Page 6 of Filthy Cowboy
The laughter dies in my throat as my eyes lock on the cowboy she’s talking about. “Not interested.” I scowl at Rhett, wondering how he found me here. I turn back to the oven and pull out a fresh batch of our best-selling pumpkin spice turnovers. Iset them on a rack to cool, grab a filled frosting bag from the refrigerator, and begin squeezing out the glaze onto the treats, imagining it’s Rhett’s throat I’m squeezing. “This is the only frosting I want.” My eyes stray back to Rhett, who’s still watching me with a determined stare.
“If you say so,” Autumn snorts. “But you'll have to tell him that.” She grabs a towel and rushes out of the truck, leaving me alone with my conflicted thoughts about Rhett and why he’s here in Temptation Ridge.
I’m on edge waiting for Rhett to come up to me and explain why he left without saying goodbye. Or even worse, what if he’s here with a girlfriend? It’s been four weeks since I saw him, and I’m sure he’s moved on to, as they say, greener pastures.
My nerves are frayed by the time Brynnlee arrives for her shift. “Girl, what has you tied up in knots?”
Brynnlee and Delores are the only two who know everything that happened between me and Rhett. “It’s him.” I nod to the place Rhett has been watching me from for the last thirty minutes. “It’s Rhett. He’s here.”
“Have you talked to him yet?” I open my mouth to answer, but she answers her own question. “Of course not, or the two of you would be off somewhere screwing like bunny rabbits.”
“We would not.”
“Oh, come on. There’s a specific look in your eye when you talk about him. It’s there right now. It’s a look of love and longing,not hate. Now go out there and talk to him.” She makes a shooing motion with her hands, but I stand my ground.
“He hurt me by leaving without saying goodbye.” It’s a weak excuse, but my head refuses to let my heart forget what he did.
“Take a good look at him, Charlotte. Does that man look like he’s going to leave your side anytime soon?”
I take a long, hard look at Rhett, and it’s almost like he’s observing me from a distance, as if he doesn’t think he’s allowed to come any closer. The thought breaks my heart because, of course, I still have feelings for him that I can’t explain.
“Fine, but if I end up murdered or murdering him, it’s all your fault.” I untie my apron and hand it to Brynnlee, stomping out of the truck like a woman on a mission.
seven
Rhett
“Charlotte, you look evenmore beautiful than I remember.” The scowl she throws my way would make a lesser man back down, but not me. I’m here to win the woman of my dreams back. “I missed you.” I reach for her hand, then pull back when I see her flinch just like a skittish horse.
“I don’t have all day for your bull shit, Rhett. Speak your peace so we can both get back to living our lives apart.” The sadness in her eyes doesn’t match the bite of her words, and I wonder how deeply I hurt her by leaving her without waking her up and either taking her with me or at least telling her I’d return.
“I fucked up. I wish I could make all the pain from the last four weeks go away, but I can’t.”
“Who said I’m in pain? If you remember correctly, I was the one who only wanted one night with you.” I begin to see the cracks in her tough girl act by the way her shoulders drop, making me want to wrap my arms around her and tell her I’ll never leave her again. But I don’t have the right, at least not yet.
“I know, but I made a promise to you that night.” I pause, waiting for the confusion to clear from her eyes, but it never does. “I promised to teach you how to ride a horse. I came to see you today to settle that promise.” It’s not much to cling onto, but I hope it’s enough for her wounded pride to accept and let me spend more time with her.
“Really, Rhett. Don’t you think that’s a waste of time? Besides, maybe I’ve moved on and my new boyfriend won’t appreciate my old fuck buddy teaching me how to ride.” She crosses her arms over her chest and juts her chin in the air—my beautiful, stubborn cowgirl.
The pain in her voice hits me right in the heart, but at least there's passion behind her words and not indifference. I can work with even a small amount of emotion.
“Come on. Let me do this for you.”
Reluctantly, she agrees. Uncrossing her arms, she follows close behind as I lead her to my truck, the Mountain Man Challenge long forgotten, not that it was ever my main focus.
We ride in silence to my ranch. It isn’t until we reach the main road leading to my house that she perks up, her eyes taking in all the scenery around her. When we pull in front of my house, she finally speaks. “You have a beautiful home.” She sighs, and I want to tell her it’s all hers—everything I have is hers for the taking.
“Thank you.” Proceeding with caution, I jump out of my truck, jog around to her side, and open the door for her. “This way.” I press my luck and take her hand, lacing my fingers with hers. She doesn’t pull away, so I take it as a small victory as I lead her to the barn where my horses are waiting for us.
“This is Jilly Bean." I pet the horse's nose in the stall in front of us. “And that guy over there is Brutus.” I nod toward the next stall. “They are the reason I was in Cherry Blossom Falls that night. I was supposed to pick them up then, but the owner had a family emergency and postponed the pickup until the next morning. He sent me a text early that next morning saying he only had a small window of time when he was available for me to pick up the horses. I didn’t want to wake you up since we had been up most of the night.” She blushes at my words as if she’s remembering why we were up all night. “I thought I would get back to the hotel before you woke up. But when I got back, you were gone. I searched for you for four weeks, going back to Cherry Blossom Falls every chance I had to look for you, but noone would tell me where you were, and I didn’t know your last name or your phone number.”
“How did you find me then?”
“After four weeks of dead ends, Delores finally took pity on me and told me you’d been in my hometown this whole time.” I lift her hand to my lips and kiss it. “I think it was fate.”
Charlotte shakes her head, and my heart sinks. I’m too late--she can’t forgive me. “It wasn’t fate, it was Grandma Betty Sue.” She drops my hand and wraps her arms around my neck, pulling my lips down to hers for a kiss.
“I love you, Rhett.” She whispers against my lips.
