Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
D allas held his breath as he waited, watching Ronnie like a hawk.
She hadn’t changed much since the last time he’d seen her.
She was still slender and sporty, owning her tomboy edge with a cool that was…
heck, he’d always found it attractive. Maybe that was why he’d made it his mission to tease her relentlessly every summer…
and winter…and any other holiday they’d had at his grandparents’ place.
Although he wouldn’t have said it was attraction back then, more like a gleeful satisfaction at watching her get all riled up. There was nothing like going head-to-head with an opponent who could take with as much fervor as they gave.
Ronnie blinked up at him. That fire he’d been expecting in her dark brown eyes was nowhere to be seen.
It certainly put a damper on his playful greeting. He’d only been teasing.
“What?” She sounded more dazed than irritated. Or…was she just plain exhausted?
He noted the dark smudges under her eyes and his brows drew together, although his smile still lingered, because…
Man, it was Ronnie Colbert! In the flesh. He hadn’t seen her in over a decade, at least. Probably not since high school. I mean, sure, he might have seen her competing on TV, but he hadn’t spoken to her. Seen her in the flesh. This girl was intricately tied to all of his memories of this place.
He pressed a hand to his chest in an exaggerated, mocking move. “Dallas,” he prompted. “Dallas King.”
He’d seen her mouth his name. He knew she recognized him.
“It may’ve been a minute, but I didn’t think you’d forget your first crush.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her.
“My first…” She gave her head a shake, and he just barely held back a laugh. “Excuse me?”
She hadn’t had a crush on him. If anything, she’d been Bailey’s staunchest ally in their lifelong sibling rivalry. But it’d always been so fun to tease this girl?—
No. This woman .
He eyed her again from head to toe. He didn’t feel bad about it because she’d done the same exact thing to him.
She might not have grown much, height-wise, since he’d last seen her, but there was no mistaking who she was. Her frame was still small, and she still wore oversized clothes, but her face had matured.
She’d gone from a pretty teen to a gorgeous woman—all high cheekbones and full lips.
She still had bronze skin and that thick dark hair, and everything about her seemed…effortless. She was naturally beautiful even in men’s clothes and no makeup.
But there was something missing. That spark in her eyes he remembered so well—it was nowhere to be seen.
And that was more than disappointing. It was concerning.
Which meant he needed to work overtime to light that fire inside her. He’d take outright rage over whatever this foreign energy was that seemed to be wafting around her.
“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten all the prank wars.” He leaned in closer. “Or did you forget us little people when you went off to win all those gold medals?”
She shook her head, her closed-mouth smile fleeting. “No, of course I remember.”
Her demeanor was distracted, and when she pressed her fingers to her temple like she was fighting a headache, he felt another pang of concern. “Hey, you okay?”
Her head snapped up. “Of course I’m okay.”
“Of course,” he echoed. He hadn’t really meant it to be mocking, but it might have sounded that way.
Her eyes narrowed. “Did you need something?”
A huff of amusement escaped at her harsh tone. “Uh, no.”
But that little laugh clearly made things worse. She crossed her arms. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.” And then, because he couldn’t help himself… “You.”
Her brows shot up.
“It’s been a while,” he started to explain. But before he could add that maybe they’d gotten off on the wrong foot, she interrupted.
“Sorry, I wasn’t aware we were so close that I was supposed to stay in touch.”
He opened his mouth, but she kept going.
“I’ve stayed in touch with Bailey. Sort of.” Her eyes darted to the ground, her expression crumpling with regret, before her bright gaze landed right back on him. “But I wasn’t aware that the kid I used to prank would take it personally if I got busy.”
He grinned, stifling a laugh. Oh, that fire was still there all right. But it wasn’t that spark of challenge he’d expected. Nope, this woman was a freakin’ bomb just waiting to explode.
He held his hands up. “Look, clearly I pushed the wrong buttons here.”
She looked away, and for a second, he caught a hint of emotion beneath her irritation. In her pretty, delicate features, he saw a crushing amount of stress or fear or?—
“Did you need something from me?” she snapped.
He’d been staring. In silence.
Well, crap.
He cleared his throat. “No. Just, uh…hey, is everything all right?”
Her nostrils flared, and he wouldn’t have been overly shocked to see steam coming out of her ears. “I told you I’m fine.”
“Right. O-kay.” He nodded. It was so obvious she was lying, but he wasn’t sure if he should call her on it.
Tick, tick, tick…boom!
Did he really want to be within the blast radius when that happened?
“What are you doing here?” Her brows drew together. “Bailey said you live in Bozeman. With your parents.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I don’t live with my parents. Just…in the same town.”
“Right.” Her lips quirked up on one side. It was a smirk. “You took over for your dad, right? Followed in his footsteps…as expected.”
She was stating the truth. None of that was a lie. Nor was it an insult.
Or…it shouldn’t have felt like one.
But it did.
She was goading him.
And it was working.
A hot buzz simmered in his chest, making it impossible to talk without snipping at her. “I worked my butt off to get where I am?—”
“Of course,” she said a little too quickly.
“What does that mean?”
Ugh. He sounded way too defensive, and he knew it.
“Nothing.” She shrugged. But the animosity was right there on the surface between them, sizzling and churning.
One wrong word and they’d be hurling insults.
Clenching his jaw, he tried to remind himself that he was a grown man, not a teenage boy trying to get a rise out of this woman.
Be chill. Be mature.
With a little sniff, he glanced across the park without seeing a thing, then looked back at her.
“So. What brings you to Montana?” he asked. “I thought you left us small-town folks behind.”
Her eyes flashed with something hot and fiery. Oddly, that made him feel a little better. There was the old Ronnie—like a mini dragon, flaming with barely concealed annoyance that made his heart kick out of time, then race with a combination of rage and…something he wasn’t ready to identify.
“My sister’s getting married. I’m here to help her with last-minute wedding details.” She said it grudgingly, like it pained her to admit it.
His gaze automatically dropped to her left hand. “You never married?”
“No time for relationships,” she shot back. “You?”
It felt like a duel. Two gunslingers meeting at dawn.
He shoved the thought aside and focused on his answer.
Was he married?
No. But he’d nearly been. He’d thought he would be by now…
And while he wasn’t sure if Ronnie had even known about his relationship with Loretta, he still felt like she was pricking at an old wound on purpose. So his tone came out more childishly mocking than he intended as he repeated her words. “No time for relationships.”
Her brows arched and her jaw worked, her scathing look telling him in no uncertain terms that he was being a child. “So glad to see nothing has changed around here.”
His lips twisted. “And so good to see the local celebrity still has such a winning personality.”
Her nostrils flared again, her shoulders pinging back as she rose to her full height, which really wasn’t much, and spat out, “Always so good to see the Kings’ golden son.” Her sneer and mocking tone were like a slap to the face.
Yep, they’d just jumped back in time, shed any adult maturity they might have possessed, and given it all away for the chance to throw out sarcastic insults and growl at each other like incensed dogs.
He had to get out of here before he said something really stupid.
He turned to walk away, but she beat him to it, hightailing it down the dirt pathway that ran through the park. Little dust clouds puffed up from her sneakers, and he could practically hear her cursing his name.
He swiveled and stormed off in the opposite direction, muttering words that would get him a disapproving glare from his mother.
What had he been thinking, going over to talk to Ronnie Colbert?
That it might actually be fun to playfully tease his sister’s childhood friend?
Pssh. He should have known better.