The sound of his voice was calm, smooth, and so easy. It sent chills down my spine, but probably not for the right reason. No, that was Jake, and his voice came from right behind me.
I spun to find him claiming the spot on my other side. "Still hungover?" he asked.
Well, fuck. My face was already burning and I hadn't even managed to reply!
"Nope," J.D. said. "My story's that she was blackout drunk, don't remember shit, and you..." He gave Jake a look that was half friendly and half death glare. It was actually impressive how he managed it. "You will not throw her off, Jake."
"No, sir," Jake agreed. "I did, however, want to see if you two were planning on hitting the bar after this. You know, to celebrate our wolf pack being back... And things."
"She'll be there," J.D. promised.
But Jake just shook his head. "Nope. She can make her own decisions. A very wise man taught me that."
And to my surprise, J.D. glanced away. Was he... embarrassed? What the fuck had happened Wednesday night? Because I'd clearly missedsomething!
Chapter 54
Ok,it was official. I had it bad for this girl.
I was pretty sure that was mostly because I'd finally stopped ignoring it, or trying to convince myself there was nothing there. Instead, the smell of her damned shampoo lingered in my mind, making me daydream about her at the worst times.
But seeing her standing before me, with her eyes a little too wide? Yep, she did not know how to handle this, and I had to fix that. Fast.
"Hey," I said, lowering my voice. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"
"Uh..." Cody looked back at J.D. as if seeking permission.
"Don't look at me!" he huffed. "You're the one giving the orders here, rookie."
Which made her nod, but it was more of a nervous jiggle. Then she turned back to me. "Ok. Sure."
So I gestured to the side. Bull riders were still filing into the area, claiming a space for themselves. I'd seen Austin heading toward the locker room, which made me think that was why everyone else was clustering up in the larger open space. But at the side, there was a little corner tucked nicely out of the way.
I led her there, then shifted closer and dropped my voice. "Hey, are we good?"
"Um..." She pulled in a breath and lifted her chin. "I was drunk, Jake."
"Well aware," I assured her. "Thing is, I don't want to be wondering if I fucked up and end up distracted when I'm about to ride. I can only guess the same is true for you, so let me lay something out there for you?"
"Ok?" She sounded a little too wary.
"We," I said, reaching up to clasp her arm, "are friends. I respect the hell out of you as a bull rider. I'd like to think you don't hate my guts for driving you home, right?"
"No, I don't," she said, and finally those pretty blue eyes of hers lifted enough to find mine.
Which made my lips curl into a smile. "Good. Ty told me we should talk before we ride. I mean, I was going to stick my head in the sand and be an idiot about being embarrassed, but yeah."
Ok, I hadn't planned on that. Ihadplanned on avoiding her until we had a moment to actually discuss things, just to make sure I hadn't taken anything wrong. And yeah, Ty had said to discuss it before riding, but that was because he said she'd tie herself up in knots if I didn't. This way, I took the blame instead of her.
And before my eyes, Cody's entire body relaxed. Slowly, she nodded. "Yeah, I'm embarrassed too, and everyone saw. I mean, what was I thinking?"
"I think it had something to do with me having dimples," I teased.
She glanced away, but the little giggle proved I'd said the right thing. "Yeah. Sounds like me."
"And a whole lot of whiskey," I added. "That tends to lower some inhibitions. Sometimes too many, so I just wanted to make it clear I am not offended at all that the best bull rider in thePBR, and the most beautiful woman I've seen in a long time, decided my dimples are cute." And I rubbed her arm again, doing my best to make it casual and friendly.
"I'm just..." She paused to bite her lips together. "They're doing a thing today."
