Thrown: Studs in Spurs, Book 6 (17 page)

“Don’t worry. I’m getting to him.” Chase moved to Garret next. “Lean back. Put more weight on your feet, Garret. Head lower.”

“Ow. Shit, that hurts.” Garret lifted his head to scowl at Skeeter. “Thanks a lot, Skeets.”

“What the hell did I do?” Skeeter said between his legs as the blood rushing to his head from this position started to make him dizzy.

“He was ignoring me until you said something.”

“All right. Enough, you guys.” Chase walked to the front again. “Next position.”

“Thank God,” Aaron mumbled. When Chase was busy getting into the next pose, Aaron glanced at Skeeter. “So Riley’s looking good in those short shorts today.”

Skeeter straightened and spun to face Aaron. “Show a little respect, Aaron. She’s kind enough to put us up here and let us work out on her bulls.”

“I wasn’t being disrespectful. I was paying her a compliment. Women don’t mind compliments. It shows them a man is interested.”

Now that Aaron had arrived, Skeeter was beginning to wish he hadn’t. He frowned. “Since when are you interested in her anyway?”

“Since always.” Aaron let out a snort. “It was just her father was around looking as if he’d shoot any of us who dared come near her before.”

“Aaron, I’m warning you, don’t you be bothering her. She’s grieving her father.” And that was the only reason Skeeter hadn’t made more of a move to stake an official claim on this girl, with his friends and with her.

Kissing her last night had been questionable enough behavior on his part given the timing and the circumstances, not that he regretted that one bit. But now was not the time to move in on her, though he’d be damned if he stood by and watched while Aaron did.

Skeeter had to have faith in Riley and respect what she wanted. He could only hope she wouldn’t have been kissing him if she was interested in Aaron. Then again, her life was a mess and maybe she didn’t know what she wanted.

The whole thing was enough to make a man’s head spin, as much as if he were on top of one of Riley’s champion bucking bulls. Having his mind on Riley when it needed to be on his riding was not what he needed right now. And neither was Chase’s crazy idea for this workout.

“Warrior one pose. This stretches the groin, so it’s a good one for us riders.” In front of them, Chase moved through the steps of the next contortion.

Any rider who’d suffered a groin pull could appreciate that, though there had to be an easier way to stretch.

Chase continued, “Make sure to keep your back heel grounded and your lower back lengthened. And try not to tip your pelvis forward.”

There were too many things for Skeeter to remember and he was in too much pain to try. At least this pose had a more masculine name than the dog one had, and it didn’t require bending over, which was a good thing. It still didn’t make them look any less silly.

“And warrior two.” Chase went on, unperturbed by the grumbling and groaning around him. “And deepen the pose.”

He went through the motions smoothly as Skeeter’s main focus was on trying not to fall over.

“I thought we were going to do cardio and calisthenics and stuff.”

“Oh, we are,” Chase answered Aaron’s breathless question. “We have a three-mile run tomorrow at five.”

“Five at night?” Garret asked hopefully.

“No, knucklehead. We meet outside at five a.m. to stretch before the run. We’ll do the cardio and strength-building exercises after that, get done and we can still get the morning chores finished before the heat of the day hits. Then we get in some practice on the bulls in the afternoon and yoga again in the evening.”

Skeeter groaned. This was going to be a long week.

Chapter Thirteen

After dinner, when Skeeter and the rest sat around the kitchen table too full of Sage’s excellent empanadas to move, Silver got up. She walked across the living room and Skeeter held his breath, hoping she didn’t sit on the sofa that had so many emotional memories for Riley. But she didn’t. Silver sat down at the piano instead

Breathing in relief, he vowed to tell the others privately what the deal was with the sofa when Riley wasn’t around to hear.

Silver played a few notes and glanced over her shoulder. “This is a nice instrument.”

Riley cringed as the notes filled the air. “It’s probably really out of tune. Nobody’s played it in years.”

“Eh, it’s a little out but not too bad. No worse than the one in my music room at school. This is a beautiful piece though. You don’t see many Wurlitzers around.”

“Thanks. It was my grandmother’s.” Riley smiled. “She used to play carols on it every Christmas.”

Laying both hands on the keyboard, Silver began to play. Something classical, which was a surprise considering the woman played bar gigs with a band in North Carolina and rode a Harley. Then again, she was also a middle school music teacher so that could account for the musical choice now.

Riley got up and walked over to stand near the piano. “That’s beautiful.”

Silver smiled up at her. “Thanks.”

The music was nice, but what was beautiful in this room was Riley, finally looking relaxed and well rested. Laughing during dinner when they told everyone about Chase’s yoga class. Eating a full plate of food. She even had a beer with them, though Skeeter noticed she’d only drunk half.

“Yeah, that’s it. Good old Silver. If Riley gets to be friends with my sister, I’m a shoo in with her.”

At Aaron’s words, Skeeter turned to him, brows low in an unhappy frown. He was going to have to do something about this situation with Aaron and his sudden interest in Riley. He’d have to say something to somebody. To who and what remained to be seen. Should he confess his interest in Riley to Aaron? Bring up his concerns to Riley herself, though that seemed kind of premature? He had no claim on her. Maybe he should ask Garret, or hell, even ask Silver to keep her brother away from Riley.

He’d have to think on that. He caught a glimpse of Garret’s expression as he watched his new wife play the piano. Skeeter knew how Garret felt. He felt that way too being around Riley. Content to simply be near her, though at the same time restless to not be closer.

Memories of his holding her last night as she fell asleep and how he’d stayed much longer than he’d needed to just enjoy her pressed up against him had his heart clenching. Yeah, there was no freaking way Skeeter could handle losing her to Aaron. He’d take care of this right now.

“Aaron. Can I talk to you outside for a sec?”

“Uh, yeah. Sure.” Aaron pushed his chair back from the crowded table and led the way out the screen door onto the porch. “What’s up?”

“I need to talk to you about Riley.”

Aaron let out a huff. “I’m not going to take advantage of her in her grief. I promise.”

“That’s not it. I like her. In fact, I like her a lot.”

“Oh my God. You, Mr. Virgin, have a crush on Riley?” Aaron spoke in a voice much too loud considering what they were discussing.

“Jeez, Aaron. Shut the hell up.”

“Wow. I had no idea you were interested in Riley. I mean you were messing around with that girl in our room after the event just last week.”

“You brought her and her friend back to the room, not me.” Skeeter scowled. “And that was nothing between me and her and you know it.”

“Didn’t sound like nothing to me. I heard the distinct sounds of two people getting it on.”

Skeeter closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath through his nose, trying to contain his anger at both Aaron for being an ass and at himself for letting anything happen that night. “I’m done talking here. Just keep away from her.”

“Keep away from her? Is that a warning? Pretty hard since I’m staying in her house, don’t you think?”

This was as close to a fight as he’d ever had with Aaron. That hadn’t been Skeeter’s intent. “No. It’s a request. And you know what I mean. Please, Aaron. I want to see where things could go with her.”

“Yeah, I heard you.” Aaron crossed his arms. “But here’s a warning for you. If for any reason Riley decides she prefers me over you, I’m sure as shit not gonna dissuade her. You agree?”

If that were to happen there’d be nothing Skeeter could do about it anyway. “Fine.”

“All right.” Aaron nodded then broke into a smile. “I hope you do get her.”

His friend’s quick change was enough to give Skeeter whiplash. “What?”

“If I’m going to give up trying for a hot-as-hell girl who also just inherited the best bucking bulls on the circuit, I hope it’s at least so my best friend can get laid.”

“Jesus, Aaron,” Skeeter hissed and glanced at the door…and holy shit, there stood Riley. Seeing her and the pain on her face was like a knife to his heart. Their eyes met just before she turned. “Riley—shit, Aaron. She heard you say that.”

Skeeter didn’t have time to deal with Aaron now. Riley had heard God only knew how much of their conversation. As he tried to remember exactly how bad the things they were saying had been, he pushed through the screen door.

“Where’d Riley go?” Breathless, Skeeter asked the guys still sitting at the kitchen table.

Slade hooked a thumb behind him in the direction of the hallway leading to her bedroom. “She just went that way.”

“Thanks.” Skeeter tried not to sprint after her. It would raise questions he didn’t want to answer. Still, he strode as fast as he could, not stopping until he reached her closed door. He raised a fist and knocked softly. “Riley.”

She didn’t answer. Crap. What the hell had they said outside? He couldn’t think, forget about review the exact words spoken between him and Aaron and gage how bad they must have sounded to Riley.

“Riley, I’m coming in.” He held his breath and reached for the knob. It turned in his hand and he thanked God for small favors. Slowly, he pushed the door open and peeked around it. She stood facing him, her arms crossed. The expression on her face, part hurt, part anger, let him know how upset she was.

She didn’t speak, but he wasn’t sure that was a good thing.

“Can I explain?”

“I don’t know. Can you?” Her tone was hard, but he guessed he deserved it.

She’d asked a good question. Now that he had the opportunity, he didn’t know what to say. “I’m not sure how much you heard—”

“I can tell you that. I heard you had a girl in your hotel room after that last event and now your buddy is wishing you luck in getting me into bed too.” She shook her head. “I should have listened to my father. He said all bull riders are the same. Too bad I didn’t believe him.”

“Riley, listen to me. I’m gonna speak plain and truthful, and you might not like some of it, but here it is. After that last event I would have been happy to just be alone. But Aaron brought these two girls back to the hotel room. Then he starts fooling around with one of ’em in his bed. What was I supposed to do?”

“Of course. What else could you do? Might as well join in on the fun. Though you should be used to it, I guess, because I’m sure that happens a lot. You bringing girls back to your hotel room.” The tone in her voice told him he was losing ground here.

“No, it doesn’t happen a lot. It doesn’t happen at all. Maybe for some of the other guys, but not with me.”

She didn’t look very convinced as her eyes flashed with anger. “So go on. Aaron is fooling around in the other bed and you what? Played tic-tac-toe with the other girl? What?”

“We kissed, and a little bit more.” At Riley’s snort, Skeeter rushed to add, “But I did not have sex with her. Riley, my hand to God that didn’t happen.”

“Why not? She wouldn’t do it with you?”

Wow, was she pissed. It may or may not help, but he was going to tell her the truth. “That’s not why. She wanted to, but I didn’t.”

Her brows shot up. “Oh, really. And why not? I thought all men want to do is
get laid
, as Aaron put it. Right?”

Things were going from bad to worse. This was going to be the hardest thing he’d ever said in his life, but he wanted—needed—her to know the truth. It might be his only hope of convincing her he wasn’t at all like the picture she now had of him, in spite of his lapse in judgment that night.

“I didn’t because I want my first time to be with someone special. Somebody who means something to me.”

Riley’s eyes softened. “Your first time?”

“Yeah.” Skeeter stared at the ceiling and shook his head. “You can make fun of me now. Aaron does.”

She surprised him when she took a step forward and reached out to touch his arm. “I’m not going to make fun.”

He brought his gaze back down to meet hers. “You’re not?”

“Nope.” She took another step closer and stood on tiptoe.

Riley pressed her lips to his. Skeeter slipped his hands around her waist and pulled her tighter against him. She angled her head and the kiss deepened. He moved one hand to cup the back of her head and worked her mouth harder until he had to break away long enough to catch his breath.

He leaned his forehead against hers. “I thought you were mad at me.”

“I am.” She drew his lower lip between her teeth, causing a twist of need low in his gut before she released it with a pop, pulled back from him and glared. “How could you hook up with some buckle bunny on the night I gave you my phone number?”