“Stay there.” I went to grab a clean towel and wet it so I could help her clean up.
“Hey, for the record,” she called out, still not lifting her head. “Bossy only works when it’s sex related.”
I smiled as I quickly prepared the cleanup towel. When I got back to her, she was in the same position I’d left her and, even though I’d just had a mind-blowing orgasm, the man downstairs was ready to go for round two.
Knowing that wouldn’t help my situation, I pressed the warm damp cloth between her legs and she let out a soft sigh. It was the same one she’d let out every time I’d done this at her house. She told me that no guy had ever done that, and I was too good to be true. It made me feel like I was a knight in medieval times that had just slayed a dragon. That was how it was with Harmony; she made me feel like I was some kind of hero.
Just as I finished and helped her up, Romeo came barreling through the door.
Harmony smiled from ear to ear as she pulled the straps of her dress back up and told him what a good boy he was. Then she asked him if he wanted chicken, to which he barked happily.
Her brows waggled as she asked me, “Are you hungry now?”
“Starving.”
Her smile grew wider as she explained all the sides she’d brought and where she wanted to set up the picnic. I tried to tell myself that nothing had changed, that this wasn’t real. It wasn’t forever. But as we sat, looking over the pond, talking and laughing, I was having a really hard time believing that was true.
Chapter 24
Harmony
“No matter where ya ride to, that’s where you are.”
~ Loretta Reed
“Are you going to talk to him?” Cara asked as she sipped on her root beer float.
I took a healthy drink of my second vodka and cranberry of the night. “Why should I?”
“Because you both look miserable and it’s even depressing Romeo.”
I glanced down and saw that Romeo did look like he needed to be put on suicide watch. But, I was pretty sure that it had more to do with the fact that he was at a party filled with food, and no one was feeding him.
Against my better judgment, I glanced over to where Hud was holding up the wall on the opposite side of the hall. He hadn’t moved from that spot in over half an hour. He did look pretty miserable.
Part of me wanted to go make sure he was okay, but then my self-respect smothered that part with a pillow. Even if I threw my self-esteem to the wind, it’s not like he wanted to talk to me. After I’d left the ranch on Wednesday, I was sure that I’d made it past the thirty foot security gates that he kept around his emotions. But, boy howdy, had I been wrong with a capital W.
Not only had he not returned my texts—again—for three days, I’d been at his parents’ anniversary party for two hours and he hadn’t said one word to me. I was done. As much as I wanted to believe that there was actually a heart beneath that badge, I knew now there wasn’t.
I still wasn’t sure what the night at my house had been about, but at this point I just had to chalk it up to a midlife crisis or something. That is, if midlife crises cause people to go all Shakespeare and talk about how a smile is the only thing that gets them through the darkness.
Damn. Just thinking about him saying those things made me go all weepy.
Lifting my drink to my lips, I tilted my head back and downed the fruity beverage. “I’m going to get another one. Do you want round three?”
Cara shook her head as a yawn claimed her. “No. Two root beers is my limit. I think I might actually grab Trace and head out. I get so tired so quick now.”
“That’s ’cause you’re growing a human in there.” I said, reaching over and rubbing her still-flat stomach.
“I know…it’s so crazy. I almost can’t believe it.” She looked down as a smile spread on her face. Then, looking up, she snapped her fingers like she’d just remembered something. “Oh! Do you know if your mom was able to find the linens?”
Cara and Trace’d decided to get married at my parents’ renovated barn and, thankfully, since my mom threw several parties a year, we had a lot of the necessities most people had to order from a party supply shop.
“She did. We found everything.”
My mom and I had spent the entire afternoon rummaging through the storage unit, trying to locate the tablecloths, runners, and chair coverings. She’d grilled me mercilessly about my desperate need for her chicken, but I’d just told her it was a thank you to Hud for making sure I didn’t end up on the side of the highway in an orange vest.
She wasn’t buying it, but there wasn’t a lot she could do about it. Or that I could do about it.
All my life, my brothers had talked about girls being so complicated, but in my experience, guys were the ones who earned that title. Hud gave me more mixed signals than a broken traffic light.