Page 7 of A Taste of Whiskey
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” It wasn’t only the kiss that had left its mark. It was the sweet girl who’d refused to back down from him. He finished his beer and exchanged the empty can for the full one.
Her brows pinched again, curious hazel eyes searching his face.
“You had no business being at that party, and you know it. I was goading you that night, trying to get you to leave before you got yourself into trouble.”
She pressed her lips together and looked down at the can in her hand, her cheeks flushing.
“I didn’t expect you to kiss me,” he said gentler, bringing her eyes back to his. “I didn’t expect you to dare me to kiss you, either. You were a determined little lady.”
That earned him a smile. “I wasn’t about to let some cocky boy one-up me, and you know you would have been happy to defile me.”
“Damn right I would’ve. I was a horny teenager.”
“You can say that again. I remember when you were going through the program with my mom. You were a relentless flirt.”
That was a rough time in his life. A year or so after his mother had left, his father had prospected the Dark Knights and had put so much of his focus and energy into becoming a member, Ezra had been left floundering. He was a hellion, and when he was a senior in high school, his father had enrolled him in a ninety-day program at the ranch for troubled teens. Most of the kids who were in the program lived and worked on the ranch, but his father had wanted him home at night. Ezra had gone to the ranch every day after school. He’d undergone therapy with Wynnie and had done manual labor around the ranch. What Sasha didn’t know was that she was the reason he hadn’t pitched a fit about going through the program. After she’d left that party, he’d asked around about her and found out she was a Whiskey and lived on the ranch. He’d have done anything to see her again.
“Do you blame me?” He took a drink of his beer. “You were hot, and you were the biggest challenge I’d ever met. All nose-in-the-air uninterested.”
“I didn’t put my nose in the air.”
“My ass you didn’t. You were a tease, too.”
“I wasnot.” She shoved him.
“Bullshit. You’d strut around in tight jeans or skimpy cutoffs and boots just to get my attention, and when you saw me checking you out, you’d tip your nose up to the sky and walk away.”
“I didn’t do that to get your attention.God, you were so arrogant. I was—”
“Teasing me. I know how you are.” He winked, enjoying their banter. He had so much responsibility on his shoulders, he tended to be serious around most people. But Sasha brought out the rebellious kid in him, and he loved cutting loose with her.
“Shut up. I wasnot.” She laughed, but her pink cheeks gave away the truth. “You were always getting in trouble, and I didn’t want any part of that.”
“I don’t know how you resisted me. I was damn cute.”
“Ohmygod.” She rolled her eyes.
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
“Fine.You were cute, but you were also trouble waiting to happen. You wereexactlythe type of guy my brothers warned me about, and as exciting as that was, you were also incredibly intimidating.”
“I was not.”
“To me you were. Don’t you remember the first thing you said to me when you came to the ranch?”
“That’s a moment I’ll never forget. You were adorably embarrassed.”
“I was shocked to see you. I didn’t even know your name, and suddenly my mother is introducing me to the boy I’d kissed at a party that I’d snuck out to go to. I could’ve gotten in so much trouble, and the second she turned her back, you whispered,Hey, Bo Peep. How about a roll in the hay?”
He laughed.
“It wasn’t funny. I just about died.”
“Aw, come on. You might have been taken aback, but you were also intrigued. I saw it in your eyes.”
“Would you stop?” She shoved him again.
“I know what I saw.”
