by Emily Bishop
Summer dragged me back to the present by handing me back the drink. Our fingers collided, and I tensed. Holy fuck, this woman was torture.
“Who is she?”
She had the nerve to keep intruding on my life. Before I could shut the thought away, it dawned on me that this could be some sort of a ruse of hers. Perhaps she knew exactly who I was, and she was biding her time to blow my identity and bring the media to my doorstep.
I took a step back, shaking my head. “You don’t know me, so my suggestion to you is to mind your own business.”
An awkward silence ensued. Emotions battled across her features, transforming Summer’s face into pure fury. She wasn’t letting this behavior slip. She straightened her back and cast me a furious gaze, her eyes burning with irritation. Her lips narrowed and her jaw clenched in tightness. She was pissed, all right. “You know what?” She took a deep breath. “You’re right. I’m sorry for intruding. I thought… we were getting to know each other. I’ll leave you alone now.” She turned and hurried off.
I downed down the rest of my drink and stormed off into the corner of the beer garden, away from the herds of drunkards and flirtatious women eye-balling me.
You’re an idiot, James.
I had crossed the line with my overzealous suspicions.
And Summer… she was hot-headed. And so strong. She wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, nor to challenge me. And that sexy smirk of hers! She could be the end of me.
But something held me back from going after her. It was better this way, being alone. I called it damage control. I had opened up my heart and soul to another woman before, and look how that had turned out.
Lost in my thoughts, Atohi’s words from earlier popped into my head uninvited.Damn him and his wisdom. Looked like I had found my match.
I broke free from my stupor, and settled on inspecting Atohi and his red-headed companion, who’d progressed into physical territory. Atohi was laughing at her joke and his hands rested snugly on her lower back.
Almost knowingly, Atohi tilted his head back and caught my gaze. I swear he had eyes at the back of his head. He looked at me questioningly, and I shrugged, shaking my head.
I had fucked up.
*
Two hours later, and into my fourth whisky, I’d loosened up. The world didn’t seem so ugly anymore. Atohi had taken a momentary break from his red-headed endeavors and had grilled me for eternity, pressing to get to the bottom of Summer’s disappearance. He knew I was a mess, and still he persisted.
Thankfully, Bruna was nowhere to be seen.
The beer garden was splitting at the seams with a hot mass of people pressed together, dancing, shouting and laughing over the music. The DJ had progressed from R&B to country, and the crowd loved it.
I spotted Atohi charging over to me now, grim with worry.
I frowned. He was supposed to have come back with two drinks, and here he was empty-handed.
Something was off.
“What’s up?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Your ex, she’s making a mess out of the blonde. And there’s a group of guys surrounding them. They’re jacked up on something.”
Atohi’s words sank into my gut. Heat flared up my nostrils, and I could practically feel steam coming out of my ears.
This couldn’t be happening. How had Bruna grabbed hold of Summer? Christ, if I hadn’t been such a dick, Summer would still be safe with me.
Stomach churning with dread, I pushed past Atohi, zigzagging through the crowd with purpose. People took one glance at me and moved out of the way, clearing the path ahead for slaughter.
Charging inside the bar, I winced as the heavy scent of beer, sweat, and nicotine hit me. Scanning the room, I spotted them at the counter.
Bruna stood next to them, relishing the scene, a smirk dancing across those lips that I had savored once yet now regarded with pure contempt. She tilted her head and looked at me.
I darted my gaze toward Summer, and Bruna quickly melted into background noise as I was overcome by my need to get to her. Summer was folded into herself, leaning against the bar counter. I suspected the counter was the only thing holding her upright at the minute.
Three beefy men surrounded her. One of them had her by the arm and was trying to spin her around for a dance. A fresh burst of fury exploded in me.
She was blatantly unreceptive and intoxicated, and they were loving it, thinking this was going to be an easy lay for them.
I allowed the rage to consume me whole. These fuckers were finished.
Storming into the scene, I walked straight up in front of Summer and shielded her from those assholes.
“Back off.” I growled, shifting my glare from man to man.
One of them, with greasy brown hair, flashed me a fake crooked smile revealing rotting teeth. I mentally cringed.
“Relax, we were just having fun. Ain’t that right y’all?” he drawled.
“Keep dreaming if you think she’d start, let alone finish anything with a bunch of sewer rats looking like they have crawled out of the gutter,” I snarled and lifted a fist. One of the fuckers paled.
A deep booming laugh cut past us, interrupting our confrontation.
Summer tugged at my sleeve relentlessly, and I turned. Her whole face was twisted in laughter. “I love it, it looks like you’re trying to freeze them all with your eyes. Where did you learn to do that? It’s so funny.” Summer burst out into another round of laughter, a loud cackle of noise that had us all baffled. Tears spilled out of her eyes as she lost control.
The distraction was enough—the three men abandoned the scene quickly and scurried past the crowds.
Here I was ready to pummel them with my fists, and Summer had swept the rug right from under me with her antics.
“Good riddance, arrivederci!” She shouted after them.
I arched my eyebrow. Was that Italian?
“It’s just you and me now, stormy James. Who else are you going to cast away with your hotness?” Summer slurred, then clasped both hands to her face, mortified.
She found me hot, eh? Well the attraction was 100 percent mutual.
She tried to save face by blurting out, “I didn’t say anything!” and then she attempted to push herself off the counter, but I was one step ahead of her.
The second she lost her balance, I was there, scooping her into my arms and steadying her straight. “Easy now. I’m going to get you home.” I said into her ear.
“The Outpost Motel?” She laughed. “Not sure the motel likes me so much. In fact, the Outpost Motel almost electrocuted me the other day. Stuck my curling iron in the outlet and it, um, yeah.”
I furrowed my eyebrows at her. Who knew what was going on in her head right now?
“Can you walk?” I asked and then made a mental note to kick myself later. Of course she couldn’t walk, she was a drunk mess. And I suspected Bruna had a part to play in this. In fact, knowing her, she’d probably orchestrated it.
“Mr. Grouch. You’re no fun. Do this, do that. Bruna was more fun.” Summer muttered. I jumped at the chance to question her.
“Did Bruna do this to you?” I asked her, a sense of urgency gripping me.
“She kept buying me drinks. And shots, looooads of shots. I hate shots. They make me wanna puke. She kept insisting for me to have fun.” Summer squeezed her eyes shut, and I wanted to punch something, anything.
“Come on, Mr. Grouch is taking you home. Lean into me.” I ordered, and she did. She hung onto me like I was her anchor, and I savored it. I guided her until we were outside, back in blissful fresh air.
Bruna might have vanished from the bar, but I was going to hunt her down and send her back to her artificial world.
Atohi spotted us from the corner and came running toward us. “What the fuck happened?” He demanded. I loosened my hold over Summer.
“Bruna happened. I’m going to take her back to her place, since we’re not in a shape to drive. I’ll see you back at work tomorrow.” Th
e words tumbled out of me, and I was tired, so bone-dogged tired of this shit. This intensity with Summer was exhausting.
“You sure you guys will be OK?” Atohi pressed on.
Summer apparently answered for us. As if things couldn’t get any worse, she broke fully free from my arms and made a dash across the beer garden, toward the back door.
“Fuck. I gotta go. Pray for me,” I joked and broke off into a light sprint, playing catch-up with the infuriating strong-headed blonde.
There wasn’t a boring moment with Summer around.
Chapter 5
Summer
“What are you doing?” a voice laced with disbelief called out to me.
Slowly, slowly, I spun around with one foot on the ground while my other leg hovered above my shoulder.
“I’m engaging my ulu-bandas, my inner core.” I replied matter-of-factly, because what else would I be doing in the middle of the street past midnight?
Connecting my gaze with none other than James, I noted the moodiness from earlier was replaced with a battle of relief and exasperation in his expression. He ran a hand through his sexy locks.
Ah, a sign of frustration. An image popped in, of me running my hand through his silky waves. I bet they would feel so good—
“Your what?” James cocked his head to the side, muddling my thoughts. Was that amusement I could see in his eyes? But no, not possible, because just as quickly, it was snuffed out and replaced with his brooding expression.
Holy moly. This was going to take some effort. “U-l-u-b-an-d-a-an.”
Ahh, that’s not it. Inwardly, I cursed. The word had too many syllables for my current mental capacity.
“Why did you run away?” Dark sea-colored eyes burned into mine, scolding me, reminding me that I was supposed to be angry with him. But how could I be, when he stared at me like that, a surly beast of angst?
“Why did you run away?” I repeated his question, using my arms for balance. Balancing on one leg was dangerous business.
From the look James threw me, he apparently didn’t appreciate vocal imitations or my tree-pose efforts.
“Why did you leave?” he rephrased.
“Because I’m going homeee. Is it a crime to leave party?” Apparently, English grammar wasn’t my strong suit tonight.
“It’s not a good idea to walk around inebriated in the middle of the night as a single woman. Not in this neighborhood.”
I appreciated the sentiment, of course, but I was perfectly capable of handling myself. I opened my mouth to tell him so, but my legs decided to betray me.
James was by my side in the blink of an eye, holding me upright. Without meaning to, I leaned into him and inhaled that familiar mint scene.
A fresh shiver ran down my spine, and I bit my tongue back to suppress a moan. It was a crime for someone to smell this good. Like in that Perfume movie. Surely, his scent attracted lunatics who wanted to bask in his glorious skin.
“Come on, yogi, let’s get you back to your good old friends, the Outpost Motel.” James’s usual cold voice was gentle.
“You are mildly pleasant when you’re not stormy,” I observed. Oops. My tongue had gotten the best of me again. Really, I shouldn’t be blurting out thoughts at this point. Who knows what else will slip past?
Like, how I fantasized about him in bed.
James didn’t seem to mind. We started walking down the long road ahead of us, with me propped against his lean muscled mass for support. After a while James broke the silence.
“Why did you accept the drinks from Bruna?”
I took this chance to sneak in a glance. His eyes had morphed from the freezing arctic to full-on Siberia. His entire figure was sculpted into stone, tension arising from his clenched jawline.
“She just came up to me and started chatting. She seemed friendly enough. Offered to fix me up with a drink. One thing led to another, and she was buying like five tequilas in oneg one-g—o.” Damn. I was stumbling over syllables again.
James’s shoulders hardened. “Did she say anything about me at all?”
“You’ll be surprised to know that you did not dominate the headlines this evening. I just wanted to have a good time f-for once. I’ve had a rough start in Dripping Springs.”
“How so?” He arched an eyebrow.
“Err, let’s see.” I halted in my tracks for drama. Counting off from my fingers, I recalled my luck with precision. “Almost missed a cow coming in to Dripping Springs—"
“You mean to say you almost hit cows on the road, not once, but twice?” James chucked, shaking his head.
I continued. “Yes twice. I almost got electricity hair at my motel—Who knew plug sockets could be so dangerous?”
“I guess you like living on the edge.” A smile tugged at James’s lips, and I felt him loosening again, the tension rolling out of his shoulders. Another barrier was down.
Encouraged, I went on. “Then my low blood sugar levels struck again, in the most unbecoming of ways. I passed out in front of Mr. Grouch’s porch. And then, I realized chasing up a story in Dripping Springs is haaaard work. Like really hard. Then I come to a party, to have a good time, and instead, your broodiness strikes. I go to a bar to have a good time, this Bruna buys me drinks. And then, and then, a bunch of guys come over, wanting to dance, and before I know it—"
Oops. That wasn’t a good idea.
At the mention of the men from the bar, James’s back tensed up, muscles cording with veins. He clenched his jaw. “Seeing you like that, surrounded by those guys…” James’s voice broke. Our eyes collided again, caught in a riptide.
“You came at the right minute,” I admitted.
James tore his gaze away, pain flickering in his expression. “If my friend Atohi hadn’t told me, who knows what would have happened.” The tension was back in his voice, in full swing, and I had the urge to grab his face and still his turmoil.
Before I could think, I did just that.
I went up on my tiptoes and rested my hands on his cheeks, tugging his beautiful face toward me. He was taken aback but didn’t pull away.
He was so many things at once. Strong and brooding, stormy but also soft. There was a tenderness to him underneath all that armor that pushed me closer to him. It dawned on me that I wanted to get to know this infuriating man. It was going to take work, but didn’t all good things in life take patience?
My eyes flickered toward his lips. They were so soft and supple, and as his gaze moved to my own mouth, heat surged in my pussy, bathing me with warmth. I was floating, and only one thing would take me upward.
But that last tequila shot decided to come back with a vengeance.
I bent over as the wave of nausea hit, and I threw up. Could the ground just come up to meet me now? Thankfully, everything became blurry at that point.
My next memory was of familiar arms, chiseled stone, the epitome of strength, laying me down ever so softly on crispy sheets.
Mmm, that felt good. I sank into the fluffiness, sleep calling out to me.
A low murmur beckoned me to do just that.
“It’s OK, you can sleep now.”
A blanket rose up to meet my shaking body, and I dropped off.
*
Chirping birds dragged me into hell. A deep-seated groan rocked my body.
Ugh. Why did I feel like a tractor had run me over?
I cracked an eyelid and instantly regretted it.
“Have mercy on me!” I whispered. Next came the doom-doom beat of the drums battering my head with a splitting headache.
You can do this, Summer.
Sucking in a breath, I summed up the courage to open the other eye.
I was in my motel room. I sank into the sheets. At least I wasn’t in a ditch somewhere, or worse, in a serial killer’s basement.
Summing up the powers of memory, I pieced together last night’s events.
The stormy James. More James. Followed by drinks. Lots and lots of drinks. And then…My eyes widened in h
orror. I let out another groan, but this one seemed more like a cry—Why did I do that?
I had puked my guts out, in the most unsexy way possible, in front of the sizzling handsome but stone-cold sober James.
Panicking, I darted my eyes around the room. Thank God I was alone. If he saw me now—
The door swung open as if on cue, and in walked James. My eyes widened again.
Why was fate cruel?
James balanced two cups of coffee and a paper bag in his other arm. Kicking the door shut with his foot, he eyed me, amused.
“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty,” he teased.
I rolled my eyes and struggled to get past the sheets, but they were impossibly tangled up in my legs. Kicking and huffing, I finally managed to free myself from their treachery.
“Trouble in paradise?” James joked. He marched over to me, looking ruggedly delicious with unkempt hair and an unshaven face. “Here, drink this,” he added, passing the warm cup of coffee into my hands.
I eyed it. “Dairy-free or not dairy-free, that is the question?”
“I don’t have a two-second memory, if that’s what you’re wondering. It’s filtered black.”
Oh god yes. I wanted to kiss him. I took a loud gulp and closed my eyes in ecstasy. At least caffeine was on my side.
“Do you need some help getting up?”
His question stung. I was perfectly capable of getting up myself, thank you very much. “I’m not an invalid.”
“Judging by the fact that you literally passed out in my arms last night, where ah, let’s see, I had to carry you for fifteen minutes up to your room and put you down to sleep, I would say, yes you were pretty incapacitated.”
I smiled at him gratefully. “Touché. Well I don’t want to make a habit of this or anything.” My voice trailed off.
James shrugged. “You’re a lightweight. Now, I wasn’t sure how hungry you are.’”
At the mention of food, another round of queasiness hit me.
James sighed. “I guess food can wait? But you do look like you could benefit from a shower.” He added.
