Page 16 of Faking it with the Cowboy

Maybe because I’d had my cock buried deep inside her just a few hours ago. Three times, if I’d kept an accurate count. Something had changed between the deepest, darkest hours of the night and now. I didn’t want to let her go without knowing exactly what it was, and even more importantly, how to fix it.

“I texted you the details of the wedding next weekend. I’ll see you then.” She picked up her overnight bag and made her way to the door.

“So this is goodbye?” I couldn’t even walk her to her car since my jeans were still full of mud and sitting on the front porch of the cabin.

“It’s not goodbye.” She paused, her hand on the doorknob. “It’s more like see you in a few days, right?”

“Can I have a hug?” I felt like a sack of shit for asking. This wasn’t how I pictured our goodbye. I figured we’d spend most of the day together before she had to head home. Maybe even take another ride on Swifty out to a private spot by the creek where I could make her all kinds of promises about the future.

“Of course.” She stepped into my outstretched arms and rested her cheek against my pec.

I wanted to pause the moment in time. It felt like I was on the verge of having to let her go when I hadn’t even had her in the first place.

“So I’ll see you on Saturday?” I held the sheet with one hand and lifted the other to smooth down her hair.

“On Saturday.” She pulled back and briefly met my gaze. I didn’t like what I saw in the depths of her eyes. Uncertainty mingled with regret. “I’ll see you then.”

Jericho had always been hesitant to try new things. It took me all summer long to convince her to try a caramel-filled drumstick instead of ordering the plain one from the ice cream truck that used to drive past the swimming hole when we were kids. Sensing the best thing to do would be to give her some time, I tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Drive safe and let me know when you get home, honeybee.”

She nodded, then disappeared through the doorway, pulling it closed behind her. I watched through the front window as she made her way to her car and stuffed her bag into the trunk. Two minutes later, and the only sign that she’d even been there was a set of tire tracks and a cloud of dust.

She was gone.

11

JERICHO

Iwent through the week with a chip the size of Texas sitting on my shoulder. Going to Oklahoma and spending the weekend with Birch had been a mistake. Not because I didn’t enjoy our time together, but because I did. I’d been so stupid to not recognize him as the love of my life when we had all the time in the world together. Now that my heart and head had finally synced up, he was out of my reach.

He had a whole life in Oklahoma while mine was four and a half hours away. It would never work. There was no future for me in rural Oklahoma, just like there was no future for him in downtown Dallas. Though I missed living in the country, there weren’t any jobs there. Not unless I wanted to be a ranch hand. That’s what prompted me to go to college in Austin and move away. Birch and I might have discovered the start of something special between us, but there was nowhere for it to go.

“Are you getting excited about the wedding?” Tessa stopped by my desk and pulled me out of my pity party for one. “Scott took me shopping last weekend, and I bought a new dress. He spoils me rotten sometimes, I swear.”

“I can barely wait.” Forcing a smile, I turned away from my computer to face her.

“Well, I can barely wait to meet your man. You said you went up there over the weekend, right?” Her eyes sparkled like she couldn’t wait to hear all the juicy details.

“Yeah, it was great.”

“When’s he coming in town?” She waggled her perfectly penciled-in brows.

The thought of spending another weekend with Birch, knowing he’d never be mine for good, would be too much to take. I’d been thinking about it for the past few days and as much as I wanted to pull one over on Scott, besting my ex wasn’t worth the price of a broken heart.

“You know, I’m not sure he’s going to make it.” I took a deep inhale through my nose and tried to keep my voice steady. “Keeping things going long distance has been tough on us.”

“Aw, you poor thing.” Tessa reached out and put her hand on my shoulder. “I had to end a relationship because of distance before. It’s difficult enough trying to keep a relationship going at all, much less with hundreds of miles between you.”

Having my ex’s current fling offer me comfort was such a weird turn of events. I rolled my desk chair back, away from her touch. “Yeah. I’m going to tell him not to come.”

“You’ve got to do what’s right for you.” Tessa nodded in sympathy. For a moment, I tried to forget she’d gone behind my back and started seeing Scott while we were still together. At one point, she’d been a good friend, and I could use one of those right about now.

“Why the long face?” Scott passed by and twisted his smirk into an over-exaggerated frown. “Lover boy backing out of the wedding this weekend?”

“Jericho can’t handle the distance any more,” Tessa offered. “She’s calling it off.”

“That’s too bad. It’s almost like it never happened at all.” He shot me an I’m-onto-you look as he came up behind Tessa.

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