I huff out a laugh, shaking my head at my phone. Leave it to Lucy to brighten my mood in an instant.
Steph
Okay, see you soon!
“Something funny?” I jump on my stool, surprised to find Riley has returned and is watching me with a huge grin on his face, his earlier melancholy all but vanished. “It’s so nice to see your smile again,” he says, and I duck my head, my cheeks once again flaming and my ambivalence seriously waning.
Friendly. Not. Flirty.
Choosing to skip over that comment, I ask, with a nod towards his arm, “What … uh, other interesting things have you done?”
“Little bit of everything,” he answers vaguely with a shrug.
“Like?”
He shrugs again, then begins ticking jobs off on his fingers. “Construction—both residential and road crew. Farming. That runs the spectrum from cattle ranching to harvesting grapes at a winery. You already know about the fishing … I even trained as a hotshot firefighter for a while. Those are the ones that fight fires deep in the woods,” he clarifies, before continuing. “Beekeeper’s assistant, landscaper … oh, here’s a good one—alien museum tour guide.”
“Oh my God, an …alienmuseum?” I stare at him for a long moment, waiting to see if he’s kidding. When it’s clear he’s not, I let out a snort. My eyes go wide, and I slap a hand over my mouth, but it’s no use. I burst out laughing—cackling, really. I just … can’t help it. “And … are you telling me you were actually a cowboy, too?” I manage to gasp out between breaths, giggles overtaking me yet again.
When he doesn’t answer, I look up to find him frozen in place. The bar lights gild his dark hair, and his face—his face is awash in an emotion akin to awe. I watch as his mouth slowly curves up until he’s full-on beaming, seemingly ecstatic over my fit of giggles. He lets loose with a laugh of his own, his eyes bright and full of feeling.
“You think that’s funny?”
I nod, still chuckling lightly as he continues to stare at me.
Itisfunny, but truth be told, the image of Riley atop a horse is not an unpleasant one. It’s actually …
Ugh. Okay, fuck, it’s really hot.
I’ve seenYellowstoneafter all. Plus, Piper went through a cowboy romance phase Imiiiighthave also indulged in, a little bit.
Suddenly, I’m no longer laughing. Neither is he.
This feels heartbreakingly familiar.
Riley’s smile fades, his eyes dropping to my mouth, and I can’t fight the urge to lick my lips. He leans in, across the bar, and there goes my pulse ratcheting up again. Hunger lines his features as his eyes drop even further to rake slowly over me. I feel them trail down to my collarbone and then linger heatedly on my chest. He was always a fan of my breasts.
I fight not to squirm under his heavy gaze as the tension ratchets up. Heat blooms low in my belly while a shiver simultaneously runs down my spine.
Ohhh, boy.
I make a choked, whimpering sound, and his eyes snap back to mine, looking darker, greyer than I ever remember seeing them.
I bite my lip and groan.
He echoes it, the sound rumbling up from low in his chest.
And just like the last time we were together in this bar, everything else around us seems to fade away. We remain like that, locked in some kind of erotic stare down, until—
“Well, well, well … what do we have here?” an amused voice chirps. It succeeds in snapping me out of my lust-induced haze. My head swings around, the momentum nearly causing me to fall off my stool.
And that’s how Lucy and Piper find me.
Wesettleinoneof the booths by the window, and a server comes by to take our orders. Lucy does indeed go for the spicy wings, along with fried pickles, potato wedges, and a virgin Bloody Mary.
“No judgment,” she warns, pointing a finger at each of us and the server pre-emptively. Piper raises her hands innocently, and I chuckle, rolling my eyes at the server, who looks mildly entertained.
“She’s eating for two,” I supply, to which the woman huffs a breath through her nose. Lucy bounces excitedly in her seat.
