The Line, page 14
After an hour of hard riding, Beast was running out of steam. We came to a stop on a huge hill at the front of Preston’s property. The peach orchard was below us, the big house sprawled out behind it. The pink sun dipped behind the house as it set. I loved this farm like it was mine. Moving back here hadn’t been a hardship after Marla and I had split. I’d never felt at home with her. This place was home. Joe was home.
I heard the familiar sound of hooves pounding the ground behind me, but I didn’t turn around. I had known she’d eventually find me. She always did.
Eve and I had continued our easy friendship, and easy is exactly what I would call us. We just clicked. I still wanted her like my next breath, and I’d spent more than one night stroking my cock to the memories of what had happened in my truck. But our friendship was one that I valued above all else. Over the course of the summer, she had become my very best friend, my confidant, and the person I counted on more than anyone else. She’d come to mean something very special to me.
I continued to stare out over the property while Eve pulled Beauty to a stop beside me and Beast. I watched her admire the property, her eyes wide with wonder.
“Looks like a painting or a movie,” she said quietly, admiring the view. “Sometimes, I feel like this place is all a dream. Like I’m going to wake up any minute and be back at Momma Lou’s, in my tiny bed.”
“Do you miss her?” I asked.
“Every day.” She answered.
I nodded slowly. I knew a thing or two about missing people.
“But I can always just go see her, right? She’s only a couple of hours away.” She cleared her throat and looked over at me. “How far away is Grey, Cole?” she asked solemnly.
Nope. I wasn’t doing this.
“No, Everly. I don’t want to have this conversation, and you should stop your damn spying.” I pulled my hat off and scrubbed a hand through my hair. “I heard you in Beauty’s stall.”
She huffed. “I was hardly spying. I was already in the barn when you and Joe came in.”
“You need to mind your own damn business sometimes. You’re always meddling and putting your nose where it don’t belong.” I was on a roll now, so I just kept going, getting it all off my chest. “I know what you’ve been trying to do since you got here, Everly,” I accused. “And I know what you’re doing now. So just cut it the fuck out. I’m not in the mood.” I put my hat back on a little harder than necessary.
She pursed her lips. “Oh? Well, then please enlighten me. What am I doing, Cowboy?” She put a hand on her hip, tilting her head to the side in that “go on, tell me” kind of way.
So I did. “You’ve been trying to make me happy, always trying to cheer me up and make me smile.” It came out like an accusation because it was. And I sounded like a child, but I didn’t want to be fucking happy. I wanted to be mad as hell, and I wanted to stew in it. “For fuck’s sake, woman, let a man brood sometimes!” I yelled.
I expected her to get offended—maybe lash out at me. And I was spoiling for a fight. Everly seemed like the perfect target.
I didn’t get that though. She only sat astride Beauty looking like a Southern goddess. She took her hand off her hip and grinned—all damn smiles and rainbows and unicorns and shit—the hat I’d given her perched on her head like she’d been born with it there.
She was growing into this place like it was a second skin. And it was too damn gorgeous on her. She wore this farm like a beauty queen wore a tiara—she fucking owned it.
She leaned closer like she was going to tell me a secret. “Oh, see, that’s where you’re wrong, Cole. I stopped trying to make you happy a while ago.” She beamed at me. “Now, I just am. I am making you happy. I am making you smile. And it’s the most beautiful, wonderful thing I’ve ever done in my life. So, no, I’ll never stop,” she said with conviction. She backed away from me and leaned close to Beauty’s ear. Then she gave the horse’s torso a squeeze with her legs and a few clicks of the tongue before ordering, “Let’s go, Beauty!” And they were off, leaving me and Beast in the dust.
I was stunned. Everly still never ceased to surprise me, even after we’d spent practically every day together for over a month. But she wasn’t wrong. I smiled at her and Beauty as they galloped through the field. Everly’s head was low, her brown tresses blowing in the wind. The sun was kissing her now-brown skin. She made me feel a lightness in my chest, and I wondered how Joe and I had ever survived without her. It seemed like the sun rose and set with her.
Damn her. She was right. She was making me happy.
I was like the darkest, coldest night and Everly was the sun.
Her light shining on me.
Her heat searing through me.
Forcing me to wake the fuck up.
To live again.
And, God, I wanted her sun. It felt so good to stand in it.
I couldn’t resist her. I never stood a chance. And I didn’t want to anymore.
“Yaw,” I commanded, giving Beast a nudge with my heels, and he darted forward, trailing Beauty and Everly.
I was chasing the sun. Even if it killed me, I’d run it down.
I skipped down the steps and ran into the kitchen, hoping to grab a drink and a fast lunch before I went to the stables.
“Oomph,” I grunted as I slammed into a wall of a solid muscle.
“Where you headed to so fast, sugar?” Cody asked, his hands on my shoulders.
I smiled. “Cole and I are taking the horses swimming this afternoon.” I rocked up onto my toes in excitement.
“Better make sure you eat and drink enough before you head out there. It’s a hot one today,” he said as he removed his hat. His hair was soaking wet.
“Whatchu been doing today?” I asked, looking at his belt.
“Working.” He raised his eyebrows.
It had become this thing with me and Cody. Me and his belt buckles. He loved to see my reaction to them. Everyone else around here was used to his craziness.
I read it out loud, squinting. “Place forehead here.” There was a picture of two hands pointing to the center of his belt buckle. I finished reading. “And blow. Sobriety Test.” I chuckled. “Classy, Cody.” I pursed my lips.
“Thought you’d like this one.” He laughed.
We made our way into the kitchen and started making sandwiches.
He placed some bread in the toaster. “Fuck, I’ll be happy when the season is over. I’m exhausted.”
“How’re things with you and Beau?” I asked before popping a chip into my mouth and taking a seat at the table.
“About the same, I guess.” He sat across from me and frowned at his food.
I hadn’t had a chance to ask Cody about what happened at the bar when we’d gone out, but I had a feeling that, whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
“I noticed that you guys disappeared at the bar.” I took a bite of my sandwich.
Cody finally looked up at me.
“Did y’all talk?” I asked.
“We didn’t really talk, per se.” He seemed thoughtful.
I grinned. “Well, what happened?” He was making me work for it.
He smiled back at me. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Yes, the hell I would, which is exactly why I asked,” I sassed.
Cody raised his eyebrows. “Speaking of disappearing at the bar.”
I shook my head. “Uh uh. No way. We aren’t talking about me. We’re talking about you and Beau. Quit trying to deflect.”
“Deflect from what?” someone said behind me.
I turned around and found Cole standing in the kitchen looking at us.
“Nothing,” I said, feigning nonchalance. I did not want to talk about that night again. It’d been embarrassing enough the first time.
“Everly was just explaining where she went to the night we were at Jack’s.” Cody batted his eyelashes at me and smirked.
Rat bastard.
“Oh,” Cole said, opening the fridge and removing a bottle of water. “I heard it had something to do with a prize bull.” He smiled behind the bottle of water.
I felt myself turn twenty different shades of red. “Okay!” I said a little loudly, jumping up from the table and then chucking my plate in the sink. I put my arm through Cole’s and proceeded to drag him to the front door. “I think it’s time for us to go. Bye, Cody.” I waved on my way out of room.
“We’ll talk about this later, Everly!” Cody called.
I pinched Cole’s arm when we made it to the front porch. “That was dirty, Cole. How could you do that? I thought we agreed to never bring that up again!” I fanned my hot, red face with my hand.
Rubbing his arm where I’d pinched him, he smirked down at me. “We never agreed to that.”
I gaped at him pointedly. “I did.”
He laughed. “Are you excited to swim the horses today?”
I was more than excited. After our spat yesterday about me meddling, the last thing I’d expected was for Cole to chase me down and ask me to take a ride with him today. The way he’d asked had been surprisingly sweet, almost like he had been asking me on a date. Hey, a girl could dream, anyway.
“So excited. But I thought we were meeting at the stables?” I asked.
Cole grabbed my hand and pulled me through the small shed that held the four-wheeler. “I couldn’t wait. I was excited too.”
He hopped onto the ATV, and I climbed on behind him. There was a big difference between the first time I’d been on the four-wheeler with Cole and now. I hadn’t really known my cowboy back then. He’d only been a fantasy—and memory. Now, I felt as though I knew him like the back of my hand. He was achingly familiar. Pressed as close to him as I could get, l laid my head on his back and wrapped my arms tight around his waist. His rigid body relaxed, and he patted my hand with his before taking off.
We hardly spoke as we saddled up the horses and made our way to the shallow creek that ran around the backside of the property. That was the thing with me and Cole. We joked, we fought, we talked, and sometimes, we didn’t, but there was always an ease between us, a comfort that came naturally.
Cole was ahead of me as we approached the creek, and excitement thrummed in my veins.
“Wait,” I called. I stopped Beauty, giving her a pat. “Good girl,” I cooed.
Cole stopped right at the edge of the creek and turned Beast around to me, confusion on his face.
I shook my boots off into the grass on either side of Beauty. I unbuttoned my flannel and threw it next to my boots. Then I checked the ties at the back of my bikini top to make sure they were firmly in place. I’d embarrassed myself in front of Cole enough to last a damn lifetime; I didn’t need to add flashing him to the long list.
The wrinkle between Cole’s eyebrows deepened. “What in God’s name are you doing, woman?” he demanded.
I shrugged. “Getting ready to swim with the horses?” I looked at my cut-off jean shorts and my pink bikini top. What was his problem?
Big guffaws of his laugher echoed out into the open air, and I jumped a little in surprise. What in the hell was he laughing at? Cole clutched his stomach and gasped for air before his ridiculous laughter started up again.
“What in the hell is so funny, Cowboy?” I gritted out, glaring at him.
“Oh, Eve,” he chuckled out, wiping tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes. He and Beast trotted towards me and Beauty. “Sometimes, I don’t know what I would do without you.” He smiled genuinely.
Even though I was spitting mad, butterflies swarmed my belly.
“You, Everly Woods, just like the small town, just like the train station I met you in four years ago. You. You’re the only reason I get out of bed every day.” His warm eyes were on mine. “You do make me happy, and I hope you never stop.”
My throat was tight. My eyes burned with unshed tears. And those butterflies in my belly swarmed out of my stomach and into my heart. I clenched the reins to keep from trying to catch them before they flew right out of my chest. I did my best to contain the wobble in my chin, the tremble in my lips.
Cole had said a lot of wonderful things to me four years ago and this summer, but never had anyone, even Cole, said something so beautiful to me in all my life. And, for once, I was rendered completely speechless.
He cleared his throat in that way he did sometimes when he was uncomfortable and had said too much. He grinned. “Baby, we ain’t taking you swimming.” He laughed again. “We’re taking the horses swimming, which is really just a fancy way of saying that we’re gonna let them walk around a bit in that creek water that’s so shallow it won’t even touch our feet, so they can cool off.” He ran his gaze the length of my neck to my breasts, where he kept it for just a second too long.
He looked back to my eyes and winked. “But I ain’t mad about that swimsuit, so don’t go getting dressed again on my account.” His eyes burned a hot trail down to my breasts again.
My nipples hardened beneath the thin material. I wanted to cover them in embarrassment, but instead, I straightened my back, pushing my chest out farther, and moved Beauty towards the creek so she could cool off. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of putting my shirt back on after the way he’d picked on me. Besides, I wanted to torture the hell out of him. He wanted me, I could tell, and it made me high. The realization settled on me hot and heavy, and I was intoxicated with the knowledge.
Cole and Beast joined us in the creek, but hardly a word was said while the horses walked through the water. The air around us was thick with sexual tension—or, better yet, frustration. Because, yeah, I was frustrated as hell. The only consolation was that Cole was a hell of a lot more frustrated than I was. He couldn’t keep his eyes off my body. Every move I made, he watched, his eyes like fire on me. They traced the outline of my bikini top time and time again only to dip lower to the smooth expanse of skin above my low-riding jean shorts.
It didn’t help that Cole looked gorgeous in the sun, sitting astride that big, black horse like he’d been born a damn cowboy. He walked Beast through the water with a practiced ease that said he’d done it a thousand times over. The black hat on his head shadowed his face, making him seem mysterious and dark in a dangerous way that only made me want him more. With every pull at the reins, his biceps flexed and bunched, which pulled his black T-shirt tight across his arms and his huge chest. I didn’t know how he’d finagled himself into those jeans this morning, because good Lord, they were tight, but I thanked the sweet heavens he had. And those black cowboy boots he had on sealed the deal—Cole looked like a bad-boy cowboy today, and I couldn’t help but think of all the bad things I wanted him to do to me.
Cole and Beast made it out of the creek first and over to my pile of clothes in the grassy field. Beauty and I were right behind them. He climbed off the black horse and reached for my boots and my shirt.
Handing them up to me, he said, “Wanna put your clothes back on?”
I smirked. He wanted me to end this torture. I never wanted it to end.
I took the clothes from him. “No, I’m good. Thinking I could use a little sun on my shoulders,” I said.
His nostrils flared. His jaw ticked. Yes, my cowboy wanted me.
I slipped my boots on but laid the shirt over my lap.
We slowly made our way back to the stables. My breasts were heavy and achy, and with every step the horse took, they swayed and rubbed against the fabric of my bathing suit, which created the most delicious and punishing friction. But nothing compared to the sweet ache between my legs.
I was practically panting by the time we made it back. Cole and I quietly rubbed, fed, and watered the horses, the air still electric between us. Cole put out hay while I went to the four-wheeler to get the water cooler.
I perched myself against the wall, watching him work, and taking a sip of water. He finished up and joined me, leaning right next to me.
“Can I have some of that?” he asked.
I didn’t know if he wanted the water or me, but I passed him the cooler.
“Thanks,” he said, trying to keep his gaze off my body.
He took a few quick gulps of water and handed the water back to me. Cole stared as I lifted the cooler to my mouth once more and took long pulls. A little dribbled down my chin and my neck, falling onto the skin between my breasts. Cole watched that drop like it was the last bit of water on the entire planet.
“Fuck,” he said, closing his eyes and pressing his head back on the wall behind us.
His chest rose and fell quickly. Air whooshed past his lips as he seemed to come to some sort of decision. He opened his eyes and stood at his full height before removing his hat from his head and setting it on the ground. He placed himself right in front of me.
“You enjoying this game, Eve?” he asked, his eyes hot on mine—his face fierce. He was at his snapping point, and my dangerous cowboy was hot as fuck.
I arched an eyebrow. “What game?” But I was a liar. Hell yes, I was enjoying this game. Touch me, kiss me, take me, I wanted to beg. Instead, I stood there, a dare in my eyes. Do it, they said. Take what you want.
He placed his hands on the wall on either side of my head, effectively blocking me in, but he didn’t have to worry. I wasn’t going anywhere.
He brought his face to mine like he might kiss me, but he only ran his nose down the side of mine before breathing across my lips, “Take it off.”
I snapped my gaze to his, a little of the lust clearing my head. I looked around the barn. “But someone might—”
“Take it off. Now, Eve,” he demanded, his lips practically touching mine.
I loosened the strings that held my top up. The cups of my bikini fell forward, and I stifled a groan as the air kissed my nipples. I arched forward, offering them to Cole.
He hissed before running his pointer finger down the center of my chest, careful to not touch my breasts—careful to not give me what I needed. I arched more towards him as his finger trailed over my stomach and the length of my jean shorts before he grabbed my hand. He cradled it in his, just as he had the day he’d shown me how to pick peaches, and brought it to my breast, pressing my palm into the soft flesh.
