“Hey there, darlin’.” He smirks, leaning up against the steel frame as if he didn’t almost die ten seconds ago. “You drive all the way out here just to cheer me on?”
I gape at him, my mind blanking on how to even respond to his clear case of insanity.
“Duke! Baby, I’m your biggest fan!” The brunette girl from earlier is screaming his name.
My eyes drift over to where she is, about ten yards down the fence line. I blink in surprise when she lifts her cropped top and flashes him her perky, bare breasts, which have clearly never been the human milk machine for twin babies for over a year.
My mouth dries up as I meet his eyes again. “Um, you have a fan club over there.”
His eyes never leave mine. He licks his lips. “Is that so?”
My body feels like it’s caught fire, slowly burning under his steady, unnerving gaze. He bends down to grab his hat from the dirt near his boots. His muscled back has a bruise already forming, probably from the impact when he hit the ground. I step back as he climbs over the fence.
“Are you okay?” I finally ask once his feet are safely on the ground and I feel like I can breathe again.
He shakes his head, hat in his hands. “No. I need you to kiss it better.”
“Kiss what better?”
He turns the back of his shoulder toward me, where the angry mark is. “Right here.” He taps his tanned skin.
I blow out a breath, wondering how many eyes are on us right now. I shouldn’t do this. I should tell him to ask the brunette, who would probably do a lot more than just kiss his shoulder.
But some otherworldly force pulls me forward, the need to be desired too strong for me to resist in this moment with him standing there, shirtless and bruised.
I lift up on my tiptoes and press my lips gently to the flushed skin. When my eyes flicker up to meet his, I know I made a mistake.
Because Duke Redford looks hungrier than ever as his eyes darken and settle over me.
I’m truly fucked.
10
DUKE
“Monroe sent us the tickets months ago. I asked my mom to come watch the girls. She’s bringing my aunt, and they’re planning a big girls’ weekend.” Rosie is on the phone in the kitchen, stirring a pot of macaroni noodles with her free hand. “Yeah, I know. I think it’ll be good for you to get away for the weekend. We rented a big house that’s walking distance from the rodeo grounds. There’s plenty of room. The whole family will be there, except for Sterling.”
Pops is sitting at the bar top, pouring whiskey into his coffee. His daytime nurse just left for the day. We finally decided to hire one last week when he fell again while I was in the barn. I don’t mind caring for him all day, but there’s a ton of work on the ranch that needs done.
Holden and Rosie have been coming over more often to help me in the evenings with him, as well as Dolly and Sam and Eden, Sterling’s wife. He’s still deployed overseas. They had a shotgun wedding none of us were at because it wasliterally weeks after they met, and she was already pregnant with another man’s baby.
The sperm donor found out exactly what type of family his ex had married into when he made the grave mistake of holding her against her will and pushing her around while she was pregnant.
“How was the ride last week?” Holden asks.
“My shoulder still hurts. They gave me Silver Dollar.”
He winces. We’ve all been thrown multiple times by that bull since he came from our ranch.
“Win anything?”
“Couple grand.”
And a kiss from the prettiest woman in the state.
“Also got approached by a scout.”
“A scout?”
