Page 6 of Let Her Buck

Stopped wanting.

Until now.

Until this girl with her sun-warmed hair and freckles like constellations looked at me like I might be worth something more than a ride and a bruised-up knuckle.

It terrifies me, this sudden want.

To protect. To be near. To matter.

I glance down at her again. She’s watching the carousel spin, lights flickering over her face, lips parted just slightly like she’s lost in the motion of it all.

I don’t even know her. She’s not mine.

But God help me, I want her to be.

Not just in the heat-of-the-moment, one-night kind of way. But in the real way. The kind that roots itself deep. The kind that makes you want to be a better man than you’ve ever been.

A quiet beats between us. Her shoulder brushes mine again, soft and natural.

I don’t pull away.

I think about all the nights I spent alone in different beds, different towns, different corners of the world that never felt like home. And now, here, next to a girl I just met…I feel more grounded than I ever have.

What the hell is happening to me?

Laney turns to me then, like she senses the storm building behind my eyes. She tugs her bottom lip between her teeth for a second before asking, “You okay?”

I almost say yes. Easy lie. Quick out.

But instead, I say, “I am now.”

And it’s the truth. Because for the first time in a long damn while, I’m not running toward something wild or away from something broken.

I’m just here. With her.

And I want to see where this thing takes us.

Chapter Three

Laney

I’m smiling more than I should. My cheeks hurt, but I don’t care. There’s something about walking beside West that makes everything else blur into the background noise of the fair, the laughter, the music, the distant roar of the rodeo announcer echoing through the speakers.

It’s like the world’s turned the volume down just for us.

He doesn’t talk much, not unnecessarily anyway, but when he does, his voice sinks into me like warm honey. Confident. Low. Just a little bit rough. The kind of voice you want to hear whispering sweet nothings in your ear when everything else goes still.

We pass a game booth with painted wooden hearts and a neon sign that reads “Lover’s Luck.” A couple is laughing as the guy tries unsuccessfully to toss rings onto glass bottles, and the girl beside him shrieks with glee when he finally lands one.

I’ve always wanted to try that game. Always. But it’s a couples game, and well…that’s never been me.

I don’t even realize I’ve slowed down until West speaks.

“You wanna give it a shot?”

I blink up at him. “What?”

He’s already grinning, that stupidly attractive half smile that makes my stomach tighten into knots. “You looked like you wanted to. So…”

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