by AE Rought
“I love it when you’re feisty.” His voice was husky, a secret for just us.
The heat of his lips scorched mine. “I love your liking me feisty.”
We returned to our table, and Steve patted Ilene on the back. “I thought for a minute I was going to have to break up a fight. Good job, honey.”
A rather crestfallen Suzy showed up at our table and I ordered rounds of shots for the table. I swilled my beer down before she returned. The little glasses were passed around and tossed back before she was out of earshot. “Hey, Suzy!”
She turned, and Slade ordered another round. Steve shouted for more beers too. Between the bourbon and beer, I was buzzed. I leaned against Slade, stuffing a fry into the fry sauce from him, and then dipping one in the gravy for me.
Around one o’clock, people filtered through the roadhouse and out the door. Adelle shot me a scathing glare, which I met with a stoic expression of indifference. Ilene came up beside me in a show of solidarity. The pack of bitches passed through the door, followed by their musher Tom. He cast Slade an apologetic expression and shrugged his shoulders. “Adelle’s a spirited one.”
“Yup. She is.” Slade tipped his hat, then spoke only loud enough for us to hear. “And I’m glad she’s his burden.”
I left a good tip on the table for Suzy. She was a fine waitress, and I wasn’t going to hold her poor choice in friends against her. We filed out a few couples behind them. Waving, Ilene and Steve headed to his car. “Meet you back at the ranch.”
Turning on my heel, I aimed for Slade’s truck. There was no warning, not even Slade caught wind of the attack. Adelle hit me from behind, slamming me into the tailgate of his truck. Stars exploded in my vision, and air whooshed out of my lungs. The stubborn will that had flared on the dance floor flooded me. I pushed off the tailgate, clipping her jaw with my elbow when I spun to face her. She covered her jaw with a hand, and her fingers came away bloody. “You witch!”
“And?” I clamped my jaws shut and widened the stance of my feet, bracing myself for another round. Adelle swung out, fingernails bared. I blocked it with a hard outward swing. She was framed by the moon before I struck back, shoving her in the middle of her chest, pushing her back on her ass in the muddy parking lot.
She scrambled to her feet and balled her fists. I taunted her, stepping back and baiting her in. She swung and I sidestepped, letting her smash her pretty nails against the tailgate of Slade’s truck. The metallic bang echoed off the vehicles and caught her escort’s attention. Tom’s head popped up like a prairie dog in a field of cars before he stood in the doorframe of his Suburban. “Adelle! What the hell’re you doing?”
She spat at my feet and then backed away. “I told you I’d come at you sideways.”
“No, you hit me from behind, like a pathetic little bitch.”
Adelle’s face contorted, and her eyes widened, pupils dilating like a dog tracking a target. Tom appeared out of the shadows, wrapping his arms around Adelle’s stomach and holding her back. Slade placed a hand on my shoulder, fingers digging into my jacket. “Doesn’t matter what you want, Adelle. In the end, you’re with Tom and I have Slade.”
Her shoulders slumped. Tom released her then, wrapping his hand around her wrist and leading her back to his vehicle. Slade tapped my shoulder. “Come on, Kally Cat. Let’s go home.”
I climbed into the front seat and buckled in. “Kally Cat?”
“Well, yeah.” His smile was broad when he turned to me. “You get into a cat fight outside of a bar and not expect me to say anything?”
I snorted. “Well, she started it.”
He laughed and smacked my thigh. “And you finished it.”
“Damn straight.”
I slumped on the seat, bracing my knees on the dashboard and wrapping my fingers in Slade’s. The normal Wyoming travel time warp was quickened in an inebriated blur. The roads slipped by in a snowy haze of hills and trees, flat lands and the occasional house with lights on.
We turned into the Fourth Moon’s main drive, closest to Devil’s Tower. The Missouri Butte was framed in snowfall and moonlight. I turned in the seat, climbing up onto my knees to watch the landmark shrink in the back window before the trees swallowed the picturesque view. Slade parked near the house. I opened the door and got out, but my legs had turned to mush. I staggered toward the porch, slipping on an icy patch and nearly pitching face first onto the drive.
“Good lord, girl.” Slade hurried to my side and looped an arm around my waist. Turning sideways, he ushered us through the front door and foyer.
Ilene and Steve were waiting for us in the great room beside the fire. “Hey you two. What happened back there?”
My tongue felt thick in my mouth, and I still couldn’t stop it from wagging. “Adelle attacked me.”
Steve didn’t seem the least bit surprised. Ilene jumped from her chair. “Oh, hun! Did she hurt you?”
“Kally’s a pretty good scrapper. She shut Adelle up in a hurry.” Slade released me and I drooped forward, catching myself on the back of an armchair. The floor rocked and the walls wavered. The chair I clung to tipped unbelievably sideways, and Slade caught me before I fell. “Right now I think this little scrapper needs to go to bed though.”
Ilene laughed and agreed. “We’ll show ourselves to the room and then meet you in the morning.”
I waved my hand like a goon. “Night, Ilene. Night, Steve.”
“Come on, you.” Slade guided me toward the stairs. The shots caught up with me climbing the steps in the warm stairwell. By the time I’d reached the hallway at the top my head was doing loops, and my feet had somehow become detached from my body. They moved beneath me of their own accord, aiming toward my bedroom. One hand trailed the wall for support while I stumbled along to my bedroom with Slade holding up my other arm.
“You can certainly hold your bourbon.” He grunted when I pitched forward through my open door. “But it comes around and bites you in the ass, doesn’t it?”
“Yep!” A sober thought burned bright in my sluggish mind. Ohmygod, I’m sloppy drunk in front of Slade!
I tried to stand without swaying. My “fuck Adelle” shots of bourbon had destabilized my equilibrium. My ass hit the mattress, and I flopped over to pull my boots off. One boot came off with a lurch and I hit myself in the forehead with the embroidered flowers of the upper. Slade stopped me from making myself twice the fool by removing the other boot for me. I reached out and grabbed hold of his hand. He kept my world from spinning. “Slade?”
“Yeah, Kally?”
“I’m drunk.” I tugged on the wrist of my top, but couldn’t navigate its removal.
“Yes, you are.” The lines of his face softened when he wrapped the hem of my sweater in his fingers. I hiccupped when the cotton stitching of my sweater passed over my face and off from me. My hair poured over my eyes and his gentle touch wiped it away.
I blinked hard, trying to clear my vision. “The room is spinning.”
“Maybe it will stop when you go to sleep.”
I turned when he directed me to, and slid beneath the blankets. The world failed to adjust with my new position and I felt certain I’d fall through the bed and floor. “I don’t want to sleep alone tonight. You’re the only thing holding me steady.”
“Then tell me what you want, Kally.”
“Will you sleep with me?”
He cocked an eyebrow, and I wished to God I didn’t have so much bourbon in my veins. I wanted to say something smart, wanted the walls to stop wobbling, wanted to feel his arm around me. But nothing more. I waggled my head from side to side and my gift of clear speech deserted me. “Not like that, though…”
He put a finger to my lips. “Sure thing, darlin’.”
My eyelids drooped and I clutched the bedpost, watching him pull off his boots and remove his big, shiny belt buckle. His snowy white socks stood out in high relief to the sour mash shadows in my eyes. My brain/mouth filter was broken. “Nice socks.”
“H
ush up, your bourbon’s talkin’.”
I put a hand over my mouth and Slade climbed into the bed behind me. The bed shook while he settled in, then everything righted itself, like a ship after a swell, when he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me to his chest. My dizziness quieted to a wiggling at the edges of my vision and a gentle rocking when I closed my eyes.
I wriggled back tight against Slade, nestling my head on his other arm. He kissed the top of my head, and bliss spread in waves from the place where his lips touched me. Releasing me, he pulled the blankets tighter to my chin. I dragged the orange teddy bear into my arms and looked at the two pairs of boots by my wall. His breathing was regular, deep and soothing. I sighed, and then, warm and fuzzy, I relaxed into sleep.
Slade and Kally: Letting Go of the Reins, Book 1
Chapter Twelve
Slade awoke to the curtains filtering weak dawn light and Kally snoring softly. A morning stretch tempted him. The need to move burned along his spine, but he lay still beside her afraid to move, afraid to lose the quiet moment to the busy day he knew was coming.
Propping himself up on one elbow, Slade’s gaze poured over her face, her throat. The broken doll was gone. Kally was a whole woman again, though her delicate features still reminded him of an elf.
Stray strands of blonde lay over her eyes. He brushed them away. Kally twitched, her eyelids fluttered, then she settled back into sleep. He kissed her head and nestled in the pillow where he could smell her bouquet of floral scents mingled with the unmistakable smell of Butch’s Roadhouse. He had to smile at the thought of last night’s date. Kally had loosened up, let her hair down, and he loved every minute of it.
She laughed, she flirted, and when pressed by Adelle, she fought back. Each new aspect of her evolving personality intrigued him. Kally had so many sides. She was a gem revealing herself one facet at a time.
He thought back over his time on the force and being wrapped around Adelle’s finger. Slade choked back a sarcastic snort. Was he really so happy then? Looking at Kally asleep beside him, his heart swelling with each breath she took, he had to say no. Delusion was not happiness. The fight for advancements, the fights with Adelle were nothing but stress and adrenaline. They were beguiling and deceitful, just like the green-eyed Crawford she-devil. The emotions he felt with Kally were so much stronger, more honest and real than any crush he’d ever entertained.
The stretch he’d suppressed came back, and he could not fight it anymore. Slade leaned away from Kally while the movement traveled from his neck, through his shoulders and arms, down his spine and out his toes. Slade shuddered and a yawn escaped him. The girl he had tried not to disturb began to stir.
Morning came roaring into the room and my skull. My brain pulsed and ached with each beat of my heart. The sunlight through the window hurt my eyes, and I wasn’t sure if the bright spots were sunlit dust motes or my ocular nerves screaming in agony.
“Oh God.” My hands went to my head, pressing back against my temples.
Slade moved beside me, taking his warmth with him when he sat. The bed-wiggles went right into my brain. “Regret is a bitch, isn’t it?”
“Oh yeah, a heinous bitch.”
I groaned, and his fingers brushed my eyelids closed. He stroked my forehead, along my cheekbones and down my nose. My hands dropped to the mattress and I lay beside him, blind and drinking in his ministrations. Stroking his fingers on my skin, Slade took some of the pain away. Misery shrank beneath his hands, and then he cupped my chin with his palm and kissed my forehead. His butterfly kisses alighted on my cheeks, my closed eyelids, my nose, and then settled on my lips, briefly.
Was it real? Lights went off behind my eyelids. My heart slammed in my ribs. I could have been floating and not even on the bed. He brushed stray bangs from my face. “Want me to run a hot bath for you? Then you can soak while I make some coffee.”
“Sounds good.” Even though I’d rather have you kiss me again.
The bed rocked when Slade climbed over me and out of bed to stand on the rug. Wild, wavy dark hair stood at odd angles on his head, and his clothes were rumpled. The most beautiful man I’d ever been blessed to look at. My heart fluttered when he held out his hands, I used them to pull myself upright and then off the bed and into his arms. Nothing was stable. My legs felt like putty, my head ached and heart refused to pick up a regular rhythm. “Whoa! The world is spinning again.”
Nestling against his chest, I inhaled his scent of day-old Stetson cologne and warm skin. The world steadied, the beauty returned to the grain of the wood paneling and the sun through the window was a blessing once more instead of a curse. Within, my soul danced and sang to the tune of my pounding heart. Was the world spinning because of my hangover or Slade’s kiss?
“All right now, Kally.” His grip loosened, and he pointed toward the Mission Oak bureau. “Fetch yourself some clothes. We have a party to throw and a house to decorate. Now scoot.”
I walked toward the dresser, but not before catching a playful spank on my right butt cheek from Slade. I gasped and he ducked into the bathroom when I spun to give him a shocked expression. The dresser drawers gave up jeans, a long underwear top and pastel flannel shirt when I rifled through them. I folded the clothes while I watched him lock the hallway door and plug the tub. By the time I joined him in the bathroom, he’d dropped two of his mom’s tea bags into the water. “Take two and call me in the morning.”
Tea in the bathwater? “I never thought about putting the tea into a bath.”
“It’s kind of an aromatherapy thing.” He swished the teabags around and then winked. “The lavender and sage are very soothing. Might help your hangover.”
“Ah, well I can use all the help I can get.” The icky feeling in my head had trickled down into my body while I stood. “Thanks for starting my bath, and for thinking enough to put the tea in there.”
He ran a hand through his mussed hair, his pale blue eyes focused on mine, piercing into my heart. “I’m always thinking about you.”
With one sentence, he turned me to goo. Warmth flooded me, bringing up nagging questions I tried so hard to ignore. I looked out the window, at the snow-clad trees and beyond to the hills. The ranch was so beautiful, the life here was utopian. “But why, cowboy? I’m just a horse-fearing small town girl with a painful past.”
He closed the distance between us, one hand resting in the small of my back, and the thumb of his other hand tracing the line of my bottom lip. Those icy blue eyes had softened again, shifting from polar to baby blue. “Why?” He paused, his heart spoke in loud percussion, echoing in my own chest. “Well, for about one hour it was the whole ‘wounded bird’ thing. Carrying you home on Jack’s back, you limp and leaning against me, mumbling, begging me not to hurt you. God, girl, you cut right into my heart and left me aching.
“Then, you woke up in the hospital, and everything changed. Your vulnerable side got buried beneath your feisty personality. When you interact with Ilene,” a grin warmed his face, “you girls drive me crazy. By the way, you’re all happy and act like you can take on the world. You’re so respectful of my mother and our guests. But when you’re with me, your soft side comes out. You bewitch me with all of your facets. Like turning a gemstone and seeing all the different sides.
“And when I think of the gift you gave me when you reminded me of the beauty of this place, the good honest blessings of this life, well it makes me fall even harder.” The distance between his lips and mine was excruciating. I was malleable in his arms.
I blinked away happy tears. “You’re falling for me?”
He placed a feather-light kiss on my lips. “Falling so hard.”
The world no longer spun. Everything fell away, except me and Slade and the pressure of his lips on mine. His hand slid up my back, fingers tangling in my hair while the other hand traced the neckline of yesterday’s shirt. My heart beat stronger and softer and the sound of it echoed in my ears. The emotion, the need for him was sweet nectar in my mouth.
Emotions I could not control rose and swirled within. His eyes slipped closed when he came in to kiss me again.
Reality flooded back, cascading with the bathwater to the floor and dampening the heat of our embrace. Laughing, I scrambled for the faucet while Slade tossed towels on the floor. We both dropped to our knees mopping up the water, and then he winked at me, gathered the towels and tossed them down the laundry chute.
“All right, Kally.” He opened the door to the bedroom. “I’m going to leave you to your bath and get some dry clothes. I’ll meet you downstairs, because I believe the ranchers are down there whipping up breakfast already.”
Fingers on the fly of my jeans I nodded. “Okay, I’ll try to be quick.” Slade hovered at the door, his eyes coursing my body. “Go on, now. I’m not taking off my clothes while you’re in the room.”
His kissable lips twisted downward in a mock pout and he gave me a great imitation of puppy dog eyes. I shook my head and pointed down the hall. With a final whimper, he winked and then shut the door. The tiles were cold beneath my feet when I hurried over and locked it. I returned to the tub, letting out enough water to make room for me without overflowing it again. Then, dropping my clothes, I stepped into the bath, inhaling the herbal vapors and soaking my achy shoulder in the heated water.
Saturday morning chaos churned inside the kitchen walls. The lady ranchers were all busy with a pan or skillet, and George was setting places for ten. Kally slipped in like she was the pinch hitter for some kitchen sports team. She relieved Emma from her post at the fried potatoes and Slade stepped into flapjack flipper position. He cast sidelong glances at her butt while she shimmied to some internal tune.
Rosie walked past, her shiny black hair tied back on top and a turquoise beaded choker circled her neck. She nudged Kally, her dark eyes sparkling when she mouthed, “Watch this.”
