Page 30 of Buck This
He didn’t know what he’d expected her to say to that. Maybe a little part of him had wished she would tell him what her ex had taken from her, but she didn’t bare her soul in any way. Instead, she shocked him to his soul by hugging him. That was all. There were no words. Torrey just slipped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek on his chest, and he stood here frozen, his heart pounding like a drum as he tried to remember how to breathe.
Before he could wrap his arms around her, she released him suddenly, and backed away a few feet, eyes on the ground.“Okay, we need to go. We are getting off track and we have a very tight schedule.” When she looked up at him, she had a smile plastered on her face, but it didn’t reach her eyes. It was his least favorite of her smiles.
He wanted to ask her again. He wanted to ask her what she’d wished for. It would torture him, not knowing.
Torrey turned and walked away, headed for the parking lot, and this time, she didn’t wait up, or even slow. She was putting distance between them in more ways than one, and he hated it. He had no right to hate it, but hate it he did.
This woman was tying him up in knots, and it made no sense. She didn’t even fit into his life. She wasn’t like him. She wasn’t even interested, clearly.
This was a little escape from whatever was heavy on her heart, and that was it. He was a buffer. He was a distraction.
She was happy and smiling with him because it was so different from what she was probably going through at home.
Her asshole ex had messaged her, but when he’d pressed, she’d grown protective of that hurt, and he felt…he felt…
Well…
He felt.
It was awful.
If this was a honeymoon phase as she’d said, Buck This wanted nothing to do with it.
Chapter Seven
“What is this place?” Torrey whispered in reverence as she spun a slow circle.
“Looks like it was some kind of cowboy church or somethin’,” Buck murmured.
They hadn’t spoken much since they’d left the wishing fountain, but that was her fault. She was confused and had felt something she had sworn never to feel again when he’d been doing that wife-talk.
He’d scared her. Not because she thought he would harm her physically, but she’d had this moment when he’d mentioned that word where being a wife didn’t sound so terrible anymore. She had been good at it once, but that was not the plan now. Her life had taken a different turn. She would never, ever, ever get married again. Him asking personal questions about her life felt like too much. Why? Because she was starting to really like him.
That was the terrifying part.
Men didn’t do well protecting soft women’s hearts, and as much as she wished she could be tougher, when it came down to it, she had a tender soul that would wither if she was hurt like that again.
She couldn’t do it.
She couldn’t fall for a closed-off, ramblin,’ bull-shifter who could have any woman he wanted while he was on the road, and who was made entirely of all red flags.
And so…as she worked through her emotions after that wishing fountain conversation, she’d kept quiet. She’d needed the silence.
This building was a huge pole barn with arena dirt, but there were burgundy velvet pews lined in three rows against the back wall.
In the rafters, doves were cooing. There was a loft of old hay stacked two bales deep, and there were a few holes in the dilapidated roof that let rays of sunlight through. Torrey made her way to one of them and touched the dust motes that were illuminated in the ray of light with the tip of her finger. “This place is full of good mojo. Can you feel it?”
“I do. It’s probably what Quickdraw was going for,” Buck said, but he sounded farther away, and when she turned around, he was taking a seat on one of the pews.
He removed his cowboy hat, ran his hand through his hair, and replaced it, dragged his bright green gaze up to her and told her, “You don’t have to stay for this. I can Change on my own.”
“Okay, so do it.”
He glanced up at the loft and back to her. “Maybe you should figure out an escape route before you encourage dumb shit like that.”
“I’m faster than you’re giving me credit for.”
He dropped his head, and she could see his shoulders shake with his laugh. “How about you take off running for that door as fast as you can, and I’ll time you.”
