AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Or that she didn’t seem to be able to keep her distance from him. While Meadow didn’t throw herself at him again like she had at the pond, he saw her lurking around. She seemed to be working with her horse a lot more than she had the first week he arrived. He didn’t know if that was for his benefit, but he’d like to think it was for the horse’s.
Across the table, Dude fixed his eyes on Colton. Lifting his bottle, he said, “To our country boy in the making. You may still suck a lot, but you catch on quick. Before long you’ll be a true cowboy, Nox.”
“To Nox!” Everyone toasted him except Webb, and Colton couldn’t care less about what that asshole did. If Webb decided to test him, he’d make good on his promise to give him another black eye to the match first one.
Around them, the crowd was in constant motion. Drunk guys staggered onto the dance floor, grabbed a lady and started stepping all over her toes. A woman at another table was crying uncontrollably while her friends attempted to console her. And a third fistfight erupted among some hotheads at the bar.
Always rubber-necking whenever something was going down, Dude craned his head to see what was happening, but the commotion died away quick, and he dropped back into his seat to enjoy his beer.
Colton gripped his own beer and contemplated the toast they’d just given him. He might still be catching up on his skill level, but he was a quick learner. There was a reason he got promotions in the military despite regularly clashing with authority.
His thoughts wandered to pulling the calf that day…and what took place after.
He tightened his jaw. After he walked away from Meadow, he had tasted her on his fingers. In fact, he sucked them clean and actually debated about how long he could go before washing her essence away.
After just one taste, he was hooked.
Which was why he had to be very careful to never let her catch him unawares. All week long, he’d been sticking close to the other ranch hands. He stuck close to the main ranch too. No way could he risk being alone with her again.
Forest never asked for him to come to the ranch to take his sister’s virginity. He was only here to lend the hand his friend said the ranch needed so badly. To save the ranch. Why did it need saving, though?
The place suffered for workers. Only six of them did the work of twice as many men. The Gracey was a big outfit and must be profitable for it to last three generations. So why weren’t more people signing on to work?
It was something Forest had mused over a time or two in Colton’s presence, but his friend never seemed to be able to puzzle out the reason either. It wasn’t as if his father was a tyrant. The guys seemed to like him well enough, and he kept out of their business.
Who could say? In the end, though, Colton came to fulfill a promise to Forest, and he damn well would see it through to the end, even if it meant a hell of a lot of torment when it came to Meadow.
A hand landed on his shoulder. Pulled from his thoughts, he looked up into the face of a familiar, pretty brunette. “Hey, cowboy. Nice shirt.”
He eyed Gabby. “Is this how country girls pick up men in bars?”
She tossed her head with a laugh. “You saw right through me. Care to buy me a drink?”
The guys at the table elbowed each other and nodded for him to go on and buy the lady a round.
He started to shift out of his seat, but at that moment, a waitress buzzed past. He caught her before she could rush away.
Slapping his card down on the table, he said, “We’ll take a round of whiskey for the boys and whatever the lady’s drinking.”
The guys let out a collective hoot, and the little lady ordered her drink.
After the waitress took his card and made her way to the bar, Gabby looked around for a place to sit, which only annoyed Colton. He wasn’t in the mood to flirt or entertain her. Only one woman was on his mind: Meadow.
Holding back a sigh of exasperation, he snagged a chair from a nearby table and offered it to his guest. After a half hour, and with a shot of whiskey and a few beers in them, the boys were really starting to party.
Colton sipped his whiskey slowly, aware that he’d likely be the only man fit to drive them all back to the ranch tonight.
Gabby batted her long lashes at him and tried her hardest to draw his attention, but his heart just wasn’t in it.
Then he looked toward the mechanical bull and slammed his drink on the table, coherent thought deserting him.
Meadow was there, throwing her long, bare leg over the back of the thing she was about to ride but shouldn’t be.
She should only be riding one thing in this bar.
Him.
* * * * *
