Twelve
Annabeth
Asmile creeps across my face as Dallas and I walk arm in arm together into Maverick’s.
He smells so good. The faint scent of tobacco mixes with the cologne he’s wearing, and a lingering essence of diesel – a combination you wouldn’t think would be sexy.
I’m slowly becoming more and more feral for this cowboy. God help me.
“Morning, A.B.,” comes Hannah’s sweet, southern twang.
Her trademark blonde hair is piled high on her head in a messy bun, tied with a polka-dot ribbon.
She may own Mav’s, but that doesn’t stop her from manning the floor.
Not only is Hannah one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met, but she’s also hardworking, and makes a damn good coffee.
“And Dallas freakin’ Northlane, do my eyes deceive me?
” she questions. I stifle a laugh as I picture her grilling me about Dallas a few days ago.
In hindsight, rocking up to her diner arm in arm with the man may be adding fuel to a fire that I unintentionally started, but here we are.
Dallas’s cheeks flush crimson at her observation, and I feel him slightly tense against me.
It’s okay, you’re safe. I tap his arm three times, gently, as if to comfort him.
It seems to do the trick because his stance softens slightly, but I still feel the tension in his frame.
I don’t know what’s got him so on edge, but I’m determined to make sure he’s alright.
“No, they do not, Hannah,” he replies, leaning in to kiss her plump cheek, arm still firmly linked to mine.
“Thought it was about time I came and got a feed. Been too long since I have had the honour of devouring one of your burritos,” he continues before flashing her a wholesome smile. God he’s sexy.
“Well, you two better grab a booth and I’ll get started on something special.
Nice to see you out and about, and with a lady no less,” she teases, gesturing to one of the booths at the back of the diner.
I know as soon as the words leave her lips that I’ll be hearing about this later, and the image of the trio of chaos, Hannah, River, and Ella, prying information out of me has me stifling both a laugh and a scowl.
Dallas leads the way and casually releases me, allowing me to take my seat at the booth. He slides in next to me, tension still coursing through him.
What’s gotten him so on edge?
Is it me? Is this too much?
Maybe I should set some boundaries…
Do I even have boundaries?
Does he?
Fuck my life.
“I’m sorry,” he offers. He’s fidgeting with the skin around his fingernails, twiddling his thumbs around the cuticle. His gaze darts everywhere but on me, and I can’t help but feel slightly self-conscious.
“Sorry? What for?”
“I… uhh… I haven’t really been out much in a while…” he begins.
Sensing that he needs time to gather the thoughts that seem to be running around in his head like a starved racehorse, I nod slowly in acknowledgement but remain silent. Whatever he’s wanting to say is something he needs to get out, and I don’t want to risk the potential of interrupting him.
“I should probably elaborate. I haven’t been out with a woman in a while.”
“Sorry, I didn’t think this was anything serious. Shit, no, that’s not what I meant. I... I jus—” I stammer.
“Don’t. I know. It’s okay.” His hand finds its way to mine, his rough palm encasing my hand like an incredibly textured glove, yet, somehow, it’s comforting.
The sensation of skin on skin is soothing.
The thumb that was picking at his cuticle now draws lazy circles around my own.
I give him a sheepish smile, feeling my cheeks burn red as the embarrassment of my mangled words sets in. “Annabeth?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s okay, really. I want to be here. I want to dine with you,” he confesses.
My heart thumps in my chest, and the burning heat from my cheeks melts through my body and settles exactly where I do not need it to settle.
I feel my pussy throb between my thighs, the instant pooling of wetness an unexpected reaction to his vulnerability.
Or, maybe it’s the way he said, ‘dine with you.’ Either way, I am beyond being able to fight this.
His eyes bore into me, and I’m lost in them.
Golden flecks peek through deep shades of brown and green, the intensity of his gaze is absolutely intoxicating.
“You still with us, darlin’?” Dallas’s voice snaps me from my trance, and without thinking, I sink my teeth into my bottom lip.
“Oww, fuck!” I yelp, and yes, I’m painfully aware that I sound like a screeching cat, probably.
“Whoa, easy now.” He reaches his hand to my face, his thumb tracing the tender flesh as he gently inspects the now bleeding wound. Good one, dickhead.
Dallas’s calloused palm slides up, gently caressing my cheek in a soft and intimate gesture. The damn hazel eyes that are rapidly becoming my undoing now lock onto mine as he glides his hand down my face, his thumb gently wiping the droplet of blood from my lip.
“Sorry,” I offer. My cheeks, again, flush crimson.
“Annabeth.” My name leaves his lips like a warning. He doesn’t elaborate, and I don’t reply. I just let my eyes trail up his chest until they fall on his lips. I don’t dare meet his eyes.
“I promise you, Annabeth, you can always be yourself with me. I am a simple man. A man with honest values, crippling debt, a brother that pretends he’s a heartless idiot, even though he’s a hopeless romantic that has a thing for women who are mean to him.
I’ve got a kid that would rule the world if we let her.
I like good whiskey, the occasional cigarette, and am quite partial to a sunset picnic. I know you’re young, but—”
“I’m twenty-seven,” I interject.
“Firefly, I’m forty-fucking-five,” he replies and a warm, hearty chuckle erupts from his lips. I’ll be damned if that isn’t my new favourite sound.
“Firefly?”
“Your hair is so bright it glows in the dark, like a firefly.”
I just beam at him. At this point I have no idea how long we’ve been here, or where Hannah is with our food, but I want time to stop so I can sit here with Dallas and just exist. I probably look like a downright idiot with my swollen lip and the stupid grin that I know is plastered on my face, but I don’t care.
I am officially obsessed with Dallas fucking Northlane.
Shit.
When Dallas finally drives me home, I’m so terrified I’ll say something insane that I just yell ‘goodnight’ and rush out of his ute and back into my house. What a fucking idiot.
The clock in the lounge room is becoming increasingly loud.
I sit on the daybed in the corner, book in hand – some small-town romance novel about a hot lumberjack looking bloke and a billionaire’s ex-wife – and fight a constant battle in my mind.
Dallas dropped me off an hour ago, and all I’ve done since then is think about him.
His smile, his laugh, how his hand felt against my skin as he comforted me in the diner.
How soft his voice was as he spoke to me.
How I ran from the car when he dropped me off because I wanted to kiss him but apparently he hasn’t been out with a woman in a while and I didn’t want to make it weird.
Plus he seemed to make a big deal of our age gap, so I thought he might be regretting it when he found out that I am, in fact, significantly younger.
I wish I didn’t cut him off when he said I was young. I am, I guess. But now, as I sit here overthinking relentlessly, I’m desperate to know how that monologue ended. Is that what he thinks of me?
Am I too young? I’m only a few years younger than his brother. God, Annabeth, that is not helping. The front door slams open and Ella comes bounding in, a trail of perfume following her as she glides towards me. She always smells divine, like some kind of sugar plum.
“Hiya, toots, what’s going on? You look…
weird?” Her eyes trail up my body before settling into a concerned glare that’s radiating through me.
She has an insane knack for always knowing exactly what’s going on with someone just by looking at them.
I can never hide shit from Ella, she sees through me like I’m made of glass.
“I just got back from Mav’s,” I begin. Her perfectly arched brow cocks. Going to the diner isn’t exactly front-page news, so she knows there’s more. “With Dallas.”
She doesn’t take a breath before she pounces on me, my book becomes collateral damage as I throw it to catch the 5’0’’ bundle of curves that’s catapulting towards me at lightning speed.
“Jesus, Ell,” I squeal.
Ella – now sitting in my lap – wraps her arms around me.
She holds me in her embrace for longer than I expect, before planting a kiss on my cheek and releasing me.
She’s so close I can see every detail on her skin.
The way her makeup is always applied so minimally yet somehow rivals that of a pin-up icon from the 60’s.
Ella always exudes effortless glamour. Aside from her lips and her blonde hair, she’s all natural.
Every curve, every dimple – she’s beautiful.
“So, you and Dallas, hey?” she inquires casually as if she didn’t just do what she just did.
“No, well, I don’t know. I think it’s complicated,” I reply.
“Annabeth Harrington, in the time I have known you, I have never seen you so much as look at a man, and now you’re out here seeing one not once, but twice, in the span of what, a week?”
“I’ve seen him more than twice… Ella. I can’t stop thinking about him,” I confess.
She smiles, the twinkle in her eye confirming she’s up to no good. “Well, baby girl, you know what that means?” she asks, wiggling her eyebrows.
“Oh god, what scheme are you plotting now?”
She playfully leaps from my lap, and with one final smirk says, “We’re gonna’ make him eat his heart out at the rodeo this weekend.”
Lord have mercy on my soul. I forgot about the fucking rodeo.