Chapter 6 Tequila Sunrise Weston
Weston
Idon’t move.
For one frantic heartbeat, then another, I just let myself feel. Her lips. Her warmth. Her courage.
Part of me was certain Josie would tell me to go screw myself. Only what I deserved.
Instead, she’s kissing me.
She tastes like cherry ChapStick.
Once the joyful shock fades, hunger takes over. Six years of pent-up longing sweep through me with the force of a sudden summer thunderstorm.
Before I know what’s happening, I’m cupping her face in my hands. I’m turning my head, brushing my nose against hers just how she likes, and slanting my mouth over the soft heaven of her lips.
She automatically opens to me, and the thrill of it—how well we still know each other after all this time—sends my pulse into a tailspin.
Her hands find my neck. The gentle but knowing slide of her palms over my skin is enough to light me on fire.
Who knows if she’ll actually give me another chance. But right now, this kiss is enough.
It has to be.
She steps into me, melting her hips to mine, and the feel of her is so electric, so comforting, it almost pisses me off.
A holler rises around us. Someone claps. Someone else—Grady, has to be—whistles.
I don’t care. I’m tasting my girl for the first time in six years, and I ain’t about to stop.
I want everyone to know just how much I love this woman. Just how far I’d go to make her happy. I bite down on her bottom lip. She moans, a soft sound I feel in the tip of my dick.
She kisses me harder, deeper. I meet her stroke for stroke as we consume each other in a thirsty push and pull that has me cupping the nape of her neck. I can keep her closer this way.
I can pretend, for a minute, that she’ll say yes when I ask her to come home with me. But that’s jumping twenty steps ahead. I’m not about to mess with the good thing we got going right now.
Her hands slide down to my chest. She fists my shirt, tugging at me as she nips at the corner of my mouth. The flash of pain makes me groan.
I’m getting hard.
“Josie,” I murmur into her mouth as the band starts to play a Brooks & Dunn cover.
She keeps her eyes closed. “Don’t stop.”
I break the kiss and lean my forehead against hers. “I’m not gonna be able to stop if we keep going. And that’s not how this is gonna go down.”
Letting out a velvety chuckle, she rolls her head a little. “There’s a joke in there about—”
“Trust me, I wanna go down on you right now more than I want my next breath. But I . . . that feels wrong. Not going down on you, obviously. But going there. Right now.”
“Damn it, you’re right.” The words are a petulant half moan. “I hate this. Slash, this is too damn good, too fast.”
My turn to laugh. I straighten, dropping my hand from her neck so I can tuck the hair out of her face. “Dance with me.”
She grins, biting her lip. “Okay.”
Josie’s eyes catch on mine as she begins to move, swaying her hips in time to the music. She’s all smiles, hair falling over her shoulders and down her back while she moves against me.
I bite down on the inside of my cheek. She is sexy as hell. More confident than before.
I love that.
I love everything about this woman. She’s always known who she is, and she owns it, fearlessly.
I hope I’m able to own who I am like that too. I’m trying.
“You’re still a terrible dancer,” she shouts over the music as she digs her fingertips into the hair at my nape.
My eyes nearly roll to the back of my head at the familiar pleasure that rushes through me. “Somebody’s gotta make you look good.”
“You think I look good?”
“Aw, baby, you always look good.”
Quinn and Grady are already making out beside her. Love them, but . . . yeah, they can be pretty shameless with the PDA.
We dance to another song. Then another and another and another, and suddenly it’s last call.
Josie pulls me off the dance floor and out the door.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I laugh. “Where we goin’?”
She cuts me a hot look over her shoulder. “Anywhere we can be alone.”
Christ Almighty.
I tug on her hand, drawing her around to face me on the sidewalk outside the bar. Neon light streams through the windows and catches on the soft slopes of Josie’s face.
My heart twists. She’s pretty.
“Listen.” My voice sounds like gravel as I look down at her, thumbing her chin. “I wanna lay you down so bad I wanna die. But I don’t want you to regret anything.”
An indent appears between her brows. “Are you turning me down, Weston Jessup?”
“I’m taking my time. A lot’s happened tonight. Think on it, and if you still wanna . . .” I glide my thumb over her lips. “Then we will, in the morning.”
She lets out a chuckle. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Serious about us? Hell yes.”
A pause as she searches my face. At last she sighs, leaning her head against my chest. “Fine. Will you meet me in the pasture, then? Sunrise?”
It’s a rush, remembering all the times we met on horseback in the southwest pasture on my family’s property to watch the sun come up.
“You need me to tack up a horse for you?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Good old Peaches is still kicking. Easy enough for me to load her up in a trailer.”
Peaches is the chestnut quarter horse Josie’s been riding for as long as I’ve known her.
“Can I call it a date?” I ask.
Biting her lip, her eyes trail over my face. “It’s a date.”
I can’t sleep.
Too wound up after spending the rest of the night dancing with Josie and all our friends.
It killed me not to throw her over my shoulder and toss her in the front seat of my truck after we left the Rattler. But I wanna do this right.
So I spend the night tossing and turning like the horny, lovesick idiot I am. When four o’clock rolls around, I finally throw off the covers. Grab a quick shower, then fill a thermos with freshly brewed coffee.
I may or may not toss a flask of reposado tequila in my saddlebag, just because I can. My best friend is getting married today, isn’t he? We have to celebrate.
It’s still mostly dark when I ride out to the pasture. Not like I mind. This is my favorite time of day. It’s quiet. Not exactly cool, but the temperature is the coolest it’ll be all day. No one’s around to bug me for anything yet.
I see Josie approaching just as the first hint of orange breaks over the horizon. I smile, my skin tightening at just how good she looks in the saddle.
Girl hasn’t missed a beat. Her posture is straight, reins in one hand. But her hips roll in time to Peaches’s steady walk.
She’s also wearing a Stetson. White, just like the T-shirt that clings to her like a second skin.
Watching her come to me, I can’t breathe.
“Mornin’.” She nods at my own hat. “That’s a new one.”
“Been saving it for a special occasion.” She’s close enough that I can reach out to tap the brim of hers. “I like this.”
“Thought you might.”
“Coffee first? Or you wanna ride?”
Her eyes sparkle. “What kind of girl do you think I am, Wes?”
I grin. “You always were an excellent rider.”
“You’re welcome.”
“You’re killin’ me. Let’s ride.”
Urging our horses into a trot, we head for the horizon, breaking into an all-out run once we reach a flat stretch by the river. Josie’s expression is downright gleeful as we race toward the rising sun.
She plays dirty. Swerving. Cutting me off. She’s laughing as she does it and so am I. Real belly laughs that tickle my sides and leave me breathless.
By the time we draw to a stop beneath a pair of soaring oak trees, my sides ache and so does my chest.
“Feels real good to do that again,” I say as I pour her some coffee. We’re sitting on the picnic blanket I brought, the lowing of cows filling the air.
Her fingers brush mine as she takes the coffee. “Nothing in the world compares to that ride—and that view.” She nods at the sun.
The sky is alive, glowing in shades of yellow, pink, red.
“But there is a bigger world out there.” I choose my words carefully, rotating my own cup in my hands. “One I’d like to see more of.”
Josie looks up at me, eyes wide. “Would you really? Come with me this time?”
“Are you asking me to?”
She laughs. “No. Yes. I . . . well.” She blinks. “I’m heading to the West Coast next week. I know y’all probably have tons of hay to cut—”
“I’m in.”
She blinks again. “What?”
“We hired a new guy on the ranch. Does a little bit of everything, just like me.”
“Wait.” Her voice wavers. “You—”
“Yup. Been saving up my pennies so I can go part-time. Jake—that’s his name, nice dude—he’s gonna take over a lot of the stuff I do on the ranch. Told my family I wanted to spread my wings and follow you, because I love you, and I love making music with you.”
She stares at me.
I start to sweat. “What?”
“Just—you—”
“To be fair, I’m not quitting entirely. I don’t want to. But if you and I are ever gonna make this work, I need some flexibility in my schedule.”
She keeps staring at me. “Flexibility? In your schedule?”
“My therapist is very good at his job.”
“I can tell. Holy shit, Wes.” She claps a hand onto her forehead. “Holy shit.”
“That a yes?” I ask with a laugh. “I can get on your fancy jet and hang with you all next week?”
A tear slips out of her eye. I finally—finally—get to wipe it away with my thumb. “Fuck yeah that’s a yes.”
Then she’s putting down her coffee and she’s kissing me.
I’m putting down my coffee and kissing her back.
She’s pushing me down on the blanket.
I’m taking her down with me.
We get lost in each other for hours.
Or maybe it’s minutes. Days. I have no way of knowing.
All I do know is that the sun is up by the time we’re putting our clothes back on.
Before we get back in the saddle, I grab the tequila and yank out the cork.
“I forget how early you cowboys start,” she says, taking the bottle I hold out to her.
“Can’t drink all day if you don’t start in the morning. Plus, we got some good friends heading to the chapel today. Why not be the first ones to toast their wedding?”
She tips back the bottle. Drinks. Sighs with pleasure. “You’re right. Why not?”
She passes me the bottle and I drink too. The warm slide of tequila down my throat is exactly what I need after not one but two rounds of the best sex of my life.
“How’s the ceremony coming?” I ask.
Josie frowns. “I tried working on it when I got home last night, but my mind was . . . elsewhere.”
“You sayin’ I’m a distraction, Josie girl?”
“Jo.”
My heart lurches. “Does that mean—”
“Yes. You can call me that. I like Josie girl, too, though.”
“I like you.” Reaching for her, I curl my hand around her nape and pull her in for a kiss. “And I love you too. Always will.”
Her laugh is warm against my mouth. “Always. I’ll always love you, Weston.”