* * *
“Are you sure I can’t do anything to help?” I asked Cash for the fourth time. It was an uncomfortable feeling for me to just be sitting around.
I had gravitated toward Cash in particular because he seemed easygoing and friendly. He’d told me he’d grown up poor in the bayou and his disposition reflected that to me. He felt the most humble of the group of guys, the most down-to-earth. He took their ribbing good naturedly, and while his acreage of land was impressive, his house wasn’t over-the-top. It was a very nice modern farmhouse, but it wasn’t massive or filled with extra features. It was a very solid house with lots of masculine decor.
The guest room that me and James had been assigned had a literal wagon wheel hung on the wall. It made me more at ease.
Frankly, I was more at home here than in James’ sterile apartment. He had no reflection of himself in that place, whereas Cash seemed to have infused his personality into his house.
“Nah, I’m good,” Cash said, flipping burgers on the grill. “Though I don’t suppose you know how to build a fire in the pit, do you? I thought a fire after dinner would be nice.”
“I one hundred percent can do that.” I felt an almost irrational relief that he was entrusting me with a task. I couldn’t sit still anymore. There was some weird tension between James and Miles and I felt awkward around Sydney, though I wasn’t sure why exactly, because she was being super friendly to me. Eloise was being the same, but I still felt like odd man out. They were both in serious relationships with Dak and Train and they were cousins to boot.
Hanging out with Cash felt like being around my own cousin, Seth. We’d grown up together running through the woods.
“Thanks, Mia.” Cash gave me a smile. “Wood is on the side of the house.”
“Got it.” I set my glass of wine down and went in search of the woodpile. Grabbing an armful and making my way to the firepit, I saw James glance over at me. I smiled at him. He was sitting in an Adirondack chair with a beer in his hand talking to his friends. His eyebrows shot up.
He set his beer down. Damn it. He was coming over to me.
I set the pile down and went on my knees so I could assemble my structure of tinder and kindling.
“What are you doing?” James asked. “You should be relaxing for once.”
“I think I’m broken,” I told him. “I’m not sure how to sit still. It’s making me antsy.”
“Jesus, Mia.”
“In all seriousness, I find this relaxing. I really do miss living where there’s so much green space.” I stacked the tinder at a thirty degree angle, making a tent with the wood.
“Where would you live if you could live anywhere?” James squatted down beside me.
That was a no-brainer. “In the house you bought me. Hand me that wood.” I pointed.
James was wearing clothes borrowed from Cash because his luggage hadn’t arrived yet. It was just basketball shorts and a T-shirt, but the fit wasn’t quite right. Cash was a little shorter and stockier. James was actually wearing socks with sandals, which amused me.
“How are you surviving without your own clothes?” I asked him.
“I’m slowly dying inside. I couldn’t bring myself to wear Cash’s sandals without socks because I don’t want my feet touching where his feet were and his sneakers are too small for me.”
That made me laugh. “Poor baby. Maybe we should go shopping tomorrow morning if your bag doesn’t show up.”
“I already ordered some stuff to be delivered tonight. I just can’t.”
“That was a good idea.”
“I had a gift in my bag for you. I’m going to be really upset if that bag doesn’t show up.”
My mind immediately went to sexy underwear. “Lingerie can be replaced.” I eyed my structure. “I think I’m done.”
“Seriously, about my question… where would you want to live? Other than Vegas?”
I hadn’t realized it was a serious question. “I don’t know. Here. Georgia. I’ve heard Austin is cool.” Not that I had any plans to leave Vegas, but I did miss the woods.
“It has to be somewhere with a football team.”
Alarm bells went off. I turned my gaze from the wood to him. “Are you leaving Las Vegas?”
He shrugged. “No. Not this season. Maybe not even after. But my contract is up.”
I stood up, quickly. See, there it was. The warning that this couldn’t last.
He wasn’t staying in Vegas and I was not going to be stupid enough to follow around after a man who hadn’t promised me anything.
Hell, even if he did.
How could I give up my life to follow his? That was a move Hot Mama would make, not me.
“Then why are you bringing it up?”
James stood up. “I don’t know. It’s just you look comfortable here. It got me thinking.”
“Well, don’t. The only move I’m making is to the house you bought me.” My voice rose at the end, higher than I’d intended.
“Don’t get upset.”
“I’m not!”
“You sound upset.”
I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to ruin the weekend. It was my only weekend off for weeks. Months. Maybe years.
“Why would we be talking about something that may or may not happen in a year?” I asked. “Who knows if we’ll even be together then?”
It was a stupid, insecure, defensive thing to say. But I didn’t want to get hurt and I didn’t want to give up everything I’d worked so hard for in Vegas. My pride was an issue and it was in control of my mouth at the moment.
James’ jaw worked. Then he said, “Come sit down.”
“What? Why?”
But he was already striding back to the patio.
It was either stand there or join him. It felt like we were fighting only I had no clue what we were actually fighting about. I didn’t know what he was thinking or intending. He had some kind of angle and I didn’t understand it.
So I went and sat down in the empty chair next to James. I took a deep breath and tried to appreciate the setting.
Miles was trying to get the guys to play touch football. “Come on, North, just throw me a few.”
“Why would I want to do that when I’m sitting here, on my ass, with a beer, about to eat a burger?”
“You all are getting soft. Lazy motherfuckers.” Miles shook his head. “Beckett. Come on. Let’s do something.”
“After dinner,” James said. He reached over and entwined his fingers through mine.
Miles swore. “If I had known you were bringing a date, Beckett, I would have brought one too. Thanks for the heads up.”
“What does what I do have to do with you?” James asked. “Cash doesn’t have a date. Why do you need a date? Or go call someone and get her here. Call your stalker.”
Before I could even blink Miles had cuffed James on the back of the head and then James was up, dropping my hand. Suddenly they were squaring off with each other on the grass behind the patio.
“What are you doing?” I asked, astonished. “James! Someone is going to get hurt.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Dak said. “They’re just talking.”