22. Romy
22
romy
“ F ucking Reed,” Lina mumbled as she swung a leg up into the saddle.
“What now?” I asked from my perch on Winnie.
“That man can’t help but overstep. He has no fucking boundaries.”
I frowned because I barely heard more than grunts come out of him.
“He feels the need to point out everything, or my stirrups are too long. He literally stopped me mid-trail ride to come up and adjust my stirrups because he said it was bugging the hell out of him. Like what the actual fuck? It’s not like I can’t adjust it myself!” She seemed frazzled.
I pinched my lips together to keep from laughing. “I can’t believe him.”
Lina shot me a glare before pressing her heels in. I followed her up the dirt road toward the stables. We had just finished leading a group of tourists on a trail ride. Reed and another hired hand were returning the rest of the mounts to the stable, leaving Lina and me to ride together.
“I’m ready for a burger and a cold beer,” Lina practically groaned.
“Oh God, that sounds good.” My stomach grumbled at the thought.
Chuck was hosting a barbeque for employees, rodeo riders, and their families before the busy season. Next week, everyone would be either harvesting and baling hay, branding cattle, or preparing for the Fourth of July rodeo. On top of all that, Chuck wanted to run two trail rides a day for tourists, which I volunteered to lead since Lina was heading back out on the circuit. Still not accustomed to riding every day, my legs were feeling it this afternoon. I was ready to relax with some grilled grub and a drink with a proof.
Lina and I rubbed down the horses and put them up for the night, scooping extra feed in their troughs before washing our hands and heading over to the big house.
The scent of the smoke from the grill made my mouth water. Voices and laughter filtered from the back of the house. Walking up the driveway, we headed around the house to the large deck and lawn that expanded to the back of the property.
The back of the house had one of the best views of the Deschutes. It was on a hill, the lawn spilling down toward a rough outcropping that overlooked the river. The sun was already dipping in the sky, casting a golden glow.
Kids ran across the lawn, bubble wands trailing bubbles in their wake, giggles floating with them. A couple of ranch hands sat on a bench strumming guitars, one of them singing as they played.
Releasing a breath, a feeling of contentment washed over me. This felt good. Comfortable. Happy. Like home.
I scanned the crowd. Reed chased a little, blonde girl in overalls down the lawn toward the river, scooping her up and tossing her in his arms. She let out a shrill giggle, Reed beaming down at her. I didn’t even know the man knew how to smile.
“Humph,” Lina huffed beside me, stomping toward the deck.
I followed her toward Chuck, who manned the grill.
Chuck shifted to the side, revealing Jude leaning against the railing beside him. My heart squeezed seeing him. Dark hair escaping from the front of his backward cap, his tight, navy T-shirt showing off his tatted muscles. Our eyes connected before his quickly trailed down my body. I still had on my dusty jeans and boots. I had shed my hoodie when we finished our trail ride, leaving me in a basic, white tank top. His lips tipped in his signature grin, and I felt my cheeks heat.
We had both been avoiding each other this week. I felt embarrassed not being able to hold my liquor after all the excitement with Junior, worried about Jude and what would happen with his contract, and so beyond livid that he didn’t tell me he was taking a fight in Vegas. That he didn’t plan to stay.
I didn’t want to talk to him right now. I needed time to sort it all out in my head.
Junior had scared me, and it also made me wonder more about what happened between Jesse and Hazel. I knew Hazel was lying, but what part was she lying about? And why? What was she hiding? Did Junior know something I didn’t?
Then the look on Jude’s face. His want to take care of me even when I’d been so angry at him made me second-guess why I was even mad at him in the first place.
I was so confused.
I was giving myself whiplash. I was going from being pissed that he would abandon his uncle when Chuck needed him most, to being angry he would put himself in harm’s way for a payout and not even tell me about it. Then convincing myself I had no right to be mad at him. I didn’t deserve a say. He wasn’t obligated to tell me his plans. Not after I ran out on him—not once, but twice. We weren’t in a relationship. There was no commitment. Right?
Lowering my gaze, I went to grab a Coors Light from the icy cooler.
The deck stairs creaked, and I raised my head to see Jude. He stooped and leaned in to grab a beer.
We popped the tops, letting the hiss of the carbonation break our awkward silence.
“Hi,” he rasped.
God, I missed his voice.
I took a swig from the can.
“Hi.”
He lifted his can to his lips. Those perfect, pillowy lips surrounded by delicious scruff. I missed those even more.
“Do you want a burger?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, I’m starving .”
I could see the veins in his neck as he swallowed slowly. His eyes flitted to my mouth before returning to my eyes. “Come with me,” he said, gesturing for me to follow him up the stairs to the deck.
My lips trembled around my grin. “Yes, sir .”
He threw a smoldering glance over his shoulder, the side of his mouth quirked. “I guess you can be polite when you want to be,” he teased.
I followed him to the grill where Chuck stood with a metal spatula, wearing a chef’s apron that read: I’m the Secret Ingredient.
“Hey, darlin’. Trail ride go all right?” he asked, flipping a burger.
Jude offered me a plate, the bun laid out, ready to accept a patty.
“Everyone seemed satisfied. Everyone except Lina, that is. She was not thrilled that Reed tagged along,” I reported, taking my plate from Jude.
Chuck guffawed. “She needs to get over whatever problem she has with him. I need him to learn the ropes in case he has to take a group out while Lina’s back on circuit.” He shoveled burgers on our buns. “Condiments are on the table.”
“Thanks,” we both said, heading over to the picnic table to load up our burgers.
I ate my burger with everything on it—cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, ketchup, mustard, even mayonnaise. Jude layered his with tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, and mustard.
“Counting calories?” I asked, my brows raised.
Jude pressed his lips together. “Always.”
Okay … sensitive topic right now.
“Follow me,” he said, picking up his plate and beer.
I followed him, tracking our way through the yard, saying hello as we went.
“Where are we going?” I asked, stepping over rocks.
Voices dimmed, the rush of the river growing. The faint scents of grass and pine filtered through the breeze. Jude led us along the craggy cliff edge overlooking the river until we stepped into one of the open pastures.
“Jude, what is this?”
In the middle of the pasture stood his truck. A white screen was pulled flat across two poles on either end of the tailgate. An inflatable mattress with blankets and pillows was laid out in the truck bed.
He turned to me, his eyes twinkling in the twilight. “Would you go to the movies with me?”
“What—” I looked back and forth between him and the truck. Was he asking me out on a date? “Jude, we haven’t spoken to each other all week.”
“I know, Romy. I fucked up. I want to make it up to you.”
“Jude, I?—”
“Can we just eat and talk? Then you can decide if you want to stay and watch a movie with me.”
We sat in the truck bed, eating our burgers and sipping our beers. Jude’s long legs were stretched out, my own curled beneath me as we leaned against the pillows. The sun continued to dip below the horizon. Any chill I would have felt was kept at bay by the heat radiating off Jude’s body, his shoulder inches from mine.
“I thought if I found just the right moment to tell you and explain, you might understand,” he said.
“Aren’t you worried about getting hurt again?” I asked.
“Yeah, but … I don’t know. Ever since the doctor told me I should consider retiring, I’ve been depressed. Fighting is the one thing I excel at. I’ve always been good at it. If I don’t have fighting, then what good am I?”
“Jude, you can’t believe that.” It hurt my heart to hear him say that. “You have the ranch.” You have me , I wanted to say. “Look what you’ve created. You turned that old double-wide into a home.”
Jude released a short laugh. “Lina said the same thing. She seems to think I have a future in flipping houses.”
“Well, is that something you’d like to do?”
“Maybe. I have some ideas to update the arena. I showed Uncle Chuck the plans I had an architect buddy of mine draw up. I’m just waiting for him to tell me to pull the trigger, but now with everything going on, it isn’t really a priority.” Jude took another bite of his burger.
I took a swig of my beer. “So when do you leave?” I was afraid to know.
Jude set his burger down, his eyes scanning my face. “I’m not leaving.”
“But don’t you have to prepare for your fight?”
“I told my coach the only way I was taking this fight was if I could train right here on the ranch. I’m not going anywhere, honey.”
I inhaled a shuddering breath, my eyes fluttering closed in relief. He was staying. My heart rate slowed to a steady rhythm. “I’m sorry I was mad at you. I’m not really sure I even had a right to be mad. I just …” I didn’t know what else to say. He didn’t deserve this.
“Sure, you do. I should have told you as soon as I knew. I told you I was in this with you, and that takes honesty and openness. I was just afraid that if I told you, you would have refused to come home with me, and it scared me,” he confided. “Would you have?”
I considered his question for a moment. Perhaps. I released the tension from my shoulders. “Maybe. Honestly, I was waiting for any little reason to back out. For you to say something stupid,” I teased. He gave me a wry smile, and I chuckled. “Or do something that would warrant me backing out. I want to be able to trust you, to trust these feelings?—”
“You have feelings?” He beamed.
Shaking my head, of course that’s all he heard.
I laughed. “Yes, Jude, I have feelings.”
“Thank God, honey.” He set his plate down, his hands cupping my face.
I let my face rest against his palms. “You’re just going to have to be patient with me.”
“I’d wait an eternity for you.” His thumbs stroked my cheeks.
I leaned into his touch. “But I need you to be honest with me. Don’t keep things from me, thinking you need to hold back to protect me. I’m not as delicate as you seem to think. I don’t want gentle.”
“Fuck,” he muttered. “You don’t want gentle? You’re making it hard for me to take this slow.”
“Making what hard?” I taunted.
“Jesus, you’re going to be the death of me. You know that I’m crazy about you. I’ve been crazy about you since I was sixteen.”
“Sixteen! I thought it was only when we were eighteen.”
“Honey.” He dipped his head, his lips lightly brushing over mine. “I had the worst crush on you. You had to know by the way I followed you around like a lost pup.”
“I thought you were doing it just to annoy Chase.”
He chuckled. “That too.”
I giggled. “And now?”
“I’m still crushing on you and following you like a lost pup.”
His bottom lip nestled into the seam of mine, gently pressing his mouth to mine. His lips moved slightly, softly caressing. His tongue slid along my upper lip. I parted on a breath, opening for him, our tongues gliding over each other. It was tender and sweet. Unlike the kiss we shared in the stables.
Jude’s hands did not leave my face, his fingers threading through my hair, angling my head to give him more access. He sucked my tongue into his mouth, and I let out a moan.
I needed more. I always seemed to need more with him. It was never enough.
I pressed my hand against his chest. His heart thumped beneath my palm, while his mouth moved to the corner of my mouth, trailing along my jaw to that sensitive spot beneath my ear. I tipped my head, earning a pleased hum from Jude as his jaw scraped along my neck. My eyes fluttered closed, feeling him nip my earlobe before his tongue brought it to his lips to suck into his mouth.
“Jude.” I sighed, trailing my hand down his firm chest, along the hard ridges of his abs, until I reached his belt buckle.
His hand left my hair to stall my hand.
“What about our movie date?” he inquired against the skin of my neck.
“Do you want to watch a movie?” I asked him, my words coming out seductive and slightly breathless.
“I’m trying to be patient … take this slow.”
I bit my lip. “And I said I didn’t want gentle.”
Jude groaned at that, but he lifted his head to look at me, his eyes scanning my face.
“I have How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days queued up. We are definitely going to need some background noise for what I’m about to do to you. Those sweet moans are for my ears only.” His hands slid to my hips and lifted me to straddle his lap.
“Mmm, Matthew McConaughey,” I purred.
“On second thought, fuck the movie.”
I grinned. My hands rested on his chest. The ridge of his arousal hit between my legs. I couldn’t help but rock my hips, and liquid heat shot straight to my pussy.
“Not a McConaughey fan?” I quipped.
“He’s all right,” he said, emphasizing the all right with a McConaughey accent. “I’m more of a Glen Powell kinda guy,” he noted, unable to keep a straight face.
I busted up laughing. His smile grew at my laughter before turning serious.
“More like not wanting to share my girl with the rest of the ranch fan.” His hand dove back into my hair, pulling it away from my face, drawing me closer to him.
My laughter faded.
“I’m not that loud,” I said against his lips.
Jude pulled back again to look at me. “Honey, everyone heard what we were doing in my truck the other night. It’s not a secret.”
I scoffed in insult, playfully hitting his shoulder. “You try to be quiet with someone between your legs doing whatever that trick was you did with your tongue.”
Jude chuckled, his teeth bright in the twilight, smile lines creasing his cheeks. As much as I adored his lopsided smiles, his big, genuine grins gutted me. “Is that a challenge? You know I thrive on challenges.”
I rolled my hips again just to punish him for that one. “You’re on.”
We could play. We didn’t need to dive into anything. Just do what felt good. And this felt good.
“I’ve been thinking about you all week,” I said coyly, slowly rolling my hips again, his cock growing harder as it rubbed against me, adding friction right where I needed it.
“Oh, really? And what were you doing when you thought of me?”
I pressed my breasts against his chest and dipped a soft kiss on his lips. My hips shifted with my movement, my clit rubbing against his hardened cock. My core pulsed.
“Did you touch yourself?” he whispered against my mouth.
His question shot a jolt of electricity to my center. “Every night since being in your bed,” I confided. “I imagined you were there with me, that it was your fingers touching me, caressing me right where I needed it.”
He growled and flipped us so I was on my back and he was hovering above me, his knee between my legs. He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth, his teeth scraping against it, while he thrust his cock against my thigh. I shuddered.
He released my lip to whisper in my mouth, “Show me.”