Page 48 of Wild and Unruly
Unfortunately, she had work to do yesterday and had sadlydeclined. But I hadn’t wanted to let her go. Not after everything we did together. She was fucking amazing.
Not only in the trailer, where she let me take control and gave me one of the best days of my life, but showing too. She killed it for being so out of practice.
I was eager to see what we could do if we were practicing all week.
“Well, I guess there’s some muscle memory there,” she says, her eyes on my hands as I work to make dinner. “You sure you don’t need help?”
I shake my head. “Nah, I got it. Relax,” I tell her, stirring the mixture in the pan. “I’m excited to see what we can do after we practice some more.”
She’s silent for a moment, and when I look up, I see her staring at me with a hint of a smile. “What?” I ask, moving around the kitchen.
Bonnie sighs. “Nothing, I guess.” Her pause has me turning to look at her. She has both hands resting around her water glass, one finger tracing the condensation that falls. “I wasn’t sure if you’d want to continue roping with me or if I was just a fill-in?”
I can feel the way my lips morph into a frown, and I turn the heat all the way down before looking at her. “What do you mean?”
“It’s just…I’m leaving.” Her words bring a halt to my action. My body freezes from her words. She was leaving. I’ve known this the entire time I’ve pursued her. Yet, the words have my heart hammering in my chest.
“Okay.” I nod, thinking over my words. The last thing I want is to make her feel bad because she has to continue living the lifeshe has been. It’s not like she can just drop everything because I’ve fallen for her.
“You’re not mad?” The way her hands tighten on her glass makes me snap out of it. She has nothing to worry about, nothing to apologize for.
“The way I see it is, for as long as you’re here, and longer if you want to, we’ll be a team.” I try to keep the conversation on the team roping, but my mind shows me an image of us in that bed, her gaze looking down on me as she swayed on top of my body. “And…when you go back, we’ll do our best to see each other whenever we can.”
Her eyes hit mine in surprise. “You’d want to do that?”
Do I want a long-distance relationship? No, not really. But do I want to keep seeing her for as long as possible, if not forever? Absolutely.
I pull the pan all the way off the heat and circle the island, turning her on the stool to face me and grasping her hips. “Yeah, I want to do that.”
Her lips tip up into a smile, and dammit, she’s so fucking beautiful that I can’t help but take her lips with my own. I was falling for this woman and fallinghard. I wasn’t going to be able to stop the way my heart jumped in my chest whenever she was near. Nor did I want it to. She was important. She was a piece of my life’s puzzle that was missing.
Fuck, that’s cheesy. But it’s real.
A ringing sounds from her purse on my couch, and we pull away. I tap her hip. “Check that out. I’m going to finish our dinner.”
She nods and slides off the stool, heading over to her purse and sighing loudly when she looks at the screen.
“It’s my mom. I need to take this.” She holds up her phone, and I nod, waving her off while I focus on the task at hand.
But my apartment is small and there’s no real way to give her complete privacy, so I listen to parts of her conversation.
“He’s okay, though?” she asks, her tone indicating that she’s exhausted with whatever conversation she’s having. “If he’d come here, there may be a solu—” She cuts off, and I look over at her to see her resting on the arm of the couch, her head bent as she listens.
“Mom, he needs to leave the apartment. Sitting there won’t do him any good.”
I hate this for her. It clearly stresses her out, and I can only imagine the trauma her brother has faced. You can only help those who want to be helped, but when it affects other people, when it tears their hearts out because they have to sit and watch those they love suffer, it’s not fair.
At what point do you pull yourself out of the situation when the person you love won’t get the help they need?
I stay silent, listening to her argue with her mother. It sounds like they both agree but aren’t sure how to convince her brother to move forward.
Finally, I have dinner made, and I hear Bonnie say, “Mom, Stetson just finished dinner. Can I call you in the morning?”
I blink in surprise, not realizing that she told her mom who I was. Hell, I haven’t even told my mom I was officially dating her. Didi Cash already knew, I’m sure of it, but I’ve been able to hide out from her enough that she hasn’t hounded me yet.
“Sorry.” Bonnie retakes her seat, taking a sip of her water.
“You’re fine, baby. I just got everything ready. Want to sit at the table or patio?”
