Page 2 of Rogue Cowboy
“You never called me baby,” she said.A hint of curiosity lit her eyes—the first sign of the old Riley—the girl, almost a woman, who was too young for him, too hurt, and deserved the sort of man who could match her wide-open heart and wild enthusiasm for life and adventure.
He’d never called any woman baby.He’d never even had a relationship—just one night or weekend hookups since he’d been seventeen.Now he had a wife, who was too young and too sweet for him.
But he had a deployment, and she needed to come to terms with what had happened and rebuild her life.He had to give her time.And who was he kidding, he needed time to figure out how to be a husband and what she needed—after he made a quick trip back to LA.
“Thank you.”She pressed her forehead against his, and he breathed her in.This felt like something final, and his heart weirdly kicked up in alarm.
“I’ll drive you to the house,” he said roughly.“Meet your folks.”
He’d rather be pinned down, taking sniper fire.
“No.”Riley reared back in alarm.“No.I’ll walk.”
“It’s freakin’ ten degrees and snowy outside.”
“I’m used to the cold.It will look like this until April, Texas boy.”
He caught the hint of a smile quickly swamped by all that sad again.
“I need the quiet.The walk.It’s only a few hundred yards,” she said softly.“You can see the smoke from the fireplace.”
“I can’t let you walk in alone and face all the questions.”He tossed away the reprieve she’d offered him.“We’re married.”
He didn’t understand the look she shot him.True, he didn’t know Riley all that well—a few days together and platonic nights because she’d been so young, and the sister of one of his teammates.He hated leaving her and having no idea when he could get back.
“Shotgun wedding,” she said sourly.“And I need to figure out a way to tell my parents, my family.We’re close,” she choked out, tears spilling over again.
She dashed them away angrily, and he caught her hand, kissed the glistening tip of her fingers.He didn’t know how to proceed, but the need to touch her, comfort her was visceral.
“We need a way,” he corrected.“We’re a team now, Riley.”
Instead of looking reassured, she looked alarmed.She scooted away on the passenger seat.
“You’re a good man, Cole.The best.A hero.A white-hat cowboy out of my little-girl dreams, but I have to stand on my own.I have to get up on my own.Figure out a way forward.”
That sounded all kinds of wrong.But was it?It’s not like she could rely on him to hold her hand through her recovery.He’d only had a weekend leave.He’d extended it by one day—family emergency leave—but he had to get back to base.Had to be on base for the strategy meeting, the assignment, and prepared to ship out with his team at a moment’s notice.He didn’t know what the mission was.Where.Parameters.Timeline.All the unknowns had never bothered him until now.
“I meant what I said, Riley.”It was only fair he put that out there.
Pressed against the door, she watched him, not like a cornered animal, he was relieved to note, but a curious one.She reminded him of a dog he’d seen wandering down a Texas back road once when he’d been coming back from a game.The dog had been skinny, limping, scarred, but had looked at him with that hint of hope in all the bleakness.He’d coaxed the dog into his truck.Taken it home, bathed it, treated its wounds, fed it, introduced it to the pack of ranch dogs.Named it Blue, for bluebonnet.
“I know, Cole.I know, but…” She paused and he wondered at the words that weren’t said.The thoughts in the long space.
“You’re a good man.”Her words sounded like a prayer.“You deserve the best.”
To his way of thinking, he had it.But was that too much pressure?She wasn’t even twenty to his twenty-six.And his twenty-six had seen a lot, but nothing worse than her terror, her pain, her bruised and bloody fury and then quiet confusion as she’d huddled on the floorboard of his truck, not wanting to get out at the crisis clinic.He’d had to carry her, and she’d clung to him, and Cole had never felt more necessary in his life, and he’d saved teammates in the field.
If she knew how important she’d become to him, he’d scare her to death.
Hell, he felt like he might just be more messed up than she was—and this was his base.Riley was going to get her shine back.She had to.
“You’ll tell them, right?You’ll see a counselor.You promised.”
Her hand paused on the door handle.She drew in a deep breath.“I did promise.”
Not a yes, but she was out the door and grabbing the duffel bag he’d packed for her of only the clothes and boots she’d arrived in LA with last year—nothing from the studio and sponsors, not even the guitars except the one she’d brought with her, the one her parents had bought her when she’d been ten.
“Cole, stay safe.”She kissed her fingertip and blew at him—something she’d started the first time he’d said goodbye when he’d only been her brother’s teammate checking up on her in LA when he couldn’t.She’d ended all their FaceTimes over the past several months that way.
