Redneck Romeo (Rough Riders 15)

“After I invited you I realized I hadn’t been to the store. Since I spent most of the day at the rehab place in Spearfish, I picked up pizza, fried chicken and hot wings.” He headed to the fridge. “Want a beer?”

“Ah, no.”

“That’s right. You’ve never been a beer drinker. Sorry, but alls I’ve got is Coke.”

“Coke is fine. But the food—”

Dalton got right in her face. “Please tell me you haven’t turned vegetarian in the last three years?”

Tempting to lie to test his reaction, but she shook her head. “I’m not a vegetarian. I tried it for six months but couldn’t stand a life without bacon.”

“That’s no kinda life. Let’s get this stuff moved to the table.”

“It’ll be easier to dish up here.”

“Good plan.” Dalton didn’t back off. He remained in that too-close-for-comfort zone.

“What?”

“I thought about you a lot over the years. More than was healthy, that’s for damn sure. But those snapshots of you in my head didn’t do you justice. Here I am, standing in front of you. And honest to God, you are so beautiful I can’t think straight.”

Her stupid belly swooped. “Still the same bullshit charmer, I see.”

“No ma’am. I’ve told you that you’re beautiful before this.”

“I didn’t believe you then, either.”

Dalton followed her, step for step as she tried to retreat. “Don’t run from me, Rory. It’s long past time we both stopped running.”

His eyes were the bottomless blue that pulled at her like an ocean current.

He’ll suck you in, spin you around and spit you out.

That broke whatever weird hold Dalton had on her. She reached up and tugged hard on his beard. “Back off, Jeremiah Johnson.”

He laughed. “For now. But first, this.” He pressed his lips to hers in a gentle kiss that should’ve been chaste—but wasn’t. Not at all. He murmured, “I’m glad you’re here.”

This was the Dalton she remembered prior to the night everything had changed between them. As much as that comforted her—because she hadn’t seen this side of him in a long time—it also scared her; she’d never been able to resist this Dalton.

He backed off. “I’ll bet you’re starved after workin’ all day. Help yourself.”

“There’s a ton of food here.” She dished up KFC mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, green beans and macaroni salad.

Dalton poured her a Coke. “It’ll tide me over for a couple of days. Livin’ where I do, there’s no fast food. I don’t miss it, except for fried chicken. The frozen kind from the store never tastes as good.”

Rory added a slice of pizza to her plate and a breadstick. “When I went to college I lived on the fast food I’d been denied in my youth. I packed on the freshman fifteen in no time. I lost it all after I returned to healthy eating.” Why had she blathered that? And why was she acting nervous and jittery like this was a first date?

“It’s good to indulge sometimes.” Dalton sat across from her, his plate piled high.

“So what’s going on with your dad?”

He gave her the basic rundown, finishing with, “Freaked me out to see him like that.”

“Do you have any idea how long you’re staying?”

“There are things I’ve been putting off that I’ll deal with while I’m here.”

That wasn’t an answer. “How’d you end up living in Montana?”

“When I returned to the States after my European jaunt, I intended to settle wherever…” He paused and looked away. “Those plans fell through, so I spent the summer workin’ as a logger. Then a buddy who owns a hunting lodge in Alder needed a guide for elk season. I stayed on through the winter and did odd jobs to earn my keep. Went back to logging in the spring and throughout the summer. Then autumn rolled around again and I was back on guide duty.”

They ate in silence for a while. But she couldn’t stop thinking about how things had played out between them. The lies. The lust. The moment when all of that had come to a head and altered their friendship beyond repair.

“Rory?”

Startled, she glanced up at Dalton. “What?”

He gestured with his spork. “You’re pulverizing them poor green beans.”

She glanced down to see a smashed pile of green goo on her plate.

“What were you thinkin’ about that put you in a murderous mood?”

Do you really want to talk about this?

Yes. They’d avoided this subject for far too long.

Rory pinned him with a hard stare. “I was thinking about the summer after my senior year. Specifically that night you sweet-talked me into the cab of your pickup. The night you punched my V-card?”

Dalton choked on his beer.

“You didn’t even call me the next day. Then I left for college two weeks later. Is that night ringing any bells for you? Or as a McKay male have you popped so many cherries that you don’t even f**king remember?”

“Of course I remember.” He took another long swallow of beer. “I was an ass, okay? I was also twenty, with big plans to get laid at every opportunity.”

“I was just another opportunity to get your rocks off?” she demanded.

“I was a horny twenty-year-old,” he repeated. “Getting my fair share of ass is all I cared about. Do I wish I could erase the shitty things I’ve done? Especially to you? Absolutely. You want me to apologize? Fine. I’m sorry. I should’ve called you. But if I had, I probably would’ve asked if you wanted to hook up again and f**ked you against the pickup, just to mix it up.”

“That is not an apology, Dalton McKay.”

Dalton stared at her thoughtfully.

“What?”

“Maybe you’re not lookin’ for an apology from me. Maybe you oughta forgive yourself for bein’ a starry-eyed eighteen-year-old girl who let a punk-ass cowboy you trusted sweet-talk you out of your virginity.”

Had that really been her issue? Was it still her issue?

“If I could go back and do it over, I’d give you more than some fevered groping in the cab of a truck.”

He traced her hairline from her forehead to her ear.

Hey, when had he moved so close? And why wasn’t she pulling away?

“I’d romance you underneath the starry sky. I’d take my time with every inch of you and try not to set the world speed record for how fast I could get off. You deserved better and I knew it. I knew how lucky I was to even get with you.”