Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
JASMINE
“Your daddy know you’re here?”
What the actual fuck?
Annoyance flared in my chest even though excitement stirred in my belly. The opposing emotions warred inside me as I stared into familiar sapphire eyes that had haunted my dreams for years.
Gabriel Montgomery was back in town. The man I’d had a crush on from the time I knew what a crush was. Of course, he always just saw me as a kid and nothing more.
But I wasn’t a kid anymore, and I didn’t appreciate him insinuating otherwise.
I straightened my spine, standing to my full height.
Not that it compared to Gabe’s stature, but I wouldn’t be cowed.
I wouldn’t let his age, his lean but muscular physique, or the sexy authoritative tone of his deep voice intimidate me.
Planting my hand on my hips, I looked him square in the eye and spoke with as much confidence as I could muster.
“Well, considering I’m twenty-one now, I don’t have to answer to my daddy regarding my whereabouts anymore.”
He scrubbed a hand over his stubbled jaw and leaned back in his chair.
“Twenty-one?” he questioned, his eyes narrowing as he mentally calculated our age difference.
“When did that happen?” An unexpected pang of disappointment settled in my chest at the fact he’d forgotten my birthday.
Unreasonable as it was considering how long he’d been gone, I still hoped he’d cared enough to remember.
“Three days ago. That’s why my friends and I are here celebrating.
I’m finally old enough to get into bars,” I added with a smile, my tone dripping with faux sweetness.
I couldn’t let him see how much it stung that he forgot my birthday.
He always used to remember, back when he still lived here.
Back before she stole him away from us. I knew from the start she wasn’t right for him.
Even as a twelve-year-old girl, I could see they were too mismatched.
I wasn’t surprised to hear they were getting a divorce.
I was only surprised it had taken so long.
“Well, in that case,” Gabe began, pulling me from the memory as he slipped off his stool, “I’ll get out of your way so you can carry on with your celebration.
” I suddenly didn’t want him to leave. As irritated as I was with him making me feel like a child again, part of me didn’t want to see him go. I’d missed him these last nine years.
I’d trained with him for nearly three years when he up and left to move to Texas with Celeste.
Nobody even warned me he was leaving until two days beforehand.
When I found out, I clung to him, my scrawny arms wrapped around his torso and my tears staining his shirt.
He let me cry until there were no tears left then patted my head and promised to visit often.
That was a lie. He only came back a handful of times.
Twice, he brought his family to the ranch for Christmas when his daughter, Aurora, was a toddler.
She loved the ranch and was especially fond of the animals.
She would follow me around and “help” me feed the horses.
But Gabe’s wife … she hated it here, so their visits stopped after that.
He came back solo a couple times during summer, but the last time, I’d avoided him like the plague.
I’d had a boyfriend with a car, so I stayed away from the ranch as much as possible.
I was so full of teenage angst and was angry at him for staying gone so long that I barely spoke to him.
When he left, I was so full of regret that I cried myself to sleep that night, and even though his wife’s family lived only a couple hours away in Nashville, his visits stopped altogether after that.
Until Dad’s accident.
My father had suffered a stroke caused by a hole in his heart nobody knew about while he was on the barn roof making some repairs.
The fall fractured his pelvis and some ribs along with a few other bones.
Gabe flew back immediately to help run the ranch, overseeing operations and ensuring everything ran smoothly while Dad was incapacitated.
I’d stayed at Dad’s bedside at the hospital waiting for him to wake up, only coming home to shower and sleep.
Gabe never left the ranch as he attempted to keep it afloat while teaching my oldest brother, Rowan the ropes.
He’d been at college the last few years playing football and preparing for the draft, so he had no clue how to run the ranch.
Gabe and I were like passing ships in the night during the week he was here.
I occasionally caught sight of him from a distance while he worked, but he was always busy, and I was always rushing off to see Dad or dragging myself into the house after a long day of sitting at the hospital, trying to complete my schoolwork while my world crumbled.
The day before Gabe left to go back to Texas, my dad woke up.
He rushed to the hospital, and I slipped out to give them a moment and so I could ugly cry without Dad seeing me fall apart.
I was curled up in a chair in the waiting room when Gabe found me.
He pulled me into his arms, smoothed his hand down the back of my head, and told me everything would be alright.
The next morning he was gone, and Rowan was left in charge.
Since I didn’t know how long he was back in town for, I decided to make the most of it. I put my hand on his forearm to stop him from leaving. The contact sent a zing of electricity coursing up my arm, and my stomach dipped at the sensation.
“You don’t have to go. You could stay and celebrate with us,” I offered.
He studied me for a moment, and I could sense the internal debate warring in his mind.
Finally, he shook his head, and I dropped my hand from his arm, instantly missing the feel of his warm skin beneath his henley.
I wondered if his arms were still tan and peppered with dark hair like they used to be.
Heat crept up my face and between my legs at the thought of the corded muscles of his forearms flexing as he worked.
At twelve, I didn’t understand why watching him toss a bale of hay or tie a rope made my stomach feel funny.
At twenty-one, I knew exactly why the image made my entire body tingle.
“I’m a little too old for this crowd,” he replied, nodding to my friends who pretended not to be watching us.
“I couldn’t keep up with you youngins these days.
” His gaze flicked down my body and back to my eyes.
It was so quick I doubted he even realized he’d done it.
Was he attracted to me? Could the man I dreamed of riding back into town and whisking me away as a teenager be as enticed by me as I was by him?
I supposed there was only one way to find out.
“Age is nothing but a number,” I said flirtatiously, taking a step toward him.
We stood almost toe to toe now, and when he didn’t retreat, I felt emboldened enough to touch him.
I tapped my first two fingers against his chest, fighting the urge to run my palm up the hard planes of his pecs.
“It’s what’s in here that matters.” I was playing a dangerous game, one that could end in heartbreak and disaster.
But if I won, the reward would be worth the risk.
His breath caught, and his chest stopped moving. Time stood still as the noisy bar around us faded to the background. Neither of us breathed for several seconds as I waited for his response. When he finally spoke, my bravado faltered, and the flirty smile melted from my lips.
He took a step back, and I curled my fingers into a fist, holding it against my stomach.
Gabe flattened his hand against his breastbone as his eyes filled with regret.
“What’s in here hasn’t been whole for a long time.
Trust me, you don’t want any part of it.
” Then he drained the rest of his drink and threw a couple bills on the bar.
Peering down at me from beneath the brim of his cowboy hat, he offered me a parting smile.
“Happy birthday, Jasmine. Enjoy the rest of your night.”
He turned on his heel and walked toward the exit.
My chest tightened with panic, and my stomach knotted as I fought the urge to chase him down and demand to know when he’d be back.
I couldn’t stand the thought of going another four years without seeing Gabriel Montgomery.
Instead, I turned back to my friends and swiped my drink off the bar, draining it in one long draw as I pretended not to notice their curious glances.
Slamming my empty glass on the bar, I plastered on a smile and ignored the familiar ache that settled behind my ribs every time I watched Gabe walk out of my life.
“Let’s dance!” I commanded, and my friends all cheered. I spent the rest of the night trying to forget about the man I’d compared every other man to, but could never find his equal.