Page 50 of When the Storm Breaks
Walker was Austin’s nephew, Ridge’s partner in crime. Austin’s sister was currently going through a nasty divorce so the last thing she needed was to look after Ridge. As it was, Austin was always having to step in to help out with Walker. “Patrick and Kate want to spend time with you.”
He rolled his eyes. “Patrick just wants to lecture me. I won’t hear the fucking end of it.”
“I survived. You will too.” He stared out the windshield the rest of the way to school and didn’t say another word. When I pulled up outside the front doors, I reminded him that Kate would be picking him up from school.
“Whatever.” He grabbed his bag and slammed the door of the truck then stalked away. I waited to make sure he actually walked through the front doors of the school. With Ridge, you could never be too sure. On top of his shitty grades, he’d been known to cut school and show up late for classes.
After I dropped Ridge off, I hit the road. I was supposed to meet with the ranch manager and the owner at noon and it was already twenty past eight. I couldn’t afford to be late. Not when I was being paid ten grand. I needed the money for a new roof and Noah’s summer camp.
Fueled by coffee, I cranked up the volume on my music and listened to Shiloh Leroux all the way from Cypress Springs to Abilene. I’d never been one to get starstruck. I knew celebrities were just people, no better or worse than the rest of us. But I’m not gonna lie. It blew my mind that the bluesy rock voice blasting from my speakers came from the same girl who had helped me birth a foal last night. The same girl who I’d skinny dipped with in the lake. And ate lunch with on the tailgate so she could see my wild horses in action.
I listened to Acadian Storm’s music too. Whenever Dean the douche Bouchon was the lead singer on a track, it pissed me off. But I listened anyway. Even when Shiloh was singing the backing vocals, I could still hear her voice loud and clear. By the time I got to Abilene, I felt like I knew Shiloh on a more intimate level than I had before.
If her lyrics were a reflection of what she wanted and needed in her life, one thing was blindingly clear. Shiloh was looking for someone to love her.
Chapter Fifteen
Shiloh
It waseleven o’clock on Saturday night and I’d just gotten out of the shower when Brody called me. I answered the phone with a stupid smile on my face. He’d only been gone for a few days, so I shouldn’t have missed him, but I had. It was weird that in such a short time I’d gotten used to having him around and when he wasn’t here, this place felt emptier. “Hey Cowboy. How was Abilene?”
“It was all good. You still awake?”
“Well, if I wasn’t before, I am now.” Phone to my ear, I walked downstairs, liquid silk brushing my thighs, a warm breeze floating through the back screen door.
“What have you been up to?”
“Not much. Your cousin Jude stopped by yesterday.”
“What did he want?” he asked gruffly. “More handouts?”
“No. He brought me his world-famous chili and some jalapeno cornbread.”
Brody snorted with disgust. “My chili is better.”
I stifled my laughter and plopped down on the sofa, my face tipped up to the cool breeze from the ceiling fan, my bare feet propped against the side of the coffee table. “Well, I don’t know... his isawfullygood. I’d say it’s right up there with the best chili I’ve ever eaten.”
“That’s only because you haven’t tried mine yet.”
“There’s a lot of things of yours I haven’t tried.” I rolled my eyes at myself. Could I be any more obvious? Might as well ask him to come over and fuck me while I was at it. Lana Del Rey was singing about drinking all day and talking all night, pleading with her lover not to leave, not to say goodbye.
“As luck would have it, I’m only two minutes away.”
“If you’re looking to have a chili cook-off, I’ve had my fill.”
“I’m sure I can come up with something better than that.”
“Ooh, I don’t know. Competition is stiff. Austin gave me a truck. Jude gave me a week’s worth of his prize-winning—”
“Answer the door.” He cut the call and I started laughing.
When I opened the door, the laughter died on my lips. It had only been a few days since I’d last seen him, but it was almost like I’d forgotten what he looked like. I took a moment to drink him in, to appreciate the sight of Brody in a plain white tee and faded denim. His tall frame filled the doorway, longish dirty-blond hair disheveled like he’d been running his hands through it. He brought with him the familiar scent of leather and cedar and I inhaled, filling my lungs with it.
He graced me with one of his slow, lazy grins, his teeth so white against his tanned skin, and those little lines around his eyes crinkling. My stomach fluttered with anticipation, my nipples getting hard even though he hadn’t made a move to touch me yet. This yearning. This longing to be touched. It was the best kind of foreplay.
“Is this what you wear to sit around the house on a Saturday night?” He looped his finger in the thin strap of my silky camisole and slid it up and down, sending delicious shivers up and down my spine as I stood in the open doorway, barely breathing.
“I was preparing to spend some quality time with my big boy. I wasn’t expecting a booty call.”
