‘Sure I do,’ I shot back. ‘Picked it up from you, big guy.’
He snorted and we both chuckled, attracting looks from the other couple and forcing ourselves to behave. We fell silent for a moment, just the low hum of the air con in the background.
‘Why is this so fucking difficult?’ he sighed, keeping his voice low. ‘No one tells you thatthisis the impossible task, not the whole finding “the one” thing.’
‘How did you know?’ I asked before I could stop myself, knowing how keen I sounded and exactly what Cole would guess.
This time he looked up at me, straightening up until our eyes were level again.
‘Same way you know when the bull is gonna spin right or left, dip his shoulder or throw his head around. It’s in your gut,’ he said, gesturing to his own. ‘The whole is better than the sum of the parts, you know?’
I swallowed as he turned back to the rings again, now throwing myself into concentrating on them instead of the damn fluttering sensation in the place he’d described. The one that recognized his words and scrambled my fucking brain.
‘Even so soon after meeting her?’ I added, watching as he froze, hovering over a platinum band studded with tiny diamonds, a larger round diamond set above it.
He stood, calling Mrs Cornell over, asking to see it, utterly unflinching despite the hefty price tag.
‘The way I see it,’ he said to me, turning the delicate band over in his palm, both of us watching the diamonds reflect tiny rainbows across the wall as the sun caught them, ‘time doesn’t mean a damn thing. All I know is that I love that woman more than my own life, and I know she feels the same way. We’ve been together for, what, a few months? But it might as well be years. It makes no difference.’
I smiled, gripping his shoulder.
‘You know I’m gonna give a best man speech no one will ever forget,’ I replied, already cataloguing the details I could use to maximize his embarrassment.
‘I’d expect nothing less,’ he sighed, but it turned to a grin as he took one last look at the ring – Lottie’s ring – and handed over his card to Mrs Cornell.
CHAPTER11
HESTIA
The rest of the week had passed in a blur of prep for the cookout, taking over on managing the catering set-up for Lottie, who’d moved over to general logistics. She’d hired a traditional covered wagon for us to take the food and supplies on, opting to sit up with Cole as he drove the two horses on the front.
That left Bailey and a couple of the casual ranch hands leading the ten guests, and at the back, Jesse, in charge of escorting me. Penny had been nothing short of an angel, patiently allowing me to go along for the ride and barely needing any direction.
Chastened at the thought that Jesse and I had been so close to behaving like animals in the corral, I was determined to keep this evening chill. To have fun as friends first, despite the pressure we could both feel below the surface. It completely baffled me that despite years of fuck buddies and dysfunctional relationships, keeping a simple, emotionless friends-with-benefits situation with him seemed . . . difficult.
Emotionally distant? You’re the fuckingOGIce Queen, Cal had accused me once; an off-the-cuff comment in a moment of banter, but one that’d nagged at me for years. I’d cut him down in response, saying it took one to know one – something both of us knew to be absolutely true.
Sex, the physicality of feeling, in one cage of my mind. Emotion, the real deep and dark stuff – that was buried deep. Hidden. Open only to a tiny handful of people.
‘You gonna come along to the rodeo next week?’ Jesse asked, bringing Jasper closer. ‘Think Bailey’s kinda nervous, being without Dunkin and all.’
‘Yeah, for sure.’ I nodded fervently. ‘I was wondering if I could stay backstage maybe? Help out a little?’ He gave me a questioning glance. ‘. . . I’m not saying anything bad’s going to happen this time, but it was fucking horrible watching from the stands last time, not being able to do anything.’
He nodded, then looked ahead to the guests for a moment.
‘You might need to dress down a touch compared to last time, though, sugar,’ he smiled. ‘Distracting every last bull and bronc rider in there is the quickest way to fill up the local hospital.’
I side-eyed him with my sweetest, most innocent smile.
‘I’d say that’s a them problem,’ I countered. ‘Not my fault if they can’t keep their eyes on the prize.’
Smiling back at me, seemingly fighting a laugh, he shook his head.
‘For me, then, if no one else. May as well wave a red flag and lie down in the dirt if you’re gonna come along looking like you did last time.’
I frowned, not computing.
‘But you . . . Do you rope bulls?’ I asked, suddenly confused. I was wondering if I’d missed something from the first rodeo, but I knew I’d only seen calves being roped.
