CHAPTER 10 #2
‘You need something stronger than beer,’ she announced.
Before I could protest, she’d already yelled our order across the bar, the staff recognizing her and offering up their congratulations, some of the regulars leaning against it doing the same.
I received a number of inquisitive looks, but whether it was because I looked like Lil or whether it was this dress, it was hard to say.
A small glass was pressed into my hand.
‘Shots?’ I groaned as Lil clinked hers against mine and gestured to me to knock it back.
I put the glass to my lips and closed my eyes, grimacing as it slid down.
Tequila.
All of a sudden I was back in London, the same sour warmth coursing through me, numbing the sting of betrayal.
‘Now this,’ she said, handing me a whiskey over ice.
I stared at it; that stirred a very different memory.
‘Hold up, hold up! You getting drunk without us, boss?’
Jesse sidled up to Lil and I glanced around, automatically looking for Cole.
A brush of lips against my ear made me jump, but I couldn’t turn. A gentle hand pressed against my waist, arm keeping me pressed to a very firm, very warm body.
‘Right here, Princess.’
Before either Lil or Jesse could notice, Cole had moved to the side, nodding his thanks to Lil for the drink. He caught my eye again as Jesse led us all over to the area by the stage, the band already stirring up plenty of dancing, the drinking at the rodeo clearly starting the party early.
In that moment, I knew I had to make a choice. Either let go and have some fun, stay in the moment for now, or be sensible and keep the mess on just one side of the Atlantic.
Lil made the choice for me.
‘C’mon, Lottie, some Brit you are – I’ve got drinks backing up here,’ she yelled over the music, bringing over another four drinks.
Glancing over at Cole again, I realized how little I knew about him.
I’d barely known Kyle either, before we’d got together .
. . perhaps that was my problem, maybe I jumped in too fast. Or, maybe I’d met Kyle at a time when I hadn’t known any better.
Cole was different; his support for Lil showed that.
I knocked back the whiskey in one, taking the glass from Lil before she dragged me into the dancing fray.
The band were good – fast, rock-infused country and clearly right up her street.
Her enthusiasm was infectious, her smile the biggest I’d seen it since I’d arrived, so I dropped all my worries and just went with it.
We were still going some five or six songs later, the second whiskey chasing the first, a hand pressed on my hip.
‘You two are creating quite the impression,’ a voice said, forcing me to spin to my right to find its owner.
His face was hard, a scruffy dark beard under a dark hat.
‘I’m Eli, from over at Elk Creek,’ he added, in response to my confusion.
I drew back, finding Lil’s hand and squeezing it.
‘What do you want?’ I asked, bracing myself as I felt Lil stiffen.
‘I see she’s already filled you in on the state of things.’ He smiled. ‘I’m not here to talk about that, though – that’s just business. I’m here for myself right now, and myself would like to buy you a drink.’
I shook my head.
‘No thanks.’
‘Ah come on, sugar, you look like you need someone to show you around a little.’
His hands crept up on my hips.
‘Eli, you ever want to use those hands again, you’re gonna need to take them off her.’
Cole’s now familiar warmth bloomed across my back as he stood behind me, his shadow falling across the smaller man. I had to resist the urge in every cell to close my eyes and lean into it.
‘Okay, okay, cool it,’ Eli said, backing up a half-step and releasing me.
‘Cole, it’s fine, don’t start nothing in here,’ Lil said, her hand catching his arm.
‘I’m not starting it,’ Cole growled, still staring at Eli, one of his own hands drifting around to my front, fingers resting on my waist. ‘But I’ll finish it if he doesn’t quit looking at your cousin like that.’
I could hardly breathe. Enveloped in his body, his smell, the touch of his fingers . . . even through the dress it felt as it had that first night in the other bar. Overwhelming. Completely intoxicating.
Kyle had never made me feel like this. No one had. A sudden moment of passion in a bar and almost two weeks of flirting had affected me more than almost a year with someone I’d thought I loved.
The realization hit me square between the eyes and I put my hand to my throat, as though it would choke me. How could I have loved Kyle? How could that be possible when one touch from this man was enough to make me forget myself, to live a whole new level of feelings?
As Eli backed off into the crowd, Lil shot Cole a warning look and went back over to the bar, leaving us together. Alone. Slowly, he turned me to face him. Anger burnt in his expression, his eyes searching mine.
‘You okay?’ he asked, his voice gruff.
I nodded, unable to trust myself to speak, my eyes drifting to his mouth, then back to the warmth of his eyes.
‘He’s still looking over here,’ he said, pinching the bridge of his nose, distracted. ‘Lil’s gonna kill me if I beat the shit out of him.’
‘Then don’t,’ I replied as he blinked, trying to read my expression. ‘There’s more than one way to make your point.’
This time, my left hand pressed on his hip, the right brushing his fingers. They responded instantly, curling around mine.
‘What did you have in mind, Princess?’ he said, leaning down as I tilted my head up.
‘Give him a reason not to touch me again,’ I whispered.
With a barely stifled moan, he reached down and cupped my cheek, our mouths meeting in a rush, soft and crushing at the same time.
Our hands, now intertwined, were bumped and jostled by the other dancers as we became our own moment, consumed by every surging feeling.
His chest against mine was almost too much, and I felt an overwhelming urge to find a quieter place and rip everything separating my skin from his straight off.
We kissed as though searching for, and finding something, simultaneously.
His hand eventually escaped mine and traced the outline of my breasts as I pulled him closer still.
Our touches became too much for others to see, our breathing quickening.
Finally, someone wolf-whistled and we paused, catching our breath, faces still almost touching.
‘I’ve been imagining that all day,’ he breathed, lips against mine again, tongue tracing my mouth as he held our bodies pressed tight. ‘All fucking week, actually. I can imagine a whole lot more, but we’d need somewhere more private than here – more private than a corridor, even.’
I moved back slightly, smiling.
‘I’d like that, but . . .’
He shook his head, arms still locked around me.
‘I know,’ he sighed, taking a reluctant step back. Hesitating, he looked down before he asked, ‘When do you head home?’
It felt as though I’d been doused in ice water.
‘What happened?’ Jesse said, suddenly appearing to my left, carrying drinks as Lil followed. ‘Was Eli making trouble?’
‘Trying to,’ Cole replied, taking his drink with his eyes still on me, frowning at the change in my face.
‘Tell me you didn’t fight,’ Lil groaned. ‘I just swore to Bill over there that we wouldn’t make trouble and I definitely don’t have the money to fix anything we break.’
‘It’s fine,’ I jumped in as they both stared Cole down. ‘Cole pretended to be with me instead, so Eli just gave up and left.’ Jesse’s mouth fell open and I shrugged. ‘It worked.’
As Jesse high-fived Cole, a sheepish grin overtaking his surprise, Lil gave me a small, suspicious smile. I shrugged, but her face remained tight.
‘I don’t trust them,’ she said, glancing back over at the bar where the Elk Creek cowboys were gathered in a large circle. ‘I want to get us out of here – those assholes are hunting for trouble, I just know it.’
Cole nodded, holding back for Jesse and Lil to take the lead out of the bar. I moved to follow them, but as I did, he caught my hand.
‘Just so you know,’ he said, lifting the brim of his hat.
‘I wasn’t pretending back there. And I know you’re leaving soon, and maybe this is more than you wanted from a trip out here to see your cousin .
. . but a kiss like that doesn’t happen very often.
I’ve never met anyone like you before, Lottie. ’
I searched his face, wanting to remember it all, memorize every feature as he stared back.
‘Neither have I.’ My voice was sad, and I was unable, unwilling to hide it. ‘I . . . I don’t want to leave. I . . . don’t want to never feel that again.’
He took my hand again at that, his thumb brushing over my palm.
‘Then don’t. Fuck London.’
‘And what?’ I laughed, shaking my head like it wasn’t as easy as all that. The whiskey dared me to say the words that formed immediately in my mind. ‘Fuck you instead?’
He bit his lip, shaking his head.
‘That mouth,’ he murmured, urging me to walk forwards and follow the others. He kept hold of my hand, easily hidden by the crowd. ‘You can’t imagine what I’ve thought of it doing.’
I turned back, ready to tell him that I most definitely had, but his face had changed. His eyes were hard, fixed on the doorway.
‘Stay behind me,’ he pleaded, letting go of my hand with a gentle squeeze and striding past me, right towards the Elk Creek cowboys, who were now gathered around Lil.
‘. . . can’t put it off for ever, Lil. Not with our new investor. He’s got pockets deeper than the valley out there and a whole team of people behind us. You’ll be off that ranch by Christmas, you watch.’
‘I swear to the almighty, Eli, get the fuck away from her – from all of us. How many beatings do you need?’
Cole stood within two feet of the other man, towering over him, Jesse at his side.
‘Don’t worry, Miller, I’m just the messenger. You can kiss all the pretty girls you want – you’ll still be a drifter come spring.’
Cole paused and I froze, bracing myself for him to swing at Eli. Instead, with Lil on one arm and Jesse on the other, he left, with me right behind, opening the doors to the cold darkness beyond.