Page 20 of The Cowboy Contract
Hooking one arm around Paige’s waist, he lifted her ass up off the table, catching the hem of her skirt to keep it down as he dragged her off the polished surface, keeping her steady as her boots found the floor.
Paige’s eyes didn’t come his way as she grabbed her tray from the table. He barely caught the flush of her cheeks as she mumbled something about coming back to take their order before basically running away.
He watched her go, waiting until she was fully out of sight before turning to the women now occupying the seats in front of him. He scanned their faces, looking to see who their handler was tonight, but it appeared they were unsupervised, which was not a good thing.
“Who’s your designated driver tonight?” He turned to the crowd, looking for their most recent adoptee, Grady and Evelyn’s helper, Isla. The bar was pretty packed, but not bad enough he shouldn’t have been able to find her. “Don’t tell me one of you is trying to drive home.”
Gertrude scoffed. “Don’t be stupid.” She angled a brow his way. “Even though you do have a history of it.” She leaned back in her seat, crossing both arms. “Winter was nice enough to offer to drop us off and pick us up.”
“That is pretty nice of her.” He looked over the table. “I’m assuming you’re all going to be on your best behavior?”
Betty snorted. “Better than you Cowboy Casanova.” She waggled her brows at him. “You just gonna kiss her like that and let her walk away?”
“I didn’t kiss her.” One hand went to the back of his neck, scrubbing over the spot Paige grabbed him. “She kissed me.”
The table of old women stared at him like he was an idiot.
“I wish a man wouldn’t kiss me like that.” Gertrude shook her head. “It’s been years since I’ve had that kind of tongue action.” She lifted her brows. “Did I ever tell you about the time I slept with Kenny?—”
“For the love of God. You’ve told everyone about Kenny Rogers putting his island in your stream. We’re sick of hearing about it.” Muriel focused her gaze on Leland. “And we’re also sick of sitting here every week watching you pine away like a little lost puppy dog. It’s time to shit or get off the pot.”
Is that how he came across? Like the same lovesick teenager staring at the pretty, popular girl with stars in his eyes? Becauseif it was, then maybe those stars were clouding his vision. Making him want to see things that weren’t there.
And if he wasn’t careful, those same damn stars might cost him the woman who meant more to him than just about anything.
Flicking one last look at where Paige stood behind the bar, as far from him as she could get, he had to admit, things weren’t looking good.
“I’ll leave you ladies to it.” He backed away from the table, wishing he’d never come back out. “Don’t drink too much.” The last word wasn’t even out of his mouth before he tucked tail and made for the door.
He needed to put some space between himself and Paige. Get a little time and distance between them and hope he came out the other end with his head on straight, his vision clear.
And his friendship with Paige intact.
9
Paige
THIS WAS PROBABLY a bad idea. Maybe even a terrible one.
But this conversation had to happen, otherwise she would never sleep again.
And after over a week of struggling to close her eyes without remembering the way Leland kissed her then ran out of the bar without saying goodbye, she was ready to drop.
To be fair, part of her had initially been relieved Leland left not long after their altercation with Carlton. She assumed it would give her the night to figure out what happened now. But then the days stretched out with no sign of Leland in the bar and nothing but an occasional text with an image of the sunrise or a picture of his horse. The more time she had to pick apart and dissect what happened between them, the more she started realizing it couldn’t simply be brushed under the rug like so many other things had been. No amount of time would temper the memory. If anything, it was only making shit worse.
She couldn’t keep pretending, no matter how much she wanted to. After years of juggling her true feelings for Leland and her overwhelming desire to keep him in any capacity, the ball had finally dropped.
And that fucker rolled so far out of reach she didn’t even know where it was anymore.
Pulling in a lungful of the cool morning air, she forced her finger to jab at the doorbell fixed to the trim of Leland’s front door, her heart skipping a beat as the sound of it echoed inside.
Normally, she would’ve let herself in. They each had keys to the other’s house. But normal was gone. Swiped away permanently by the warm press of Leland’s mouth against hers.
Paige focused on breathing as she waited for him to come to the door. It took way more effort than it should have to draw each inhale at a slow and steady pace, but hyperventilating would do her no good. She’d just pass out, and Leland would freak out when he found her collapsed on his welcome mat.
Because hedidlove her. She didn’t doubt it for a second. The problem was, he might not love her the way she loved him. If the past week was any indication, she was the only one with big feelings trying to suffocate her.
Not blacking out was requiring so much focus, that when the front door swung inward, she jumped, gasping in surprise. Not only at the sudden action, but at the sight of the man she’d come here to talk with.
