Page 40 of Live, Ranch, Love

Sawyer shakes his head. “Nah, I always had it planned that I was gonna run off with the rodeo. Football was fun, but never endgame for me.” What he doesn’t say is he didn’t even consider college because it still meant coming back home to his dad for the holidays. The rodeo gave him an all-year opportunity to get away.

“Hey, Sawyer.” A curvy brunette struts past the booth, giving Sawyer a wave, completely oblivious to the fact that she’s walked right in front of Cherry who was heading over with a tray. It’s enough to dim the agony that was creeping into Sawyer’s eyes, immediately perking him up as he waves back, twisting to watch her.

She settles in a booth with a few other women I recognise from high school, who are all smiling and batting their eyelashes our way. One of them, Lyla, mouths hey to me, and I immediately look away, checking if Aurora has seen, but luckily she’s facing Wolfman now.

Not that she’d care.

The way she jumped away from me when we fell in the paint the other day made it clear she doesn’t plan to spend any more time on top of me. Which is exactly how I should be feeling too… it’s just hard when every time we’re together we seem to end up all close, the little space between us a mix of her bright scent and our hot breaths.

Cherry rolls her eyes when she reaches the booth, mumbling, “I’m gonna make Duke ban these buckle bunnies one day.”

“And what about you?” Aurora asks Wolfman.

He grins, as if it’s a silly question. “Oh, I still like to play, but being a coach means I get to shout at kids and tell them what to do as opposed to actually doing it myself. It’s great.”

“I thought you did it for the hot moms?” I jab.

He runs his fingers through his hair. “I forget you guys know about that now. It was a low point in my life, but to be fair she did have massive—”

“Oh my God!” Aurora suddenly yells, thankfully cutting Wolfman off, bouncing in her seat. Cherry almost drops the tray of glasses she’s been stacking. “Oh, this is like my favourite song! Please can we go dance?” She tugs on my shirt, eyes bright and imploring.

I cock my head to listen out for the song, expecting it to be some silly pop number, but it’s Stand by Me by Ben E. King, which immediately humbles me. Still, I don’t budge even when Aurora’s climbing out the booth, humming along to the intro. She holds out her hands to us all.

“Sure, Wyatt loves dancing,” Wolfman declares, nudging me with an elbow. I shoot him a scowl before turning back to Aurora.

“Not a chance,” I laugh and pick up my tumbler, taking a sip. There’s a reason the dance floor in Duke’s is practically non-existent in size. This is a drinking bar, not a dancing bar, save for the odd night with a bit of live music, but even then rarely do people feel compelled to start jumping about.

And that’s how I like it. Chilled. Not making a fool of myself.

Aurora pouts, pressing her fists to her hips. That childish little face she makes always has my eyes rolling. “Fine. Cherry, you’ll dance with me right?”

“Girl, I would if I wasn’t working,” she says, bumping her hip to Aurora’s.

“Hmm…” Aurora looks behind her, towards where Duke is at the bar. She cups her hands around her mouth as she yells across the room, making the rest of the customers turn to her. “Hey, Duke! You don’t mind if Cherry dances with me for one song, do you?”

Duke’s eyes widen as he freezes mid-wiping a glass. There’s no way he’s going to say no—he’s way too reserved to get into a shouting match with Aurora across the bar, and I honestly don’t think he’d care enough whether Cherry was working or not. She seems to get away with murder around him.

Duke darts his eyes between the two girls, then he shrugs and shakes his head. Cherry bites her lip, holding in a grin as Aurora grabs her hand and drags her off towards the dance floor, leaving the tray of glasses on our table.

Sawyer shoots me a wink, then knocks back the rest of his whiskey, sliding out the booth as he shouts, “I’m coming too, Red!”

Once they’re on the dance floor, Sawyer holds both girls’ hands, spinning them about. Taking in turns, he lets each girl roll into him, giving them a little sway before swinging them back out. There’s so much joy radiating off them, and it’s all down to Aurora. Just like the rising morning sun, she has a beautiful way of lighting up everything around her.

It should piss me off, the fact that Sawyer’s touching my little sister. But truthfully, that’s not what’s got my blood rushing, or my knuckles whitening around the tumbler I’m clenching way too hard. No, it’s the fact that he’s also touching Aurora. And up until now, I’d been the only guy in Willow Ridge blessed to know how she feels in my hands. Even if it has been accidentally.

I can’t stop focusing on every time their bodies brush, every time they smile at each other, every time Aurora places a hand on his chest. I can’t stop gawking at how goddamn sexy Aurora looks when she dances—even when she’s just being silly, because she’s so bright and golden when she’s being her true self. The way her tight black dress shows off her ass as her hips sway, the muscles in her legs working as she moves, her copper waves shining under the lights like a flickering bonfire. It’s all too much.

I don’t even care that it’s Sawyer, it wouldn’t matter who it was dancing with her—and that’s the problem. A few weeks ago, I would’ve done anything to get rid of her, happily palm her off into another guy’s arms so she’d maybe leave me and my ranch alone. But now, my whole body is tense. I’m unable to rip my stare away from them, and my stomach is churning—

“You should go dance with her,” Wolfman suggests nonchalantly, not even looking my way.

“Nah, I’m good.” I pick up my whiskey, trying to relax back into the booth so it doesn’t look like I’m being a jealous, glowering idiot. I focus on the alcohol burning my throat, hoping it will chill out whatever feelings are surfacing right now. Whatever feelings I don’t really have a right to feel.

“Funny,” Wolfman perks a brow at me, “I just assumed you’d want to, given it looked like you were about to pop a vein scowling at them.”

I clench my teeth, then retort back, “Maybe it’s because Sawyer’s got his hands on my little sister.”

Wolfman just shrugs and eases back into the seat, but he’s failing at hiding the shit-eating grin plastered across his face. “You don’t really care about that right now, though, do you?”

---