Page 14 of Rope Me, Cowboys

“I don’t think that,” Waylon said in a low voice, his eyes locked on mine. A jolt went through me, and my heart trembled. I found my gaze dropping to his smooth, angular mouth. His eyes explored my face, too, but he pulled away and turned to face the big house in front of us. He lifted his hat, ran a hand over his short black hair, and shook his head. “I won’t say anything if you don’t want me to,” he said. “But I don’t think you give my brothers enough credit.”

“Just give it a few days, until I’ve actually done something right. Then I’ll tell them.”

He nodded. “Good. We share everything. I don’t like keeping secrets.”

“Thank you.” And then, because I was feeling both grateful and daring, and a little crazy from the wild ride, I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on his scratchy cheek before slipping out of the vehicle and darting towards the house. I had worked up the courage to do that, but I didn’t dare look back until I was inside the house.

I ran up to my room to call Haley. “Oh my gosh, Amber,” she said. “How are you? I’ve been so bored without you. How’s Wyoming? Are the boys good, or are they little snots?”

“Um. One of them might be a big snot, but I think I’m growing on him,” I said, stepping up to my window and pulling aside the thin white curtain.

Waylon was sitting in the side-by-side, staring off, his fingertips resting against his cheek where I’d kissed him. A shivery feeling went through me again.

“Explain,” Haley demanded. I quickly filled her in on the details of the night before and that morning, including the incident of getting stuck on the fence. Since I knew she wouldn’t judge me, I didn’t hold back, and we were soon laughing our asses off.

When we finally recovered, Haley said, “At least one of us isn’t bored. I’d rather be sent off to a rehab ranch than stuck here on house arrest.”

“You’ll be fine,” I promised. “It’s just three months. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Nothing,” she agreed. “I’m not allowed to leave the house on my own. So nothing will happen here. And you’re in the middle of nowhere, so it’s not like you can get in trouble even if you tried.”

I thought of Sawyer’s blue eyes scoping me out. “Exactly,” I said.

“And if those boys act in any way but brotherly, I will break my house arrest and fly out there to personally kick their asses,” Haley added.

“I might not mind,” I said, remembering the hardness of Waylon’s thigh under my hand.

“Amber,” Haley shrieked. “You’re so bad!”

“You’re one to talk.”

She sighed. “I know. I’m sorry I got you into this mess.”

“No way,” I said. “It was my boyfriend who called the cops when we egged him. What a complete wuss.”

“I have to tell you something,” Haley said. “I should have told you sooner.”

My stomach flipped, and I gripped the phone tighter. “What? Did he call?”

“No,” she said. “Amber, it really was my fault. It was my idea to egg him. I’m so sorry. You might have been too drunk to know better, but I wasn’t.”

“Shut up,” I said. “I threw the eggs, too, didn’t I? I don’t think you made me do anything.”

“Yeah, but I got you arrested.”

“No more than I got you arrested. It was my boyfriend we were egging. He’s the one who got us both arrested.”

“Yeah,” she said. “But I’m still sorry.”

“Don’t even mention it,” I said. “You’d have done the same for me.”

And I knew she would. There was a reason we’d never been apart more than a few weeks. I could trust Haley with anything, could trust her to the ends of the earth. She’d never judge me for anything, from being arrested to getting caught on a barbed wire fence to thinking my own stepbrothers were total hotties.

14

Holden

After lunch, I realized I hadn’t seen Amber since that morning, when I’d peeked in her door and saw her slumbering on the pillows in the bed that used to be Waylon’s.