Page 71 of Smokin' Situation

“And I couldn’t have done that just walking through the bar and asking to talk to her?” Now that I was here, sitting atop a horse in the gravel parking lot of a bar on the fourth of July in the mountains of Colorado on an unseasonably warm day, I was second guessing that this was a good idea to win back a woman’s affection.

“You’ve never done this grand gesture thing before, have you?” she teased, but she wasn’t wrong.

“Never needed to before.”

She rolled her eyes, pulling the bucket against the side of the building once Phi had drunk her fill. “Go wait by the front doors and I’ll go get her.”

“Are you sure it’s okay that we’re doing this?” I asked, nodding toward a couple of patrons who’d stopped in the parking lot to stare at us.

“I let the owner play with my boobs on a regular basis. He won’t give a fuck as long as the cops don’t get called.”

“Not sure I needed to know that,” I muttered, realizing how right my boss had been about his strong-willed daughter. When she told you to do something, you didn’t push back.

“And if you play your cards right, then maybe Annie will let you see hers later tonight.” She mimed cupping a set of boobs, and I shook my head, not exactly sure how this was my life right now. Charley pointed toward the front of the building again before she typed in a code on the side door and slipped inside.

Steering Phi out front, I waited just outside the doors, trying not to pay attention to the heads I watched pop up in the front windows the longer we stood there. Depending on who was in the bar right now, my entire family might know what I was doing within minutes.

The only thing I had going for me right now was that, after being gone from Sage Springs for as long as I’d been, some of my observers might not know who I was. Maybe if I kept my hat tilted forward, I could conceal my identity.

But who was I kidding? Probably not in a town this size.

The sound of Phi’s tail swishing behind my back almost lulled me into a trance with the sun beating down from overhead, but my pulse started racing the second the door pushed outward.

Rhey’s red-rimmed eyes widened as she paused in the doorway with her arms crossed. Seeing the evidence of her tears gutted me, but she stood with her head held high, still so strong even when I knew my actions had upset her. Charley not so gently nudged her further outside when she didn’t show any signs of moving, and I was thankful for the intervention.

“What are you…?” she trailed off, her eyes bouncing between Phi and me.

“Howdy, ma’am.” My voice was deeper than usual with nerves, but I cleared my throat while she just stared at me. “Someone told me that there might be a damsel in distress in need of a ride this afternoon.”

Charley slapped her hand across her mouth, but the giggles escaped anyway, and Baker appeared in the doorway behind her, shaking his head.

“Dude, no. That was cheesy as fuck,” he laughed, pulling out his phone and holding it up.

Turning the hand still holding the reins, I discreetly flipped him the middle finger, and he laughed harder, but I wasn’t looking at him. I was watchingher.

Rhey’s fingers hovered in front of her quivering lips, and I tried to fight the urge to dismount and pull her into my arms when her voice shook. “Why are you here?”

“Because I’m not ready for this to be over yet.” I extended a hand toward her, ignoring the crowd that was forming behind Charley and Baker in the doorway.

“But what about—”

Shaking my head, I cut her off. “I don’t care. You’re worth it, Rhey. And I’m not leaving until you give me a chance to make it right.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, I—”

“And neither did you, no matter what my asshole brother says.” My heart pounded as I watched the emotions flicker across her features, the most prominent one being fear. “Sweetheart, I don’t want to move on from you. I want to move onwithyou.”

She hesitated, and I extended my hand further in her direction. “Come take a ride with me?”

“I’m working,” she protested weakly.

But Charley was right behind her, extending a boot into Rhey’s butt to urge her forward. “No, you’re not. Don’t make me tell Hudson to fire you.”

Rhey turned her head, eyes widening when she saw all the people standing in the entrance of the bar and dotted throughout the parking lot, watching me humiliate myself to get her attention.

“Don’t look at them, Rhey. Look at me.” She hesitantly returned her gaze to me and our eyes locked, her posture relaxing as our unspoken connection took over.

That’s right, sweetheart. I’m not letting you run from me.

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