“I’ll do it.”
All heads turned to me.
“I love you, Hannah, for just offering, but I know you have your own job to get back to.” Lottie gave me a deflated smile of appreciation.
“Actually, I took some extra time off,” I lied, or stretched the truth a little, as I liked to think of it. “I can just change my flight and stay until you get back.”
She opened her mouth to argue but I cut her off, “I’m not letting you miss your own honeymoon, Lottie. It’s not a problem. Really.”
Lottie chewed on her bottom lip as she contemplated the alternatives. But we both knew there wasn’t one. Leighton was stuck teaching at the school for another couple of weeks until summer officially started, and Grams had their niece, Lily, who they had custody of, to look after while they were away on their honeymoon.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m sure. Now get your shit together and get in that car. You have a crowd of people anxious to pelt you with bird seed downstairs.”
She laughed, hugging me to her. “I’ll have Wes give you the set of spare keys to the shop. Oh! And I don’t want you having to pay for a hotel stay, so you can stay at our place, or you’re welcome to stay in one of the spare ranch hand cabins.”
“One of the cabins is fine,” I said, not wanting to revisit staying alone in the house, where things went down between Billy and me.
“You’re the best.” She hugged me again.
“Yes, thank you, Hannah,” Tucker added, giving me a sideways hug. “I owe you, again,” he whispered in my ear.
I smiled. “Don’t mention it.”
Seeing the relief and smiles on their faces had me momentarily forgetting that I’d just promised I’d stay put for an extended period of time in a town I never wanted to step foot in again. Leighton and I slipped out of the room, leaving the newlyweds to finish preparing for their departure. I slowed at the end of the hall, Leighton still striding forward, glancing over her shoulder at me.
“I’m just gonna use the restroom. I’ll be out in a second.”
She nodded and continued on her way outside to join the rest of the guests lining a path to the getaway car. I slipped into the restroom, relieving myself before assessing my appearance in the mirror as I washed my hands. “Two weeks.” I sighed. “I can handle two weeks,” I assured my reflection. I opened the door, hitting the light switch on the way out, only to run into a warm, solid body.
A strong hand snatched my wrist, pressing me back into the dark bathroom, another hand covering my mouth when I started to scream. Panic surged full force until my wrist was released and the light flicked on.
“Holy shit, Billy,” I gasped, smacking his shoulder. “You scared the ever-living shit out of me!” I slouched against the counter, a hand to my chest as I persuaded my racing heart to slow.
Stepping forward, a cautious smile tugged at his lips as he held back a laugh. “Sorry,” he said, leaving less than a foot between us.
I looked up into his hazel eyes, my pulse refusing to calm down. “What are we doing in here, Billy?” I asked as his tongue slid along his bottom lip. I bit down on mine, fighting the urge to taste his lips for myself.
His body folded forward, his palms pressing flat on the counter as he trapped me further. He dipped his head, his lips skirting the column of my neck as my chin lifted voluntarily, exposing it more. The furious fluttering in my chest had become mildly painful.
“We need to talk, Hannah.” His words prickled my sensitive skin as he whispered them.
My hands lifted to his chest, and I felt his muscles tensing beneath them, his own breathing quickening as he braced himself against them. Our lips were dangerously close, his cologne drugging me. I swallowed hard, looking away from that face that had been a key player in many nights alone with my vibrator over the last year.
“About what?”
He lifted a hand, brushing his knuckles along my jaw. I closed my eyes with his touch, remembering how it felt to be in his arms. Safe. Wanted. Amazing.
“Stay with me tonight.”
I flicked my eyes back to his, my jaw hardening, my emotions flying every direction. There was no way I heard him right. Either he was crazy or…he only wanted one thing from me. I feared it was the latter. He’d basically accused me of being a slut less than an hour ago.
Maybe I’d been wrong about everything. Maybe he’d never seen me as more than a fun lay. Maybe I’d been too drunk, making something more out of nothing. Desire and alcohol had a tendency to fool your mind that way. Way to go, Hannah. I really knew how to pick’em.
Fighting back the threatening pain, I held tight to my anger. I straightened, pushing firmly against his chest, forcing him to take a step back as I gave him a pointed look.
“That would go against my M.O., wouldn’t it now, Billy?”
His face fell and the sexual tension that had been drowning me earlier shifted to an awkward silence. I shook my head, refusing to allow the tears that were building to fall. Turning my back to the man who had the strength to break my heart, I swung open the door, leaving him behind.
Chapter 4
BILLY
One handed, I tugged at my neck collar before undoing a few buttons and leaning against the bed of my truck, my sleeves already rolled up to my elbows. The high temperatures and humidity of summer had come early this year in Texas.
I took a sip from the beer bottle I held in my other hand, watching the one woman I wanted most walking away with my younger sister, Leighton. Aaron hung back, his eyes scanning the field of cars until they found me. He whispered something in Leighton’s ear before kissing her on the head and falling into a light jog toward me.
I reached over the back of the truck, flipping open the cooler lid to grab him a beer. I handed it off as he approached. He twisted it open before tapping the necks of our bottles in an unspoken “cheers.”
Aaron sighed with appreciation as the rich golden brew made its way down his throat. Pushing one hand in his pocket, he tipped his head back, his gaze momentarily focused on the bright stars in the clear Texas sky before he looked over at me. “I’m all ears,” he said.
I took another drink before shaking my head at my brother-in-law and best friend since grade school. “Nothing to tell.”
“Oh, come on, man. How long are you gonna keep me in the dark?”
I cracked my neck to the side to relieve some of the tension in my muscles. I’d been a shaken unopened beer can for months now, ready to explode and tell Aaron everything that had happened between Hannah and me. The problem was, I knew it wouldn’t stay between us.
I learned quickly, from the moment he started dating my sister, there wasn’t much he’d keep from her. She had a way of making him gossip like a teenage girl, and I preferred not to know what those methods were. All I knew was, if I told Aaron, it was the same as telling Leighton. And Leighton had taken a liking to Hannah. If she found out what went down last summer and how I left things that morning, on top of the stupid comments I’d made tonight, she’d have my balls. And I’d grown rather attached to the boys.
Not that I’d blame her. Shit. I wanted to kick myself in the junk every time I replayed that first night in my head. I shouldn’t have run off like that. But I freaked out. Panicked. I didn’t know how to process everything I’d been feeling in that moment, vomit incident aside.