Page 24 of His Cowboy Heart

I hadn’tneededhim there with me, but I’dwantedhim to be.

Now I was glad that he hadn’t tried to force himself to do something he wasn’t capable of doing. He must have spoken with Milly at some point since she’d asked him if he was sure he was okay. That implied that she’d asked him the same question at least once already, so he might have returned to the waiting room after parking the car, but I had no way of knowing for sure.

What I did know was that whatever adrenaline high that was telling him to go the flight instead of fight route was proof that whatever had happened must have been unspeakable. I thought about the picture I’d seen of him with the woman and two children… the one he kept on his nightstand. According to Brooks, it wasn’t completely unheard of for a ranch hand to work and live on a ranch while sending his pay to wherever his family lived because there wasn’t always enough room for families to live together. So it could’ve been the same for Flynn. His wife and kids could be in some other city or state.

But his comment about hospitals and his clear agitation that continued now even though the hospital was in our rearview mirror meant it could be possible that whatever thing had made him hate hospitals so much had included his wife and kids. What if he’d lost one or all of them to some kind of accident? I’d only overheard a few brief snippets between Brooks and Xavier about the newest ranch hand. They’d talked about how he never stayed in one place for long… he was similar to a seasonal worker in that respect.

Now, though, I knew there was something more to his story.

“Do you mind if we grab a bite to eat before we head home?” I casually asked despite the worry that was consuming me as Flynn seemed to focus less and less on the road ahead of him. He waswatchingthe road, but I had a feeling he wasn’t reallyseeingit.

“I don’t mind eating in the car,” I added since I knew he’d be more likely to agree if he didn’t need to be seen in public with me. Guys like Flynn didn’t hang out with guys like me in macho cowboy world. I was good enough for making out in a car on the side of the road, but even without my makeup and nice outfits, I probably still looked too “girlish” but not “girlish” enough to share a meal in public with.

Flynn didn’t answer me. I waited a good minute or two before I repeated my question, but before I even got to the part about eating in the car, we were turning into the parking lot of a small, very busy-looking diner.

“Did you want something?” I asked. “My treat. It might take a few minutes for them to fill the order, but you can wait out here?—”

Flynn threw the door open in response. Okay, so apparently,hewas the one who was going to get the food and leavemein the car. As long as it gave him a few minutes to clear his head, I could get over the sting of his silence. I tried to look at the silver lining that with one arm pretty much out of commission for the moment, it would have been harder for me to carry the food to the car, but before I could argue with myself about that fact, my door swung open. Flynn was standing like stone just outside the door.

I had no idea what he was doing, so I went with the only thing that made sense. “I’ll just have whatever you get,” I said before reaching into my pocket to seek out my wallet.

Flynn wrapped his fingers around my wrist and despite the strength I knew those fingers could wield, his hold was gentle. He didn’t say a word as he leaned into the car and practically brushed up my body while he sought to release the seat belt from the buckle.

Wait, he wants me to go inside with him?

From that moment on, I was nothing more than a well-behaved child who did everything the adult told him to. I let Flynn lead me inside the diner and into a booth. I let him order the same meal for me that he did for himself. I sat quietly across from him as conversation among the other restaurant goers’ voices seemed to get louder. I kept waiting for Flynn’s rock-hard body to relax, but if anything, he only became more and more agitated. My hope of helping him deal with whatever was bothering him so much grew less and less, and by the time he’d paid the check and started to drag me back to the Range Rover, that hope had turned into a heaping pile of bullshit that I wanted to dump Flynn’s ass in.

With my arm hurting like hell and the confusing events of the last several hours, my need for self-preservation kicked in. I’d shown this man too much and I needed to take it back in some way. I couldn’t literally take my words back, but damn if he got to walk all over me now like we were no longer equals.

As we left the diner, Flynn’s hand closed around my upper arm. His hold was gentle but unyielding as he began to lead me to the passenger side of the car. I came to a halt as soon as we reached the vehicle. Flynn was forced to stop moving or hurt me by yanking me forward.

He chose the former.

“What?” he snapped.

“Wow, it speaks,” I bit back. “Give me the keys,” I demanded and held out my hand.

“Why?”

I couldn’t help but look at him like he’d grown a second head. “Why? Are you fucking kidding me? I’m not sitting in a car with you behind the wheel as we make our way up a narrow highway to the top of a fucking mountain while you’re acting like a bratty kid who didn’t get his way. I wantoneof us to actually be paying attention to the road and not feeling sorry for himself.”

“Sorry for myself?”

“Okay, wow, so you can speak words with more than one syllableandyou can play the parroting game. Color me impressed,” I said snidely.

Flynn made something that sounded like a growl and then he was forcing me backward until I hit the driver’s side door. “Jules—” he warned.

“Jules, what?” I barked. “Jules, behave yourself. Jules, act your age. Jules, enough with this phase. Guess what, Flynn, it’s not a fucking phase for me like it is for you, and I don’t owe you any explanations for who I am or what I do. But I’m also done apologizing every timeyoustickyourtongue downmythroat. If you don’t want to regret cheating on your wife or feel ashamed of how good you’ve started to think a guy’s lips or ass wrapped around your dick would feel, that’s on you, not me.”

“Are you done?” Flynn snapped.

“Yeah, I’m done,” I said. He was clearly pissed, but he wasn’t bothering to engage with me enough that I could finish being pissed myself.

“Tell Brooks to come get me when he has time,” I ordered as I dug my wallet out and flung several twenties at Flynn. “That’s for your time away from work and the rest of it is for you to never look, talk, or even fucking think about me ever again.” I pointed to the small motel attached to the diner. “Hey, maybe if I get lucky, I’llactuallyfind myself a rich-as-fuck banker stud who will be honest about whose lips are wrapped around his dick and whose ass he’s got his cock balls-deep inside of.”

My righteous anger and the knowledge that I was only minutes away from having a private place to cry my eyes out gave me the strength to shove Flynn aside. I was halfway to the motel’s sign-in office when fingers curled around my arm once again. I opened my mouth to rip him a new one.

“Shut the fuck up,” Flynn snarled. “It’s my turn.” I assumed he was going to try and drag me back to the SUV, so he caught me off guard when he went straight for the motel but not the check-in office. A maid was in the process of coming out of one of the rooms. Before she could shut the door, Flynn intercepted her and asked in a sickeningly sweetaw shucks, ma’amvoice if we could have the room while she turned the other cheek. Several hundred-dollar bills later and the maid was moving on to her next room with a pleased smile as I was ushered inside.

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