Chapter 1 #2
Her window down, it let in the crisp fall mountain air scented with pine. She hummed softly to whatever tune Cat Country radio was playing, and I let the sound of it fill the cab instead of trying to talk over it.
I couldn’t help but sneak a glance or two her way. The tied-up tee at her waist revealed a little skin. The tan line on her thick thigh showed beneath her cutoffs. And nothing was sexier than a woman wearing cowboy boots with shorts, in my opinion.
She wasn’t a girly thing, not like her sister Ivy, who ran the boot shop in town and dressed fancy almost every day. No, Daisy hardly ever showed concern for such things. But to me, she was beautiful even if she dealt with horse hooves more than people and smelled like a dusty barn.
I’d watched her work many times, impressed by the way she could read a horse, calming the animal, as patient as anything I’d ever seen. It didn’t hurt that I held a soft spot for redheads. I fell hard from the moment I laid eyes on her.
She hadn’t a clue. No matter how much I tried. No matter the amount of teasing or flirting for the past year, nothing would break down her wall she’d built against me.
“Haven’t seen you at the Cowboy Nights.” I casually brought up the subject of her sister’s matchmaking idea to bring more singles into town.
More singles meant the possibility of more coupling, leading to more families and a population spurt for our small town of Forest Grove, at least according to Ivy’s reasoning.
Personally, I didn’t need her trying to fix me up with anyone, unless it was with Daisy, but I attended these nights with the guys from the ODRR to support her idea anyway.
“Not since the first one, when you tried to introduce me to a nice young lady.”
Her head snapped toward mine. “Did it work?”
“Sweetheart, I haven’t left the Sapphire Saloon with anyone yet. But you attend the last Cowboy Night coming up, and maybe I’ll get lucky with you.”
She snorted. “You really want a woman who threw a drink in your face?”
“Not one of our finest moments. But I could forgive and forget.”
“I apologized, didn’t I?” she retorted.
We’d gone down for a night out in Bozeman with Ivy and Colt. Things were going great between Daisy and me throughout dinner and axe throwing, and I had every hope I’d have her in my arms by the end of the night—that was until a couple of women stopped by our table and thought I was my brother.
I couldn’t help if Maddox and I looked alike. He’d gained quite the following since he became the Montana Frostbite’s star player, the top scorer on ice in the expansion team’s first season.
I had let those ladies take photos with me and talked with them just to be nice. Only Daisy huffed away. When I went to her, I got a beer dumped on my head. To be fair, if I’d seen her talking and taking photos with some guys, it would have had my teeth grinding as well.
Maybe I should have given up on her right then. But her fiery nature kept on the hook. Of course, she went to her motel room, while I stayed at the bar and got drunk. Ended up sleeping it off in Colt’s truck overnight.
Somewhere in the middle of the night, she had climbed into the truck with half a bottle of tequila and told me she was sorry.
We drank and talked for a while about horses until we both fell asleep, leaning against each other, shoulder to shoulder until the sunrise woke us up.
I took her to the motel diner for breakfast and coffee, and we hadn’t spoken a word about it since.
That was about as far as things between us had progressed because Daisy had walls bigger than the ones crossing China.
“Let me ask you this, Daisy May Wylde…” I chose my next words carefully. “What’s it gonna take for you to let me in?”
She crossed her arms and stared out the side window without another word. Which about summed up my luck with her. Most men might quit trying; not me. Not yet.
I pulled up to her old farmhouse, and she launched out before I killed the engine, but not toward the front door. She moved around the side of the house toward the apple orchard, scrambled over the fence, and got swallowed by the dark between the trees.
“Shit. Daisy! Where’d you go?” I went after her. Didn’t need her tipsy ass falling down out there somewhere, lost and hurt. Her laughter became my only guide as she moved deeper into the trees.
The orchard at night was its own world. The apple trees stood heavy and rustling, the smell rich and sweet. Fallen fruit had softened against the ground. Wild critters ate them and scattered as I shot down the row.
Somehow I caught up and tracked the shadowy shape of her until I realized the sound wasn’t laughter.
She was crying.
I found her leaning against a trunk, arms crossed over her chest, face tipped up toward the sky.
“Hey.” I came up slow behind her, not crowding her, my fingertips gently reaching for her arms. “It’s okay, Daisy. I’ve got you.”
“Don’t.” Her voice cracked. She moved away. “Don’t be nice to me right now, Knox, I can’t deal with it.”
“Okay.” So I stood like a dumbass, thumbs in my belt loops, toeing the ground. My mother cried sometimes, and Pop always knew exactly what to say and how to hold her. My sister cried the night before she left for nursing school in Billings. I could handle those two.
Daisy crying nearly killed me. Especially since every instinct I had was to hold her and never let her go.
“I miss them,” she whispered. I knew who she meant in the raw words without her saying so. “Been enough years. Most days I can handle the fact that our parents are gone. But tonight—” She pressed her hand over her mouth. Exhaled slowly through her nose. “I feel so stupid and alone.”
“You’re the most intelligent woman I know. And far from alone.”
“I’m just so tired, Knox, and we need to start picking tomorrow.
Look at these trees. It’s probably going to be the best year ever for us, but there’s too many.
My sisters and I will never get them all.
There are bills to pay and property taxes due.
I’m trying hard… but I’m exhausted,” she cried, and wiped her face and kept walking.
I fell into step behind her because no way would I leave her now.
A tiny orchard cottage materialized out of the dark, like a miniature version of the farmhouse, complete with gray shutters. Daisy pushed the door open, and I followed her inside, whether she wanted me to or not.
She switched on a lamp, which cast everything in low amber light.
One side of the room held an antique wooden desk stacked with leather-bound ledgers.
A faded rug covered part of the floor. The other side had a deep couch facing a picture window looking out onto the trees, its brown leather well-worn, with homemade pillows and quilts stacked on one end. Patchwork drapes framed the window.
Warm and tidy, this wasn’t a shed, more like a cozy hideaway.
She dropped onto the couch and peered up at me.
“Thank you for the drive,” she whispered. “But you can go.”
“I don’t think I should leave you alone right now.”
“Okay, then… don’t leave, Knox. Stay.” She licked her lips and patted the seat beside her. Tears gone, in their place was I imagining something more complicated: a line to cross, a decision being made? “Stay with me. Just for tonight.”
The air in the room charged between us.
“Daisy, you don’t mean—”
“I know exactly what I’m asking.”
I gave her the side-eye. “You’re not thinking clearly. You’ve had too much to drink.”
Her voice dropped to a sultry range I’d never heard from her before. “I just want to feel something other than sad and lonely tonight. Something real. Can you do that for me?” The filled pause hung heavy between us. “Make me forget everything, Knox. Just for tonight?”
Fuck me. The lamplight caught a dangerously flirty flutter of her lashes, daring me past the point of no return.
I immediately needed to adjust myself. But I couldn’t take her like this, not with grief and alcohol swirling inside of her, leading to a night she’d probably wake up regretting in the morning. Daisy deserved better.
She shook her head, like she’d heard every word of the war waging in my mind.
“Forget I asked.” She yawned, pulling a quilt over her lap. “Maybe I’ll ask someone else next time.”
I growled and crossed to the sofa in three steps and sat beside her.
“If you need someone, you call me. I’ll take care of you so fucking good, Daisy.” I cupped her face in both hands and hesitated, giving her every chance to pull back. When she didn’t flinch, I pressed her hair slowly behind her ear, her beautiful eyes searching mine.
My heart pounded with the intensity of hiking the tallest peak on the ranch as I leaned in, slanting my head, until we were so close our lips could brush.
My pulse kicked up, anticipating the feel of her mouth on mine at-fucking-last. I could easily take everything she was offering and give back more than she’d thought to ask for.
But would she remember it all in the morning?
She yawned, breaking the moment. “Sorry.”
I pulled back and studied her. Eyes heavy-lidded, the alcohol and exhaustion finally caught up to her.
“Get some sleep, sweetheart.” It took everything I had to lay her down, setting her head on a rose-colored pillow.
She turned toward the back of the couch and nestled in deeper, mumbling as she drifted off. “Apples… harvest… too many to pick… so tired… need… boxes…”
For some time, I sat there, memorizing her sleeping face, unguarded in the lamp’s glow. Who knew when I’d get to see her like that again?
For now, that’d have to be enough.