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Cole let out a slow breath. “Wow,” he murmured.
“I didn’t lie to you, you know. I wanted you there. But after a few weeks, I knew it wasn’t going to work. You and I were nothing alike. We didn’t want the same things.”
“Like Chelsea?” he spat.
“Yes. Like Chelsea, and art films and those parties I’d take you to where you didn’t understand half the subjects being discussed. You were a cowboy, for godssake.”
Cole huffed out a laugh, but he knew it sounded more like he’d been punched in the gut. “You know what? That would honestly hurt my feelings if I thought that was really the reason you blew me off. But you’re a damn liar. You never intended for me to be anything more than your personal toy. After all, you weren’t going to take me to London and introduce me to that actor you were living with there, were you?”
She turned and met his gaze, and he couldn’t quite believe how untroubled her eyes were. She wasn’t ashamed. She didn’t feel guilty. “So?” she said. “It was good between us while it lasted. We had chemistry and excitement. We made each other happy for a few weeks.”
“What the hell does that matter?”
“You know why it matters. I want to do it again.”
Cole tossed the saddle onto the top rail and rolled his shoulders. “This is unbelievable. I can’t even talk to you.”
“What else do you have going on? You have to hang out with me anyway. Why don’t we both enjoy it to its fullest?”
“Why? Because you fucking humiliated me, that’s why. I had to stand there with flowers in my hand and beg to see you while your little lackey smirked at me. And then I was alone in L.A. with no work. And after all that, my—”
He cut himself off. She knew nothing about his father, and he couldn’t even blame that on her. That part was his responsibility.
“I apologize for embarrassing you, Cole. I didn’t intend to do that. If that’s what this is about, then let me make it up to you.”
“No,” he said. “That’s not what this is about, Madeline. Excuse me.” He pushed open the corral gate and tossed the bridle around the pinto she’d picked out as her own.
He could feel her eyes on his back. She was still looking for some weakness. Some opening to get what she wanted. She was good at that. He hadn’t realized it back then, and he knew now that he’d been shamefully easy to manipulate. A twenty-one-year-old kid who’d felt as if he was staring at the sun when he looked at her. Hell, he’d been all ego and testosterone and sex drive. A good ol’ country boy, just as she’d said.
He’d even told her that he loved her after she’d pulled a trick with her mouth he’d never experien
ced.
That was what he hated about her. Not for what she’d done to him, but for what he’d done to himself. What he hated about her was that she knew all of it. She knew that he’d bad-mouthed his friends. That he’d scoffed at the idea of being a cowboy for his whole life like his father. That the moment Madeline had crooked her little finger, Cole had walked away from a sweet girl who’d loved him.
“God, you’re a delicious treat,” Madeline had said that first night. He should’ve paid attention to her words. A treat. Not even a real person. Just something to be consumed.
He checked the cinches on the saddle and led the horse to the gate. “Need a hand up?” he asked gruffly.
“Sure.” She sounded subdued, but she’d slipped on her sunglasses and he couldn’t read her eyes.
“Bring him back to the barn.”
“Got it.”
Cole watched her ride off and told himself this would be over in a few days. Granted, they’d be back. But by then, Cole would be in a saddle and out on the range. No way was he taking on this job for actual production. Easy could take that idea and shove it up his ass.
And if he wasn’t able to ride…
“That’s not going to happen,” he muttered as he flipped open his phone. No signal out here at the corral, which was no surprise. Half the time he couldn’t even get one bar back in the yard. And he was less and less convinced that Grace would call anyway.
Maybe she’d tired of him the same way Madeline once had. Maybe he needed to find a girl who’d never known anyone but cowboys. He wouldn’t be such a damned disappointment then.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
SHE’D MANAGED NOT TO THINK about him today.
Okay, that was an out-and-out lie.
