Page 28 of Untamed

“Shit. So it’s either Pops or Rhett.”

River shrugs again. “Up to you, cowboy. I plan on making your poor driving skills take the fall for this one.”

“That’s insulting.”

“If the shoe fits.”

I watch her for a second as we fall into silence. I’m kind of surprised we were able to kiss and then just move on like nothing happened. I got worried that once she pulled away, she was going to take off runnin’ again. But here she is, smiling and joking. It’s making me want to kiss her senseless all over again.

I’m not sure what came over me back there. That’s a lie. I’ve been wanting to kiss River since she came back to town — since I saw her standing at the bar wiping pint glasses. She came back into my life like a hurricane, and I haven’t been able to think about anything else since.

When she was laughing, joking around with me like old times, I couldn’t stop myself. Her tanned skin covered in mud and her hair sticking out and falling around her face — she looked beautiful. Perfect. I couldn’t help but pull her close and lay one on her. And when she kissed me back? Shit. I was a goner.

And so was my dick. He was up and ready to go in 0.5 seconds flat.

“What in the hell happened to you?” Rhett’s voice shakes me out of my thoughts as he and Sawyer, one of the ranch hands, approach us from over the hill. Should’ve known with my luck they’d be out this way.

“Ask your brother,” River says, immediately throwing me under the bus.

“I may have gotten the side-by-side stuck.”

“That’s embarrassing for you,” Sawyer says, leaning forward on his horse.

“Par for the course,” Rhett grumbles. “Alright, we’ll head back and get the truck. Y’all go sit with it. We’ll be right back.”

“No sense in makin’ the lady wait out in the rain,” Sawyer adds. “Hop on up, and I’ll take you back with us. You can get warm and cleaned up.”

Over my dead body is she getting cozied up with another man on a damn horse.

“She—”

“Thanks!” River looks over at me with a smirk. “I’d love that. I am pretty cold.”

“Don’t you think you should stay with me?” I ask her, an edge to my voice. “Probably should. What-if I start to get hypothermia and I need body heat.”

“It is not that cold out.” She laughs, and my skin burns when I see her hand slide into Sawyer’s.

“Then you’d survive staying out here with me.”

Sawyer helps her swing up onto the saddle behind him, and her thighs wrap snugly around his waist. Our eyes meet, and he gives me a smirk that makes my eye twitch as he pulls her arms around him. Rhett just watches it all happen with a knowing look on his face.

Why does everyone suddenly get off on watchin’ me suffer?

“You’re freezing,” Sawyer says over his shoulder. “Let’s get you back to the house.”

“You can take her to mine!” I try one last attempt at keeping some sort of control of the situation.

River raises an eyebrow at me.

“I’ve never been to your house.”

“So?” I shrug.

I want her to just go with it. Just go to my house, River. I want more time alone with her. I want to see if she’ll let me kiss her again.

“Just take me to the main house,” she tells Sawyer, still giving me a weird look. “My Jeep is there, so I can just head home and get ready for work.”

“You don’t have to be at work until later tonight. Go to my house. Hang out.”

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