Page 6 of Make Me Blush (Oil Barrons 3)

There was a beat of silence before he sputtered, then dissolved into wheezing laughter.

“Thanks a lot, fucker.” I kept rotating my mug.

“Seriously?” He coughed to catch his breath and pounded the table. Heads turned toward us, but most people knew Stetson and weren’t fazed by his jovial nature.

“She got a message, said she had to go, and bailed. Like, she’d barely pulled her pants up before she raced away.”

“Your skills are getting dull.”

Nope. She’d come so fast and hard that I’d ended up coming just as fast and hard. We barely had time to steam up the cab. We’d gone from light kissing to devouring each other. She had unbuttoned my jeans and things went lightning fast after that. I’d spun her around and yanked down her soft leggings, and damn. She’d been hot and soft in all the best places. In fifty years, I may never forget the peaches-and-cream smell of her hair.

“I barely got more than her name. I swear, she was a pro at bailing. She’d put you to shame.”

He didn’t take the bait and get offended. “She would not, because I actually date the girls I sleep with. You, sir, do not date. Sounds like this girl doesn’t either.”

“Whatever. I got played.”

“Don’t feel good?”

I glowered into the amber liquid. “I don’t know why I care. It wasn’t like I learned anything about her, other than she went to college in Grand Forks and is divorced.”

His eyes narrowed. “How divorced?”

My mood darkened. “Newly divorced.”

“There ya go. Don’t take it personally. Some other guy fucked her over.” Stetson inspected me. “So, why aren’t you glad she nailed and bailed?”

“Not used to it, I guess.” I’d told myself that whoever I was with knew the deal. I wasn’t looking for a relationship, I wouldn’t be looking for a relationship, and I wasn’t open to being changed. There wasn’t a magic pussy out there that would convert me.

But there was a moment of disappointment when I propositioned Em and she’d accepted. I’d almost wanted to sit and get to know her better. She hadn’t given out identifying information, but she’d been open and easy to talk to. We’d skipped past the awkward small talk where we scrabbled to find common ground and went straight to easy laughter.

She liked watching college football better than the NFL, and despite where she went to college, her favorite was the NDSU Bison. When I said she must be local since she pronounced bison with a Z and not an S like the rest of the world, she said she’d grown up a few hours away from Crocus Valley. Which could be anywhere in the state.

I hadn’t thought having sex would be the end of the night. I had been wrong.

And I’d wanted to cuddle, dammit. I didn’t cuddle. I didn’t spend enough time in bed to hold someone. Too many reminders.

There it was. The reason I was so salty. A tiny crack had opened in my willingness to get to know someone again, and I’d been shut down hard.

“So, about the team.” Stetson wasn’t giving up. He was the biggest nag when his mind was set on something.

Stetson knew my hang-ups. He wouldn’t put me in charge. All I had to do was be the fun guy and make sure kids got into the right positions. I could do that. “You fucking owe me if I do this.”

His cocky grin made me want to shove him off his chair. “Knew you’d do it. Practice starts tomorrow.”

* * *

Stetson shoved a clipboard at me. “Want to make sure we have all their emergency information while I run through and see who wasn’t here last year?”

I could handle that. We were surrounded by scrawny little kids. They’d get introduced to us, learn about the positions, and then get their gear. In an hour, I’d have one practice down, too many fucking more to go.

I read the list of names. Most I recognized from around town. I’d gone to school with their parents or now did business at their folks’ places of work. If they didn’t have parent names filled in, I could do it. I’d have to grab a few phone numbers. I hit one name that was missing an address.

Huh. I didn’t recognize the last name. With the oil refinery, the gasification plant, and the coal mine nearby, Coal Haven had several families coming and going.

I walked down the line. “Landon Halliwell?”

A small boy raised his hand, his eyes wide like he thought I was going to flog him in front of the team. He had a mop of dark hair that made his eyes look a lighter brown than they were.

---