She arches a brow at me and shrugs. “You didn’t know? Rex left shortly after you did. He started riding bulls and moved up pretty fast in the rankings. He’s won quite a few buckles over the years. He even went to Vegas a few times for the PBR Championship. He was good, Rainy, but he had a bad ride a couple of years ago and got hurt pretty bad. It was right around when Luke came home so he and Chase convinced Rex to retire. That’s when he came back and bought the Spur.”
I nod with a tight smile and move to the window to look out on the square as my thoughts race. He promised…
I pluck the hay from the corner of his mouth and swipe his backward hat from his head to smack him with it. He laughs and dances back not even a little bit bothered by my temper.
“Damnit, Rex! I don’t care how much money you could win! Promise me, promise you will never ride another bull. I almost puked in terror when I saw you up on that monster’s back today. Baby…I couldn’t handle it if you got hurt.”
He stops backing up and pulls me against his chest when my voice cracks on the last word.
“Don’t cry, Stormy. I promise. I promise I’ll stay away from the bulls, sweetheart.”
He tips my chin up and brushes his lips sweetly across mine and then that perfect Rex grin flashes.
“Did you see, though? I almost made it to eight, Stormy! What a fucking rush!”
He spins me around twice, making me clutch at his hard young body and a rush of wanting flows through me for what none of them will give me until I turn eighteen. I’m glad he’ll never ride again but I can’t deny how fucking hot it was, after the nausea settled, to see him up on that beast with his arm in the air and his back arched. Fucking cowboys are going to be the death of me.
I catch sight of the man himself crossing the square, note the slight limp, and watch him disappear into the bank.I force myself to let it go. I can’t hold him to a promise he made to me when I was the one who walked away from them. I turn away from the window and huff out a laugh for Maggie.
“If it happens it happens but I’m not going to search him out for that.”
She rolls her eyes at me and drops her paintbrush into the pan. “Fine, but I fully expect you to be able to rate all the Kingston boys on our dick-o-meter by the end of the summer. I’ve been waiting years to hear the deets on which one packs the biggest…package!” She flops down next to Star and rolls her head my way. “Rain, I’ve had a burning need since we were teenagers to know if the twins are identical in ALL the ways.”
I shake my head at her but I can’t help but admit to myself that I always wondered about that as well. A soft snort from Star has us both looking at her and we break out into laughter when we see that it was actually a snore as the girl’s completely passed out.
I pick up the paint pan and take it into the little kitchen to put in the sink to be washed out and pick up my phone to send a quick text to Hetter. I haul Mags back to her feet and between the two of us we get Star up and take her down the hall to her apartment.
She mumbles for us to put her on the couch so we dump her there instead of a bedroom. I toss a hand-knit blanket from the back of the couch over her, get a glass filled with water and place it on the coffee table for when she wakes, and leave her be with a smile.
Hett shows up ten minutes later and with a grin, flips his drunk fiancée over his shoulder and carries her out. I clean up the glasses and paint brushes, open all the windows to help ventilate the fumes and wander around my soon-to-be new home aimlessly. A half-day trip to the closest bigger town yesterday had gotten me a new queen size bed, a couch, an armchair, and a TV. The spare room is full of that and other new household pieces I bought. The full move is happening tomorrow and I’m itching to unpack and make this a true home. It will be the first place that is completely mine and I can’t wait.
When I ran to the city all those years ago with the small amount of money stuffed in that envelope, all I could afford was to rent a room. The rest of the money went to paying for night classes while I worked two jobs. One was at a clothing store and the other was waitressing at a diner. It took a few years to move up into a better place that I shared with roommates and from there I moved in with Jason. I’ve never lived completely alone before. I picture in my mind different ways of how I can set the apartment to make it mine and plan how I’m going to set it all up just the way I want to but I can’t stop thinking about what Maggie said about Rex.
I finally grab my phone and throw myself down on the dropcloth covered couch and Google his name. I do a stalker level deep dive into his career as a professional bull rider and watch way too many YouTube videos on his best rides.
By the time my finger hovers over the link to the video of the ride that ended his career I’m hot and there’s an ache between my legs from how turned on I am from watching the way his powerful body flexed and rode a thousand pounds of beast over and over again.
I tap the link and press my fingers to my mouth to keep in the cry as he loses his seat and the monster he was riding tosses him like a rag doll with his horns. I shoot to my feet as those brutal hooves come down on his broken body before the clowns manage to distract the bull away. I watch with wide, tear-filled eyes as medics run to him and help carry his limp body from the arena. The phone drops from my trembling fingers and my feet are moving without thought. I know he’s recovered, healed but I have a desperate need to confirm that with my own eyes and hands.
I run down the hallway past Star’s door and down the interior stairs behind his bar. My hands hit the lever bar on the door causing it to fly open and slam into the wall with a huge crash that echoes through the empty bar. Rex is sitting at one of the tables near the pool tables and his head jerks up at the sound. The grin that starts to form at seeing me barreling towards him fades into a look of worry and he shoots to his feet and starts moving toward me.
“Stormy, what…”
My body collides with his, my arms wrapping around his neck and clutching desperately. My voice is a broken whisper,
“You could have…died!”
His rough hands slide up my back into my hair and pull me back gently. His expression is one of regret as his eyes soften and he rests his forehead against mine.
“You saw the video. Baby, I’m okay. I’m here.”
My greedy hands sweep over his arms, his back, his face and I feel how whole he is, how strong - and the last of my fear drains away leaving me with a touch of anger. I snatch the faded ball cap from his head and repeat the action I had done all those years ago and swat his chest with it.
“You…could…have…died! You promised me, Rex.”
His hands drop away from me and he steps back with a deep frown covering his face. He rubs at the stubble on his square jaw as his hair falls in front of one eye.
“Well, you promised to be my wife. You broke yours so I broke mine.”
