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“Open and find out.”
He took the box and his big fingers fumbled, but he finally managed to tear the brown paper I’d taped around it and pulled out the simple gold cardboard box inside. He cracked it open.
Reece’s eyes immediately shot up to me in surprise. “Holy shit, how do you have this?”
“I kept hold of it since it was the only thing we had left of her.”
Reece gingerly lifted our mother’s tiny gold locket out of the box. “How? You’re telling me you had this the whole time? Even when we were broke in San Fran? You never pawned it?”
I swallowed and looked away from him. “I always took care of us, didn’t I? We never starved. A family is supposed to have heirlooms to pass down.” I shrugged. “And it’s just gold-plated. Don’t get too excited, it’s probably not worth much.”
“Well, Jesus, I’m not gonna sell it now, I’m just saying!”
“I thought you could give it to Charlotte.”
He nodded and gently dropped it back into the little box. “It’ll mean so much to her.” He looked up into my eyes. “It means a lot to me. Jesus, even more knowing you held onto it considering everything…” He’d trailed off and then met my eyes again.
“Will you finally tell me what happened during the six weeks you disappeared?”
I closed my eyes and took another long swig of wine. No need to replay that part of the day. Wasn’t anything to say about it anyway. I shut Reece down like I always did whenever he ever brought it up, turned my horse around and said we needed to get back because the women would be back soon. I’d been right, too, because as soon as we’d finished brushing down the horses, Charlie had pulled in with Ruth in tow.
The rest of the day had been a whirlwind, getting the chairs delivered and stored in an unfinished room of the house, putting together the platform where the ceremony would be performed, helping the big tent guys get it out of the truck and up, lining out where the chairs would be staged, and finally, doing the rehearsal run through of the ceremony.
Tomorrow I’d be walking down with Ruth on my arm as one of Charlie’s bridesmaids, but today I’d just walked with Olivia since Ruth had still been busy working on some finishing touch or other. But still, it had been special standing beside my brother watching on as Charlie held a cluster of rolled newspapers as a stand-in for her flowers, two-stepping down the makeshift ‘aisle’ they’d marked out on the grass on her father’s arm. I swore I’d never seen Charlie grinning bigger than when she’d walked that aisle toward my brother.
I’d looked out and seen in the waning sunlight that even Ruth had stopped her nonstop running around to watch them run through the ceremony. Xavier was officiating—he’d done the online certificate thing, and to hear the big man’s voice booming out the wedding vows, followed by Charlie’s sweet voice and then my brother’s… Well, it was enough to even get to me. And I usually considered myself the least sentimental bastard on earth.
But watching my brother gaze with the most sincerity I’d ever seen on his face as he stared into his woman’s eyes—it hit me. Hit me deep.
And then we’d all loaded up and headed into Austin and this posh restaurant that I knew was mostly for Charlie’s parents than for anyone else. If it had just been us, we woulda likely had the rehearsal dinner somewhere like the Salt Lick, one of the most famous BBQ places in the hill country. Somehow, I didn’t think finger-lickin’ good BBQ would have appealed to the pretentious Mrs. Winston’s standards. Ruth had still booked them to cater the wedding tomorrow though, cause she knew what real Texas folks expected at a wedding, no matter how supposedly “posh.” She’d also contracted with a local tearoom to have cucumber sandwiches. The woman knew how to cover her angles.
I had to say, Ruth was an impressive woman, and I wasn’t just saying that about the way she’d been captivating me carnally lately. It was half the damn reason I couldn’t get her outta my damn head. A pretty face and a tight body were fairly a dime a dozen. But a woman of quality, who challenged you in and out of the bedroom… or the truck cab as it were…
Fuck, my pants were getting tight under the elegant tablecloth just remembering. My eyes drifted across the table to the siren in question. She was seated across from me, sitting there beside Charlie. The two of them had their heads together and were giggling about something, but Ruth caught me looking at her, and if it was possible, her cheeks went even rosier.
Goddammit, she was the most stunning woman I’d ever seen in my entire life. Like, kudos to my brother and all, but Charlie didn’t hold a candle to Ruth’s vivacious firecracker energy. She was so full of life.
It had been hard to keep my hands off her all day. Only being busy myself and knowing she barely had a second to spare as it was had kept me away. But now, feeling so loose, and watching the way her hair shone under the lights of the sconces, and hearing her bell-like laughter ring out every few moments from something Olivia or Charlie said…
I pushed back from my chair as the servers brought out dessert.
“Where you off to?” Reece asked.
“The little cowboy’s room,” I deadpanned and he laughed, but at the last second, I shot a quick glance Ruth’s way. I didn’t miss the way her eyes flared at my look, and I moseyed over to the bathrooms, taking my time.
When I heard footsteps behind me as I got to the dark alcove where the restrooms were located, I grinned. Especially when I felt small, feminine hands slip into the back pockets of my Wranglers. “Where you headed, cowboy?”
I spun and there Ruth was, reading my mind just like I hoped she would. I opened the door to one of the two restrooms and slammed it shut behind us. Ruth was right there with me, flicking the lock at the same time the motion-sensor lights flickered the lights on.
Her hands were on the lapels of my suitcoat and she was dragging me toward the narrow counter. “God, I’ve been dying to get my hands on you all day,” she whispered hungrily, and naturally, my cock jerked all the way to attention at hearing her throaty admission.
She hopped up on the counter, tugging me between her legs and wrapping them around my waist as her dress bunched up. God, I loved how perfect that felt. How natural. How the entire day felt like it had been leading to this moment.
I leaned in to kiss her, but she leaned back even as she linked her arms around my neck, a sly smile on her face. “God, you have no idea how much I want to kiss you and then fuck your brains out. But we haven’t had a chance to talk all day. How are you? I saw you and Reece coming in with the horses.” She withdrew her arms but only so she could run her fingers through the hair at the sides of my head, her nails digging into my scalp. “Did you guys have a good talk?”
I swallowed hard and leaned my weight slightly into her. I’d never really experienced this. The feminine softness of someone touching me like this, wanting to hear about my day or know how I was. Maybe it was the wine addling my head, but suddenly this—Ruth—she was all I wanted.
All I’d ever wanted, if I was honest. I leaned my head to the side, so that my cheek was in her palm, my eyes closed. Fuck, but her hands were soft. She grew up doing work as hard as I did every day but her hands were still somehow soft. And they smelled good, like she used some sort of flowery lotion. It made my cock even stiffer, and positioned between her legs like I was, one probe of my hips had me nestling into her heated sex, only my jeans and the skirt of her dress separating me from conquest.
