Back Road Chances (Roughneck #2)

by Nicole Hart

  Lainey: Between you and MY HUSBAND, it’s hard not to use the F word in every conversation, even without raging hormones.

  Me: Don’t blame me for your dirty mouth. LOL! NEway, I’m bringing you greasy cheesy pizza

  Lainey: Thank you!!!!!! I love you. Like for real!

  Me: Hurry home bitch!

  When I walked through the house to take my laundry to my room, I looked over at the roses on the bar. Moon had another one waiting on my doorstep this morning. There were nine of them. I got excited every morning, knowing there would be another one waiting. I wondered how long he was going to keep it up. He had to go back to work in a couple of days, so the end was probably coming soon. Work. Ugh. I had blocked it from my mind for the last few days. I didn’t want to think about him going back to work. It pissed me off a little to think about him leaving.

  As I was putting away my laundry, I heard Moon’s truck outside. My stomach did a flip. Fuck, I had it bad.

  “Knock, Knock!” Moon yelled, as he opened the front door.

  “In here!” I yelled back.

  “Ya naked?” he asked, as I heard his boots coming closer.

  “No,” I said with a giggle, as I continued with my laundry.

  “Damn it,” he said when he walked through the doorway, then grabbed me around the waist.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, as I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck.

  “Well,” he said, and then kissed me sweetly. “I have a plan.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “Why don’t you come see me in South Texas this weekend? Take Monday off. Call in sick; I know you have plenty of time you can use.”

  That was true. I rarely took off work.

  “But you’ll be working all the time. You want me to come and stay on the rig with all those perverted hands?” I asked with a laugh.

  “Hell no. I don’t want you near those fuckers. There’s a little motel in town. I’ll still have to work, but I can get there pretty quick when I get off tour.”

  “Ok,” I said quickly, before I had the chance to convince myself of all the reasons why I shouldn’t.

  “Ok?” Moon said his voice full of shock.

  “I said ok.” I said, and kissed his lips.

  “Thank God. I thought I was gonna have to argue with your ass all day about it,” he said as he squeezed my ass, and threw his weight on top of me as we landed on the bed.

  “Not this time.” I whispered.

  “Finally coming around woman?” he asked, as he bit my neck gently.

  “Maybe a little,” I said, and started to kiss his neck.

  Chapter 8

  Moon

  It was Tuesday morning and I was heading to Sam’s so I could catch her before she left for work. I pulled into her driveway. With the white rose in my hand, I jumped out and leaned up against my truck, waiting for her. When she opened the door, my chest started with that fucking tight feeling it got every time I looked at her. She was in black scrubs and her hair in a ponytail, she was beautiful. Her eyes met mine and she flashed that perfect smile.

  “I didn’t even hear you pull up. I wasn’t sure if you were coming,” she said with a look of relief.

  This was our routine. I always came to see her the morning before I left. Sometimes I showed up early so I could get some first. But this morning, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to leave if I did that. So I waited. But I sure as hell didn’t like it.

  “For you ma’am,” I said, as I walked up to her and handed her the rose. She lifted it to her nose before she wrapped her arms around my waist and held on tight.

  “I’m not ready for you to leave,” she said. That was a first. I could always tell, but she never said it.

  “Me neither darlin,” I said, as I scooped her up and she wrapped her legs around me.

  “You’re still coming to see me this weekend, right?” I asked, hoping she hadn’t changed her mind.

  “Yep,” she said, as she ran her fingernails through my hair down to my neck.

  “I’m gonna miss you.” There, I said it. Because I was going to miss her, like fucking crazy. I wasn’t going to hide my feelings anymore.

  “Me too,” she said quietly, as she stared at my chest.

  I’m pretty sure this had been the longest fucking week ever. It was finally Saturday though, and Sam was waiting for me at the motel. I couldn’t treat her to a nice hotel, not in this little town. But I don’t think Sam minded. I had slipped the lady at the front desk a twenty dollar bill when I booked the room, so the rose would be waiting when Sam arrived. I had made sure she had one at her doorstep every morning this week, too. It was good to have a younger cousin that looked up to you when you needed a favor. Tim was only 16, and I promised to beat his ass if he didn’t have them waiting every morning on her doorstep. But he did good, so in return I left a bottle of shine in the freezer for him and his buddies. My aunt Cindy would kick my ass if she found out, but I knew he’d never mention my name if he got caught with it.

  I had been watching the time all day. It was finally 6 o’clock. I finished my books in record time. Hopefully I didn’t fuck anything up and get my ass chewed out for it. But I needed to see her, so instead of double-checking I prepared myself to deal with it later. I ran through the shower and jumped in my truck. Hell yeah.

  When I pulled into the little motel, I spotted her car immediately. It was one of the only cars in the parking lot. The rest were work trucks. The fracking guys and third party were staying here, too. When it was the only motel in town, nobody had other options.

  I had my own key, and left one for Sam at the desk. So I grabbed it out of my wallet and slid it into the door. And when I saw her, I was pretty convinced I had died and gone straight to heaven. Holy Shit.

  She was standing at the end of the bed. She was wearing this black lingerie that didn’t cover much. Thank you, Victoria’s fucking Secret. It was almost completely see-thru. And when I scanned my eyes down those sexy legs of hers, she was wearing high heels. This was something I’d never seen her do before. Sam wasn’t that type of girl. And I loved Sam for who she was, but this was sexy as fuck. I dragged my eyes back up her body. Her hair was down and curled at the ends. It was bigger than usual and she had on more make up than normal. She looked naughty and my dick was getting harder by the second. And then I saw it. Yeah, my dick was going to explode right through my jeans. Mother Fucker. Sam had a pair of furry handcuffs dangling from her index finger. Oh my God. I had thought about this many times, but never had the balls to actually mention it to her. She really was the girl of my fucking dreams. I just stared at her, she was so fucking sexy. I couldn’t look away or even move. The sound of Sam’s voice broke me from my trance.

  “Are you gonna stand there, or are you gonna get over here and fuck me, Moon? Because I need to be fucked. Hard,” she said, and then ran her tongue over her top lip as she jiggled the handcuffs.

  I didn’t speak. I walked up to Sam and slammed my mouth into her hard. She started to wrap her arms around me but I pinned them to her side and dropped to my knees. I put my nose against her pussy and inhaled that sweet scent. I grabbed the handcuffs from her and tossed them on the bed. When I looked up at her, she had a wild look in her eye. She’s been wanting this, too. We were made for each other.

  “On the bed. Now.” I said firmly. Sam pushed my head into her pussy and she slid around me. Then she got on all fours and crawled onto the bed. That tight ass in the air and those high heels swinging as she moved. Yeah, she was going to kill me. But I would die a happy fucking man.

  The next night I got stuck on the rig for an extra hour. It had been a fucked up day. Everything was going wrong. I didn’t even have time to eat all day. I was starving, which made me almost lose my shit on my pusher when he walked into the doghouse with an attitude. I shouldn’t have to babysit the worm that he insisted on hiring, who kept fucking shit up and slowing us down. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind giving people a chance but
this little fucker kept hiding out and not doing what he was supposed to do. I had a feeling they were related, but I would get my ass chewed out if I even said anything, so I didn’t bother. I was finally getting off tour and all I wanted to do was see Sam. But I needed food. So I sent Sam a text and asked her to meet me at the steakhouse in town. I spotted her car and found the closest parking spot to hers. She must have been watching for me because she opened her car door before I even put my truck in park. She looked so beautiful stepping out of her car. She was wearing some tight ass jeans, her boots and a shirt that hung off one shoulder. It made me want to sink my teeth into that shoulder. Damn, I love that woman.

  “Damn” She said, as she looked me over while she walked up to me. I was still in my coveralls and work boots. I didn’t even stick around to shower; I would do that at the motel. I didn’t want to wait an extra minute before I saw her.

  “My working man looks sexy,” she said and kissed me. Was she claiming me?

  “Mmmm,” I said into her mouth. “I’ve been waiting for that all day.”

  “Let’s go get you fed boss, you’re gonna need your strength,” she said, as she slipped her arm through mine and pulled me towards the restaurant. I loved how affectionate she was lately. It felt so good.

  The hostess got us seated quickly. I scanned the restaurant. There were contractors everywhere. These kinds of restaurants were about as close as we got to home cooking while we were working, so we took advantage of good food when we could get it. We ordered our drinks and started looking over the menu, and that’s when the shit about hit the fan. I noticed two city girls stand from their table and pushed their chairs in loudly. I saw the look one of the girls gave as she looked around the restaurant, but I ignored it. In this field, you ran into people all the time that had an opinion about the work you did. Some good and some bad. And by the snarl on that snotty bitches face, I could tell which one she had.

  “Let’s go somewhere else,” she said to her friend as she walked away from her table. “I’d rather not eat with a bunch of oilfield trash.”

  Aw shit. Sam’s eyes got as big as quarters as she dropped her menu. She stood up and stepped in front of the snotty girl.

  “What the fuck did you just say?” Sam said, as she stood toe-to-toe with her. But the truth is, that girl could have been six feet tall and I know it wouldn’t have made a difference.

  “Excuse me,” the girl said, and glanced in my direction before turning her eyes back to Sam. The hums of chatter in the restaurant stopped. Other than the sounds of dishes in the kitchen, it was silent.

  “Can I ask you something?” Sam said calmly, but I know she was on the verge of knocking this girl out.

  “What?” The girl said, as she folded her arms and looked around the room. She was uncomfortable, but Sam wasn’t letting this go.

  “How did you get here?” Sam asked.

  “What?”

  “Are you hard of hearing? I said how did you get here?” Sam said with a cocky ass smile. Damn, I love this girl.

  “Uh, my car,” the girl said with a voice full of sarcasm.

  “You do realize that without the oilfield, your car wouldn’t start right? In fact, this whole country couldn’t run without these men. So what you should be doing, instead of running your fucking mouth, is thanking these ‘oilfield trash’ for the life you have.”

  Then I heard a set of hands clapping, then another, then another. I started to clap right along with them. I looked around and realized half of the restaurant was standing and clapping. The girl just looked around, with her mouth wide open, then turned around and stormed out the door, with her friend right behind her. Once the girls were out of sight, Sam turned towards me and quickly sat back down. The restaurant noise started back up, like nothing happened. I almost told her I loved her, right then and there.

  “I can’t stand ignorant people like that,” Sam said, as she picked her menu back up. Half of the men in Sam’s family were oilfield; she had been raised in this life. That girl ran her mouth around the wrong woman.

  Our waitress walked up to us, carrying our drinks in her hand.

  “Here y’all go,” she said, as she put our two glasses of sweet tea on the table.

  “And you ma’am, your dinner’s on the house,” she said.

  “Oh, that’s not necessary,” Sam said.

  “Yes ma’am it is. My daddy is a mud engineer.” And then she leaned down close to Sam and whispered “And I hate snotty little bitches like that, who run their mouth about things they don’t understand.”

  Sam and I both just laughed as she walked away.

  “Thank you for my rose again this morning,” Sam said, after we ordered our dinner.

  “My pleasure,” I said.

  “How did you manage to do that once you left for work?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “I have my ways,” I replied, and gave her a wink.

  “Yes, you do,” she said, and winked back at me. I knew I would explain the roses after one more day, so I changed the subject before I ruined my plan. I reached into my pocket inside my coveralls and pulled out the envelope.

  “What’s this?” Sam asked after I handed it to her.

  “It’s a spa day for tomorrow. I don’t want you to have to sit in the motel again all day. So go pamper yourself, or whatever the hell it is they call it. It’s the works package - it has a massage and all that other stuff.” She stared down at the envelope for a minute and didn’t say anything. My dad assured me this was a good idea. He said all women love this kind of shit. I hope he was right.

  “I mean, if you want to,” I said when she still didn’t speak.

  “Oh yeah, I definitely want to,” She said, and looked at me with a smile. Those blue eyes of hers sparkled. She was so beautiful. “I’ve always wanted to do this, but never wanted to spend that kind of money on myself.”

  “Well now you don’t have to. I’ll do whatever you want if it makes you happy,” I said, knowing damn well I wasn’t talking about the massage.

  “Thank you, Moon,” Sam said quietly, then got out of her chair and walked over to me. She straddled my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck. I didn’t care that I could feel people staring at us. I put my arms around her as I kissed those beautiful lips of hers.

  “You’re gonna get all dirty,” I told her, remembering I was still in my coveralls.

  “I like it dirty,” Sam whispered in my ear. Aw hell.

  “That food better hurry the fuck up,” I said with a laugh.

  It was almost midnight; Sam would be leaving tomorrow, or technically today. We were in bed, naked and exhausted. But I knew it was time to tell her. I had been holding on to this secret for too long. She needed to know. I just hoped it didn’t ruin everything and she didn’t run. Fuck, what if she ran? What if this ruined us? It wouldn’t. I knew she cared about me and wanted us to work. And if she couldn’t handle this, it was a chance I had to take. I loved this woman and I couldn’t wait any longer to tell her the truth. Here goes nothing. I scooted out of bed and walked over to my bag and grabbed the last white rose out of it. I had left one this morning on the bed so Sam would find it when she woke up. When she saw me pull it out of my bag, her smile brightened the whole fucking room.

  “I already got one today,” she said, and held her hand out to take it from me. I took a deep breath and lay down beside her again.

  “It’s almost midnight, close enough. And this is the last one,” I said, and then paused. Sam looked at me, she seemed confused.

  “Well not forever, because if you want flowers, I’ll buy you fucking flowers every day of your life. But the single rose every day, today is the last day for that.”

  “I’m not following, Moon,” she said, as she stared into my eyes. It always seemed like she was waiting for bad news. She always seemed to be bracing herself for the worst.

  “There’s a reason behind the number of roses,” I said.

  “17,” Sam said immediately.

/>   “You’ve been counting them?” I asked a little surprised.

  “Of course, I was waiting for them to stop.” That made me a little sad. I hated the way she always thought the good things were going to disappear.

  “Yeah, 17,” I said, and then took another deep breath, here we go. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. Maybe if I held on tight enough, she wouldn’t dart out of this bed and out the door. She was staring at me intently, waiting.

  “That’s when it started.”

  “When what started?” Sam asked quietly.

  “That’s when I realized I loved you. I know we were just kids, and I did a lot of stupid shit back then. But it’s always been you, Sam. I’ve always wanted you. And maybe back then it started as a high school crush and I just wanted to tap that ass,” I said, and couldn’t help but smile as I smacked her ass lightly. “But then it was more.”

  Sam didn’t respond. She just stared at me with those big blue eyes. I don’t think she had even blinked. I couldn’t read her, not this time. But I kept talking anyway.

  “I love you, Sam. And I know you’re scared. I don’t know if you’re scared of getting hurt or what it is. But I promise you darlin, I won’t hurt you. I love you. I’ve always loved you and I’ll never stop. Ever,” I said, as I put my forehead against hers and then leaned in and kissed her lips gently, waiting.

  I had just told this woman that I loved her four times in practically the same breath. She was the only woman I had ever said that to. Because she was it for me. She was the only one. And she still hadn’t said a word. Not a single word. Maybe I was the one about to run. That’s some scary shit, telling the woman you’ve been in love with since you were a kid how you feel. And then all you hear is the fucking crickets. Damn. I felt like a knife was just stabbed in my chest. And even though I kind of felt like an idiot now, I didn’t regret it. I should have prepared myself for the silence. But I didn’t.

  “Well damn,” I said, as I lay on my back and propped my hands behind my head.