Chapter 2
2
W ell now, wasn’t this a nice surprise?
Aiden took a couple extra steps to the side, aiming for an opening in the crowd as the fight continued to rumble behind them. He was fully aware he was grinning at Petra with damn-near delight.
Petra squirmed slightly, her fingers on his shoulders pushing him back yet holding him close. As if she too wasn’t quite sure what to think of this moment, but it wasn’t a bad thing.
“This is a blast from the past. You saving me again.” Amusement danced in her tone. “Plan to put me down anytime soon?”
He met her gaze, examining her features and the long brown strands that had escaped her ponytail. She looked nearly as good as she had after he’d tumbled her into bed the first time. “Sure you want me to put you down here? Because I can find us somewhere more private.”
“Very funny.” Her eyes rolled slightly before she tapped his chest. “Okay, now that I’m not shocked out of my mind, let’s start with you helping me to my feet.”
Fine by him. That’s where they’d start, but not where they’d finish. Not if he had anything to say about it.
He lowered her but kept the hand around her back snug enough that she landed torso to torso. The heat of their bodies meshed.
Petra shook her head but smiled as she examined his face. “You’re a cocky bastard.”
“How cocky, you know intimately,” he reminded her, delighted at the flush of red that brushed her cheeks.
Another woman arrived, the human equivalent of a pry bar. Impossibly, within seconds the petite redhead had managed to wedge herself between him and Petra as if it were the most natural thing in the world and not a defensive move. “You okay, honey?”
Aiden couldn’t resist. “I’m just fine, sugar.”
The redhead lost her charm and offered him an evil glare, silvery eyes flashing menace.
She opened her mouth, probably to lambaste him, but Petra moved first, spinning slightly to position herself next to her friend. “We’re both okay. Aiden saved me from falling on my ass.”
His gaze dropped involuntarily. It was one fine ass, but that was probably not a comment he should make at this moment. Not with the redhead and another woman joining their gathering.
“Ranch hands are such idiots,” the newcomer commented before thrusting her hand toward him. “I’m Tansy Fields. Nice catch there, hotshot.”
He took the offering. “Aiden Skye. I aim to please.”
Petra laughed. It was a soft sound, her head down as if she were trying to hide her response, but he heard it, and something warmed inside.
The night he’d picked her up had been memorable. Pleasurable without strings. Seeing her again brought to mind all sorts of wonderful distractions. Just because he had a job to do here in Heart Falls didn’t mean he couldn’t also have some fun.
He ignored Petra’s posse as much as possible, focusing solely on her. “You steady enough on your feet to try the dance floor again?”
Petra glanced at her friends. “Sydney. Stop growling like an attack dog. Aiden and I have met before. He’s got my seal of approval.”
Disappointment danced over Sydney’s face. “Well, drat. I just got a new scalpel I wanted to try.”
Scalpel? Dear God.
Tansy smacked the back of her hand into Sydney’s arm. “Stop being mean to the nice cowboy.”
“But it’s so hard to tell the nice ones from the not so nice ones,” Sydney complained, gesturing toward the dance floor. “I mean, one minute everything’s flowing smoothly, and the next, testosterone is rumbling all over the place.”
A very inelegant snort escaped Tansy. “Please. You rarely complain about rumbling testosterone.” She danced her attention between Petra and Aiden then made shooing motions with her fingers. “Go on. Dance.”
Aiden tucked his arm around Petra again, ready to guide her to the floor. Amusement was still there though, so he tilted his head toward where his brothers stood at a nearby high top, drinking their beers now that the crowd and the fight had settled. “Those two cowboys are nice. I mean, nice enough, in a not very nice way,” he corrected.
As expected, Tansy’s gaze darted over to land on Jake and Declan. Her expression turned to admiration then flicked back to Aiden. “If you’re lying, we will get revenge.”
“They’re my brothers,” he admitted. “The grumpy one is Declan. The one who looks as if butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth is Jake, but they both know their right feet from their left.”
Then he ignored the mischief he’d arranged and guided Petra onto the dance floor and back into his arms. The music shifted to something slower, and he tucked her tight against him.
“Neatly done,” Petra watched her friends for a moment before focusing back on him.
“I was highly motivated to get your friends otherwise occupied.” He turned her smoothly, welcoming the pressure of her curves against him. “You’re looking good.”
“Thanks. You’re looking like you’re here, in Heart Falls.”
He paused. “Is this a trick question?”
“No. But I could’ve sworn that night we spent together you said you didn’t live here.”
Aiden leaned her over his arm, staring into her eyes as he dipped her with the utmost control. “You said you didn’t live here either.”
“Touché.”
He pulled her upright, and they danced in silence for a moment, deep appreciation for the way she moved in his arms rising again.
“After I danced with you last time, I knew I wanted you in my bed,” he admitted. “You’re so responsive. Makes it easy to guide you, which means both of us get to enjoy the dance as much as possible.”
Petra smiled, the hand on his shoulder rising until a gentle caress drifted over the back of his neck. “My sisters always told me that if a couple couldn’t dance well vertically, they couldn’t dance horizontally, either.”
“Makes sense.” His body was heating up from all the contact points between them. She knew it, the minx. Her hips swayed the slightest bit more than necessary so that the thickening ridge of his cock was brushed more intensely. “We going to do more dancing tonight than right here? Right now?”
Heat rose in her eyes, but her head shifted slightly from side to side. “I’m interested, but that’s not something that can happen tonight. I’ve just moved to Heart Falls, and I’m still settling in. This isn’t a great time for me to sneak away, no matter how much you tempt me.”
“Well, that’s the saddest thing I’ve heard in a good long time.” And yet, to be truthful, he was a little relieved. Figuring out the logistics of taking her home, with all of them settling in would be awkward, to say the least.
It also made him question what had appeared to be a perfectly reasonable living arrangement. Temporarily sharing a house with his brothers was one thing. Agreeing to remain celibate for months was another. Aiden was sure he wasn’t the only one.
First thing on the agenda at tomorrow morning’s meeting was a check-in of the building situation at the new High Water ranch.
He spun Petra because it brought her in close and let him torment himself with thoughts of what he’d have to wait a little longer to enjoy.
“Here’s the good news,” Petra told him, her eyes flashing with mischief, aware of what he was doing and fully on board. “Since I am living here now, when you’re traveling through the area you’ll know where to find me. Maybe this time we could exchange phone numbers. Keep in touch.”
She was brilliant, beautiful, and one of the high points of moving to Heart Falls. “I’d like that very much.”
The song was coming to an end, so he guided her back toward the side of the room. A quick glance told him that both his brothers were still on the floor with Sydney and Tansy.
He grabbed his phone and opened his contacts. “Type yours in.”
She eyed him for a second then tapped in her name and number. “Please do not end up being weird this time around. My phone is set to Do Not Disturb from midnight till eight a.m., so if I wake up to find a long message of increasingly fucked-up messages, or a single dick pic, I will forward Sydney your number. And your address if necessary.”
Aiden laughed. He took the phone from her and quickly typed in his information, hitting Send on the message. “There. My address for you to send to Sydney in case I get weird. But I promise the only ulterior motives I have regarding you are crystal clear.”
She glanced down as her phone pinged with his incoming message. Petra blinked, and her head snapped up. “What’s this?”
“My address,” he said again. “Since I now live here in Heart Falls as well, we won’t have to wait for me to travel through the area to give you a shout to let you know that I’d like to get together. Got any plans for Friday night?”
Petra’s friends were never going to let her live this down. Especially Tansy’s sister, Rose, who they’d all been wildly teasing because Rose’s one-night stand was now her fiancé.
It seemed Petra had managed the same damn thing?—
At least in the messing up the we’re doing this one time and it’s only for fun because I’m never going to see you again kind of way. Not in the this is a full-on relationship and we’re going to be together forever business.
Not that she had anything against marriage. She had a ton of shining examples of how to do it right in her parents and her siblings. But she wasn’t ready to take the plunge yet.
Her last boyfriend had left a nasty taste in her mouth.
Her brain was still in scramble mode when Aiden tucked his fingers under her chin and lifted, smiling into her eyes. “Did I throw you for a loop, darlin’?”
Petra shrugged. “You know you did, but it’s okay. Just taking a moment to wrap my brain around it, that’s all.”
Aiden nodded. “We’ll go at your speed, but we had a lot of fun last time.” He paused. “Or at least I had a lot of fun, and I tried to make sure you did as well.”
“Oh, it’s not that at all,” Petra reassured him. “That night lives on as fodder for my battery-operated pleasure-fests.”
He blinked, then his grin grew even wider. “Good to know. And damn if you didn’t just give me a visual that’s going to entertain me for a hell of a long time.”
A quick glance at the dance floor showed that her friends were heading her direction. “Your brothers? You’ve all moved here?”
“We’ve taken over the animal shelter,” Aiden informed her.
Oh, really ? Petra had been in town for less than twenty-four hours, but she’d been kept up to speed over the past months, between Tansy’s texts and Rose’s emails, regarding everything going on in their extended family. AKA, Petra knew that their Grandma Sonora, who used to own said animal shelter, was moving, but not who had bought the place.
Small towns were small. There wasn’t much that happened without it affecting someone you knew.
Tansy arrived at that moment, swinging into Petra’s space. “You’re not going to believe what Declan just told me.”
“That the Skye brothers are the ones who bought your grandma’s place?” Petra laughed as Tansy planted her fists on her hips and pouted. “Look, I don’t get to pull a fast one on you very often, so ta-da. ”
Sydney dipped her chin at Jake then took off back onto the dance floor with another partner.
Jake shrugged then gestured toward a table of ladies in the corner. “Declan. You coming?”
“Thanks for the dance, Tansy.” Declan shifted a little uncomfortably.
Tansy went full-on Tansy. She grabbed him by the collar and tugged him down to plant a kiss on his cheek. “I had a great time dancing with you, but we have zero chemistry. So go—there’s some lady out there you’ll light up the night with, but it’s not going to be me.”
Declan’s rarely present smile slipped fully into place. “I had a great time dancing with you, too. Plus, you are about the most blunt-spoken woman I’ve ever met. You let me know if you need me to act as big brother. Anytime.”
The next moment both Declan and Tansy took off in different directions leaving Petra and Aiden standing there.
Amusement rose hard and fast. “So much for triple dating,” Petra offered.
“Thank God,” Aiden said. “I meant it. They’re not assholes, but I like dating to be a two-person event, not something run by committee. Jake tends toward liking things very much by the book. Very straight and narrow. Declan is a lot more likely to go with the flow and make last minute changes.”
Which made things even funnier. Petra tugged Aiden toward the exit. “Maybe they have too much in common. Sydney makes lists of lists. I swear she organizes her day with three backup calendars and a host of alerts. By comparison, Tansy flies by the seat of her pants the entire time. She’s a fantastic cook, yet she somehow does it without ever setting a timer. It’s as if she’s got this internal stopwatch that tells her exactly when things need to happen.”
They were outside now in the cooling fall night. Petra had already forwarded Aiden’s contact information to Tansy, but considering everybody in town would know who the Skye brothers were before the day was out, she felt safe enough alone with him. Again.
She linked her fingers in his and tugged him down the boardwalk until they were outside of the pub’s bright lights. “You okay with this?” she asked.
“Don’t know. Do you plan to take advantage of me, Ms. Sorenson?” Aiden leaned against the wall of the mercantile and pulled her between his legs. “What will I do when I’m at your mercy?”
“Hopefully you haven’t forgotten all your moves,” Petra teased back.
She pressed her hands to his chest and slowly slid them upward. The soft fabric of his brushed-cotton shirt contrasted nicely with the powerful muscles under the material, and she hummed happily.
Easing closer, she tilted her head and lifted up on her tiptoes to offer her lips.
He needed no second invitation. Aiden cupped the back of her head, cradling her as he gently brought their lips together. A single brush, pleading and tender. The breath rushing past her warm compared to the cool night air. He pressed his other hand against the small of her back, and everything lined up so perfectly that Petra sighed again.
Another kiss, this one with lingering pressure. Another, his fingers guiding her head slightly to the side to take it deeper, slipping his tongue over her lips before easing away. And again, making contact and sending a thrill through her that made goosebumps rise and an ache start deep in her core.
His breathing kicked up a step, and the kiss turned into a taking. He owned her, controlled her. Ravished her lips in a way that made her head spin and her heart pound and everything in her ask for more.
Her memories had not failed her. Not one bit.
Petra wanted to climb him right there. To hell with being smart and waiting until the time was more appropriate. This man knew how to make every one of her yes buttons chime loudly. Consistently.
It was Aiden who tightened his grip on the back of her neck and, with a groan, separated his mouth from hers. He tipped his head so their foreheads met, and the two of them damn near gasped in each other’s faces, trying to catch their breath.
“Holy shit.”
Petra whispered it, but Aiden heard, and he chuckled. A barely there sound more noticeable because his entire body rocked against hers. Which also was not easy to take because there was so much more she wanted to do.
He smiled, eyes bright with amusement and lingering passion. “I agree. Holy shit.”
She put her hands back on his chest, rearranging herself until the room between their upper bodies had vanished. She leaned on him, his hands resting easily on the swells of her buttocks.
“We are going to do…each other…again,” Petra promised. “But no matter how much I wish I could change my mind, I’m still going to go with door number two this time. Not tonight.”
“Agreed, again.” Aiden’s gaze roamed over her face. “You just moved to town. I just moved to town. I’ve got a long list of things that need to be accomplished and can’t be put off, but I want to see you when it works.”
The way he worded it sounded like more than wanting to get together for a booty call, and Petra hesitated. “Just so you know, I’m not looking for a boyfriend right now.”
His shoulders lifted in an easy shrug. “Finding a girlfriend wasn’t on my to-do list. But we’ve got some amazing chemistry between us. Seems a shame to not at least enjoy that. If that’s something you’re looking for.”
The moment of panic passed. “We do have chemistry.”
His lips twitched. “Did you want to go back on the dance floor and torment ourselves for a little longer?”
“Definitely,” Petra agreed. He went to straighten but she pressed her palms to his cheeks and shook her head. “But first, we stay here. I’d like about three or four more kisses like that first one, please.”
“Please and thank you. Very polite, just like a good girl.” Aiden sank back against the wall, teasing his fingers along the crease where her butt and legs met. “Good girls get all sorts of things they like.”
Oh. My. God. The zap that went through her at his words could’ve powered a small space station for a full day. “You talking that way shouldn’t make me this hot.”
“Don’t try to analyze it.” Amusement danced in his eyes. “If it works, it works.”
Petra couldn’t agree more as his mouth crashed down on hers. She thoroughly enjoyed having her brain scrambled with kisses that left her aching and needy and happier than she’d been in a long time.
New beginnings. A place to start over and get her feet under her. Sometimes that was exactly what a person needed.