Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Lynx
“How is it you can get a party together with one announcement in a bar?” Rhys asked me as we stood in front of the bonfire the following night, Dustin Lynch blaring through the speakers.
“It’s a gift,” I told him.
“Your gift,” Rhys chuckled. “My curse.”
“Oh, come on now. You ain’t here as the sheriff tonight. Let loose a little.”
Rhys’s gaze cut over to me, his grin wide. “As long as you don’t let loose too much.”
“Deal.” I tapped my beer bottle to his as I peered around, looking for one woman in particular.
“Who’re you lookin’ for?”
I shook my head. “Nobody. Just seein’ who’s here.”
“She’s not here yet,” Rhys said, lifting his beer bottle to his lips and regarding me intensely.
Frowning, I shot a look at the sheriff. “Who?”
“Oh, don’t play dumb. Whose house have you been camped out in front of for the past few weeks?”
“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,” I said, amused by Rhys’s accusation.
“I know you got a thing for my sister.”
Most people knew I did, so it wasn’t like I could deny it.
“Don’t you think she needs some space?” Rhys asked.
I met his gaze, waiting.
“She was with that dipshit for long enough. She needs to try on single for a while.”
Dropping my gaze, I took a long pull on my beer.
“You don’t think so?”
No way did I want to have this conversation with Reagan’s brother.
“I think we’ll let her make that decision,” I stated.
Thankfully, the sound of more trucks pulling down the dirt road leading to the lake had him turning his attention to the newcomers. I counted five … six … seven. Yep, seven in total, all pulling into the field and parking. I waited, wondering who would emerge.
“Well, I’ll be damned.” I chuckled, grinning to myself.
Rhys turned toward the group at the same time I pivoted to face them.
“That Travis?”
“Yep. And his brothers.” It’d been a while since I had seen the whole clan.
The last time had been at the family reunion they’d pulled off at Dead Heat Ranch last year.
Considering we were only half an hour apart, we didn’t spend all that much time together.
Then again, everyone was busy doing their own shit these days.
“What’re you doin’ over here by yourself?”
I turned to see Wolfe approaching Rhys.
“I ain’t alone,” he retorted. “I’m keepin’ your cousin in line.”
I snorted at the same time Wolfe said, “Like that’s even possible.”
“I’ll be back,” I told them, moving toward my Walker cousins.
“What’s up, man?” Zane Walker hollered as he strolled toward me, a pretty brunette on his arm. “You remember my wife?”
“I do,” I said, holding out my hand to Vanessa. “Nice to see you again, V.”
“Thanks for invitin’ us.”
“Yeah,” Sawyer chimed in. “We’ve all been itchin’ to get outta the house for a bit.” He nodded toward the pretty redhead at his side. “You remember my wife, Kennedy.”
I nodded. “Nice to see you again.”
“Same. Where’s Copenhagen?” she inquired.
“She’s a veterinarian,” Sawyer said with a chuckle. “Always thinkin’ about the four-legged ones.”
“Took him over to my old man’s house. Things can get kinda rowdy out here.”
“That’s an understatement,” Brendon said, stepping up and holding out his hand to me.
Brendon’s twin brother, Braydon, moved up beside him.
“Where’s your ol’ lady?” I asked Brendon.
“She’s on the road,” he said with a frown. The man happened to be married to one of the hottest country music singers out right now. “She said to tell you hello.”
I grinned. “What about Jessie?” I asked, glancing over at Braydon.
“She’s back at the house. She’s not feelin’ all that well.”
Brendon leaned in. “Mornin’ sickness.”
Braydon flipped off his brother. “She ain’t pregnant again.” He smiled widely. “Yet.”
Uncle Curtis’s seven boys had all settled down as of late. Some of them even had popped out a baby or two in recent years.
“Hey, man,” Travis greeted. “Kylie, you remember Lynx.”
“I do,” Travis’s wife said with a grin. “The troublemaker, right?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The rest of the clan moved in, and I greeted Ethan and his husband, Beau, along with Kaleb and his wife, Zoey.
“We left the munchkins with the grandparents,” Kaleb informed me. “Thought maybe we’d get some adult time.”
“Glad y’all could make it on such short notice.”
Another truck headed down the drive, and I followed the headlights until I could make out the truck.
“If you’ll excuse me,” I told the others. “My date just arrived.”
All heads seemed to turn toward the newcomer, but Reagan was still in her truck.
“Wolfe’s over by the fire,” I told them. “And there’s beer on ice, so help yourself.”
Travis smacked me on the shoulder as he passed, the rest of them falling into step with their brother.
I strolled over as Reagan was hopping down from her truck.
“Hey,” I greeted, moving right up to her as she shut her door.
“Hey,” she answered, slowly turning toward me. “What? Were you waitin’ for me?”
I chuckled. “Of course not.”
“How did I know you were gonna say that?”
I grinned. “Come on, girl. Let’s get you a beer.”
Reagan’s eyes lingered on my face for a few seconds, and I saw the moment she decided not to fight me. Whether or not she was going to give in was still to be seen, but at least I wasn’t going up against a brick wall first thing.
I considered that progress.
“Holy shit,” Reagan said with a whistle. “You invite the whole town?”
“Yep.”
“Looks like most of ’em showed up.”
“Good turnout,” I agreed.
“That means less people at the barbecue tomorrow, huh?”
I laughed. “Probably.”
It didn’t take much to put together a party in this town. It was one of the things I loved about Embers Ridge. For as long as I could remember, we’d been having parties out in the empty fields, plenty of them right here on the Caine land.
“Amy here?”
“Yep.”
“She doin’ all right?” Reagan’s eyes were full of concern.
“As good as can be expected, I suppose.”
“Still no sign of that crazy man?”
I grabbed a beer from one of the many coolers and passed it over to Reagan. “Not yet.”
The crazy man Reagan was referring to happened to be Amy’s ex-boyfriend.
The bastard who’d tried to kill her a little over a year ago.
Thankfully, he hadn’t succeeded, but it appeared he was now looking to finish the job.
It was the very reason the stress level had ratcheted up a few notches in the past few weeks.
One of the many reasons that a night like this was just what the doctor ordered.
Good friends, beer, bonfire, and laughter.
What more could you ask for?
Reagan
I’d had reservations about coming out to the lake tonight.
But a couple of hours in, I was wondering what I'd been worried about. After only one beer, I was feeling lighter than I had in a long time. The conversations weren’t hurting, either.
Everyone was having a good time, laughing, joking, telling stories about the many parties they’d attended right here on the Caine lake.
“Remember that time Lynx decided to streak around the lake?” Wolfe asked, pointing his beer bottle at his cousin.
“Died out halfway around, if I recall,” someone added. “Didn’t y’all send someone to get his ass?”
Wolfe and Lynx both roared with laughter.
“No one wanted to pick his nekkid ass up,” Wolfe said. “Ended up drivin’ the truck around and makin’ him ride in the back.”
“I had chigger bites on my fuckin’ balls,” Lynx grumbled, making everyone laugh.
I giggled, I couldn’t help it. And when Lynx smiled shyly over at me, my damn heart kicked in my chest.
“Those were some crazy times,” another guy said. “Good times.”
“Yep,” Wolfe agreed.
“I recall a time when Wolfe decided to steal Old Man Gardner’s tractor,” Lynx said.
Rhys laughed.
“You were just a rookie back then,” Wolfe said to Rhys.
“Green as shit. Still, I managed to talk your ass down from that tractor.” Rhys glanced at me. “He was nekkid. Said he didn’t want to drive drunk, so he hijacked the tractor.”
Wolfe chuckled. “Avoided a DWI that night.”
“Only ’cause I didn’t want your bare ass in my truck.”
The look Wolfe shot Rhys was hot enough to catch the dry grass on fire. I instantly looked away, embarrassed that I'd caught the look passing between the two men.
The song on the radio changed and a couple of guys turned to their girls, grinning. I watched, somewhat jealous that they had someone to dance with.
Not that I wanted to dance, but there were plenty of times I'd wished for someone to look at me the way Travis Walker was looking at his wife.
Truth was, I'd never had that. Certainly not with Billy.
He preferred spending his time with his boys, leaving me to myself.
And based on the way he treated me when we were in public, I had preferred it as well.
I glanced up to see Lynx staring at me. The next thing I knew, my beer bottle disappeared from my hand and the man was leading me out to the open spot where other couples were dancing.
“What’re you doin’?” I asked, trying to pull away from him. “I told you no dancin’.”
Especially not to a slow song like this.
“One dance,” he said softly, tugging me closer.
“Lynx…”
He didn’t force me; instead, his steady gaze settled on my face as he waited. I could feel the eyes of others on us, and I didn’t want to look like a total bitch, so I finally gave in. At least, that was the excuse I was going with. Definitely not the fact that I wanted to get close to him.
I blamed the beer. The one measly beer.
Right.
“Thanks for comin’ tonight,” he whispered softly, staring down at me as he pulled me in close.
I nodded, not sure what to say to that. Hell, I was having difficulty breathing just being this close to him. Forming words was not going to happen.
This man overwhelmed me. He always had, even if I played it off. How well I succeeded was anyone’s guess. But if I was even remotely believable, it damn sure wasn’t easy.
For one, he smelled so good. And perhaps it was because it wasn’t an expensive bottle of cologne that had my mouth practically watering. Billy had always doused himself in that shit and it gave me a headache. Not Lynx.
Add to that his beautiful eyes, his perfectly crooked nose, and chiseled jaw, which had just the right amount of stubble to be sexy and not make him look like a mountain man. Then there were his tattoos and his hands … big, wide fingers. God, I could practically imagine his hands on me.
Shaking off the thought, I cleared my throat, wishing the song would hurry up and end. Chancing a look up, I found Lynx was still watching me, a sexy smirk on his mouth.
“What?” I snapped.
“Nothin’. Nothin’ at all.”
“You know this doesn’t change anything,” I told him.
“Of course not.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why do you always say that?”
His answer was in the form of a mischievous smirk.
“I’m not one of your playthings, Lynx Caine.”
He leaned in, his mouth close to my ear. “Never that.”
The way he rasped those two words had a shiver dancing down my spine.
There wasn’t even a hint of teasing in his tone, which both pissed me off and made me ache.
This man confused me in so many ways. I knew him to be a playboy, never with the same woman for any length of time.
Yet he seemed to have set his eyes on me, and I had no idea why.
I was nothing special. I couldn’t offer this man anything, so I had no clue why he would even be interested. Perhaps it was because I hadn’t slept with him. If I had, Lynx probably would’ve been long gone by now, moving on to the next girl in line.
I was lost in my thoughts when the song ended, but my self-preservation instincts were obviously on the mark because I instantly pulled back, ready to extricate myself from his arms before I started to actually like this guy.
That was the last damn thing I needed right now.