Page 41 of Still A Cowboy
She stabbed a piece of turkey with maybe a little more force than necessary. When she glancedup, Cal’s eyes met hers. The spark there was impossible to miss. His slow, heated smile sent a rush of heat straight through her.
They both looked away at the same time, but the damage was done. She was already wondering how quickly they could escape after dessert.
Willa tuned out her family’s soulmate chatter as she spooned cranberry sauce onto her plate, her mind slipping back over the last couple of weeks with Cal.
There had been dates. Actual dates. Walks on the beach, late-night coffee runs, movie marathons on his couch that always ended with her tangled up in his sheets.
And the sex.
Sweet heaven, the sex.
She had never laughed so much in bed with someone. Or outside of it, really. He made her smile. He made her feel seen. He made her happy in a way that caught her off guard every time she let herself slow down long enough to notice.
And yeah, she had fallen for him. Hard.
But she wasn’t going to push. She wasn’t going to poke around, trying to drag his feelings into the open. That was a fast track to ruining what they had.
She just wanted to take things slow. Let it unfold. Let it be whatever it was supposed to be.
And, okay, have a lot more sex.
Preferably soon. Preferably somewhere that didn’t have paper turkey decorations leering ather.
Across the table, Cal caught her staring and gave her a slow, secret smile that sent heat zipping straight through her. Willa quickly focused on her green beans, but the damage was done.
It was going to be a long dinner.
The pounding at the front door shook Willa right out of her cranberry sauce daydream. It wasn’t a polite knock. It was the kind of pounding that said someone was either really angry or trying to sell something aggressively.
Willa got to her feet, muttering, “If that’s a door-to-door turkey fryer salesman, I swear I’m going to lose it.”
She pulled the door open and nearly groaned out loud. “Brent. Perfect.”
He was soaked from the rain, face twisted in fury. He stormed right in without waiting for an invitation.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Willa snapped, stepping in front of him. “It’s Thanksgiving, Brent.”
“Yeah?” His eyes blazed. “Seems like a great day to ruin someone’s life. Funny, you already started.”
“What are you talking about?” she snapped.
He shoved his phone in her face, his thumb jabbing at the screen. “This. This video.”
Willa’s stomach dropped as she caught sight of the screen. It was Brent. In bed. With a masked woman. There was no mistaking the footage. Itwas explicit, and it had her name tagged as the person who uploaded it.
“What the hell, Brent? I didn’t post this.” Her throat tightened as the panic swelled. “I wouldn’t do this. I don’t even have this video.”
He scoffed. “Save it. Your name’s right there. You’ve been gunning for me since the breakup. This was your chance, right? Payback for everything.”
Willa opened her mouth to argue when the front door flew open again. Lark and Sawyer rushed in, both drenched and furious.
“Why was our vlog tagged in this garbage?” Lark shouted, holding up her phone. “This is not what we signed up for.”
Sawyer scowled, his expression dark. “You dragged our brand into a revenge stunt?”
“I didn’t do this,” Willa said quickly, her pulse thundering in her ears. “I swear to you, I didn’t post this.”
Cal appeared in the doorway behind her, his gaze bouncing from Brent to Lark and Sawyer, then landing on Willa.
