Chapter Two
Gage knew he should be in bed. He had to ride well on Saturday morning to qualify and make it to the finals on Saturday night, but he was restless. It didn’t help that his dad had called him to give him some advice for tomorrow. He’d been watching the bulls throughout the tournament and had advice on each one that Harper breeders had provided.
He’d listened to all of his father’s notes and then talked to his mom who had that sad note in her voice as she’d thanked him for letting his dad think he was Marty and listening to him yammer on—his mom’s words—about the bulls.
Gage had felt like he always did: a little bit like an idiot and a little bit happy deep inside. His father had won the PBR championship buckle three times back in the ’80s. Back before the sport had been mainstream and was only televised on some local stations. So his father knew what he was talking about when it came to riding and staying on. He’d been the one to teach Marty and Marty had taught him.
Gage had always looked up to Marty and it wasn’t until he’d started junior rodeo that he’d realized the difference in the way their father treated them. The difference—hell, that was a destructive line of thinking.
He had a bottle of whiskey under the sink in his trailer and he was about to open it up and forget, but that wasn’t the smartest thing for a man who had a ride first thing in the morning. Instead he grabbed his Stetson and left the trailer, walking fast, looking at the stars, wondering if his brother was getting one last good laugh in at his expense.
“Uh, eek.”
The words registered just as he plowed into someone. He grabbed the other person, felt his hand brush over a breast and looked down into those big green eyes that he recognized. Sierra. She had let her hair down from her ponytail and it hung around her shoulders.
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she said.
He let his hand slide down her waist and remembered that moment earlier when she’d been watching his mouth and he’d seen something in her eyes that had tempted him to lean in and kiss her. But he’d hesitated.
Tonight, though, with the demons of his past hot on his heels, he couldn’t understand why he hadn’t just taken the kiss she clearly wanted. He definitely needed to distract himself.
He slid his hand further around her body to the small of her back and she looked up at him, her lips parted and her head tipped to the side.
“Gage?”
“Hmm,” he said, but really, he wasn’t listening to anything she said. He was watching that mouth of hers with the full lower lip and realizing he needed—needed—to know how it felt under his. He started to lower his head and she licked her lips.
She put her hands on his shoulders, a light feathery touch that he felt all the way down to the base of his spine. Their lips met and she sighed a little, as she opened hers under his. His slipped his tongue inside and she tasted of strawberries and wine, he thought, and something else. Something unique.
Her hands tightened on his shoulders as she went on her tiptoes and leaned in to him. The brush of her breasts against his chest made his heart beat faster. He kept his touch light. His mind was spinning, thinking this was what he needed. That he should break the kiss and lead her back to his trailer and then spend the rest of the night twisting with her on the sheets; but when he lifted his head, he saw her eyes were closed and she licked her lips and then smiled slightly before opening them.
She was sweet.
Too sweet for him to use her to forget. He knew that. But he didn’t want to let her go. He was doing something that made him feel like a saint some days and others like a sinner who would never get redemption.
“Gage?”
“Hell.”
“Not hell. That was…” She trailed off her fingers going to her lips and then she stepped back from him and took his hand in hers, leading him back in the direction she’d come from.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Someplace where we can forget,” she said, leading him closer to the Montez Denim tent where he could hear loud music blaring.
“What are you trying to forget?” he asked.
“That you were kissing me to distract yourself,” she said. “I have no idea what you’re running from. But dancing seems like it might be the solution.”
Damn. He hated that she’d seen through him but knew it hadn’t been that hard.
“Not here we won’t. Come with me. I know a bar not that far away where we won’t know everyone in the place. Then we can dance and forget and maybe for tonight I can remember that I’m young.”
“We both are. Savanna says I act like I’m twenty-three going on forty.”
He laughed. “Well…”
She mock punched him. “Hey. You’re were supposed to say she was wrong.”
“Was she?” he asked as they got to his truck. It was a big Chevy with four-wheel drive and a quad cab. His dad had insisted on going with him to the dealership to buy it.
He stopped rubbing his hand over his eyes as he felt that sting of tears. God, he was messed up. No amount of dancing and baring was going to cure that.
But then Sierra slipped her hand from his and pushed him back against the passenger door of his truck. She went up on her tiptoes, putting one hand against the side of his jaw, drawing his other arm down to her waist.
“Gage Powell, you’re thinking way too much for this summer’s night. Show me what it’s like to be young and free.”
Her lips brushed over his and for all the sweetness and innocence there was around her, there was a fire in her kiss that he didn’t even try to resist. He lifted her off her feet and more fully into his body and let her soft curves drive his demons away.
*
Sierra had a really long day. She’d been forced to face the fact that her father didn’t really trust her when she’d noticed his assistant Bruce lurking around one of the other sponsor’s booths at a fan event. She’d confronted Bruce who unfortunately for him hadn’t picked up a bit of her father’s backbone by working for the man for the last six months. And Sierra had been born with it. She’d lit into him and sent him scurrying back to Dallas.
She’d put off calling her father because she wasn’t in the mood to hold her temper in check. And while letting it fly seemed like exactly what she wanted at this moment, she knew that letting him know he’d gotten the better of her would just let him believe he’d won. So instead she’d stomped away from the Montez Denim event and run smack into Gage.
He looked like he’d been running from something as well. She sure as heck figured he had a lot of demons but she wasn’t interested in helping him fight them. She was interested in distraction. That was it.
She had been holding a candle burning at both ends with one hand while patting herself on the back with the other, telling herself she’d finally shown everyone at Montez Denim she was an adult and could do her damn job only to find out they’d been lying to her.
Or at least her dad had.
Hell.
She sighed.
“Darlin’, that sigh was strong enough to be heard all the way down in Los Angeles. What’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
“Sure doesn’t seem like nothing,” he said.
“Listen, I thought you didn’t do complicated. I thought you wanted a piece of tail and some bar hopping,” she said still feeling ornery. “So, unless you’ve changed your mind leave it be.”
“Damn, darlin’, you seem like you want to fight. Are you sure you want to go there with me?”
She glanced over at him. Though it was nighttime he had his Stetson on and his features were illuminated by the dashboard lights so it wasn’t hard for her to notice the twitch in his lips.
It just enflamed her temper. Another man acting like her anger was something cute and small and meant to be pooh-poohed instead of taking her seriously.
“Are you sure you do?” she asked. “Don’t let my serious nature and buttoned-up appearance fool you. I spend a lot of my time biting my tongue and tonight I don’t think I can do it.”
He slowed the truck and signaled pulling onto the shoulder. They were on a stretch of highway that was deserted at this time of night and as he put the truck in park he reached over and turned the volume on the radio down to a low rumble of just bass and drums. He took off his seat belt before stretching one long arm along the back of the seat as he turned to face her.
“Let me have it.”
Damn. He was being reasonable and one part of her—probably the sane bit—wanted to say forget it. But for the life of her it felt like she’d been a good girl and played by the rules for her entire life. And at this moment it felt like all of that had gotten her nowhere. There was no reward for being good except for disrespect and longing for what other people seemed to take for granted.
“Well for starters, Gage, I don’t like being treated like my anger is something to be laughed at. I’m seriously ticked off right now.”
He rested his other arm on the steering wheel and brought his hand over to cover his mouth.
“Hell, are you laughing at me again? I just can’t deal with this tonight,” she said, opening the door and hopping out of the cab. She landed hard on her feet, which sent a bit of pain shooting up her legs and that just spurred her to start walking. She had her cell phone in her back pocket and enough money on her platinum credit card to pay for transportation away from the dumbass redneck laughing his butt off at her expense.
“I’ll show him. I’ve never in my days had to put up with such…ridiculous, douche baggy, pompous behavior and if I have to—”
She broke off her running monologue as she was jerked to a stop by Gage’s arm around her waist. He lifted her off her feet, carried her under his arm like she didn’t weigh more than his gear and walked back to the truck. He set her on the passenger seat where she’d left the door open and then just stood there. It bothered her a little that they were almost eye to eye. Damn he was tall.
“Now I’ll be the first to admit that I was laughing but just because you are so damned cute,” he began. “I’m not being a douche on purpose and Lord knows I’m pompous but you just made me smile when nothing else has for a long time. It wasn’t at your expense; it stemmed from you.”
She wasn’t sure how that could be, but then he leaned in closer, putting his hands on her waist.
“I needed a distraction and I was looking for a fight and instead I found you. And you’re doing the same thing so it puts me in mind of something that we could do to distract ourselves.”
“Get laid,” she said. He had to be thinking of a night of sex. Her mind was flooded with images of the two of them tangled together on the front seat in the cab of his truck. His long hard body on top of hers…
“Maybe… I’m not saying I don’t want you, Sierra, but damn you are more than a piece of tail to me and I think we could both use a night of fun. You in?”
She’d already decided she was but then her own thoughts had led her to a dark and troubled place. “I’m game but you should know I’m not myself tonight.”
“I haven’t been myself in seven years so I guess we’re even.”
*
The roadside bar was the kind of dive that his momma had always warned him to stay away from. He was pretty sure that Sierra had never seen the inside of a place like this but she looked game.
She looked like he’d felt the first time he’d gotten on the back of a bull. He’d been twelve and determined to prove to his dad that he was as good as Marty. He’d puked his guts out behind the chute and then “manned up” and gotten on the bull rode for three seconds before being thrown.
Hell.
He’d forgotten how exhilarating that first ride had been. He’d popped to his feet feeling like he’d hung the moon. After all Marty hadn’t made three seconds on his first ride. He’d looked around for his dad but he was nowhere to be seen. He’d been talking to one of the bull breeders about Marty’s next ride and had missed Gage’s debut.
He cursed under his breath.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah. Nothing that some tequila shots and beer chasers won’t cure. And maybe a dance with my best gal.”
She winked at him. “Guess I’ll have to do.”
She opened the passenger door when he turned the engine off and he put his hand on her shoulder. “Wait for me. I’ll help you down.”
“Thanks,” she said, glancing back at him, her hair brushing the back of his hand. He was sure he’d felt something softer and smoother in his life but in that moment, he couldn’t recall what it had been.
He got out of the cab, pocketed his keys and walked around the truck to help her down. As soon as he set her on her feet, she stepped away from him. She wasn’t putting up no-trespassing signs but she was definitely trying to put the brakes on whatever had been going on between them earlier. He’d been raised a gentleman so he’d respect whatever boundaries she set.
“Have you been here before?”
“No. But I have been to places like this all throughout the west. Hell, I’ve even been in some shady pubs in Scotland.”
She stopped and shook her head. “Scotland? What were you doing there?”
“Dance with me and I’ll tell you,” he said.
“Buy me a drink and I’ll dance with you,” she retorted.
“Deal.”
He opened the door for her and gestured for her to go in front of him. She took two steps inside and stopped. The music was loud. The dance floor was packed with gyrating couples some who didn’t seem to notice they were in public. There was a haze in the air and it smelled of smoke even though it had been years since anyone could light up in the bar and the smell of alcohol seemed to permeate every surface.
He breathed it in. This was what he needed.
He glanced at Sierra. She looked like she was seconds away from bolting. He grabbed her by the waist and swung her into his arms as the jukebox started to play “Redneck Woman” by Gretchen Wilson. It was an oldie that he remembered from the nights of drinking and fighting after Marty’s death.
She put her hand on his chest and he danced with her, keeping her close. He’d told himself he was doing this for her. That he was trying to be her hero. But the truth was he needed it. He couldn’t go back to the trailer and his thoughts. To the sad, pitiful thoughts that waited for him there as he tried to make sense of why he was striving so damned hard to be the son his father wanted when his dad would never be the parent that Gage wanted him to be.
“I thought…”
He pulled her close and leaned down so he could talk into her ear. “Don’t think. Thinking is why we were both running tonight. Just feel.”
She put her hands on his waist and held on to him like he did when he got on the back of a bull. And he wanted to tell her there was no way he was going to try to buck her off, but talking wasn’t really where he shone. He knew that, so instead he pulled her close and danced with her until the music changed. They danced until he was hot and sweaty and wanted more than a drink; but there was a hint of vulnerability in Sierra’s eyes. He glanced around for a table and found one near the back of the bar by the pool tables and he led her away from the dance floor toward the table.
He signaled the waitress and realized that he probably shouldn’t get too smashed if he was going to drive later but he also knew he could handle a couple of beers and maybe a shot of tequila. So he ordered two shots, two beers and then settled back in the booth across from Sierra.
“It’s time for you to pay up, cowboy,” she said, as the drinks arrived.
She licked the back of her hand, shook a little salt on it and then downed her tequila like a pro. His jeans got a little tighter, proving that not touching her wasn’t the key to cooling down.
“What’d you have in mind, darlin’?” he asked downing his shot.
She skimmed her gaze down his body, lingering on his chest, before looking at his mouth again. She leaned over and the front of her blouse gaped from her skin, revealing the barest hint of her cleavage. He groaned and shifted his legs under the table.
“You owe me a story,” she said, with a wink, picking up the lime he’d left on the table next to his empty shot glass. She lifted it to her mouth and licked the juice from the wedge.