Page 55 of Bull Rush

“Well… soak it in while you can, cowboy.” She leans down and kisses my forehead before heading back inside.

“I intend to,” I whisper after her.

TWENTY-FOUR

Hazel

That morning,we have breakfast with Cooper and Bea at the inn. Bea makes me promise to come visit her sometime in Cincinnati, and I tell her she needs to come back for a proper vacation. Cooper and Ramsey talk football and his daughter. Then we see them both off to the airport. I go back to the inn, and he goes back to ranch life. Even if he is a little pouty at the loss of his friends.

When I get home that night from the inn, Ramsey’s still uncharacteristically quiet. I thought we might have made some progress, especially since Cooper and Bea were here, but he barely greets me when I put my things away in the breezeway. He looks like he’s on a mission and doesn’t have time to chat.

“Kit put some dinner together for us.” I hold up the aluminum foil tray she handed me on my way out the door. “I need a shower after the hike we did this afternoon, but afterthat, if you want, I can heat this up, and we can eat together?” I try to offer an olive branch.

“Sure.” It’s a terse reply, and then he heads out the back screen door. It slams in his wake, and I storm up the steps. This is exactly why this would never work. There’s no changing the man. I’m busy counting down the list of reasons why I should still hate him when I get in the shower, and I’ve only managed to work myself back down slightly from my temper by the time I’m done thirty minutes later. Because I’m not about to rush to have dinner with an asshole.

I wrap a towel around myself and walk out into the bedroom to find where I put my body lotion. But there in the middle of the bed is a set of lingerie. One of the new ones I just purchased on Ramsey’s credit card. Next to it is an embossed card that’s been written over.

I look more closely, picking it up, and my heart sinks. It’s the wedding invitations for Curtis and me. They must have come in the mail, and Ramsey found them. No wonder he’s pissed. I read the note in Ramsey’s writing.

Put this on and come downstairs to the den.

-R

The den had always been Ramsey’s favorite room in the house, the place where he took all his important meetings, so I assume I’m headed there for some sort of dressing down. I stare at the white lace. I should tell him where he can shove it. But something about the demand makes me curious.

I take my time putting the lingerie and my robe on. I’m in no hurry to fight with him, and I’m hoping his temper cools by the time I get downstairs. When I walk through the den door, Ramsey’s set up in the big leather armchair near the fireplace. He’s got a glass of whiskey in one hand and a white pieceof paper in the other. A piece that he stares at for a long moment before he chucks into the fire. He watches it burn to ashes before he finally looks up at me.

“What are you doing?” Dread runs through me.

“Using this invitation as kindling,” he answers bluntly.

“You’re not!” I gasp as I round the old brown leather couch in the room and see the stack of them he has on the table next to him. The box is half empty, and the fire is roaring at its side. “Did you burn the rest?”

“Yep.”

“Are you fucking insane? Do you know how much those cost and how long it took to get them? They were custom. I drove to Denver three times just to get the design right.” I feel like I’m going to be sick.

“A waste of time if you ask me.”

I lunge at him to take back the invitation he currently has in his hand. He whisks it out of my reach and flings it into the fire, standing as I screech at the way the paper catches fire.

“Give it to me,” I demand when he picks up another one but ignores me, holding it up too high for me to reach. “Now.” I glare at him, and his expression sours in return.

“He might like being bossed around all the time, darlin’. But I like saving that for special occasions.”

“So help me, God, Ramsey. If you toss another one in the fire…” My hands are on my hips as I threaten him, and he looks down at me and smirks.

“Then what?” His eyes glint in the reflection of the fire, amusement dancing over his face.

“I haven’t figured it out yet, but it’ll be bad for you. I promise that much.”

He drops his hand and holds the invitation out for me. I eye him warily before I take it, worried this is all a trap. I snatch it from his grasp and my fears are confirmed a momentlater.

“Read it to me.” He nods to the paper.

“No.” I pull it behind my back and glare at him.

“Suit yourself.” He grabs another handful off the pile and chucks them headlong into the fire.

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