‘You’ll see,’ he said, eyes crinkling with mischief.
A few minutes later, on the other side of the square, we entered the shop. The clothes were fairly standard western fare by the look of it. As I turned to Cole to say so, he was tipping his hat to a woman walking towards us from the back of the shop.
‘Oh hey, Cole, haven’t seen you for weeks. That new lady of yours keeping you busy up at the Diamond Back, huh?’
The first thing I saw was her lip piercing, followed by a smoky-eye look, a cute, super-short fringe and shoulder-length black hair.
‘Something like that,’ he admitted, suddenly a little shy. ‘Dee, this is Hestia Hampton, Lottie’s best friend from England.’
Her eyes widened, focusing immediately on my neck tattoo.
‘Oh hey,’ she breathed, holding out her hand to me, both of us smiling as we realized we were wearing very similar rings. ‘I love your look – omigod, is that a Sleep Token tee? I fuckinglovethem!’
Within moments we were deep in conversation, barely registering Cole’s laughter and a promise to wait outside until we were done.
‘I don’t know how anyone gets anything done up at Diamond Back with Cole and Jesse around,’ Dee admitted, taking a long, professional look at me before striding around the store and picking out various tops and jeans to try. ‘They’re not my usual type but . . .’ She held up a dark plaid shirt, nodding. ‘I’d make an exception.’
‘Tell me about it,’ I murmured, once again having to shake off the memory of Jesse holding me up against the wall, the way his fingers had smoothed over my skin and dipped into my underwear.Ugh. I had to stop torturing myself. ‘Oh – actually, I really like that.’
I pointed to a tee that was somehow western but had some edge: a faded black colour, a human skull, pink flowers blooming from the eye sockets.
‘Really? That’s one of my designs,’ Dee said, blushing instantly at the praise.
‘Oh wow, I love it! You’re an artist?’ I asked, slightly disbelieving to have found someone like me here, deep in cowboy country.
‘Well, I guess . . . sort of.’ She shook her head. ‘I mean, running this place is my main income right now, but my real love is painting, drawing and –’ she gestured to my tattoos – ‘I definitely want more of those.’
We talked as I tried things on, even managing to find some cowboy boots in my size that I could just about tolerate – black, obviously, with silver detailing on the stitching.
‘I can’t make it to the line dance tonight, but come hang out again? Maybe come meet some of my friends over at the Jackson Collective – there’s a whole bunch of creative people over there,’ Dee said as I paid up. ‘You’re not heading home too soon, I hope?’
I shook my head, suddenly aware of how fast my time here was going – already over a week in. We said goodbye, and as I went outside, Cole grinned.
‘Told you,’ he said, taking my bags from me despite my protests. ‘So, we finally gonna see country Hestia?’
The dancing had already kicked off by the time Lottie, Cole and I arrived. Third-wheeling wasn’t exactly the vibe I was going for, but given the alternative was to squash into Jesse’s truck with Bailey, I chickened out.
‘Oh man, Lil would’ve loved this,’ Lottie said as we went in, Cole’s arm wrapped territorially around her shoulder. ‘She’s an amazing dancer, right, Cole?’
He nodded, giving her a look nothing short of pure adoration as he leant down and kissed her forehead. I’d yet to meet Lottie’s cousin, the owner of the Diamond Back, currently on a well-earned holiday in the UK. But from what I heard, she sounded fun.
‘What can I get for you ladies?’ he asked, looking over to me, his smile switching to an irritatingly satisfied expression at my new clothes.
I couldn’t bring myself to get into blue jeans, but the new bootcut black Wranglers did things to the shape of my ass that even I couldn’t dispute. I was wearing Dee’s skull tee tucked in, and my new black boots. Lottie had lent me one of her new summer straw cowboy hats, decorated with a black leather band and various multicoloured beads and silver charms.
‘A beer, but only if you stop looking so damn smug,’ I replied, suddenly wondering why he’d glanced over my head.
‘Well hell, Cole, I think that’s the first time anyone’s accused you of that.’
The sound of his voice alone made my stomach drop, but as I turned, I realized just how close he was behind me. Cole laughed, turning back to the bar to place his order.
‘Hey Jessica, how’s –’ He cut off, leaning back to look me up and down. ‘Fuuuck . . . Well now, don’t you look the country part.’
The use of the nickname he’d given me in the kitchen . . . the temptation to launch straight into full flirt mode was overwhelming, but as Bailey joined the group and her friend Darcy too, I tried to restrain myself.
‘Not sure I qualify as Wednesday any more,’ I said, fighting to keep my face neutral as I turned back towards the bar, feeling the heat of his body as he leant into me from behind, his incredible smell and the feel of his hand on my lower back forcing my eyes shut for a moment.
‘Definitely a little more Lainey Wilson now,’ he murmured next to my ear as the others shared out drinks. ‘But you’ll always be more Jessica Rabbit to me.’ He paused, choosing a moment when no one was looking our way, his lips brushing against my neck, travelling along my jaw. ‘So are we going to stay here, pretend to dance and then eye-fuck all evening, or are you gonna come with me out back and see if I can’t make you come just as hard as last time? We might even get a dance in afterwards, if you can still stand up straight.’
