Page 41 of Rope Me In

Her eyes narrow at me, but she does as I asked. Once she’s settled against me, I place my arm around her shoulder and make sure she’s secure. For a brief second, I relish the contact, reveling in how her soft body feels against mine, how she fits perfectly into my side. It’s…nice. More than nice. But I don’t have time to think much on it because the sound of dirt crunching has my focus shifting to meet the assessing gazes of Blake and Gavin.

Great. Just fucking great.

My brother and I make eye contact. He looks from me to Presley, and the nice feeling I had fades. I know that look on his face—he thinks I’ve hit on her, that I’ve got my arm around her for reasons that he’d rather not know about.

Not that I care. After last night, he can think what he wants. I hope the gossip mill told him about me getting drunk with Jake. I hope he thinks I fucked half the bar. At this point, I think Gavin would believe anything anyone told him about me.

“What’s going on?” Blake asks first, rushing toward us. Gavin’s tense features start to relax, as if his brain is recognizing that, from the tone of Blake’s voice, this is not what he thinks it looks like.

“Presley just needs a break,” I answer.

Blake goes into mama-bear mode and puts her hand on Presley’s forehead before her feet have even stopped moving.

“Did you eat this morning?”

My gaze moves to Presley’s profile, and I don’t miss the way her hand grips my waist a little tighter.

“I had a little something.”

I swallow, knowing she’s lying. The question is why—is it because she’s embarrassed?

“Kade, have you given her breaks?” Blake asks, her stern stare boring into me. The normal warmth is gone. I can’t help butnotice she’s sporting dark circles under her eyes, as if sleep has been evading her. Are they because of me?

Presley turns her head briefly toward me, her dry lips pressing together. I feel terrible for not taking better care of her and try to convey that through my gaze. I swallow and open my mouth to answer Blake, to tell the truth, but Presley beats me to it, her eyes making direct contact with Blake and Gavin.

“He has,” she says firmly.

Blake deflates, the scolding she had ready to give me leaving her body.

“Presley,” I find myself saying. My brain is trying to figure out why she’s lied both about eating something and about this.

“I just need a little more food and some water. Not used to all this manual labor in the sun,” she says through a breathy laugh.

Blake studies her, Gavin’s protective gaze watching over us like the mother hen that he is.

“I’ll take you up to the main house,” Blake says. “We were just coming to tell you both to come to lunch, anyway.”

“I think I’d like to go back and rest,” Presley answers. “If that’s okay.”

Blake smiles at her. “Of course. I can take you back.”

“I’ve got her,” I say, almost too fast. My fingers press into the soft skin of her shoulder. “You can go grab us some food.”

The already muggy air becomes suffocating, and it feels like Presley and I are in a standoff against Gavin and Blake. When Presley leans heavier into me, I go on high alert, gripping her tighter. I don’t want her to pass out again.

When I take a step forward, Gavin holds up a hand. “I want to talk with you. Let her go with Blake.”

It happens in a flash, but the warmth of Presley leaves me, and then she’s leaning on Blake. For whatever reason, Presley’s sapphire eyes look apologetic when they meet mine. I wonder why, because it’s not like she can know what’s happening. I know she saw Gavin and I argue the first day we met, but she hasno idea of the true nature of my family drama unless someone at the bar has told her. Which is possible, I suppose.

“I’ll see you back at the house,” Blake says to Gavin. I see her check in with Presley to make sure she can walk, and then they’re taking off toward the hands’ quarters, leaving me with my brother. I can’t shake my thoughts about last night. Maybe I should just leave this place altogether. I have no idea where I would go, but it would be better than this. Better than the judgment and the tension.

“What did you do to that poor girl?” Gavin asks as soon as Presley and Blake are out of earshot. I flex my jaw as I bend to pick Presley’s shovel up off the ground and start to walk away.

“Kade,” he calls after me. “Please tell me what happened. She’s our responsibility.”

I stop and spin to face him, not liking that he just assumes that whatever was going on with Presley was my fault. I should have gone easier on her; I know that. I’m already feeling like an asshole, so I don’t need to add Gavin’s shitty opinion of me on top of it.

“I don’t have to answer to you anymore, Gavin. You gave up on me, remember?” I drop the shovel on the ground and let my anger come out. “Unless you changed your mind in less than twelve hours?”

---