Page 72 of Falling for Her

His hands are in the pockets of his blue shorts, and his green polo pulls tight on his broad shoulders. His hair looks like he just ran his hands through it, and I can attest that it feels like silk. His stupid sunglasses are on, so I don’t know what he’s looking at, but his head is facing this direction, so maybe he is looking at me. Or maybe he’s not, the other side of my brain counters. I force myself not to hold up my hand to say hello to him. I imagine he really isn’t looking at me, and then I’m holding up my hand to no one. Talk about dying of embarrassment.

I turn my attention back to the conversation Collins and Everleigh are having about their pregnancies. There’s nothing I can add, so I just try to listen and not focus on the way that I can feel eyes on me.

“I’m going to go and get something to drink.” I get up. “Do you two need anything?”

“No, I’m good,” Collins says with a smile, and then Everleigh says the same thing.

I zigzag my way through the throng of people who have shown up. When Harmony called and told me about a barbecue, I thought it was going to be a small gathering. Instead, it feels like the whole town is here. I stop by one of the coolers, bending over to open the top. It is all beer, surrounded by ice. I move sideways, still bent over, to the other one, and it’s all soda. “What are you looking for?” I hear Lincoln’s voice and look over my shoulder. He’s right behind me.

“I’m looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” I tell him. “Fingers crossed I find it.” I hold up one of my hands with my fingers crossed. He shakes his head. “Do you want something to drink while I’m down here? There’s beer, soda, and water.”

He doesn’t answer. Instead, he reaches over me to grab two bottles. “You can stop bending over now,” I hear him mumble, but he covers it up. “Don’t want you to find that pot of gold. I still need you to watch Asa for the next couple weeks.”

I snort and take a bottle of water from him. “Some days he watches me.” I unscrew the top of the bottle and stop talking when Wyatt’s uncle, Charlie, comes over to us.

“There you guys are.” I smile at him. “Burke.” They shake hands. I look at Lincoln, who I’ve never once called Burke, and wonder if he’s irritated by that. “Asa told me that you guys want to go riding.” I laugh and look to the side. “He said something about doing it tomorrow.”

“Not sure about that,” Lincoln replies.

I know I should keep my mouth shut, but my mouth has a mind of its own. And its main focus is to piss Lincoln off. “That means no,” I interject. “He doesn’t trust the process.”

“I never said that,” Lincoln says, defending himself. “How was I supposed to know you were a rodeo queen?”

“Rodeo queen,” I scoff at him. “For your information, I won a silver medal at the Olympics for equestrian show jumping.” His mouth opens. “Yeah, so shove it, Mr.—” Charlie looks like he is fighting a smile. “I would love to ride more,” I tell him. “I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed it.”

“We’d be honored.”

Lincoln rips his sunglasses off, and I can see his brown-amber eyes. “You won a silver medal at the Olympics?” The shock in his voice is so evident. “Are you fucking with me right now?”

I look casually around before meeting his stare. “Trust me, when I’m fucking with you, you’ll know,” I repeat the words he told me yesterday, and wonder if his body has the same reaction mine did.

“Well, this is so much fun,” Charlie says. “I’m going to go”—he points over his shoulder with a thumb—“because I don’t know what is going on right now. And I want to be anywhere but here.” He chuckles. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He looks at me. “And I hope to see you too.”

“We’ll be there,” Lincoln says, shocking all of us, I think, including himself.

“I look forward to it,” Charlie replies before walking away, shaking his head and laughing.

“Did you really win a medal?” Lincoln asks me.

I roll my eyes. “Today is my day off. It’s a rest day, and you know what you aren’t supposed to do on rest days?” I wait a beat. “Get irritated. It defeats the ‘rest day’ title.”

“I thought weekends were for chilling.” He smirks. “Sit and chill.”

“It’s all the same process. Anyway, this was a lot of fun.” I need to get away from him because, sadly, the more he irritates me, the more I kind of like him. It doesn’t make sense, but it’s true.

“There you two are.” Just before I escape, a man with blue-gray eyes wearing jeans and a white T-shirt joins us. His brown hair is short in the back and longer in the front. He has stubble on his cheeks, and you can tell he works out. “I was wondering if I would be seeing you here.” He slaps Lincoln on the shoulder. “I’m Hudson.” He extends his hand to me. “You must be Finley.”

“That would be me.” I smile as I shake his hand.

“I’ve heard all about you.”

My eyebrows go up, and I look over at Lincoln, who shakes his head. “Not from me.” He holds out his hands.

“That’s a good thing,” I say. “He would probably exaggerate things.”

Hudson laughs. “You know him well.”

“Well, I have to get back to the girls. It was very nice meeting you, Hudson. I’ll see you around.”