Page 32 of Cowboy Stole My Heart
Sam grunted. “Yeah, it’s fine.”
“Ah, I see,” Nate grinned. “The problem is with the Ford ranch. Spill.”
“Stop grinning like you’ve won the fucking lottery.” Sam shook his head.
“I’m guessing it’s not old man Ford causing you to look all pissed either. It’s…”
Sam raised a brow at the same time as he raised his glass, taking a bigger gulp this time.
“Holy shit, it’s one of the girls, isn’t it? What’s her name, Mia is it? Is she the show jumper?”
Sam glared at him, his fingers tightening around the glass as he stared at Nate. “Don’t you fucking tell me you—”
Nate held up both hands, protesting his innocence. “Nothing ever happened between us, don’t worry. But she’s beautiful and talented, I know that. In fact—”
“Thank god,” Sam muttered, draining the rest of his drink. “Another,” he said, waving at the bartender.
“So what the hell did she do to get you all bent out of sorts?”
“Nothing,” he said. “Can we change the subject? We didn’t come here to talk about Mia Ford.”
“Oh, but we did,” Nate said, chuckling like he was enjoying every single moment of torturing Sam. “I love your sister, don’t get me wrong, and I wouldneverbe unfaithful to her, but I miss this. You know, talking shit, being your wingman.”
Now it was Sam’s turn to laugh. “You werenevermy wingman. I was always the wingman.” Nate had wooed and slept with just about every single attractive woman this side of Texas, which meant Sam had definitely been the Robin to Nate’s Batman.
“Come on, tell Uncle Nate what she did to you. You have trouble getting it up?”
“Jesus Christ, Nate!” Sam swore. “Can we please change the goddamn subject?”
“Well, we could, except that I’m fairly sure that’s Mia Ford sipping on champagne over there,” Nate said, sounding smug. “And I want to know what the hell she’s doing with that preppy-looking dickhead instead of keeping you company?”
Sam groaned, convinced Nate was goading him. There was no way she was here. “I call bullshit.”
“You can call whatever the hell you want, but see this?” Nate waved and smiled, leaning against the bar and flashing his killer smile. “That’s me waving to Mia. And I know her because she’s an old friend of the family’s”
Sam turned, almost instantly locking eyes with her. She was standing close to preppy guy, smiling, laughing at something he said, and it made his skin burn, as if a match had been thrown against his skin.
“Motherfucker,” he muttered.
“Who me? Or the guy she’s on a date with?”
Sam wasn’t about to keep staring. He turned around and took a sip of his drink, trying to calm down. He had no idea why he was so pissed, why he couldn’t smile and go over and say hello. Mia was his boss, they worked together, he should have been able to keep things professional between them. He was the one telling her their kiss had meant nothing.
“Tell me what happened? I haven’t seen you so bent out of shape over a girl since…”
“There’s nothing to tell,” Sam said quickly. “She’s a beautiful woman, and if I was looking to meet someone, then I’d be stupid not to ask her out.”
“You can’t be a monk all your life. So you had your heart broken? So what. It’s time to move on.”
Sam scowled at Nate. “Move on? Maybe if you ever get betrayed like that, find your woman in bed with another man and get laughed at in your own home, you’d understand.”
Nate went to say something, then gave him a weird kind of look, and Sam groaned. Clearly his friend was taking it easy on him, because usually he would have threatened to break his nose for saying something like that about Faith.
“Obviously that was hypothetical. Faith loves you and she’d never do that, but…”
“I get your point,” Nate said gruffly. Sam knew Nate would never get over losing Faith, to anything happening to their relationship, and he wished he’d used a less personal example. “But seriously, you know what they say about getting back on the horse. You’re leaving it way too long.”
“I’m not a fucking monk,” he snapped. “I just don’t want a relationship.”
