Page 12 of Cold Snap
He’ll never whisper my name in that sexy bedroom voice, begging me to come closer, show him even more love. He’ll never be…the person I thought he was, and I was a fool. I was a stupid fool who thought fairy tales could be real, and I could be one of the lucky ones. I spin around and leave with the knowledge that Landry will never be the one!
Chapter Nine
Landry
She leaves the bar -and me- all alone! All I can do is turn and pick the glass up off the bar and throw it against the wall. Then I go and grab the broom, but the entire time I’m thinking about Teresa. About the look on her face, the hurt, the tears that stood in her eyes. The kiss we shared right before I opened my big mouth and destroyed it all.
I was right, of course. We can’t keep playing these games, and today shows just how seriously wrong things can go when she is close enough to put my hands on. I shouldn’t have grabbed her, shouldn’t have taken her scent in and reveled in it. I damned sure shouldn’t have kissed her.
And the way she touched me, the way she shyly gave me her mouth like she’d never been kissed before. I touch my mouth and think -really think- about the kiss. There’s no way a sexy, smart twenty-four-year-old like Teresa hasn’t been with someone, hasn’t kissed her fair share of boys.
And yet…?
The damned thought just keeps running through my head. I should go after her. I should find out…if she got home alright. When I call, it goes straight to voicemail. The thought that has grown like an unwanted blister after a long run just won’t goaway. I grab my phone first thing in the morning and look for the number I’m searching for. It takes me a second, but I find it.
“Hey Ray, how’s it going?”
I chat with him for a few seconds before getting down to the reason I called. “I was wondering…Teresa Abernathy dropped by and was…”
“Yeah, I heard. She started a bar fight and you and her were…close. According to Aarons, you had your hands all over her.”
“Aarons is a dick who doesn’t know what he saw and better keep his fucking hands -and eyes- where they belong.” Ray chuckles. “You went to school with her, right?”
“Terry?”
“Yeah.” Who the hell else would I be asking about?
“Nah, man. She’s like eighteen or something. Way after I did my time in the public school system.” He chuckles at his own joke, but I’m not listening anymore.
Eight-fucking-teen. If she’s eighteen, I’m going to hang myself. I’ll have to kick my own ass.
“Ray, someone just walked in. I’m gonna have to let you go, buddy.”
And strangle a lying little temptress that should fucking know better. In fact, you might call me livid. I am livid.
I’m out of the bar and down the street before I can come to my senses. The lying, the flirting around, the sexy short dresses, that shit is over!
And Aarons? He’s a dead man! The next time I see him, he’s dead!
I make my way down the street. I must look like an absolute psycho, so before I knock, I try to take a deep breath and rein in my temper. It does no good. When the door opens, I’m right back to being pissed.
“How old is your sister?”
“Landry?” Waylon looks more than a little stunned to find me on his doorstep, and I can understand why, but I have to know, damn it!
“How old? How old is Teresa?”
“She’s twenty, buddy. Why?”
Floored! I’m absolutely floored. Twenty years old. This entire time.
“Where is she?” He pauses and cocks his eyebrow at me. “Where?”
All I can think about is getting my hands on her. I don’t care whose sister she is, who her father is, or how good a man he is. When I find her -when I get my hands on her…
“She’s in the back.” I knew she would be here. I knew when I told her Waylon had a hard day, she would come check onhim. It’s why my body came here automatically without my head wondering why. “But I think we need to just calm down and…”
My nostrils flare at the fucking idea he’s going to stand in my way. I glance from him to Oakley and back again, and he gets the hidden message.
