Page 35 of Duke
“We’re at fourteen thousand feet, Blue. Rules are different up here. You don’t stay hydrated, you’re gonna wake up with one hell of a hangover tomorrow.”
My heart twists. Why does he care so much about, well, everything?
Why does he care aboutme?
Turning away from him, I head back into the living room. “Let’s watchThe Righteous Gemstones.”
“Love that show. How good is Walton Goggins?”
“Uncle Baby Billymakesthe show, right?”
“No question.”
I stand in front of the TV, remote in hand, and scroll through shows until I hit the one I’m looking for. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Duke flopping onto the sofa opposite the one I’ve been hanging out on, settling onto his back.
I’m gripped by the very pressing desire to join him over there. We could cuddle. Duke’s totally a cuddler, right? I imagine his kind of cuddling would be so arousing that it’d quickly lead to more.
Much, much more.
God, I want that.
But I can’t. We can’t. I did not come to Aspen to cuddle with Duke.
It takes every ounce of my self-control to move away from Duke instead of toward him, but I do it. I curl up in the safety of my own sofa and try to focus on the show, not on the handsome cowboy stretched out across from me. He’s got one arm bent behind his head, his straight legs crossed at the ankles. Totally at ease. Is he not about to combust?
I jump at the sudden, howling scream that fills the house. The wind is absolutely ripping outside, the windows rattling again.
Worst of all, the lights flicker.
“Ohmygod.” I put a hand on my chest, heart pounding. “Ohmygod, Duke, this is bad. My nerves are shot. The drive and the trunk show getting pushed back and all these fucking sounds and…”Your glasses.
Duke frowns. He opens his mouth. Closes it, like he thought better of what he was about to say.
Instead, he gets up and walks around the massive coffee table to pick up the remotes off my sofa. “Mind if I put something on?”
“Is it the weather? I feel like we should probably get an update—”
“Pretty sure Mother Nature’s giving us all the updates we need.” He glances over his shoulder at the windows. “I wanna put something on for you. Trust me?”
I scoff. “Like I have a choice.”
“You don’t.” He grins. “Time to ease your mind, Blue, with a little throwback to the nineties.”
CHAPTER 9
Push It
Wheeler
Despite the very real terror that has taken root in my center, I still let out a bark of laughter when a familiar beat plays over the TV speaker.
“Is this—”
“Milli Vanilli?” Duke turns his head to meet my eyes. “Yep. I dare younotto dance to ‘Girl You Know It’s True.’”
I look at him. He looks back, singing along to the song and bopping his head. The music video plays on the TV. It’s so bad it’s almost good—the kind of entertainment that’s compellingly cringe-worthy.
“What in the world made you think of this?” I ask, touched by his very obvious attempt to distract me.
