Chapter 2
CAM
Since I’d been working non-stop at a number of ranches with the fall calving season in full swing, my brother Bray insisted I join him along with his buds Ace and Cody at The Roadside for a night out.
His new wife, Katie, was hanging with the girls at Ma and Pops’ place watching some new historical movie on TV.
They’d made a night of it with food, drinks–although pretty much non-alcoholic since the only one not pregnant in the group was Ma–and lounging on the huge couch in pajamas.
I liked the idea of lounging on the couch watching TV, but I’d rather get a flea dip than see some romance set in Regency England.
My brothers were dropping left and right for the love of their lives like fall leaves off a cottonwood, so girls’ night was a new thing in the Wilder family.
Unfortunately, historical romance movies were a common occurrence.
For, well, ever, the only women in the family had only been my sister Lainey and Ma.
Out of nine kids, Ma only got one daughter.
Now there was also Ellie, Molly, and Katie, all of whom were pregnant. Lainey, too.
Ace, Cody, and I were two beers in when Bray called and ended up being a no-show because he was still out on a farrier job. As a vet, I took care of the whole animal and he focused on the hooves. That left the three of us shooting the shit.
Bray and I were second and third in the lineup of siblings, so we shared a lot of things, including friends.
Ace worked the oil fields in North Dakota and was away for weeks at a time.
He had a few more days off until he had to return.
Cody, oddly enough, was Devil’s Ditch’s youngest ever mayor.
His father had been in the role for two decades and when he retired, Cody’d decided to put his name on the ballot. And won.
Needless to say, having beers with the mayor meant we weren’t gonna be going wild at The Roadside. Or anywhere else in town.
A few beers and then home to hopefully get eight hours of sleep. More often than not lately, I got a call in the middle of the night from the vet tech who had the night shift at the clinic who watched animals who were recovering from surgery.
Being a vet was rewarding and the patients didn’t talk, but they did often shit on you.
My averagely exciting evening took a turn when a very bubbly, slightly drunk woman came to our table and said she and her friends were working on a bachelorette bingo game and slapped the card down on the table in front of us.
Ace, sitting in the middle, picked it up and I leaned a little to read it.
When she said she had to kiss one of us and give us an article of her clothing, I looked her over. Pretty. Blonde. Tiny, like she stopped growing in seventh grade. She reminded me of the cheerleaders who I’d see on the sidelines of football games Zeb played in at college.
I wasn’t interested, but it didn’t mean I was the one who had to do the kissing. Ace and Cody were both single and looked interested.
It was when she pointed over her shoulder to the table where her friends were that everything changed.
My world tipped.
My life altered.
There she was.
Her.
Fuck, seeing the gorgeous redhead was like being kicked in the solar plexus by an pissed off horse. The wind got sucked out of me and my heart took off and galloped right across the room to her.
Her hair was long and thick, a little wild down her back–like a heroine from one of those historical romances.
It had some layers to it, some kind of girly style that made it look extra pretty.
Her face was pale and from halfway across the room I could see her green eyes and the freckles fanning across the bridge of her nose.
I imagined where else she had those perfect speckles of color and if the hair on her pussy was just as fiery red.
I shifted my feet, trying to adjust my hardening dick without being a perv in a roomful of people. Devil’s Ditch was a small town and everyone knew everybody else. I’d never seen her before, but she appeared to be much younger, more my brother Zeb’s or Shep’s age than my thirty-two.
Before either Cody or Ace could pipe up and volunteer as tribute for a bachelorette party game, I leaned in and said to the woman, “Sweetheart, I’m all for helping out with your fun, but if I’m gonna kiss a girl and take her panties, it’s gonna be her.”
I pointed. The woman looked in that direction. Then grinned.
“Panties wasn’t mentioned,” she replied, then shrugged. “But go for it, as long as she’s okay parting with them.”
She might be tipsy, but I had to give her credit for being protective of her friend.
She will be, I thought, but I said, “I like my women willing, sweetheart.”
She flicked her gaze between the three of us, then spun around in her cowboy boots, her little dress swirling up and flashing the three of us a hint of toned thigh, and practically skipped back to her table.
Out of the corner of my eye, Ace and Cody gave me looks, disappointed in not kissing that one. “Why is it that a Wilder boy finds his girl here at The Roadside and we don’t?” Cody asked Ace.
“Yeah, what the fuck?”
“Too bad. You’ll get your turns,” I muttered.
If it didn’t work out with the redhead… what the hell was I saying?
It was going to work out because she was my woman.
I felt it. Pops and my siblings had all been right.
When you saw The One, you knew.
So I kept my gaze fixed on Red, making sure she didn’t disappear on me–because I would give chase–and crooked my finger.
I was getting that kiss, and the article of clothing I wanted was her panties.