Page 29 of Untamed

I sound desperate, but the words just keep coming out without my permission.

“Hayes,” Rhett barks, interrupting my next word vomit of a sentence that was going to spew out of me. “Go back to the damn side-by-side. It’s rainin’. I’m tired of sittin’ here watching you beg.”

Ouch.

“Fine. But if I get hypothermia or somethin’, I want it known that it was River’s fault.”

“I’ll make sure it’s in the obituary,” Rhett tells me.

Feeling like a scolded child, I turn on my heel and make my way back to the stuck vehicle, River’s teasing face stuck in my mind the entire way back.

River

“You sure you don’t wanna go inside and dry off? Have somethin’ to drink?” Sawyer asks as I dismount the horse. “I’m sure Katherine has something in that kitchen.”

“I’m sure she does,” I say with a laugh. “But I’m good.”

He’s handsome, dark eyes and dark hair, a tan that proves he’s out in the sun every day of his life. And those muscles are toned from hard labor. But even with him putting on his best smile for me, I can’t stop thinking about the way Hayes kissed me back in the field. He made me feel like I was the center of his world, and I don’t think I could get that from anyone else.

“See you around, then, River. Maybe at the bar sometime.”

“Yeah, maybe.” I give him another polite smile and then slip away to the comfort of my Jeep. I should be interested in him. I should want the sweet looks and compliments. I really should try with someone who isn’t Hayes.

Instead, I just climb into my Jeep and give him a little wave, signaling he can head back out to help them get Hayes unstuck from the field. I start it up and turn the heat on. To be this cool in summer is a crime, but when you combine rain with the wind coming off the mountains, it’s downright frigid. And I do kind of feel bad for leaving Hayes out there by himself.

But I was too busy loving Hayes’ reaction to the way Sawyer touched me.

A knock on my window brings me out of my thoughts, and I roll the window down to let Sawyer lean on the frame.

“Somethin’ going on between you and Hayes?” he asks.

“Uh, n-no.” I can feel my cheeks heat. “No, we’re just friends.”

“Oh, okay. I just thought he was acting some sort of way, but I could’ve been seeing things. But this is a good thing.”

“Yeah?”

He smiles, his dark eyes lighting up just a bit.

“Yeah. Because now I can ask you out. I know I may have been a bit too subtle earlier. Blame it on being a little shy.”

“You?” I ask him, struggling to believe anyone that looks like him could be shy.

“Go out with me?”

My brain and my heart are at war right now. My heart is screaming that Hayes kissed me, and that means something. It doesn’t want me to abandon whatever it is that’s happening there or ruin it by going out with someone else.

But my brain is all logic, telling me that Hayes threw my love back in my face all those years ago and that the kiss means nothing. I mean, how many people over the years has Hayes kissed anyway? Too many to count, I’m sure. It probably meant absolutely nothing to him.

It was just the moment getting the best of him. We’re just friends.

So in the end, my brain wins because it puts up a far better argument.

“Um, sure.” My stomach flips as the words come out. I immediately regret it. But Hayes and I are friends now. I have to get past this stupid crush I have on him, or I’ll never meet someone.

“Don’t sound so excited.” He grins, his eyes playful.

“Sorry, you just caught me off guard. I mean, look at me.” I gesture to my body and how I’m covered from head to toe in mud. “I don’t think I look super appealing right now.”

---