Page 92 of Bourbon and Lies

Tears flow down her cheeks, and she lets out a small sob as she throws her arms around my shoulders. “A little more. Every day,” she says softly. “You’ll be safe with me too, cowboy.”

Wrapping my arms around her middle, I lift her feet off the ground. I stare at the blue in her eyes as they pick up the light from the sun. I swallow down the lingering fear that history will repeat itself. I won’t let it ruin the life that I want. I’ve done that for long enough. I think about the night on the dance floor and when I asked her what kind of woman she was. And what it felt like to finally have her. I’ve never wanted anyone as badly as I want her.

“Do you remember when I asked you what you liked?”

“Yes,” she whispers, her lips lingering against mine for a brief moment.

I run my lips down the side of her neck. “Show me.”

She leans back to look at me with a smirk playing on her lips. She shimmies out of my arms. Then, taking a small step back, she glances around the open field. I’m buzzing with want for her and the anticipation of what she’s going to do. What she’ll say. When her eyes come back to me, she gazes down the length of my body.

“Take off your shirt.”

I don’t question it. I grab behind my neck, pulling the shirt over my head.

Her eyes dance around my tattoos, across my chest, and down my stomach.

“Now the belt.”

I keep my eyes on hers as she unbuttons her shorts and works them down her thighs. She starts backing away as I unbuckle my belt. With a good ten feet between us, she says,“Now your jeans.” She sheds the Fiasco Bourbon t-shirt with the sleeves cut off that she snagged from my closet this morning, leaving her in a barely-there pair of underwear and a cropped white tank.

She keeps walking, but when I look behind her, I realize what she’s doing. “Where you going, Laney?”

“Feel like fallin’, cowboy?”

With only a pair of black boxer briefs on, I rush after her. There’s not a day I’ve been with her that I haven’t been pushed out of my comfort zone, but this catches me off guard. “Don’t!”

And instead of ignoring it, and jumping anyway, she stops right along the edge of the steep riverbank to smile up at me. “Fall with me, Grant.”

I take her lips between mine in a punishing, almost pleading kiss. The adrenaline of nerves and excitement are buzzing through me even louder than the vibration from the waterfall beneath my bare feet. I’m ready. “Alright, baby, hold on nice and tight.”

She does. It’s a short running start before we go over the edge of the cliff and fall. It’s only a couple of seconds with Laney in my arms before we plunge into the cool water below.

It’s the same spot that my brothers jumped off when we were kids. It always looked so high. So much farther than the fall.

I let go of her so she can surface as quickly as she needs. When I come up for breath, she’s already there waiting for me with a bright smile. I shake my head to get my hair out of my face and yell out, “Wahooo!” The echo off the water and the surrounding earth bounces the sound right back at us.

We’re laughing as we swim toward each other, my hands finding her hips as her legs and arms wrap around me as soon as we’re close enough.

I can’t remember a time, a day, a moment when the only thing I felt was good. There’s not a single thing that’s beenexpected when it comes to this woman, and I smile as I think about the kind of life that’ll be.

Chapter 40

Laney

“Laney!”

“Laney!” Lily yells over Lark as they both come running toward the stables. “Laney, we made you the most perfect flowers for your hair.”

They hold up a piece of lace with the wildflowers from Grant’s yard woven throughout. “Will you wear them?” Lark asks, so much calmer than her younger sister.

Lily bounces in her shoes. “Please? Please?”

“So I guess Griz told you, then?”

“That you’re marrying Uncle Grant? Yes. What took you so long? He got back forever ago.”

I meet Grant's eyes and smile, thinking about how we just spent our time celebrating each other. Forgetting what would be waiting here for us.

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