Page 25 of Untamed

“You ever see me leave with one?” I’m genuinely curious. Was she even paying attention? She says she saw them throwing themselves at me, but she didn’t mention how I slipped out of their grasp, too busy wishing River was the one looking at me.

“I guess not? I don’t know.” She hesitates. “I was honestly too pissed at you to pay that much attention.”

“But you were lookin’.” I smirk over at her. “I’ve changed a lot since you left, darlin’. I’m too old for that shit. I’m ready to act my age, find someone to love, ya know?”

She just nods, all serious now.

“What about you? You get close to settlin’ down while you were in the big city?”

Please say no. Please say no.

“Not really.” Her shoulders lift in a shrug, and her eyes move out to the land zipping past us. “I had a couple boyfriends here and there, but they weren’t what I wanted.”

“What do you want?” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. I want her to say me, dammit.

“I think I knew even when I was there that I wanted to be here.” Her head leans back on the headrest, and she looks over at me. “I didn’t want to be with some finance guy that couldn’t be bothered to get his hands dirty.”

“You want somethin’ a little rough around the edges, Riv?”

“I guess.” She laughs softly and keeps looking at me. Just…looking. It makes me self-conscious. What’s she looking for? “I guess I’m just hooked on cowboys.”

A little spark of hope kicks my pulse up. Maybe there’s still a chance that there could be something here. Maybe I didn’t fuck everything up all those years ago.

“Holy shit.” She whistles. “We’re gonna get stuck.”

We’ve pulled up to the field that gets all the runoff from the hills around it and can’t drain for shit. We don’t do anything with this piece of land, just use it for playtime whenever it rains.

“I take offense to that.”

“I know you don’t have the skills to get us out of there.” She grins and grabs hold of the netting with one hand and her seat belt with the other. “But by all means, cowboy, take us down.”

I know we are going to get stuck. There is no way in hell this man is going to be able to make a mess of this field and then not get stuck. Rhett is gonna be pissed when we walk back and ask for help. But I grin because that’s all part of the fun.

Hayes guns it, and we fly down the hill, bouncing with every little hole we run over. Mud splashes around us, soaking my jeans and boots, and we haven’t even gotten to the worst part of it. I’m laughing and squealing as Hayes spins us into mud pit after mud pit.

He shifts, pushes the gas pedal to the floor, and then turns us into a tailspin. I’m thrown into the netting to my right as mud flies up the side of the vehicle. I am drenched in mud. From my face to my arms to my boots. I am fucking covered, thanks to that little move.

We come to a stop, and I look over at Hayes, who is laughing his absolute ass off at me. He’s laughing so hard that he isn’t even making a noise. His face is red, and his hair is thrown all over his features.

And I just stare at him.

“I hate you.”

He laughs even harder at me.

“I hope you piss yourself laughing.”

He takes a deep breath and wipes the tears from his eyes.

“That shit was funny.”

“I hate you.”

“You said that already.” He’s still laughing, but he’s calmed down now. He leans across the middle and starts wiping the mud off my face. “You look pretty good all dirtied up, Riv.”

“Mhm,” I hum, not impressed with his compliments right now.

“You do!”

---