Chapter 4 #2
A decade ago I’d gone to the rodeo like a tough guy and rode the surliest, nastiest bull they had. I’d come out the other end as the champion, but it easily could have gone the other way.
I’d been a young buck with a puffed-up chest, strutting around with balls two sizes too big and a complete lack of common sense.
Marissa’s dad had tried to talk me out of it, but once I’d announced that I was doing it to the whole town, I felt like I couldn’t back out.
I still remembered that day because afterward Rissy had run right up to me and planted a kiss on my lips.
A victory kiss, she’d called it. And even as she’d stood there, hope and expectation on her face, Matt had been right behind her hollering, ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing, Rissy? Get off him!’
My adrenaline had been pumping hard, the thrill of the bull ride still racing in my veins. And I would have kissed her back if Matt hadn’t pulled his little sister right out of my arms at that moment.
“I thought that bull was going to kill you. I was so worried about you that day,” she murmured, her expression turning soft.
“Yeah. I was worried, too. I don’t know if you noticed, but I never rode a bull again.”
Her lips quirked up. “Not a real bull. But now you’re the mechanical bull champion of Red Oak Mountain.”
I shrugged, enjoying the attention. “It’s not my fault that I live up here with a bunch of sissies.” I had the title of the longest ride on the mechanical bull at the Bear Den.
Max had my picture up on the wall next to my time with a note that said, “Top this, fuckers.”
I figured I’d pulled in a couple thousand dollars in quarters for the bar over the years as men tried to beat my record. But riding the metal bull was a completely different experience than riding a real bull. The guys who did that all the time had a death wish.
If the bull at the Bear Den got too intense, you could just twist the dial and stop the ride. Real bulls didn’t work that way.
We chatted through dinner, keeping the conversation light while we devoured the burgers along with the fry mountain, which was really just a big mess of fries piled high in the center of a plate.
When Candy came back to check in on a dessert order, Marissa shook her head. “I shouldn’t.”
“It’s Valentine’s Day. This is the one day of the year when you should,” I told her.
I knew she was thinking about her weight. She’d always been self-conscious of it. You don’t know how badly I wanted to tell her that she was completely and totally fuckably gorgeous, and that any man would be lucky to share a bed with her.
But saying something like that felt like it would betray Matt. He’d made me swear years ago that I’d never date his sister.
And all these years later, I’d stayed true to my word. But, damn, it was getting tougher.
Especially knowing how lonely she was. I wanted to slide right into her life and be the man at her side, propping her up when she felt sad.
Glancing up at Candy, I asked, “What did you and Walker rustle up special for tonight?”
She leaned in close and in a conspiratorial whisper said, “Well, we have exactly one couple’s cake left for the night. It’s from Stephanie and Cory’s bakery. It’s a strawberry cake smothered in chocolate ganache.”
Grinning at Marissa, I rumbled, “Well, we better snatch it up then. One couple’s cake…” and then on impulse I added, “to go.”
Marissa’s eyes grew wide as Candy nodded and hustled away to prepare our order.
“To go?”
Fuck it. If I took her home tonight it didn’t mean I was going to sleep with her, right? We could just… cuddle. So that’s what I told her.
“Unless you have other plans. I put in a new deck last spring. I haven’t had anyone over to enjoy it yet. We could have our couple’s cake out there.”
She started laughing. “Sawyer, it’s forty degrees outside.”
Nodding, I told her, “Yup. And that deck happens to have a built-in gas-run hot tub. And a fire pit right there on the deck. We should go skinny-dipping and eat our couple’s cake while you tell me more about this dirt you find so fascinating. Then afterwards we can cuddle.”
There was no mistaking the way her pupils dilated, or the flush of heat that landed on her cheeks.
She sucked in a breath. “What happened to Sawyer Reed? You’re not the same man I’ve known all these years.”
“I just think we need to end this Valentine’s Day on a high note.
And here we both are, dateless, unlucky in love, and about to be in possession of the most coveted sweet treat on Red Oak Mountain.
” I shrugged my shoulder. “I think it sounds like a perfect idea. But I get it if you’re not interested. ”
She stammered out, “Okay. But we’re swinging by my place first so I can pick up my bathing suit. I am not skinny-dipping with you tonight.”
My lips parted in a grin so wide my cheeks hurt. I’d take that as a win.
“We don’t have to skinny-dip. It would just make it more fun,” I flirted back.
Marissa cocked her head to the side, a questioning look on her face. “And the cuddling?”
My cock went from half-mast to full, stretching my jeans uncomfortably.
I growled, “That will be fun, too.”
She didn’t say anything in response, but her mouth dropped open and I swear she looked like she wanted to eat me up right there on the spot.
We’d always been flirty and playful with each other, but I was taking it across the line tonight. And maybe I was having too much fun.
A jolt of unease shot through me. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to drag Matt’s little sister right into my bed and show her exactly what kind of attention I thought she deserved.
I’d wanted her so badly over so many years that the ache had turned into a part of me, my heart attuned in her direction, knowing I could never have her.
But… did that rule still exist?
Matt didn’t even live on Red Oak Mountain anymore.
He’d found his love. While I’d sat here pining for his sister for far too long.
A silent war of competing thoughts roared through me.
Maybe Matt would understand.
When he’d forced that commitment out of me, she’d just graduated high school. Rissy had been way too young for me, even if I’d held a fond spot in my heart for her.
But we were all adults now, Marissa and I both in our thirties. Our age gap, just a few measly years, seemed smaller now than it had when we were younger.
A zing of knowing flashed between us. If she came to my house tonight, I wouldn’t keep my hands to myself.
After Candy dropped off our to-go bag I rumbled, “Come on, Rissy. Let’s get out of here.”
Her eyes were trained on mine with a shy little glint in them as we stood up. I dropped some cash on the table to cover the bill and looped my arm over Marissa’s shoulder.
As we left the axe house, dessert secured safely in a doggie bag, a drunk tourist bumped into Marissa.
“Hey, watch where you’re going, wide load,” the man growled out as his beer crashed to the ground.
Poor Marissa’s mouth dropped open, pain etching across her face.
I didn’t even think about it. I just decked the man right in the jaw. Then his beer wasn’t the only thing on the floor. The man was laid out flat.
Everyone nearby gasped, his friends gathering around while Walker came around the counter, shaking his head at me.
Fuck. Did I just do that?
It had been worth it, even if I ended up spending the night in jail, because the look on Rissy’s face had changed from shame and humiliation to hero-worship. She was beaming at me.
“Sorry, Walker,” I rumbled. “He started it. I finished it.”
Walker looked down at the drunk fuck on the floor. Neither of us had ever seen him before in our lives. “Yup. I believe it. Why don’t you two get out of here while I clean up this mess.”
And by that he meant throwing the asshole out on the street.
I turned to Marissa, my arm snaking around her waist, and quietly asked, “Are you all right?”
She nodded and leaned towards me, breathless as she stared up into my eyes. “Yeah. That guy was an asshole. I guess you’re my hero tonight, Sawyer.”
I’d happily take the title home with me if it meant protecting that woman.
“Let’s get out of here before Mason shows up and ruins our Valentine’s Day,” I rumbled as I guided her out the front door and into the snowy night.
I was making mistakes left and right tonight. I should be sitting at home safe and sound with my dog.
Instead, I had the most precious woman in the world on my arm, and I was quickly teetering towards the understanding that I could only have one of the two most important people in my life. It was either Matt or Rissy.
And right now the odds were slipping in Marissa’s favor.