Page 43 of Smokin’ Situation (Masked Men of Sage Springs #3)

Tristan

I severely underestimated the number of people that would be out wandering around downtown Sage Springs during a national holiday when Charley convinced me we needed to stop in town for flowers.

And how many of them would take pictures of a man riding a horse down main street in the middle of the afternoon with his shirt unbuttoned and a bouquet tucked in his saddlebag.

Charley was in a West Peak Ranch pickup truck behind me, and every time I turned toward her, she’d just waved while simultaneously laughing her ass off.

Despite the early July heat, Seraphina seemed in good spirits, happy to be out of her stall. Charley and Marty had assured me that the equine vet was okay with light exercise, so if I didn’t push her too hard, a walk through town wouldn’t overtax her lungs.

As I moved her reins to the side, steering her toward the River Run Tavern where Annie worked, my eyes widened when I saw a handful of my fellow firefighters gathered in the drive of the fire station washing one of the three engines we kept there.

“Ow, ow!” a deep, masculine voice yelled right before a chorus of loud whistles tore through the air from the officers washing the truck. “Check out that hunky cowboy!”

Chief Wilson, who was typically a stoic man, held a wet cloth in his fist while he yelled loudly enough a few pedestrians stopped to watch. “Call the fire department, boys! We’ve got a blaze rolling through. Oh wait, we are the fire department. Better get the hose! ”

Steering Phi across the road to the far side, I hoped my typically mellow horse wouldn’t be spooked by the spray of water when my chuckling boss aimed the nozzle of a garden hose toward us.

She nickered, turning her head to look at me, and if a horse could roll her eyes, I knew she would have. “I know, pretty girl. You’re being very tolerant of this nonsense.”

“Get a move on,” Charley yelled from the truck behind me, and the handful of firefighters waved, laughing as I turned Phi toward the bar.

The pedestrian traffic thinned out even more the further we got to the edge of town. But when I looked at the parking lot of the bar, it was more than half full.

I led Phi to the side of the building as Charley parked the truck, hopping out to run around the back of the building. She came back with an empty bucket, filling it with the spigot beside the side door.

“Remind me again why I agreed to this?” I asked as she put the bucket on the ground in front of the horse, running her hand down her mane while Phi took a drink.

“Because you luuurve her and you’re trying to make an impression.”

“And I couldn’t have done that just walking through the bar and asking to talk to her?

” Now that I was here, sitting atop a horse in the gravel parking lot of a bar on the fourth of July in the mountains of Colorado on an unseasonably warm day, I was second guessing that this was a good idea to win back a woman’s affection.

“You’ve never done this grand gesture thing before, have you?” she teased, but she wasn’t wrong.

“Never needed to before.”

She rolled her eyes, pulling the bucket against the side of the building once Phi had drunk her fill. “Go wait by the front doors and I’ll go get her.”

“Are you sure it’s okay that we’re doing this?” I asked, nodding toward a couple of patrons who’d stopped in the parking lot to stare at us .

“I let the owner play with my boobs on a regular basis. He won’t give a fuck as long as the cops don’t get called.”

“Not sure I needed to know that,” I muttered, realizing how right my boss had been about his strong-willed daughter. When she told you to do something, you didn’t push back.

“And if you play your cards right, then maybe Annie will let you see hers later tonight.” She mimed cupping a set of boobs, and I shook my head, not exactly sure how this was my life right now.

Charley pointed toward the front of the building again before she typed in a code on the side door and slipped inside.

Steering Phi out front, I waited just outside the doors, trying not to pay attention to the heads I watched pop up in the front windows the longer we stood there. Depending on who was in the bar right now, my entire family might know what I was doing within minutes.

The only thing I had going for me right now was that, after being gone from Sage Springs for as long as I’d been, some of my observers might not know who I was. Maybe if I kept my hat tilted forward, I could conceal my identity.

But who was I kidding? Probably not in a town this size.

The sound of Phi’s tail swishing behind my back almost lulled me into a trance with the sun beating down from overhead, but my pulse started racing the second the door pushed outward.

Rhey’s red-rimmed eyes widened as she paused in the doorway with her arms crossed.

Seeing the evidence of her tears gutted me, but she stood with her head held high, still so strong even when I knew my actions had upset her.

Charley not so gently nudged her further outside when she didn’t show any signs of moving, and I was thankful for the intervention.

“What are you…?” she trailed off, her eyes bouncing between Phi and me.

“Howdy, ma’am.” My voice was deeper than usual with nerves, but I cleared my throat while she just stared at me. “Someone told me that there might be a damsel in distress in need of a ride this afternoon. ”

Charley slapped her hand across her mouth, but the giggles escaped anyway, and Baker appeared in the doorway behind her, shaking his head.

“Dude, no. That was cheesy as fuck,” he laughed, pulling out his phone and holding it up.

Turning the hand still holding the reins, I discreetly flipped him the middle finger, and he laughed harder, but I wasn’t looking at him. I was watching her .

Rhey’s fingers hovered in front of her quivering lips, and I tried to fight the urge to dismount and pull her into my arms when her voice shook. “Why are you here?”

“Because I’m not ready for this to be over yet.” I extended a hand toward her, ignoring the crowd that was forming behind Charley and Baker in the doorway.

“But what about—”

Shaking my head, I cut her off. “I don’t care. You’re worth it, Rhey. And I’m not leaving until you give me a chance to make it right.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, I—”

“And neither did you, no matter what my asshole brother says.” My heart pounded as I watched the emotions flicker across her features, the most prominent one being fear. “Sweetheart, I don’t want to move on from you. I want to move on with you.”

She hesitated, and I extended my hand further in her direction. “Come take a ride with me?”

“I’m working,” she protested weakly.

But Charley was right behind her, extending a boot into Rhey’s butt to urge her forward. “No, you’re not. Don’t make me tell Hudson to fire you.”

Rhey turned her head, eyes widening when she saw all the people standing in the entrance of the bar and dotted throughout the parking lot, watching me humiliate myself to get her attention.

“Don’t look at them, Rhey. Look at me.” She hesitantly returned her gaze to me and our eyes locked, her posture relaxing as our unspoken connection took over .

That’s right, sweetheart. I’m not letting you run from me.

“Ready to go for that ride now?” I asked, and her eyebrow raised suggestively, a chuckle escaping me. Shaking my head, I couldn’t resist teasing her since she wasn’t running away again. “Not that kinda ride. Yet .”

The crowd behind her laughed, but I didn’t pay attention to them as she stepped forward—eyes locked with mine—fingers grazing mine as she stopped beside Phi, using her other hand to pet her neck. The horse nudged Rhey in the shoulder with the side of her face, nickering as if to say get on already.

I kicked one of my boots out of the stirrup and held Rhey’s hand as she used it to step up; her face inches from mine. Leaning in, I whispered in her ear. “I know you’re scared right now, and to be honest, so am I. But I’m done running from the things that scare me, and I hope you are, too.”

She smiled, tipping her head until her forehead rested against mine, causing my hat to shift back. “Thank you for coming to find me.”

Her breath caught as I tilted my face, lips lingering beside her mouth. “Anywhere, anytime. You need me, and I’ll always be there to rescue you. Even if it’s from yourself.”

Her hand grasped the back of my neck, and she pulled me closer, lips grazing my ear. “I’m not sure how to get on this horse without flashing half this parking lot.”

I laughed loudly, wrapping one arm around her waist as I pulled the reins to the side, turning Phi to face away from the bar. “I got you.”

Thankfully, all the months I trained to keep in peak physical condition in my previous life meant I could both brace my hands on her waist and lift her while she slipped her leg over the saddle in front of me.

We both smoothed out her dress, and I watched over her shoulder as she tucked the material between her legs and underneath those luscious thighs.

“You ready to go home?” I whispered in her ear and sighed when she leaned back into my chest .

“You’re welcome!” Charley’s loud voice cut through the air, and I shook my head as Rhey giggled in front of me.

Turning Phi back to face the bar, I tipped my hat, raising my voice for the benefit of the crowd. “Thanks for the public humiliation, we’re gonna head home now.”

Deciding I’d had enough ridicule from my co-workers, I took the much shorter route back to the ranch without going through downtown—and past the station. Rhey’s hand rested on top of the one I had braced against her stomach for the quiet ride along the outskirts of town.

As the horse passed the lodge, her pace increased when she realized how close to home she was.

“Easy, girl,” I teased, pulling back on the reins to slow her pace.

It was bad enough that I was asking her to ride double again when she was supposed to be recovering.

But she was kind of my wing woman, so I could understand why Charley insisted it had to be Seraphina.

Rhey’s fingers tightened over mine when I slowed the horse outside the barn, looking around for signs of anyone inside. The expansive building was silent as I walked her inside, pulling back on the reins to halt her outside of a stall.

“You okay?” I murmured, smiling at Rhey’s shaky nod, before I pulled my hat off, reaching over to hook it on the post next to Phi’s stall door.

My hair was a sweaty mess, but I didn’t care, and I hoped she wouldn’t either, as I tucked my face into her neck, inhaling her sweet scent.

When I woke up this morning, I didn’t expect our whole day to be thrown for a loop in the form of a mistaken identity gone wrong.

But my day ended with her back in my arms, and that’s exactly where I wanted her to stay.