“How’d you know?” She probably has no clue how many she’s starred in. An image from the other night flashes in my mind. Of my fingers digging roughly into her thick locks. Of her moaning into my mouth. Grinding against my lap like she wanted me as much as I’ve always wanted her. “My favorite fantasy is the one where you’re on top—”
“Would you stop?” With a wave of her hand, she cuts me off. “How can you be so flippant at a time like this?” She slaps a piece of paper onto my chest. Standing this close, I can smell the droplets of rain in her hair and something sweet. “You know how much my father’s farm means to me. How could you do this?”
I grimace, my mind racing to understand what she’s talking about. I’m so fucking confused. Even more so by the tears welling in her eyes. I’ve never seen this girl cry. Even when her mother passed last year, she was stoic. Probably for the sake of her dad, but still. Makes me want to give a good beatdown to whoever upset her.
My heart kicks against my ribs as I glance down at the letter, and that swell of anger grows when I see the letterhead of my father’s attorney.
“Willow, I had nothing to do with this. I didn’t know your farm was on Duke’s radar.” Duke Carter, my father, is a miserly bastard, which is why most of our family stopped talking to him years ago.
She snatches it out of my grasp. “Don’t you fucking lie to me, Chase.” Her lower lip trembles, and I decide right here and now to do everything I can to make this right.
I may have teased her from time to time when we were growing up, but only in dumb attempts to flirt. But this? Take her land? Harm her family? I’d never stoop so low.
I hold up my hands. “Swear to God, Lo. I’d never try to hurt you. You have to believe me.”
I’m not sure when we became enemies. When she embraced this idea that we were on opposing sides. That I’d fight her for something as precious as her farm. She needs to know I’m not involved with this nonsense.
When that tear tumbles down, I can’t help it anymore. I step closer and cup her cheek, rubbing gently across her soft skin with my thumb.
“Don’t cry,” I murmur. “It’ll be okay.”
Her breath catches, and her eyes widen as I stand toe to toe with her. In all of our interactions over the years, I don’t think we’ve ever been this close. Close enough to feel the buzzing of electricity between our bodies.
I tower over her, and when she stares up at me, cheeks flushed, lips parted, looking so fucking beautiful, it makes me wonder why I didn’t go after her years ago. Wonder why I let whatever weirdness that crept up between us stand.
“Lo, I promise I’ll never let Duke foreclose on your farm.” My voice is soft. Calm. Barely above a whisper. “I know you’ve never liked me, but I’m not the prick you think I am, and I can tell you that I will always have your back.”
I’ve never said anything truer. From the first day I met her, I’ve admired this woman. The way she always worked hard at school when I could barely get my shit together, lucky to skate by on my athletic abilities. The way she busted her ass on her father’s farm when I was out joyriding with my friends. How she took care of her mother when she got sick, an experience I’ve never had, thankfully.
She takes a deep breath, but she doesn’t step away. “We both know your father gets what he wants.” It kills me to hear the defeat in her voice.
“Maybe. But I’m pretty sure I want this more than he wants your family’s property.” Her eyes search mine, and I hope she can read into what I’m saying right now. I give her my most charming smile. “Come on, Lo. Let me take you to dinner.”
Which is the wrong thing to say.
“Is that what this is about?” She jerks out of my arms. “You want me to sleep with you to get your dad to back off?”
“What? No. Jesus.” I scrub my face. “I mean, yeah, I’ve always wanted you, Willow. You must know that.” She keeps walking backward. Fuck. “But that has nothing to do with Duke trying to foreclose on your farm. I’ll stop him regardless of whether you let me take you out for a steak or not.”
The barn door blows open behind us, and she shudders with the blast of wind. I jog over to shut it, and when I peer out across my property, the rain is coming down so hard, I can barely see her SUV ten feet away. When I finally get it closed, I’m drenched.
I’m laughing at how ridiculous this all is. Willow looks like she wants to murder me, but I’d give my left nut for her to believe me. I reach for my old T-shirt again and wipe the water off my face.
“Willow, how much do I love Shelby?” This whole town knows I’m obsessed with two things, my horses and my vintage 1967 Mustang.
Caught off guard by my question, she rolls her eyes. “Why are you asking me such a stupid question?”
I toss my T-shirt over a chair, and stalk closer, walking toward her until her back hits the stall. “Answer my question, doll.”
She crosses her arms and tries to frown, but as she glances away, a smile tugs on her lips. “You love your car. Everyone …”
“Everyone knows that, right?” She’s nodding, looking at me like I’m a dumbass for asking her something so random. I grab her hand and place it on my bare chest, across my heart, where I know she can feel it hammering away. “I promise on my beloved Shelby that I will not let my father foreclose on your property regardless of whether you finally give into this crush you’ve had on me since high school and let me take you to dinner.”
Her mouth falls open, and her eyes open wide. “I do not have a crush on you, you pompous jerk.“
Propping my arm against the wall behind her, I smile as I dip my head toward hers. “Yes, you do. Stop fighting it.” When I can feel her minty breath on my lips, I pause and wait for her to smack me or kick me in the balls, but she doesn’t.
There’s one thing I need to know, though, before I take the last step.
As I graze the back of her neck with my fingertips, I ask, “Do you believe me? About your father’s farm? I need to know.”
For some reason, it feels like the world stills its spinning. The rain beat down outside, and the horses shift in their stalls.
Her big blue eyes study me as she worries her bottom lip. Even though her wide pupils and flushed skin tell me she wants this thing between us as much as I do, I know she’s putting her father’s farm first here. It’s one of the qualities I’ve always admired about her. She puts her family first. Always.
After a beat—the longest one of my life—she nods yes.
A shy smile surfaces on her beautiful face.
That’s all I needed to know before my lips crash against hers
Willow
I’m wondering if I blacked out after my father told me about the foreclosure notice and I’m dreaming, because how else can I explain why Chase Carter has pinned me to a stall and is kissing the daylights out of me?
But that’s what’s happening right now. His big hand is in my hair, his thick thigh between my legs, and his wicked tongue hot against mine
And holy cow can this boy kiss.
Except he’s not a boy anymore.
No, the cocksure quarterback and star athlete I knew in high school is all man. A man who’s just admitted that he likes me. Something he never would’ve done in high school. Why would he when he had a bevy of hookups at his beck and call?
Tall and broad, with surfer good looks and charm, Chase was every girl’s crush growing up. I was the new kid who never quite fit in, shuttling back and forth between my mother’s house in Austin and my dad’s farm every time they split up. Which was often. My parents were the talk of the town with their fiery blow ups and quiet reconciliations. So when Chase’s friends made snarky comments about my parents for their on-again, off-again relationship, I assumed he thought those things too.
But now I’m wondering if I’ve been wrong about him all this time.
He reaches down to cup my ass, hoisting me higher so I can wrap my legs around his trim waist, his mouth opening on my neck and sucking so hard, I feel my pulse hammer between my thighs.
“Chase, if you give me a hickey, so help me, I’m gonna strangle you. I’m not your property. You can’t mark me.”