Page 76 of Wild Eyes
But she’s also gun shy and doesn’t fully trust me—or herself—because she drops my stare. “Go to bed.”
My head tilts. “That always feels good.”
She huffs out a laugh and peers up at the bank lighting above us. “Why does everything you say sound sexual?”
My cheeks hitch and I toss her a wink when she finally peeks over at me. “You and your tequila brain might be employing a little wishful thinking. I’m just talking about going to bed. I didn’t say together.”
“Wishful thinking?” Her jaw drops.
“Hey, I’m just calling it how I see it. I’m not sure if you remember, butyoukissedme.”
Her feet pad across the floor as she approaches me. Her shoulder bumps into mine on the way past. She must be heading for the door behind me.
Going to bed. All alone.
But then she stops and looks me in the eye. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know what, Weston?” Her voice is low, so I bend slightly to listen. She stands on her tiptoes and hits me with a salacious smirk right as she whispers, “You’ve been dreaming about kissing me back. And I’m thinking that if I kissed you again, right here…you wouldn’t pull away.”
Her warm breath grazes the shell of my ear and my tongue darts out as though I could taste her. An electric shock skitters across my skin when she reaches out and runs her pinky finger along the side of my hand that hangs limply at my side.
The touch is subtle, but there’s no doubt in my mind that Skylar Stone is flirting with me. And she’s doing a bang-up job.
My fist clenches, grasping at air. Because she’s already gone. Marching straight out of my barn and into the dark night.
Leaving me to go to bed all by myself.
CHAPTER TWENTY
SKYLAR
My hangoverand I check my email the next morning after my girls’ night out and find missives from both my dad and Jerry asking about when they should come out to Rose Hill to help with a new album. I don’t respond. I don’t want them here, and I don’t feel like facing the fallout of telling them as much.
If Ford can ignore them, so can I.
What I don’t ignore is another fake news headline from West. I’m grinning before I even open it.
BREAKING NEWS: Style experts say wearing red lipstick every day is so in this season.
I hope he never stops sending me these. And I may need to stock up on that lipstick now.
I peek around the corner and see West prepping a bale for night check.
I knew he’d be here.
It’s been twenty-four hours since we stood in this exact spot. I don’t know where he went today or what he did, but I found myself checking on the house. Peeking up at the barn. Strolling past to see if he was around.
Last night, I secretly hoped he’d follow me. Blast through the door to the guest bedroom, shove me against the wall, and kiss me senseless.
And against all my better judgment, I would’ve let him. I wanted him to. Until he didn’t.
Lying in bed, I heard him moving about the house, turning off all the lights, and making sure all doors and windows were shut. My body was strung tight, like it might snap when he marched past my bedroom door.
I wanted him to turn the handle. Crawl into my bed. He’d have found me naked between the sheets, and I’d have reveled in the feel of his strong body over mine.
But he didn’t. And I slept naked, waking once or twice to the sensation of the bed spinning. This morning, I pushed away all my drunken, horny thoughts and blamed them on the tequila.
I popped an Advil and pulled myself together. Sat Cherry on my shoulder for a brisk walk around the property to try and burn some of the tequila calories. And then met with Ford and Rosie to hammer out a recording schedule. Having a plan written down on paper put me at an instant sort of ease. This place and what I’m about to do here felt instantly real and not just like a pipe dream.
It was with this newfound sense of peace that I took another walk. This one was longer and more meandering, and I didn’t think about calories at all. I just soaked in my surroundings. Itled me out to the road and down the main driveway to West’s farm.
