’t pull back, but deepened the kiss with the slide of his tongue against hers, arousing and teasing. Going deeper, like he was fucking her mouth, and she sealed her lips around his, sucking on his tongue. The power of that kiss blew the doors right off any last snippet of self-control she possessed. She dug her fingers into his carved biceps. When he flexed his arms, the muscle went rock-hard under her fingers.
She wasn’t the only one at the brink. They both were close. And that assurance was all she needed. Didn’t matter if they were standing in the entrance to the Double Diamond or on the side of a building or on a slope of land under the sunshine. Whatever it took to get Rory to put aside his stubborn desire to hold back was fair game. The ends justified the means in order to get the result she craved: both of them naked and making love.
“Please,” she murmured against his lips.
He squeezed her hips, staring down at her with his rugged expression that made her knees go weak. “Sugar, we’ll figure something out. I promise.”
“I’m holding you to that. Cowboy, I have needs and so do you. It’s time—” She stopped talking when Rory stiffened against her. Someone had slapped his back and his hands went from her hips up to her waist before he lifted completely away.
“Hey man. Where’ve you been?” Mike came around to the side of them. “Devils just scored.”
“Busy,” Rory said in a measured voice. His eyes didn’t detour from hers. It was if their gazes were fused for a beat. All too soon, he shuttered his expression and turned toward Mike. “Another touchdown. That’s good. For me.”
“You sure about your bet? Not too late to change.” Mike held up Rory’s note.
A skeevy move. She watched them dicker. It was commonplace for Mike to try to lure Rory to take another bet. A different version with a change in the spread generally. Didn’t Mike realize that only made Rory dig his heels in deeper? Rarely did McLemore waver. Not her gorgeous cowboy. Hardheaded to the core, and didn’t she know it.
“Somm!” Jen walked up to her. “Sorry Rory, I need her. Girls’ meeting.”
Both men nodded, but it was the searing heat in Rory’s stare that struck her. For a second, she lingered even though he had cocooned himself, devolving to his near seamless self-control. She snagged his eye and he said into her upturned face, “Go on, sugar.”
That was a first. Rory didn’t particularly like Jen. He’d made that plain when he voiced his opinion of her friends the last time they’d gone to Dallas for a concert. Jen had the knack of acting unruly and broadcasting said moments wherever and whenever. A personality quirk of Jen’s—everyone had a few, but they’d been friends forever. Ditto for Ivy. No joke, all three of them lived in the same neighborhood since birth and still did. They were different in how Sommer worked in town and they hoofed it to Clarkesville. The closest city that boasted of a nightlife and an outlet for going stir-crazy.
It wasn’t that Sommer had an acute craving for a raucous adventure. Going to Dallas or Austin was a few hours by highway, and the music served as a good diversion. It fed her desire to see something more than the vista back home in a two-bedroom house in a rundown neighborhood that many folks had moved away from. But not Momma and in turn, Sommer had stayed to help.
She joined her friends in weekend getaways to escape from the dreariness that held her captive some days. She didn’t earn enough to help pay the bills at her mom’s and move out on her own. The few times she’d left, it had been after an argument with Rory, and she’d gone off to escape the confusion of her emotions while doing something worthwhile. Teaching in Guatemala or building wells and setting up solar ovens for families in Uganda. She’d gotten her passport right after high school, and saved most of what she earned. Not for fun times, but to keep the electricity or water from being cut off at home. Rory didn’t know that part.
Nor did he know that she’d opted to indebt herself to Deputy Demented rather than trust the legal system. She didn’t have a choice and now, only seven stinking days remained. How much misery could Bell extract? God…
Rory only knew that things were strained and her mom had issues. Irrational fears and depression distorted Raeanna’s way of thinking at times. Over the last few months, it had gotten worse.
“Sweet Jesus. Where to start?” Jen scoffed, fanning her face as she lifted her hair.
“Umm,” Sommer began. “Mighty hot on the dance floor.”
Jen shook her arm. “Seriously, you can’t imagine. Remember Rory’s sister-in-law’s brother, Haden?”
Nodding, Sommer grimaced at the recollection of Jen’s one-sided infatuation. Jillian’s brother, the front man for Diehard, and the object of Jen’s consuming fan fixation for months and months. “We all remember Haden and your extreme crush.”
Jen laughed, her eyes sparkling. “I might have missed out on that rocker, but these dudes are meeting up with Haden in LA. They’re touring together.”
“And what is this? Some warped way of hooking up with Haden by degrees?”
“Nothing of the sort. I’m over that hunk. Or moved on, I guess is a better way to frame it.”
“Are you going to LA?” Sommer suddenly asked, drawing a mental line between the dots Jen laid bare.
“You’re wound up tonight. Let me get this out, before I can’t.” Jen’s face turned beet red as she squeezed Sommer’s arm. “The blonde with Ivy is Vince, and his buddy, the dark-haired hottie is Drew. They’re interested in you.”
Her brow tightened as she recalled the blistering way Drew had stared at her. “What the heck are you talking about? I’m not into anything kinky.”
“Not news,” Jen all but snorted. “You’re so into Rory it borders on unnatural—”
The harsh note in her voice pricked a nerve in Sommer. It wasn’t the first time she’d gotten a little catty when referring to Rory. “Don’t go there.” She hadn’t meant to raise the ‘bitch’ flag and sighed, “But I get your point.”
“Holy shit, that’ll be the day when you step away from that hot mess. Nothing like that. I’m talking tattoo business. You interested?”
“They want tattoos?”
“They both really dig the dragon art.” Jen pointed to her neck. “They want something edgy like what you did for me. You got any time tomorrow? They’re leaving in a couple of days. Just think, your ink art would be headed for the West Coast.”
“Doing a couple of musicians would be great publicity,” she agreed. “Pretty cool.”
“So should I send them around to your shop?”
“Definitely. I have to fix a tattoo but nothing major. That’s at nine. Anytime afterwards, I’ll be free unless a walk-in appears. Doubtful on a holiday.”
“Oh honey, those two aren’t going to be up before noon. Not with what I have in store.”
Sommer wasn’t going to ask her friend’s plans. She could only imagine and if it included doing two guys at once, that definitely wasn’t her concern. That type of nuclear fusion wouldn’t help her predicament with a certain hot cowboy.
“Okay, I’ll keep an eye out for them. Vince and Drew. Right? Let ‘em know I’m open for business.”
“Yeah. But c’mon with me and meet them. You can tell them yourself, and share a drink. They’re awfully funny and so freaking sexy.”
Rory and Mike walked by them and she caught Rory’s warning look, th
e type of expression he wore around her more and more. Christ, if they’d just do it already, he’d be so much easier to deal with once he was less on edge. He had to be more than frustrated.
She was and she didn’t even have a pair of— Her face felt on fire. “Great. I could use a laugh.”
“What happened?” Jen’s eyes searched her face.
“Nothing. Just this place. You know how it goes with the gambling. It’s never just a single bet and sucks the fun out of coming down. Dancing and drinking used to be plenty. Now, it’s like going to a casino without the bright lights. The whole focus is on that wide-screen, the clock, and the scoreboard.”
“That’s the name of the game in this town for lots of folks.”
“Yep. Don’t I know it.”
Jen looped her arm through Sommer’s and tugged. “Girl, smile. I guarantee a couple of minutes in these guys’ company and you’ll be laughing.”
“It’s not those guys I’m concerned with. I could walk around buck naked and it wouldn’t matter.” Sommer backed up and halted, her breath evaporating when a pair of hands rubbed intimately over her hips. So intimately, a set of thumbs traced over the curve of each of her ass cheeks. Rory was across the bar, so who the hell was this? Better not be Lonny!
Sommer didn’t waste any time and shoved the strange pair of hands off her posterior. She whirled, her fists balled. “Keep your hands to yourself!” she snarled, coming face-to-face with Drew.
“I’d sure notice if you were buck naked,” he replied, in a voice that dripped of sex and sin.
“That day won’t ever come where you’re concerned,” she returned seamlessly, even though her heart chugged in her chest.
“Sounds like a challenge.” His brazen regard of her became more obvious when his nostrils flared and his full lips curved into a smile after her mini-rebuke. He raked his fingers through his long dark hair, giving her an up-close view of his inked arm.
