Page 45 of Break Me Like a Promise (Oak Valley)

She dropped her head onto his chest and moaned.

“Yeah, I realized it this morning. So… sorry, not sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Ruby gazed at his body, gold in the morning light, the way his muscles flexed with every movement. She traced the space between his abs, his pecs, watching as goosebumps rose across his skin. He smiled at her, dimples coming to life, a light in his eyes she hadn’t seen in years.

This was it. This was everything she’d been waiting, hoping, for, without even realizing.

“I should get going, but I’d love to see you soon. Maybe this weekend?”

“Sure.”

His hand cupped her neck, pulling her down into a kiss. She drowned, mouth and body and heart opening to him. Ruby didn’t care that she had fallen, had never stopped. He was here, and right now, that was enough.

40

Cheers and Beers was filled with the usual town patrons, plus a small group of co-eds celebrating a twenty-first birthday. Colton was starting to settle into his role in Oak Valley, sending slight nods to the people he recognized and desperately trying to ignore the ones he didn’t. He knew he stood out — pro-athletics would do that — but he was getting comfortable with the fact he didn’t have to address it all the time.

Liam bounced the blue stripe into the pocket, aiming for the yellow stripe next. Archer had pulled him and Dragan out to meet the other guys for Taco Tuesday. One nice thing about being in his hometown was knowing who his friends were, that they didn’t just want him for association or money. They’d been with him since the start, and had proven they’d be there until the end.

Like Ruby.

His heart swelled at the thought of her in bed, legs wrapped around his. The way she moved pulling clothes on — or off, the way her nose crinkled when she laughed or her slight gap between her two front teeth made him fall for her all over again.

“Colt, you’re up,” Caleb nudged him.

“Sorry.” Colton stood, surveying the table. Liam knocked out a total of four stripes in his turn, which fortunately left a lot of open room for him to hit several solids. He saw the paths in his head and went to work.

“You could just pay attention,” Archer laughed.

“How’s Ruby?” Liam teased. While Colton didn’t kiss and tell, his friends knew what games were being played.

Colton noticed Caleb’s jaw clench.

He chuckled, keeping his eyes trained on his disapproving friend. “You know what, it’s… Amazing. Better than amazing. It’s like, we’ve been able to grow separately and change, but who we are now still fits like it did before. If not better.” He said the last part with a touch of anger, needing Caleb to look him in the eye. To see that whatever he disliked about Ruby, it didn’t matter. She was back.

The white ball followed the green solid.

“What does she think about San Francisco?” Dean piped in, taking his turn on the striped balls.

Colton caught Dragan’s eye, the only one of them who knew Ruby didn’t yet know about his plans. He knew if he told them the outright truth, they would call him out for being dishonest with her. And he didn’t need that right now.

“Well, she’s planning on traveling around and leaving Oak Valley, so she’s cool with it.”

Dean missed a ball, passing the torch to Archer.

“You haven’t told her.” Caleb’s voice was soft, but the strength was unmistakable.

The guys stopped drinking, eyeing the pool table, and looked at Colton.

He sighed. “No. I haven’t. It doesn’t make sense to until I know for sure the interview will come through.”

“Oh, dude,” Archer said, shaking his head. “Don’t you think you should at least give her a heads up? With your history…”

“I think you’re kind of leading her on, man,” Liam finished.

“Well, we agreed to just see where things go. I have the interview in two days, I’ll know by the weekend. Then I’ll cross that bridge.”

The tension was palpable, obvious that all of them disagreed with how he was going about it and one of them disagreeing on the person.

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