Chapter Sixteen - Blaire
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Blaire
There is something surprisingly tender about watching Briggs’ large frame bent down over a rack of women’s clothes, examining them for whatever characteristics he thinks are right for me. We’re in a gigantic warehouse that seems to sell everything from tractors the size of a small airplane to women’s underwear. I didn’t even know a store like this existed and much less would never have thought to buy a whole new wardrobe from here. But Briggs insisted it’s the only worthy option. So after we said our goodbyes to Kaylee, and she drove off to camp, the two of us headed straight here.
“Nope. Not waterproof.” He puts a pair of hideous grey pants back on the rack, and I breathe a sign of relief.
Briggs was the first Rile brother I ever had a crush on. When I would visit Rile Ranch with Gram, Colt and Reese would ignore me, but Briggs was always sweet and welcoming. The summer before everything happened, Briggs and I started hooking up. It just happened one day when we were alone in the field behind their house. And then I started hanging out a lot more and getting to know all three of them. I guess that’s when the trouble began, because I realized there was something about each one of them that drove me crazy in a way I could never shake.
“Alright, B,” Briggs says, using his old nickname for me. He’s never called me Hollywood, like Colt and Reese do. But he hasn’t called me ‘B’ in a very long time. “Let’s get you a fitting room.”
I nod, trying to seem unphased by the intimacy that’s already grown so quickly between us. It’s like a weed in a garden that I thought had died, but grows more quickly than the other flowers, even when it’s not tended to. Irrational, persistent, but most definitely alive.
We make our way to the women’s fitting rooms, which are just open stalls with fabric draped on shower curtain rods for privacy. I take the thick stack of hangers from Briggs and head into one.
The first item I try on is a pair of thick canvas brown overalls. I put them on over my strappy tank top, which is likely not how Briggs intended because it looks like I’m not wearing anything underneath.
I whip open the velvet curtain and do a dramatic turn for him, showing them off.
He looks up from where he’s leaning against the wall and lets out a low whistle of approval.
“You’re gonna shovel shit so good in those babies,” he nods approvingly. “Of course, you’ll need to put a shirt on, too.”
“Small steps,” I grin and head back behind the curtain as he shakes his head at me.
I do this a few times, accepting the fate of my new wardrobe and approving them all. Except for one waterproof plaid shirt, which is a tragedy and I can’t in good conscience condone.
Then I get to one item that stumps me. I spend about five minutes toying with it before giving up.
“Briggs,” I shout from the dressing room. “Can you come in here and tell me what the hell kind of pants these are?”
He opens the curtain hesitantly until he sees I’m decent in an oversized canvas shirt that fits me more like a dress, which I actually like.
“Which ones?” He says, looking around the chaos of the dressing room with clothes everywhere.
I hold up the thick suede pieces of fabric that make no logical sense whatsoever.
“Oh, right.” He nods. “Chaps. If you want to start taking the horses out.”
“Like assless chaps?” I cock an eyebrow at him.
“That’s like calling your tank a sleeveless t-shirt. They’re built like this because the thick fabric protects you while riding and would be too difficult to move in if they were full pants.”
“I’ll call them assless chaps if I want to.” I smile sweetly at him. “Now, how do I try them on?”
He takes them from me and holds them up. “They only have the kind that snaps up the side.”
“Yeah, I noticed.” I nod, looking at all the snaps. “It’s kind of where I had some issues.”
He grumbles as he tries to undo the tangle that I made and finally straightens them back out so they look somewhat like pants again. He undoes the belt piece and wraps it around me, dropping the unsnapped pieces of fabric so they slide under my legs and hang there.
My stomach flutters as he applies pressure to the belt and closes it right above my belly button. Suddenly, we’re so damn close to each other.
He looks down at me and his entire expression changes as he makes the same realization. His sweet, relaxed face becomes serious and hyper-focused on me .
“You really should be wearing pants for this,” he says softly, with real regret in his voice.
“I thought they were pants,” my tone mirrors his.
“They’re chaps,” he says, his minty breath washing over me.
“Assless chaps,” I correct him with a small smirk.
This breaks him out of his trance with a laugh. He shakes his head and bends down on his knees to continue putting these damn things on me.
He pulls the suede further under my legs so it’s aligned and he tucks the fabric of my oversized shirt in as he does the first snap. Even on his knees, the man feels huge. I can smell his shampoo as the top of his head moves in steady rhythm while he snaps all the way down my leg. He switches to my other leg and works his way up. Each inch closer he gets to my waist stirs something in me. Somewhere along the way, I go from enjoying his closeness to needing him touching me. Every time his fingers pull away, my body screams for them to get closer again.
He presses the last snap closed firmly on my hip and stands up. Our eyes connect and I see that this has been an intense experience for him, too. I’m glad I’m not the only perv that can be found in this suddenly very small dressing room.
“Do they fit?” I ask, my voice throaty and unsure.
He slides his big hand into the belt and pulls at the buckle. I rock forward, closing in the small distance separating us. Only then do I realize the bulge in his pants.
“Seem to fit perfectly,” he says quietly.
Our eyes bore into each other. I open my mouth to say something, anything. But instead a small frustrated sigh comes out instead.
And it’s like a gunshot to start a race.
Briggs and I clash into each other at the same time, finding each other’s lips with studied accuracy.
We breathe each other in. All the tension in the room shatters with each kiss.
I wrap my hands around his waist, guiding his huge frame closer.
He reaches down and pulls up the shirt so my ass is bare and grabs greedily, filling his palms.
We both laugh into our kiss at his usage of the assless chaps for exactly what I would have guessed they were for, anyway.
And then our laughs turn into breathy moans as he pulls me into him, his cock pressed tight against our stomachs.
“Dan, can you come to register five?” A loudspeaker announces loudly over the monotonous music and sends us gasping as we break apart from each other.
“Shit,” I cuss under my breath.
What the hell am I thinking?
We’re in public. The dressing room blatantly shows to the entire store that there are two people in here. Tabloids would pay ridiculous fees even just for a picture of two pairs of our feet like this.
“Bad idea,” Briggs nods as he steps away from me.
“I-” I don’t know what to say. It’s not because of him. It’s just my life.
But then again, it’s also because of him. It’s a bad idea because of who we are, both him and me. And what I did last night.
“Those fit well,” he says loudly as he swings the fabric open.
I get dressed in my normal clothes and pile everything together to buy it all, even the hideous plaid shirt.
The car ride home is uncomfortably quiet .
Right as we’re about to round the road to turn off onto Rile Ranch, he takes a deep breath.
“I can’t do this again,” he says, sounding tired. I hate that it’s me that has deflated the happy, cheerful guy who was present only an hour ago.
“I’m sorry,” I say under my breath. There’s so much I should apologize for that I’m not even sure which thing I’m talking about when I say it.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” he says. “I’m just letting you know that I can’t.”
We pull into Rile Ranch. Gram’s camper glints in the sun as we pass it, and it feels like it’s laughing at me. I hoped that I would come back here for some kind of closure, yet all I’m doing is messing things up in the exact same way.