Page 41 of Ride Me Cowboy

I almost groan, so incensed am I by this.

Mackenzie moves to a record player and presses a button. Soft, mellow country music fills the space. It’s not something I’ve heard before, but I instantly like it. There’s so much heart in the voice, so much nuance in the guitar playing.

“Where should I sit?” I ask.

Mackenzie is moving toward one seat, presumably to gesture to it for me, but Austin places a glass of red wine at a chair to the left of the head of the table.

“Here’s as good a place as any,” he says. “Let me know what you think of the wine.”

Making a mental note to pace myself this time, I sit down and take a sip. Mackenzie moves to the chair opposite me, pouring herself a soda. Beau starts placing food down on the table—the potatoes, greens, steak, and a thick gravy. My stomach grumbles again, but no one notices, because Cole strides in at that moment. His eyes sweep across the room, and land on me. My heart bangs into my ribs. My lips part.

His quirk into a smile. Something shifts between us. I look away, cheeks warm, body trembling, then glance back at him quickly.

“So?” Austin asks.

“It’s done.” He winces though, like he regrets it. Like he wishes he didn’t have to kill the thing.

I close my eyes on a wave of sheer relief. Ihadbeen afraid, then. Deep down, in a way I couldn’t admit even to myself, I’d been scared out of my mind that something might happen to him.Him.Big, strong, Cole Donovan, who looks like he was born with a pistol in his hand and a Stetson on his head.

“I’ll just wash up,” he says. “Don’t wait for me.”

But by the time everyone’s at the table and plated up their food, Cole’s back anyway, once more in his trademark jeans and button down, sleeves pushed up to just below his elbows now.

He takes the seat at the head, between me and Mackenzie, and underneath the table, when he sits, his knee can’t help but brush mine. I startle. It might be a simple, innocent touch but it sends a barrage of fireworks through my blood, like wildfire and spark. My eyes shift to his, but he’s concentrating on the food, piling his plate high, so I just stare at the sheer quantity of what he’s planning to eat.

When I look away, it’s to find Mackenzie watching me with a smirk.

“It’s a lot, huh?”

I quirk a brow. “Not if that’s your only meal for the week, I guess.”

“It’s all that running he’s doing,” Austin volunteers, and I’m pretty sure he’s trying to stifle a smirk.

“I’d like to see you try it,” Cole challenges.

Beau holds his hands up. “Only running I’m doing is on the back of a horse.”

“Or after anything in a skirt,” Mackenzie reminds him. Everyone lets out a big guffaw at that and I laugh along with them. Beneath the table, Cole’s knee is still brushing mine, and I’m desperate to look down there, to see if his other knee is bumping Mackenzie’s, if maybe that’s just the way this big, hulking guy sits?

Yet, I know it’s not. I know he wouldn’t.

He’s too good mannered, too respectful. So, this is…what?

An opening gambit? An intentional flirtation?

I’m being driven out of my mind by this, pulled backwards and forward, with no clear clue what I want from him. What I want, in general. I just know that I really like spending time with this rugged Cowboy, even when I wish I didn’t.

Chapter Thirteen

Beth

THE NEXT FRIDAY MORNING, Beau asks if I want to join them all down at The Silver Spur that night. No one but Cole knows I got a little tipsy last time, and no one but us knows what happened afterwards. There’s no way he’s told his brothers, Caleb or Mackenzie, or I’d have known. Beau wouldn’t have been able to keep his big mouth shut about it, for one thing.

So, the invitation is just as simple as that. Did I want to go for dinner and a bit of dancing?

“Okay,” I find myself agreeing, with a little pop of anticipation firing inside me. “Sure. Why not?”

Cole shoots me a glance over his coffee cup, then turns his attention back to the article he’s reading. My anticipation fizzes out.