Knocking back a desperately needed longneck with my best friend Bo feels damn good. It has been a month of hell out at the ranch and I’m enjoying a break at the bar. The whole town is ready for one of the largest snowfalls to be seen this year, but I’m sure as hell not looking forward to it.

Emma, my fiancée, has hinted more than once that she’d be happy to keep me company at the ranch but I told her no. For one, once the storm hits, the ranch is going to get cut off from the main highway. For two, the last thing I need is having her underfoot.

Sighing heavily into my beer while I peel the label off the bottle, I ignore the looks Bo keeps passing in my direction.

He knows there’s something wrong with me, and he also knows the only thing making me continue with my upcoming wedding is duty. Everyone has expected it for years, and it’s what I thought I wanted as well. Maybe I had at one point but not anymore.

And it’s been a long engagement—four years—and I’d been surprised that Emma hasn’t pushed for a wedding date before she did. It was agreed in passing, not really discussed. I just wish I’d stopped to think about where I was going and what I wanted out of the life I’ve been given. It certainly wouldn’t have been to marry the girl I’ve been with since I was a fifteen-year-old boy full of hormones.

Emma was...comfortable...and I just went along with whatever she wanted to do. It was easier. Twelve months ago, she’d decided to get all sweaty with a trucker who got stranded in town during a snowstorm. I’d used it as an excuse to walk away—breaking off the engagement. Except, before we could make any kind of announcement, she’d bulldozed her way back into my life. Out of duty, I’d stayed with her. My heart had been left in Lexington though, and that hurt more than I thought possible.

I never expected a trip to Lexington for my godfather’s wedding to knock me on my ass. But that’s what happened the moment I laid eyes on the bride’s beautiful sister. I couldn’t help myself and had given into all my needs. I did something terribly wrong but inevitable when I spent the night with her. She’d been the second woman I’d ever slept with, but the first woman I’d made love to.

No matter how hard I’ve tried to forget Charlotte McKenzie, she’s been in my mind every day. She’s the last thing in my conscience as I close my eyes at night, and the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning.

I miss her morning text messages, which had started when I’d been in Lexington and had ended during the summer. I have only myself to blame for that because I’d stopped replying for my own health. But it kills me not knowing how she’s doing or what she’s up to.

“Don’t you think it’s about time you told me what happened in Lexington?” Bo says, glancing at me before he goes back to his beer. “You’ve looked like the back end of one of your cattle since you’ve been back.”

Raising a brow, I stare at Bo, and then spend a few minutes thinking as I watch the bartender freshening drinks and filling orders to be delivered by the wait staff.

“It’s true,” Bo mumbles. “You’d think you were about to be hanged, not getting married. I was happy leading up to my wedding.”

A chuckle bursts from between my lips. “You spent the month before your wedding drunk,” I remind him.

“Exactly! I was happy.”

Shaking my head, I thump him on the shoulder. “You can say what you want, but you can’t live without your wife.”

He grins. “I love her with everything in me, and have no shame admitting that… Do you love Emma?”

I blink at his question and turn my gaze back to my beer and shredded label on the bar. “I’m in love,” I say, being evasive as I silently add, “with Charlotte.”

“Not with Emma though,” he mumbles and I look at him out of the corner of my eye. I can’t read the expression on his face but I know he’s concerned. “I think when we were at school you confused hormones with love, which we all do. Now though, we’ve grown up, and even before she fucked someone else, I don’t think your heart belonged to Emma...and not for a long time.”

Staring hard at Bo, I’m wondering what happened to get him talking. We usually just sit here drinking beer silently—watching the game playing on the television or playing a game of pool if we were up to it. “I can read your mind, you know?” He grins and laughs. “Okay! I admit Joanne put the seed of doubt in my head. She said something that made sense about you coming back from Lexington a different man. She even went as far as to suggest you met someone out there…”

“None of that matters, Bo. I’m getting married in less than a month’s time.” I drain the beer and shake my head to refuse another from the bartender when Bo nods for one. “I’m driving back tonight.”

Occasionally, I’ll crash in Bo’s spare room, but tonight, I want to be in my own bed. I’m just not in the mood to stay anywhere but home. “If you’re getting married,” Bo continues, refusing to budge off the subject, “why do you never spend time with your fiancée? People are noticing, and a lot of them are wondering whether or not it’s true about that trucker she fucked.”

Cursing, I whip my head around to face him. “Leave it,” I snarl. “I promised to marry her and that’s what’s going to happen.”

“Maybe, maybe not.” He grins ignoring the scowl on my face.

“I was okay until you sat next to me,” I grouch.

He roars with laughter before becoming serious again, saying, “The last I’m going to say on the subject for tonight is don’t marry her because you feel like you have to keep a promise…marry her because you can’t live without her.” He waits for me to acknowledge his words and then a slow smile spreads across his face. “I’m a good friend, huh?”

“Debatable,” I mumble and sigh when my eyes focus on Emma walking through the bar as though she owns the place.

“That says it all my friend,” Bo comments before he moves toward the back of the bar—away from Emma.

“I thought I’d find you here as you’re not answering your phone,” Emma complains as she takes Bo’s seat. “I want to come and stay at the ranch with you until this snowstorm passes.”

I give her the side eyes. “We’ve talked about this, and decided it was a bad idea.”

She scowls. “You decided it was a bad idea. I didn’t really get a say in anything.”

Looking at her now, I know that I fell into lust with her in high school. Maybe it had been love...that young, schoolboy love that was fleeting, but it’s gone now. Bo is right—I have outgrown her. I did a long time ago. I think we’ve both clung to the past rather than move forward because it was easier to do just that. I also think there is something else going on with her and that’s why she keeps pushing this wedding.

She’s still as pretty as she’d been in high school with her snow-white skin and blonde hair. Her waist is trim with legs that do justice to a pair of fitted jeans, but I’m not in love with her.

But a woman is out there who I do love. Charlotte is nothing like Emma, and I fell hard for her the minute our eyes connected. I was rude and abrupt when Garrett had introduced us, but that didn’t last. She snagged my heart that night we shared, and I’ve lived on those moments for months.

I didn’t know it was possible to miss someone as much as I do her, until after I let her go. She’s probably with someone else by now thinking I no longer think about her.

“You’ve been doing that for months,” Emma hisses. “I ask you a question and you get lost inside your own head. It’s rude and annoying.”

My fingers flex as I rub my hands along my denim-clad thighs...anything to prevent myself from blurting out the truth to her…the truth that I don’t love her; I love someone else. Instead of saying those words, and hurting her, I reply, “You’re not coming back to the ranch. It would make things awkward.”

She looks sad for a moment and then it’s gone as she straightens her spine. “We have things about the wedding to discuss,” she smiles, “I could use that as an excuse with my father.” She jumps off the bar stool before she wraps her arms around my neck and plants a kiss to my lips.

I push her gently away. “Look, your father doesn’t approve of cohabitation when there’s no ring on fingers. It won’t work. Just accept it. We’ll talk soon.” I pat her shoulder. “I’ll walk you to your car,” I offer, wanting to be polite, instead of the asshole I feel like being.

Tossing cash onto the bar, I take her arm, and lead her outside. I spot her car across the street and help her keep her footing while she wobbles all over the place on the snow and ice lining the edge of the sidewalk. “This is bad.”

“It’s going to get worse.” I help her into her vehicle. “Are you sure you’ll be alright driving in this?”

She rolls her eyes. “Honestly Tanner, you should know me better than anyone. I’ve driven in this my whole life.”

“Sorry.” I step back from the door and watch as she sighs before tugging it closed. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

She nods before I watch her drive off.

My heart aches with the desperate need for the one woman I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to have. I stare at the fading taillights, comparing her to the woman who has a hold of my heart. Charlotte...Emma...so different in the way they moved, how they looked and their personality. Charlotte was warm and giving—I’d seen it myself at the wedding. She was loyal and I knew that Charlotte would never look at another guy if she had me. I sure as hell wouldn’t have my head turned by anyone else.

I rubbed my hands together against the cold and realize my heart belongs to Charlotte McKenzie.