Love You Tonight
OLLIE
SEPTEMBER
Ishould have gotten a fucking Uber back to the rodeo grounds. It would have made leaving a hell of a lot easier. Now I had to pack my shit and wait for one to get here with an audience.
As fun as this whole little “field trip—as Cash called it—was, it was high past time I left. Every fiber of my being screamed at the impending feeling of being caged in. Tied down.
This was such a stupid, stupid, stupid idea. And I had no one to blame but myself. I should have left when I had the chance earlier. Honestly, any of the chances. After Violet’s little introduction. After that buckle bunny bitch ordeal. After Cash’s rival tried to cause shit for everyone.
All of that was manageable with a buzz, but now that I was sober—relatively—I could see this situation for the dumpster fire it was. And I had no desire to sit around and watch it all go up in flames.
Cash and the guys were checking in the horses, and Walker was outside with Bad and Violet for the moment.
I’m sure they’d be back any minute to call it a night though.
Thankfully, I packed light and by the time they returned, I’d be long gone.
Pulling out my phone, I opened up my app to get a ride out of here.
The door swung open just as I slung my bag over my shoulder and slipped my phone into my back pocket.
Walker’s eyes were bright with understanding, and yet she still asked, “You leavin’?”
I sighed, letting my shoulders rise and fall with the inhale and exhale. “This is too much,” I said with far more bite than I intended. “I’m sorry for dragging you along. I have an Uber coming, you wanna come with?”
She offered me a soft, knowing smile. “It’s okay, the guys can take me home tomorrow. Are you like…leavin’ leavin’? Or will I see you at the bunkhouse when I get back?”
Nothing about her tone or her posture held an ounce of anger, and that somehow made me feel worse. She should be angry with me. For dragging her along to not only the rodeo but to the bar tonight so she could watch everyone act like dipshits all while stone-cold sober.
I thought about her words and hated the fact that tears burned in the back of my eyes.
Get your shit together, Ol. It’s not like I hadn’t left plenty of places before.
My entire existence was spent drifting from one place to another.
But I liked Thousand Trails. I liked Hux and Quinn and Walker.
I liked Cash and his friends. Shut it down.
“I don’t know,” I managed to get out, the words thick and strained.
And though I didn’t deserve it, she pulled me in for a tight hug. Her fresh, floral scent settled around me as she squeezed me tight. “Be safe, girl.”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat and squeezed her right back. “You too.”
The little makeshift campsite just outside of the trailer was abandoned, thank fuck.
Lights and movement flickered from inside the large RV Bad and Violet were staying in.
Good, I wouldn’t have to deal with either of them.
The guys’ muffled voices cut through the quiet of the late night, and I hid—actually fucking hid—amongst the shadows. God, I really was pathetic.
But I didn’t want to see him. I mean, I did. But if I saw him I knew I was going to stay. And I didn’t want to stay. Every nerve ending in my body screamed to run. Every premonition in my chest told me that messing around with Cash Mooney was going to wreck me.
He was wild and reckless and cocky and all but screamed the promise of a good time, but something told me that crossing that bridge with him would leave me burned and broken.
And I’d spent too much of my life hardening my heart to let it be broken.
I made it no more than a hundred or so steps before a shadowed figure materialized out of the darkness.
“Now, I knew you were mad at me, but I didn’t think you were leavin’ mad.” His low, velvety smooth voice did dangerous things to me.
“You don’t strike me as the thinking type, Big Daddy.” It was meant as an insult, especially with the way I made sure to drench each word with venom, but that didn’t stop the smile that sliced across his face, shining brighter than the moon in the sky above.
“I like to think of myself as more of the don’t think, just do kinda guy.”
I huffed and brushed past him. “Good to know.”
He caught my arm and whirled me to face him.
My hands instinctively went up to keep him at arms’ length, but found themselves resting against his muscled chest. The faint smell of smoke and alcohol lingered around him, but the undernotes of his sage and sandalwood scent were there as well.
Intoxicating. Tempting. “Come on, sugar. Why you mad?” There was a certain earnestness to his words that made my temper spark like a downed power line.
I glared up at him. “Oh gee, where the fuck do I start, Cash?” Pulling out of his grip, I snapped, “Maybe the fact that you failed to tell me I was meeting your mother, who hates me by the way. The only person she might hate more than me is that stupid buckle bunny whore who’s in love with you.
Or maybe it’s the fact that you fucking claimed me in front of the entire rodeo grounds and anyone watching on TV.
” My chest rose and fell in shallow gasps, the anger pumping through me a welcome companion.
His smile didn’t falter, in fact, I think it widened at each word I said. Fucking bastard. “Now what’s this about a claimin’?”
I flicked the cowboy hat that was once more on his head instead of mine. “I’m aware of the cowboy hat rule… Wear the hat, ride the cowboy.” I turned to walk away but he pulled me to him again.
Or maybe I let him. God he smelled and felt so fucking good.
“Now if I ain’t mistaken’, sugar, you practically announced to the whole bar you wanted to ride me too. Not to mention what you said to avoid Bodi. Seems like we both made our intentions pretty damn clear.”
I opened my mouth but whatever rebuttal I had on my lips withered away. Goddamn it, he was right. I mean, I hadn’t broadcasted it on live television, but still.
“You know, you’re not as stupid as you look,” I grumbled.
He grinned and brushed his knuckles gently against my chin. “And I believe you owe me a dance, sugar.”
I snorted. “Nice try, but I’ve got a ride to catch.” I pushed out of his hold once more, but he grabbed my hand and spun me back into his grip.
“Come on, sugar,” he murmured in my ear, already leading me in a two-step. “Just one dance.”
Ugh, this stupid, confident, handsome as fuck cowboy was going to ruin me. My brain was malfunctioning, leaving me to run completely off emotions. And right now, as annoyed as I was, I was also turned the fuck on.
My bag slipped off my shoulder, thumping forgotten on the floor. One of my hands slid into his, while I wrapped an arm around his neck. Where our bodies met, my skin tingled, burned. “One dance,” I breathed.
His grin was brighter than the entire night sky. “That’s all I need.”
I rolled my eyes, swaying to the nonexistent music, following his lead. “Need to what, dipshit?”
He leaned in, and for a heartstopping moment I thought he might try and kiss me. “To get you to fall for me.” His words were little more than a caress against my ear.
Now that would be the fucking day. My head fell back, a laugh erupting out of me. “Yeah right. Nice try, Big Daddy. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re sure falling for me.”
“Is that so?” His question was a hushed whisper, his hazel eyes burning with challenge.
One of my brows quirked up. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
“No one can resist Big Daddy.”
I laughed; I couldn’t help it. He was so obnoxiously cocky. So fucking sure of himself. “Does that actually work on women?”
He gripped my chin, the playfulness in his gaze dissolving, stone-cold resolve sparking in its place. “I don’t know,” he crooned, running his thumb over my bottom lip. “You tell me, Ollie.”
Ollie.
Not sugar. Not some other cutesy nickname like darlin’ or sweetheart.
A shiver danced along my spine. This man was dangerous. Like playing with fire… and call me dumb, call me an idiot, but right now, I wanted nothing more than to be burned.
I might hate myself—and him—tomorrow, but something told me I’d never live down letting this moment go.
“I think this is one of those cases where seeing is believing,” I murmured, pushing up on tiptoe so that our mouths were but a breath apart. “Convince me I’m wrong, Big Daddy.”
Cash stopped dancing altogether and pulled me more firmly against him. “Careful what you wish for, sugar.”
And then he kissed me.
Hard and brutal and filled with so much desire and lust that it stole the very breath from my lungs. Yes…fuck, yes. He kissed me like our bodies had been fused together. Like the world was ending. Kissing him felt like drowning, like catching fire.
And, fuck, it felt good.
When my lungs couldn’t take it any longer, when it felt like I might die if I didn’t come up for air, I finally pulled away, happy to find him just as breathless as me.
His chest rose and fell in deep, heaving breaths as he held me. “Come on, sugar.” In a swift flurry of motions, he slipped his hand in mine while picking up my bag with the other before leading me away from the parking lot.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
He didn’t answer. He simply glanced back at me, that playful grin on his face and a confident glimmer in his gaze. God, he was so beautiful it almost hurt.
And like a fucking fool, I followed.