Page 127 of Opposites (Never) Attract
“Don’t pretend,” I said, getting to my feet, ignoring her question.
“Pretend what?” she asked.
“Like you want anything to do with this life. For your future. Nobody would,” I said, getting annoyed with her hurt. I wasn’t the bad guy here, even though I had to play that role today.
Hell, if anything, I was the victim.
“Tag-”
“No, I’m a cowboy. Not a land owner. Not a fucking stock broker. I deal with bullshit, horseshit and all kinds of other nasty smelling things. I live with my dad half the year in this tiny fucking cabin,” I said. “And I work for your brothers. For a wage so low you’d laugh, Sunshine.”
“No, I wouldn’t,” she said, her jaw tight.
“Well, maybe that’s because right now you like the way I fuck,” I snapped, and hated the way it sounded as soon as the words were out of my mouth. Like I’d cheapened what we’d had. But I still didn’t think I was wrong. “When you get back to New York, you’ll see I’m right.”
She nodded and I knew she was blinking back tears. I hated it, but there was no way to end this without pain. We’d broken all the rules and now we were paying the price.
“I’ll take you back to the Lodge,” I said, and the sad sound that tore out of her made me flinch.Half cry. Half laugh.
“No, thank you,” she said, then swallowed. “I’ll get back on my own. The wolves aren’t outside today.”
She meant me. I was the wolf today. With claws and a nasty bite.
She stopped when she got to the bedroom door, but she didn’t look at me when she said, “This life means you.”
“What?”
She looked at me over her shoulder. “You said nobody would want this life…but with the life comes…you. I hope you see someday that you’re worth it.”
TWENTY-FIVE
SUNSHINE
I should have been packing.I should have been calling clients. The partners. I should have been setting up meetings. I should have been systematically cauterizing every wound on my heart caused by Tag Durham.
Instead of doing all of that, I was going to the rodeo.
With my sisters.
“What’s wrong with you, Sunshine?” Harmony asked, looking over at me every three seconds from the driver’s side of her old truck. “You’re really quiet.”
“Just thinking,” I said, with a wan smile.
“Thinking about sushi,” Bliss said, from the backseat of the truck. “And a manicure. And a massage-”
“No,” I said, short and fast, because I would never again in my life have a massage without thinking about Tag. “Nope. I’m just a little sad to be leaving.”
“So stay,” Amity chimed in, pushing up between me and Harmony. “Can’t you work remotely, or something? Can’t you like…just do what you do, here?”
“Not a lot of billionaire investors in Last Hope Gulch to make pitches to,” I said.
“I don’t know,” Bliss said. “I’ve always thought those Strunk sisters had gold buried in their backyards.”
“Right?” Amity agreed, and they started talking about all the people in town they imagined might be secret billionaires. Harmony reached over and squeezed my hand. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Sure,” I said, with the best smile I could manufacture.
Of course, everything Tag had said had been true. I knew there was no future for me here. I did. I just hoped he didn’t think I was one of those clingy women who begged him for scraps when he’d already scraped me off.
