Page 52 of Promise Me Never

“The fuck are you doing, Sam?” Luke yells with a bite that’s not usually present in his voice. “Get going with Janey, so I don’t have to worry about you driving in the dark.”

He chuckles as he releases me. “Sure thing, Eli. Just your boss.” He shoots me a wink and picks up his bag, following an irate Janey to her car.

I watch as they drive off, dust kicking up behind her car.

“He knows about us,” I say when Luke joins me.

“He probably has an idea, but he doesn’t know for a fact.”

“Did you say something?” I turn to look at him.

“No, but he and Colt have been talking about my mood being better lately.” He glances down at me from the corner of his eye. “And Sam saw the scratches on my back from what happened the other night in the kitchen.”

“Could have been a cat,” I say with a shrug.

“There was definitely a pussy involved.”

I give him a shove as I laugh, completely caught off guard by him making a joke like that.

He laughs but sets his hands on my shoulders. “Listen, your grandparents get back tomorrow, so why don’t we go out to dinner tonight?”

“Won’t that look like a date?”

“No. Everyone knows your grandparents are out of town, so it isn’t outside the realm of possibility that you and I would go grab dinner in town together. Everybody in this town knows everything about everyone.”

A couple of the other ranch hands walk past us, giving Luke a wave and nodding at me. I put a little distance between us. It’s easy to remain aloof during the day when other people are around us. But every night this week with his body moving over and inside of mine, the lines blur in my head and, worse, my heart. Every time he makes me laugh, it chips away at me.

Thoughts about how maybe I could transfer to a closer school start to filter in. I lie there beside him and picture spending summer after summer here. Growing closer. Eventually wearing him down.

The worst part is that sometimes I catch him looking at me like he’s right there with me. Like he could see a future with us. I swear I’ve seen the words on his lips, he just never lets them go free.

Twenty

LUKE

* * *

Itold Eli to be ready by seven, so I’m rushing through my cabin to get cleaned up by then, too. I make sure to avoid all areas with photos of Amy, which is quite the feat. I know as soon as I see her face smiling back at me, I’ll feel guilty. Like I shouldn’t be enjoying this time with Eli so much.

I don’t deserve it.

Not when I couldn’t keep the first woman I loved safe.

I shake those thoughts from my head. This isn’t the same thing; I’m not falling in love with Eli. We’re merely scratching an itch for each other. I’m treating her the way she should expect to be treated and hopefully setting her standards high. She’s reminding me that it’s okay to find joy in other people.

I walk into my bathroom and strip out of my work clothes. My hands are filthy, including the silicon ring I wear on my left ring finger, so I pull it off and set it beside the sink. I’ll clean it off after I shower. I rush through my shower routine as the clock ticks closer and closer to seven.

I don’t even have time to shave before I have to dart out of my cabin and drive down to the main house. Eli comes down the stairs from the back deck when she sees me. The little white shorts she wears contrast against the golden tan she’s been building over the summer. Her blue tank top hugs the curves I’ve come to know so well. And, of course, she’s wearing her damn flip flops.

The other day I caught her about to take Macy for a ride while wearing them. When I told her she couldn’t ride a horse in flip flops, she kicked them off and rode barefoot. Fucking exasperating woman. If we had been alone, I would have pulled her off the mare and bent her over the closest bench until she broke beneath me.

“Why are you scowling?” she asks as she reaches me.

I look pointedly down at her feet.

“Oh,” she says with a giggle. “At least I painted my toes.” She wiggles said toes in an effort to distract me.

I pull her against me and spin us, so she’s pressed against the side of my truck. Everyone is gone for the night, so I take the opportunity to kiss her long and slow and deep. I drink from her lips until she melts into a puddle beneath my hands.

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