Page 69 of Beautiful Distraction

“I’m two years older,” Josh goes on to explain to Mandy. “Iremember a time when my days didn’t consist of Mom or Aunt Becky yelling at mebecause of something Kellan did. From the moment he was born, I swear the guydidn’t understand the meaning of no. And because I was the oldest, I was alwaysto blame.”

“No one forced you to trudge along.” Kellan shrugs, his tonestill light-hearted. But there’s affection in his eyes.

He cares about his family, I realize. He probably caresabout them more than he wants to let on.

“Dude, you stole your dad’s rifle to track down a cougar bycandlelight in the middle of the night.”

“He attacked two foals,” Kellan says. “It was my job toprotect the horses.”

“If I wasn’t there with you, you could have burned down thebarn with all the horses in it.”

“Oh, my God.” Mandy giggles. “How old were you?”

“He was ten,” Josh says.

“Nine,” Kellan clarifies. “And in my defense, that cougarhad been bothering my dad for weeks. I was just trying to help. Being a goodson and all. The cougar cost us seven good horses, and that’s not counting thefoals.”

“Yeah, you were helping all right,” Josh says, laughing.

The picture of a nine-year-old boy with dark hair andbeautiful green eyes pops into my head. I can picture him so well. His hairbrushing the collar of his shirt. His pants covered in mud and dust and hay.His dad’s rifle slung across his back as he tries to find the animal that’sbeen giving his dad trouble. His mom almost having a heart attack as she findsher little boy carrying a firearm and going for an animal that could attackhim.

In spite of myself, I smile at the picture. It makes thegrown-up Kellan so much more likeable. I don’t want to like him, but somehow Ican’t help the tightness spreading across my chest.

It’s clear Kellan loves his dad. It’s also clear he likesbeing around horses and that he takes great care of them.

“I’m a cowboy at heart. It runs in my blood,” he says.

“That’s true,” Josh agrees, then leans forward. “You shouldsee him riding a bull. If he weren’t already famous, he…fuck.” He glares atKellan. “Dude, don’t kick my leg.”

“I’ll do more if you don’t keep your trap shut.”

The waitress arrives, placing a tray down. “If you gals arestupid enough to marry one of them Boyd boys, be warned. That story doesn’teven begin to scratch the surface of truth about their blood. I should know,for I married one back then, when I didn’t know any better.”

I peer up at her, past her incredibly full cleavage ondisplay, to the twinkling eyes encircled by deep laughter lines.

She smiles, the skin around her eyes crinkling even more asshe winks at me.

“I’m Ava. This is Mandy.” I reach out my hand.

“Sharon.” Ignoring it, she gives my shoulder a briefsqueeze, then pulls up a chair and plops down in spite of Kellan’s murderouslook.

“I know Mandy. We met this morning.”

“I asked her for directions,” Mandy explains. “Sharon waskind enough to show me the way to the police station.”

“Which was empty, by the way,” Sharon says, raising a bottlein the air. “That deputy of ours is never here when we need him. Cheers tothat.”

“Amen.”

Josh snorts and raises his bottle, waiting until we allfollow suit. I don’t want to drink with them, but I don’t know how to politelydecline, so I obey everyone’s silent urgency. The beer burns my throat so bad,for a moment I’m rendered blind.

“It’s tequila beer. You need to follow it up with thelemon,” Kellan whispers in my ear.

He’s so close, his leg brushes against mine under the table.His hot breath on my earlobe is all I can think about.

I bite into the slice of lime he holds up to my mouth andrealize the sour tang kind of washes away the burning sensation. But it doesnothing to get rid of the throbbing between my legs. The fact that he brusheshis thumb over my lips, as though to wipe away some residue, only makes itworse.

He’s using any bullshit excuse to touch me, but for somereason, I don’t stop him, which makes me even angrier with myself.

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