14. Honky-tonked
FOURTEEN
Honky-tonked
ASH
The Sapphire Saloon pulsed with music and laughter as Forest Grove’s popular Friday night escape. I hadn’t set foot in the honky-tonk in months, but tonight felt different. Willow had agreed to come, and half the ranch crew piled into trucks and showed up to blow off some steam.
Knox and Colt were already inside, sipping longnecks and talking shit near the dartboard.
Ivy, Daisy, and Sage made their entrance in boots and denim, turning heads like they always did.
The prettiest woman was Willow, taking the stool beside me, her hair in blonde waves down her back and a spark in her eye that I’d bet hadn’t been there in a long time.
“I can’t believe you brought me out tonight,” she laughed, sliding onto a stool next to me at the bar. “It’s been years. Happy hour drinks once or twice a year with some of the teachers I worked with doesn’t count. All we did was trade complaints about the working conditions at school.”
“So you didn’t date much or go out?”
“Heck no. Single parenthood is always work and Ro, after-school activities, homework and bedtime, and definitely no room for adult fun.”
“You deserve a night like this then,” I said simply, all too glad to hear she hadn’t dated around. “I’m driving and I’m buying. So what’ll you have? Beer? Shots?”
She eyed the rough wooden bar, squinting her nose at all the beer bottles and taps, until she finally spotted the special menu I pointed out. “Ooh, a pumpkin spiced martini sounds perfect.”
I chuckled at the city girl’s drink of choice, all dressed up like the hottest cowgirl around.
We got our drinks and joined up with Knox and Colt and the Wylde sisters. We all joked around and played some darts until about the third round of drinks, when the women loosened up enough to dance.
I didn’t need alcohol to get buzzed, when watching Willow shimmy and shake and line dance with the women did the trick .
The fact that other men watched her too, bothered me.
The band rocked, a college group out of Bozeman playing country covers. They kicked up the tempo and shouts rang up from the dance floor. Willow laughed and let Ivy spin her in a wide circle before they all fell into a boot-stomping rhythm.
I talked with Knox and Colt, sipping my tea from a mason jar, and tried not to smile like an idiot.
“Daisy keeps sending you sultry stares, Knox. Admit it, you two are secretly seeing each other, aren’t you?” I took a stab in the dark, but the way his head snapped to mine?
“Nah. You know Daisy doesn’t like me. She rolls her eyes at me a hundred times a day.” He shook his head.
“Doesn’t seem to stop you from trying.”
“What about you, Boss?” he diverted attention back to me.
“Yeah, Willow looks a lot happier than that first day off the bus.” Colt nodded toward her.
“She does,” I agreed, unable to stop watching her. Seeing her in that outfit, smiling ear to ear, so damn beautiful it made my chest beam with pride having her here with me tonight.
Knox leaned closer. “So, is she still just your brother’s widow? Or something more?”
I should ream him out for insinuating, but why when he was right? She was something more, and I didn’t answer right away. Couldn’t. That word— widow —still carried too much weight. Too much guilt. I rubbed the back of my neck, and then the music slowed.
A pale and tall but scrawny guy in a cowboy hat stepped toward her. By the brand of his jeans and shiny boots, I could tell he was an out of towner. Probably some rich fucker from a high-rise in New York coming in to trophy hunt with a guide in our local forests.
He offered Willow his hand and asked her to dance. Every part of me went rigid. I saw red and slammed my jar of tea on the table. Before I realized what was happening, I was off the stool. Knox and Colt followed without a word, like a wolf pack behind the alpha, moving in on prey.
I came nose to nose with the asshole, warning with a growl, “Don’t even think about it.”
The fake cowboy took one glance at our faces and backed away fast.
“Everything okay here?” Knox checked in with Willow since I still seethed.
“I had it under control.” Willow crossed her arms, side-eyeing me.
“No doubt,” Knox replied with a grin. “But we take care of our own. It’s the ranch way. Right, Boss?” He clapped a hand on my back and leaned in with a smirk. “What are you waiting for?”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I held my hand outstretched, my throat still too tight to speak.
Her fingers slid into mine without hesitation. I glanced down at where we joined, unable to tell where mine ended and hers began, like we formed one linked and continuous limb.
The slow song wrapped around us. Knox danced with Daisy, and Ivy and Sage wrangled Colt between them with some moves. But the noise of the bar faded into the background as Willow became mine on the dance floor.
Our bodies melded together. Her hands found my back pockets; mine found hers. With her head tilted up at me, her eyes played with me, intense and never straying. Together we swayed under the neon lights.
This wasn’t just about scaring off a drunk cowboy who had no right to approach her. This was me claiming her publicly. Somewhere between the moment she stepped off the bus and now, I’d fallen. I’d complicated my life and made room for her and Ro in it.
There was only one thing left to do to complete my claim in front of everyone here. “I’d like to kiss you, baby,” I drawled into her ear.
“Take what you want, Ash.”
My lips brushed along her jaw until they found hers and fused together with sensual, lingering kisses.
I closed my eyes, breathing in her honeysuckle scent.
Our tongues twisted with remnants of her pumpkin spice drink there.
Denial, complications, and guilt paved the long road from our very first kiss at the lake to this kiss on the dance floor.
Who knew what tomorrow would bring?
All I knew was with her in my arms, this night had busted down my walls, and loosened my very careful restraint I’d maintained since the day she’d arrived. She became more than my past. Perhaps my future? It was about damn time I stopped pretending otherwise.
At past midnight when I drove her home, she seemed a little tipsy, giggling a lot—and sitting right next to me on the truck seat, her hand caressing my thigh. How right it felt having her so near, driving up my mountain. Going home. More than once I adjusted myself.
Finally parked in front of my cabin, we lingered.
Neither of us wanted to say goodnight. Our fingers laced together, eyes locked.
Truck turned off, but the radio played low.
Her pretty pink lips shone in the moonlight and took me back to high school.
I’d have had no problem getting as far as I could with her in my truck back then.
“Poppy texted about an hour ago that Ro was asleep. Of course, because of your brainiac idea to have Poppy stay the night on the couch, it’d be a little awkward to invite you in.” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth.
“I halfway regret it now, but I didn’t want Poppy driving home this late in the dark.”
“I know, and I like that about you, Ash, always taking care of the people around you. Nobody has taken care of me and Ro for some time now. It’s been us against the world.”
My hand reached up, threading through her hair to the back of her neck.
“Those days are over. I’m here for you now.
” I claimed her lips again, taking control of the kiss immediately.
My tongue dove deep into her mouth, demanding more from her.
She moaned, welcoming my invasion, gathering my shirt in her hands.
The alpha male inside me took over, growling and pulling her onto my lap, her legs outstretched along the seat.
I caressed up her thighs, damn jeans. If she wore one of her cute sundresses, my fingers would be tearing off her panties so fast. Instead, I continued trailing up her body until my hand possessively claimed her throat while pulling away just enough to gaze into those mesmerizing eyes.
“I’ll bet you’d be a very good girl for me, bright eyes,” I whispered gruffly, nipping at her bottom lip, my thumb squeezing lightly at her pulse.
“Mm-hmm. I’d be such a good girl, only for you, Ash.” Her hand stroked my forearm, calmly taking my possessive side, a little taste of how well I treated a woman. She all but admitted before how safe things were with Scott.
With me, she’d get the wild, bad boy she always desired.
Suddenly one of the trucks returned, full of rowdy ranch hands drunk from Sapphire, and I knew full well I couldn’t take things further here.
My truck was too exposed. The night too late.
And Ro and Poppy were less than twenty feet away inside, hopefully sleeping.
I inhaled deeply, begging my cock to be patient.
“Willow…” I touched my forehead to hers and sighed.
“I know. Not here. Not tonight.”
“Soon?” I’d beg if I needed to if I didn’t get inside of her as soon as possible. So would my cock, angrily twitching in my jeans.
“Oh, yes. Definitely. I’ve been waiting for you forever, Ash.”
So had I been waiting, and didn’t even realize it, wasn’t even aware enough to understand the connection we’d maintained all these years.
We kissed and put ourselves back together. I got out and ran to the other side and helped her down. Hand in hand, we strolled to the front door but took our time. A sweet, chaste kiss capped off the night.
“Will you think of me tonight?” She playfully ran a finger from my stubbled jawline down my chest and torso, stopping at the top button of my jeans.
“Fuck yes. You’ve been starring in my dreams for a week now.”
“Good. I like hearing that. Night then, Ash.” With a sultry wink and curve of her lips, she disappeared inside. And locked the door behind her.
I almost stumbled down the porch steps in a Willow-induced daze. Not ready to face the guys in the bunkhouse, I drove out to a pretty place on the ranch I’d found last spring.
As far as I knew, no one else had been here, so I parked and claimed it as my special spot.
I hiked through some trees, coming out on an outcropping of boulders forming a ridge.
It looked out over a small valley. About fifty feet below, a sliver of a stream ran, lit by the moon, and not another soul in sight.
The place had become sacred to me, where I came to think or to forget. To just be.
Tonight, it was the place where I knelt on the big boulder like at an altar, shoved my jeans down, and groped my aching cock.
Willow’s name whispered on each jagged breath of mine and became my wishes to the stars above.
The river below carried off my frustrations, stripping away all my emotions until all I felt was her.
Our connection filled my soul, and it seared her name on my heart.
Like a feral beast, I howled when the climax hit me, fast and hard, and I painted the rocks below. The echo of my cry continued until I collapsed on my back, gasping for breaths.
In the aftermath, I lay there a long while, praying answers to my life would come to me. But all I saw were visions of the life Scott once had, the wife and child once his. Only now the visions changed, became clearer—I took his place.