Page 27 of Rogue Cowboy
“Amen to that, sister,” the server said.“Guac coming up?”
Riley took a breath, what she wanted and what she should do warring, along with her confusion as to how to navigate this unexpected situation with Cole.
“Yes, please,” Cole said, his dark gaze glued to hers as if her face mapped out a top-secret mission.
The server left.Riley took a nervous sip of her water.She shouldn’t have come—not that Cole asked exactly.He’d just said that she’d promised to take him to her favorite Mexican restaurant in town and that it would be his treat.She’d been reading over the texts between them when she had a moment of peace, and she hadn’t exactly promised to take him.And she hadn’t expected him to pay.
“Explain.”
She stared at him, irritation rising.A one-word command to encompass so much.
“I don’t even know where to begin,” she muttered, having trouble reconciling the fantasy Cole from their weekend and text exchanges with the reality sitting across from her.
If she thought she could wait him out or change the subject, she’d be delusional.She watched the condensation form rivulets on the glass that chased each other down to the table.
“I wasn’t expecting you to arrive.I don’t know what you want.”Her fingers flexed spastically, and the glass tipped.
Cole righted it, catching her fingers.“I was clear.”
“Courting?”She sounded like a frightened sheep, bleating.Stuck on repeat.She looked around and lowered her voice.She knew people here, and it would get back to her family that not only was she out with a man, but she’d been mad or tense or nervous.She hated being under a microscope.Hated it, and she felt herself hunch.
“And this isn’t a date,” she reminded.
“Good.You’re a married woman.”
“Stop saying that.”
“Face reality.”
She jerked upright.“You have no right to tell me what to do.”
He smiled, and she felt like she was caught in some trap.“Don’t I?”
Before she could dredge up a suitably scathing answer, the server arrived with his beer and her horchata she hadn’t been able to resist ordering.
“Guac will be up in a bit.”And before she’d walked away, a young man hurried up with a bowl of supplies and a folding table.They were silent while he sliced and mashed the avocados, onions, jalapeños, spices, lemon and with an expert flip of his wrist, he flicked in a few red chili flakes, before placing the bowl before them with a flourish and then adding fresh, warm homemade chips, before packing up again and leaving.
Cole’s sharp gaze tracked the man’s progress from the table, and then quartered the room, reminding her of how Rohan had acted when he’d first come home nearly two years ago.Maybe he still acted alert and on edge out in public.She didn’t know because she mainly stayed on the ranch—more and more.
“You were snapping your flag of independence in my face and telling me why this isn’t a date,” he prompted.
“Dating takes two people.”
Even Riley realized how stupid that sounded without Cole waggling his finger first at her then him before he picked up a chip and scooped some guac on it.
“I can count.Full honesty.I don’t have much dating experience.”
She nearly choked on a chip.He had to have had a line of women since freshman year of high school.She tucked her hands under her thighs so she wouldn’t be tempted to stuff any chips and guac in her mouth and inhale them to give herself something to do besides obsess over him.
“And no experience with women since we married.”
Her mouth dropped open at that nearly inconceivable thought.She’d not only trapped him with her stupidity and panic, she’d jailed him.
“Cole, I never meant…” She shut up as the server approached again, eyebrows raised.She must have clued in that this was not a good time to take the rest of their order as she pivoted.
“I meant my vows, but since it wasn’t a conventional marriage, I had no right to hold you to not dating for five years,” he said calmly like he was giving her a gift or an out.
Unbelievable.
