Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
WEST
When Silence Falls
A sparkly trophy sits in the bunkhouse tonight, but it doesn’t have Dustan’s name on it.
Another rider we put up for the night took it out, not one of our own.
And I’m okay with that, seeing as Dylan got his moment in the limelight and Jesse got six seconds of kudos for Coyote Falls, even if he didn’t manage to stay on his bull until the bell.
It was a tough ride, to be fair. And a few new riders are up-and-coming, whom I wish I could keep my eye on…
but then I’ve got no reason to be here next year.
Dustan is looking at a circuit down south that’s calling to him, and Dylan seems to be all in on that ride. Coyote doesn’t have room for an old dust grunt who’s outgrown his usefulness, so that leaves me at a loose end right now.
“It’s a good night.” Winnie slides in under my arm, a thermos of coffee in her hands. She’s shivering, and still wearing the skintight jeans I want to peel from her later and the knitted white singlet thing, but she’s got hot coffee. Apparently that matters.
“What makes it a good night?” I kiss the top of her head, slotting her back against my chest, and loop an arm around her waist.
She’s right, though. It is a good night. The land is quiet, sleeping. Even the bunkhouse is silent with everyone down. In a few hours, dawn will break. I suspect we’ll still be up to see it. Just us, and no one else to interrupt the new day.
“You’re here.” Winnie gives me her weight, her trust. “I’m here.”
She’s right. It’s enough.
“I still don’t know what the future looks like.” For me. For us. Is there an us? She keeps asking. I keep promising.
After Dustan’s fall, I don’t know anymore.
Maybe I never knew anything and have been kidding myself for far too long.
Sure, he got up and earned himself a swollen ankle for his trouble.
The bull trotted away and he’ll ride in the next rodeo.
But hell, did my heart stop. And Winnie’s scream…
I don’t know what went through her head or what she remembers, but I’ll never forget.
She saw her brother in the dust a third time. I know she did. Because I looked back over my shoulder once. Just once. And his name was on her lips, a name she sobbed in silence.
Or maybe I’ve blocked it out because I didn’t want to hear it again.
“We’re all damaged here.” I pull her in tighter, the words slipping free that I never meant to say.
She nods. “We are. And we’re stronger together.”
“Are you trying to convince yourself of that, or me?”
“I know it,” Winnie says with her personal brand of conviction, putting her thermos on the veranda railing before she twists in my arms. Her hands slide up my shirt as she rises on her tiptoes.
Warm breath brushes my mouth as I dip my head to meet her lips. “Should we do this here? ’Cause I’m not sure I want to hold back from touching you anymore,” I murmur against her mouth.
“I want…” she starts, but then drifts off as our lips meet in a slow kiss that evolves into something smooth and hot and completely unsuitable for anyone else to see.
Nothing else matters, only her. Winnie’s all curves, warm in my arms as she presses to me, thigh to thigh. A soft sound slips from her mouth to mine as I tease the seam of her lips with my tongue.
The single breath she gifts me is pure pleasure that drips along my spine, hardening my cock in an instant.
I swing us around, pushing her back against the veranda railing, and grind against her softness.
Every whimper is stunning, and I’m a selfish, greedy asshole who wants to collect everything she’ll give me.
“This is how I’m gonna spend my night, is it?” Cord’s amused voice brings us both back to reality with brutal force and clarity.
I slide a hand to Winnie’s hip, squeezing gently where I know she really feels it, just because I can. Her cry is muffled against my shirt as she buries her head into my chest. “You can go inside,” I say over my shoulder.
“Yeah, I could. Or I can remind my sister that she’s got a bedroom to stay in and you can keep your dick to yourself for a night.” Cord keeps his tone pleasant, even if his words aren’t.
I grit my teeth and take his point. “Looks like we keep this for later. But we’re getting a place of our own.
” I kiss her mouth again, ignoring Cord’s disgruntled mutter in the background.
When I pull away from Winnie, I turn to face him.
“I had to put up with you and Lanie climbing each other. You were a baby-making factory for the first few months, and now, just because you’re bored and she’s not here, you’re taking your frustrations out on us? Thanks for that.”
Winnie snorts so hard that she hiccups and bumps my hip with her own.
“Jesus.” Cord shakes his head. “This is what happens when you have caffeine after midnight, you little gremlin.”
Her snorts aren’t done. “Same gene pool, big bro.”
I back up, refusing to get between them when they’re like this. “You two knock this one out. I was having a nice quiet night to myself and you pair are lighting it up like a freaking Sunday carnival.”
“Don’t you dare.” Winnie clings to my side. “You’re warm.”
I grab her thermos and sniff. “Fuck me, Winnie. That’s—”
“Wine for Winnie.” She grins up at me and presses closer.
“You’ll be hypothermic by the end of the night.”
“Meh.” She snuggles in as I shrug my jacket off and wrap it around her shoulders. Cord discreetly disappears the way he should have done ten minutes ago. This time, when I kiss her, I don’t stop until the sun rises over Coyote Falls.
And I’m not sure if it’s telling me goodbye or welcome back.
Sally stares at Applethorn, and Applethorn stares back.
Or whatever the damn bull’s name is; she’s changed it a dozen times in the last hour.
We’re currently up to version twelve and that is what we’re sticking with.
They’re on either side of the wire fence and not allowed to ride.
Winnie’s rules, not mine, and both look damn woeful in my opinion.
“Okay. Listen to Uncle Cord for me while I’m not here, okay? He’s not going to let you ride the baby bull—” Winnie throws a glance at her brother.
“The feeder calf,” Cord corrects her.
“—and neither is Billy. Are you?”
Billy straightens, seemingly surprised to be included in the plan, but takes it in stride, which is a damn good thing or we’d be having words.
“Yes, ma’am.” He even doffs his hat at my girl as I stow the freaking picnic basket that Levi packed for us into the back of my truck bed and secure it.
“You’ll be good for me, wontcha, Sally?”
Sally smiles, her hands clasped in front of her and sways, a picture-perfect angel. “Of course, Billy. Hey, Uncle Cord?”
“See?” Billy grins like he’s got her wrapped around his little finger.
Winnie snorts. We both know better.
“Yeah?” Cord’s both smarter and warier.
“Can I get the paintball gun, please?” Sally asks. “Billy’s a great target.”
Billy’s face is fucking perfect as his mouth pops open. “Wait a minute—” he protests.
Sally leans forward and cups her hands around her mouth. “Run,” she stage-whispers.
To his credit, Billy hightails it across the yard, his knees lifted toward his chest in a comical dash, with Sally in pursuit, which leaves us in tears.
I kiss the top of Winnie’s head. “She’ll be fine,” I say, pulling her toward my truck. “We have a picnic to go on.”
“It’s not dark yet,” she protests, waving her arms at Sally for a hug. Her child ignores her, already wrapped up in her game. Applethorn looks as sad and lonely as Winnie.
“Let’s go. It’ll be sundown soon enough. This is the date you wanted, remember?” I curl my fingers through her hair, tugging gently. It’s grown in the last few weeks. “Besides, you’re both running out of holidays.”
Reality is encroaching on all of us far too fast for my liking, and I promised Winnie I’d do this for her.
“Yeah.” Winnie looks longingly at me, then back at Sally.
I’ve got this, Cord mouths to me before running across the yard after Sally. Okay, kind of running, half limping.
Even Winnie laughs. “Okay,” she concedes. “She’s fine.”
“The bull might miss her,” I tease. “Wanna bring him along?”
Winnie sends me a fuck you look. “Maybe I can trade the two of you,” she says sweetly, climbing into my truck. My girl sits demurely in the passenger seat.
I shut my mouth and play chauffeur in case she does exactly that.
Winnie pats my leg as I start the truck. “Good cowboy,” she murmurs.
And just like that, she’s got me tamed.
The falls are perfect at this time of year, the water cold and crystal clear with a decent flow to the shallow basin that runs below before the next set of falls beyond that one.
But even with the sun still up, the heat is leaching from the day, and we’ve got a ways to go.
It feels damn good to be away from the house, away from everyone.
Winnie hangs out the window with my fingers hooked through the belt loop in her jeans. “Isn’t this where Lanie saw her pet beastie?” she yells loud enough to rouse the damn critter’s ancestors.
“Probably. It’s not our destination for tonight, though.”
“Huh?” Winnie lets me pull her back through the window as I drive past the falls and head deeper into the forest.
The canopy closes over us, providing an early dusk.
Winnie settles back in her seat. “You’ve spent time out here, right? On your own?”
I don’t take my eyes off the trail as the light dims further. “Yeah. I’ve walked most of the land.” There’s a caveat in that, and she’ll find out what I mean in about an hour.
“And you’ve stayed overnight out here on your own?”
I grin. “Nervous? Neither Cord nor I have been eaten by anything other than a few bugs. Yet.”
She swats at me. “That’s not what I mean.”