Chapter 2
Nash
Each muscle quivers as I push against the soft ground beneath my palms. My lungs burn through every grunted exhale, but I keep pushing.
Every power push-up rep threatens to leave me face-first in the mud.
Curling up on that damn couch last night already put me at a disadvantage, leaving my body an achy mess this morning.
This frame isn’t made for shit like that anymore.
By the time I’d found the energy to sit up just as dawn crept over the horizon, I felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to my limbs. Still, I knew I needed this. I needed the burn and the chance to clear my head.
Though maybe I wouldn’t have needed to punish my body at all if Betty hadn’t had on that tight top and those tiny cut-off shorts.
Fuck, it took everything in me not to get hard taking in the curves of her lean muscle.
Every droplet of sweat down her chin that fell between her breasts could have been water on my tongue.
Objectively, Betty has always been a beautiful girl.
The entire Hughes family could be models if they ever left this damn county.
But when I saw her yesterday and didn’t immediately cut off those wayward thoughts, my mind went haywire.
They consumed me, fantasizing about all the filthy things I wanted to do to her.
It didn’t matter that I called her a kid in my head, though she’s in her thirties now.
It doesn’t matter that I told myself she’s my buddy’s baby sister and I shouldn’t look at her that way.
I wanted to act on her attraction. I have since September, when I ran into her at the ranch and she’d been clad in jeans that looked painted on, showcasing the round curve of her perfect ass.
It was the first time I saw her after her confession at River’s party. I didn’t know what to say to her that night. Not that it would have mattered. She’d been drunk out of her mind.
I blame myself for her baring her soul that night. Treating her like we were old friends while I held her close on the dance floor had been wrong.
Hours have passed while I lay awake staring at the ceiling, trying to understand how I didn’t know. How could I have missed the way she looked at me for years?
But now it’s different.
There’s heartbreak nearly drowning out her longing stare. A stare I never realized I’ve known since the first night I stayed over at her house back in high school.
The Hughes house quickly became our team gathering spot when Beckett made the football team. It was summer training, and Mrs. Hughes offered to host the team’s sleepover. They grilled us enough food to feed an army and showered us with snacks. It was one of the most fun nights I had in high school.
From as young as I can remember, I’ve always woken up in the middle of the night in search of water.
That’s when I found her outside, just staring up at the sky.
It wasn’t something I lingered over then.
The cute little ten-year-old was tracing the stars with her finger. An act so innocent it made me smile.
“You okay?” I’d asked.
She only nodded, but didn’t stop her fingers moving through the air, that goofy grin lighting up her face. “I always come out here when the moon is gone. It’s when I can see the stars best.”
I’d left her there, crept back into the house, grabbed a glass of water, and then shimmied back into my sleeping bag. The next morning was the first time she looked at me like there were stars in her eyes. A kiddy crush. We’ve all had one.
I just never knew it stuck around for twenty-three years.
“Might want to save some of that energy for wrangling calves,” Gray chuckles, his shadow looming over me with his hands on his hips.
“Mornin’ to you too,” I grunt, pumping out another set of twenty before slowly climbing to my feet.
I’m completely wiped. Every bit of energy I had is gone. A necessary evil, so I could stop thinking about that woman still asleep in her room inside the Miller house.
“You wanna talk about it?” Gray leans against my truck, crossing his arms over his chest.
Wiping sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand, I stalk toward the house. “Nope. Let me change, and we can get started.”
The house is quiet when I enter. No matter how I try to stifle my movements, rifling through my overnight bag for clothing and my toiletries case is like a booming chorus of sound.
The full bath on the first floor is right beside Betty’s room. I can only hope she sleeps like the dead; the last thing I want to do is wake her. If she looks at me with those pleading brown eyes again, I won’t be able to resist her.
Fuck, I’m barely hanging on now. Fantasies of her hold me at their mercy as they once again float through my head. So much for punishing it out of my system.
Slipping through the bathroom door, I close it with the softest click. My eyes stay glued to the natural plank of wood, each step carrying me further away. I refuse to turn my back toward it as if she’s going to burst through the door at any moment.
And do what, Nash? You broke her heart. She isn’t going to fuck you.
Minutes pass of staring straight ahead before I release a ragged sigh. Dropping my shit on the side table, I scrub my hands over my face. The muscles in my neck seem to revolt as I slowly lift my gaze before stumbling back several feet.
“What the hell are you doing in here?” Betty snaps, moving out of the alcove where the Jack and Jill sinks sit.
My eyes dart around the room as if the walls hold the answer to her question. I’m wondering if they remodeled the bathroom now. The toilet also has its own alcove, and the shower is on the opposite wall, with a large tub serving as the background when you’re facing the mirror.
“I—I, uh, was showering.”
“Can you wait until I’m done or go upstairs?” For the first time, she stares at me like she actually wants me gone. And, fuck do I hate that.
“Yeah. ‘Course.” But I don’t move, staring at her bare legs on display beneath a Cole County High football t-shirt. A shirt she must have had from when Beckett was on the team.
“Nash!” she snaps. “Get out.” Her eyes meet mine. “Please.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, scooping up my things and rushing out of the bathroom. Jogging up the stairs two at a time, I can’t understand why my interaction with Betty rattles me. I promised nothing would be awkward, and that’s exactly what it’s been. I fucking hate it.
In less than ten minutes, I’m showered and changed only to find Gray chatting with one of the ranch hands, still leaning against my truck.
Without a word, the three of us make our way out to the fields.
The more distance we put between us and the Miller house, the more my focus locks into place.
Gray and Beau are efficient as they walk me through the pedigrees for the calves that the Garrisons asked me to evaluate.
Several have what we’d consider strong bloodlines, the perfect mix for training as rodeo competitors.
By the time we’re finished, all I want to do is curl up on that uncomfortable couch again and sleep for a year.
I’d skipped coffee this morning, eager to get out of the house.
It was as if being in her vicinity wound me up to the point I couldn’t breathe.
A response I am stuck wracking my brain trying to understand.
I don’t see her that way. There’s no chance of a relationship or anything between us, so why do I care so damn much?
There should be a way to explain it to her, but I can’t find the words. No matter how attractive she might be to me, we won’t work. Betty is kind, sweet, and young. She doesn’t want a man like me. She just doesn’t know that yet.
Gray claps me on the shoulder as we march back to the house. “Come have a beer with us,” he grumbles. His buddy Beau nods along like a damn bobblehead, the gesture causing me to groan loudly.
Every fiber is still sore as hell, and I’m already exhausted from the flight out here yesterday.
“I think I’m gonna get some sleep. We wrapped up everything we needed to do today, so I am gonna try to head back to Montana tomorrow.
” The thought of attempting to find a different flight makes me groan again.
This back and forth is going to wear on me real quick.
It didn’t seem like it would be any worse than the travel I often do now, but coming home always takes a little something extra out of me.
It’s a constant reminder of what I promised I’d never leave behind.
“All the more reason to have a beer with us now. Next weekend will be too busy,” Beau interjects. I’ve only met the guy a few times. He’s the last person who could get me to venture to a bar.
We clear the hill to the east of the house, Betty coming into view. Instead of those shorts, she has on a sundress. The type that appears innocent, but you can’t wait to whip up once your woman is bent over the bed of your truck while you drive into her from behind.
That used to be my life. A long time ago. A lifetime ago.
A soft breeze whips through her loose waves and the bottom of the dress. My cock is twitching in my jeans, wondering what’s underneath. Briefs. Boyshorts. Thong. Nothing.
An audible groan leaves me. “You good?” Gray snorts.
“Uh, yeah. Just sore as hell. Let’s get that beer. I’ll drive.”
The three of us cut left, jumping in my truck without so much as another word.
But I feel her eyes on me. And when I look in the rearview mirror, all I see is her.