Redeemed Cowboy (Whiskey Valley Bryant Brothers)

He doesn't even look at the man standing in front of me; he's staring at me. "Are you ready to go?"

I nod, and he reaches for me, wrapping his hand around mine. He looks up at Brent. "Stay away from her, McCoy."

Brent smiles at me almost triumphantly and then at Ryan. "I don't see a ring on her finger." That seems to piss Ryan off even more, and he pulls me toward him, wrapping one arm around my shoulder. He doesn't say anything the whole way home. I open my mouth almost ten times to say something, but I close it each time.

Everything was perfect, and now it’s like he can’t wait to get rid of me fast enough. He drives faster than normal, and we’re back home at the Double B Ranch in no time.

Ryan hasn’t said a word the whole way. The way his hands are clenched around the steering wheel, I know he’s mad. He pulls up in front of the house and parks. He barely gets the truck into park, and I’m out before he can come around to get me. We meet at the front of his truck, and he falls in behind me. I hate that the night is ending this way. I should never have danced with Brent; it changed everything.

I step to the side, and he unlocks the door and lets me in. "Thank you for tonight, I had a really good time," I tell him. With my head down, I walk past him toward my room. I get almost there when I feel him following behind me.

Chapter 13

Ryan

The night started out so perfectly, and now it's gone to shit. When I saw Mia in Brent's arms, I was ready to kill someone. She was laughing and having a good time with him, and it was killing me on the inside. There is no way I can just stand by and let her go out with another man. How have I been a fool for so long? It was quiet the whole way home because I knew if I said something, I was going to say something I would probably regret. But now I'm following behind her because I can't be quiet any longer.

"Do you like him?" I ask her. I may not want to know the answer, but I need to know.

She’s just crossed the threshold to her room when she spins around and looks at me. "Like who?" She looks at me like she really doesn't have a clue who I'm talking about.

"McCoy. Do you like McCoy?"

She shakes her head. "No. I told you that we were friends."

"You sure act like you like him. You were slow dancing with him," I scoff.

"You say that like we were having sex or something on a dance floor. We were literally just dancing and having a fun time. I told you that we're friends."

I lean in closer to her and grit my teeth. "He was about to kiss you." If he had, I would have punched him right then and there. I wouldn’t have cared about my promise to King to represent the ranch in a good way. There’s no way I could have stood by and done nothing.

She puts her hand on her hip and looks at me defiantly. There’s a fire burning in her eyes. "So what? You kiss your friends."

I know she's talking about Rachel. "I don't have friends," I tell her.

She laughs, and it's almost sad the way she does. "Right, they're not friends, just fucks."

I rear back, surprised to hear that out of her mouth. I’ve never heard Mia cuss like that, and it tells me how upset she really is.

I grab on to her, and she tries to pull away from me, but I stop her by putting my hands on her shoulders and holding her in place. I move until we're not even inches apart. "I'm no good for you, Mia. I know that I'm not. I've done what everyone told me and stayed away from you. But I don't want to. I want you like I've never wanted anything in my life before. I can't just walk away."

She looks at me with surprise on her face. "What do you mean people told you to stay away from me? I don't understand."

"I like you," I tell her. "I like you a lot."

“That doesn’t...” she starts, but I don’t let her finish.

I lean in and kiss her because I can't hold back anymore. It's hard for me to say the things I feel, so maybe I can just show her. As soon as our lips meet, it's like it was the first time. It's hot and frenzied in an instant. Our tongues, our teeth, our lips all gnash against each other. We're breathless, and her hips are lifting, no doubt feeling the bulge between my legs pressed against her belly. I pull my mouth from hers. "I need to go.”

She grabs on to me in a death grip. "No," she says. "Please, Ryan, just one night. Show me what it's like to be loved. Please."

It doesn't even faze me that she uses the L word because I know that if I have her underneath of me, that's exactly what I'll be doing: I'll be loving her. "Are you sure?" I ask.

She steps out of her shoes and grabs the hem of her dress, pulling up over her body and off her arms, tossing it to the chair across the room.

She's standing before me in nothing but black panties and a matching bra. "I'm sure," she says. Maybe five minutes ago, I would've been able to walk out of here, but not now. Not after seeing her like this.

She looks as if she's been thoroughly kissed, staring back at me almost dazedly. "I can't walk away. I'm weak when it comes to you, Mia."