“I’m sorry.” I blink, a little stunned in West’s wake. “He’s not usually like that.”
“It’s okay.” Lanie squeezes my arm. “I understand.”
My heart slams in my chest cavity at the fresh contact. “You do?” I bark a short laugh, raking my fingers over my short hair as I slide my other hand along her knee, savoring the warmth of her. “Because I sure as hell don’t.”
“Me being here changes things, like your pack structure.” Lanie offers me a shy smile. “You didn’t walk away from me when he came in…” She trails off, tracing her hands along my arms. “It leaves him in a place where he’s not sure where he fits in now that I’m here. Just like a newcomer in a wolf pack finding their place.”
Her touch is soft and sweet. I’m a bare inch from picking her up, taking her back to my room, and finding out what she feels like raw beneath me.
But… she’s right.
“Having you here changes the status quo,” I murmur. “He’s not sure where he stands.” I kiss her again. I can’t argue with her reasoning, but I’m sure about her when she doesn’t push me away for West’s shitty faux pas. “For a woman who says she doesn’t do people, you sure know a hell of a lot about them.”
“I’ve spent a lot of time studying family life and social niceties. Just not human ones.”
“We’re not wolves, Lanie,” I mutter, but then shake myself, taking a step back. West’s appearance has rattled me more than I want to admit. “Sorry.”
“Aren’t you?” she asks softly, sliding from the bench, and I’m not sure which question she’s answering, or if it’s a question at all. “I should go. You have a lot to do for your invitation thing.”
I hold her gaze for a moment but then jerk my head. The moment is broken and I don’t know how to bring it back. Her hand in mine, Lanie leads me back to her car, turning to kiss me in front of anyone left in the yard.
Including West.
I huff a laugh against her sassy-as-hell mouth as her arms slidearound my neck, drawing me closer, while I stifle a deep groan. The boys who weren’t around when I needed them before seem to have reappeared. Billy won’t face me, but Tripp and Jesse cheer from somewhere beyond us. I should care about the boys being present, but I’m too wrapped up in Lanie to care right now. I’ll deal with the fallout later. Instead, I ignore the ribald catcalls, my jeans tightening past the point of uncomfortable as she presses her body against mine in an obvious show of possession.
It’s the bestfuck youa girl can give my best friend while also providing me time to fix my shit.
Damn if I’m not head over spurs for her already.
“If you’d kissed me like that in the house, you’d be in my bed right now,” I grate against her hot little mouth, unwilling to let her leave.
“That’s why I’m doing it out here.” Lanie gifts me a single kiss that sears its brand soul-deep.
My arms fold across my chest as dusk’s first tinge deepens the periwinkle sky over Coyote Falls. I watch her car until it disappears onto the main road beyond the front fields amid small puffs of dust. A body hits the dirt somewhere behind me in a familiar rhythm, and I know without turning that Jesse has fallen off his bull again. That boy needs proper training.
But first, I gotta have a hard word with my foreman about a pretty biologist who’s going to be around Coyote Falls a whole lot more.
EIGHT
LANIE
Midnight’s Secret Kisses
My cheeks are still flushed when I pull into Valiant Peak for fuel. Cord’s touch ghosts over me, his smoke-and-whiskey scent permeating my skin. He’s set my head awhirl with emotions I haven’t had to process since my last breakup a few years ago, something I have no intention of revisiting anytime soon.
Cord doesn’t seem to have the same asshole qualities as the few men who populate my past.
But then, they never had either. At least, not in the beginning. And I’m scared of making those same mistakes again.
“I heard a girl came into town this morning with Mister Rand and told Jenkins where to go with his dire wolf crap. That wouldn’t happen to be you, now, would it?”
I turn from the cashier, tucking my purse under my arm, and collect my sandwich in its paper wrapper. Dammit. I forgot how fast rumors travel in small towns, and Valiant Peak definitely qualifies as one of those. The man, dressed similarly to the cowboys at Coyote Falls, albeit in a brighter, sunshine-yellow shirt decorated with red embroidered birds, holds the door open and follows me outside.
“I lost my temper,” I confess, and then shake my head to dispel the memory. “Anyway, have a nice day. Er, night.”
“Rand must be impressed.” The cowboy follows me around the back of my car.He’s heading to his car. His truck. Somewhere else.Only there is no other car for him to climb into. Nerves jump beneath my skin, and I grip my keys tight.
Just a cowboy with great dress sense following me.Like that’s not creepy at all.
