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By the time she’d danced with what felt like the entire town, she had agreed to help plan two weddings, a twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, a prom proposal for a shy sixteen-year-old, the Memorial Day and Fourth of July celebrations, and a funeral for a beloved hunting dog.
She was now sober and thoroughly pissed at Bobby Jay for making his margaritas so damn strong. Before she got any more jobs, she grabbed her phone and laptop and started for the door. But halfway there, the town bully stopped her.
“Hey there, beautiful.” Cob Ritter hooked an arm around her waist. “Where you goin’? The night is still young.”
“I’m not in the mood for an idiot tonight, Cob. So before I do what Cloe did last time you accosted her and relocate your balls between your ears, you might want to let me go.”
His smile faded and his beady eyes narrowed. “That won’t happen again. I’ve learned the Holiday sisters need a firm hand.” He tightened his grip and tugged her so close she couldn’t move her legs. “Now, honey, you don’t want to hurt the goods before you’ve gotten a sample, do you?”
Before she could grab the beer bottle sitting on the bar and bust it over Cob’s head, a deep voice spoke behind him.
“Let her go.”
Liberty peeked over Cob’s shoulder and saw Jesse standing there in his crumpled hat. He wasn’t wearing his usual cocky smile. He looked pissed. Real pissed. And Liberty wasn’t so happy herself.
“Well, if it isn’t the Ghost of Jesse Cates.”
He didn’t reply. His gaze remained narrowed on Cob who had turned around, but still had a firm hold of Liberty’s arm. “I said let her go,” Jesse repeated.
Cob grinned. “I don’t think—” He didn’t even get to finish before Jesse punched him in the jaw. Cob released Liberty and wavered on his feet for only a second before his eyes rolled back and he landed in a heap at her feet. Before Liberty could get over her surprise, Jesse took her hand and pulled her toward the door.
Once outside, she jerked free. “I don’t need you showing up and playing hero, Jesse Cates. So go on back inside and seduce all the women you want. Isn’t that what you’re here for? To find an easier woman to get into your bed.”
“I’m here because you drunk texted me.”
“I did not drunk text you.”
He pulled out his phone, tapped it a few times, before he handed it to her. “So you meant to call me an egg testicle jerk?”
She read the text.
Boy was I wrote about you. You’re nothing butt a shellfish egg testicle jerk. Ass far ass I concert you can go straight to Jell-O.
She cringed. Damn autocorrect . . . and Bobby’s margaritas. And damn the arrogant cowboy standing in front of her.
She handed his phone back. “I meant every word. Once you found out I wanted kids—or maybe once you found out I couldn’t have them, you called off the bet and ran off like an . . . egg testicle jerk!”
His eyes widened. “That had nothing to do with me calling off the bet.”
“Then why did you ghost me?”
He opened his mouth, but then closed it. “Come on, I’ll drive you home.” He went to take her arm, but she pulled back.
“Didn’t you hear me? I don’t need your help. In fact, I don’t need anything from you. I don’t need you to go swimming with me. I don’t need you to swing with me. I don’t need you to climb trees with me.” She leaned in closer and got right in his face. “I—Don’t—Need—You.”
Jesse stared at her for a long moment before he wrapped his arm around her waist and tugged her close. His eyes held a hunger that made her stomach drop and her heart thump and all her breath leave her lungs in one fell swoop.
“Well, that’s too bad, darlin’,” he said. “Because, this last week, I figured out that I need you.”
He kissed her. This kiss wasn’t the slow, seductive kind he’d given her out at Cooper Springs. This kiss was hungry and devouring and . . . thought stealing.
Liberty couldn’t think. All she could do was feel. What she felt was uncontrollable desire. She didn’t care that he’d run off and ghosted her. She didn’t care that he would probably run off and ghost her again. All she cared about was that he was here now. Making her feel things she’d never felt before.
When he lifted her into his arms, she hooked her arms around his neck and held on tight as he carried her to his truck. Once there, he put her down and pushed her back against the passenger door, his lips hot and scorching as he kissed his way along her neck.
“Tell me no,” he whispered against her skin. “Stop this before it’s too late.”
Her head lolled back against the truck to give him better access. “You stop it.”
