Thrown: Studs in Spurs, Book 6 (18 page)

Skeeter could only think she couldn’t be all that mad given how close they were pressed together and after the way she’d just kissed him, but he decided to answer her anyway. “I was so miserable about my career—I felt like such a failure—I wasn’t thinking clearly. Besides, she wasn’t a buckle bunny. She and her friend were at the bar line-dancing when Aaron walked in. The girls didn’t even know about the event—”

“Skeeter.” Riley interrupted him and cocked her head to the side. “You’re
not
helping your case any by talking about the girl you had in your hotel room.”

He cringed. “Right. Sorry. But as for the other part, I figured you gave me your number because you felt sorry for me.”

“No. I gave you my number because I couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing you again after you left the circuit.”

It hadn’t been out of pity. It had been because she’d been interested in him all along. He’d just been too busy wallowing over his career to notice. In light of that, his not escorting Tammy home immediately after Aaron brought her to him seemed extra stupid.

Riley had given him her number because she’d wanted to see him. His heart lightened at the thought. “I’m sorry that I didn’t know that then.”

“Yeah, well, now you do.” She still frowned, looking annoyed, but it seemed a little less genuine now. More like she was trying to hold on to her anger and was failing.

“Now I do.” He stroked the back of his fingers down her cheek. “I was stupid. And I’m so sorry I hurt you.”

She leaned into his touch. “Don’t do it again.”

“I won’t. I promise.” He wrapped his arms around her back to fully encompass her. He hugged her tight, feeling like he’d lost something precious and by some miracle had gotten it back again. He wouldn’t squander the second chance he’d been given.

“Skeeter?”

“Yeah.”

She pulled back far enough to look up at him. “I want my first time to be with someone special too.”

The enormity of her confession had his chest tightening, while at the same time his hopes soared. She’d shared something incredibly personal with him, and she must have done it for a reason. Perhaps Riley could forgive his stupid behavior with Tammy and that horrible conversation she’d overheard between him and Aaron. Maybe she was saying she’d give him a chance to be in her life. That he could be that special guy. Her first. As she would be his when the time was right and if that’s what she wanted.

Riley was that girl he’d waited for without even knowing it. His nostrils flared as his breath came faster. “I haven’t totally ruined things between us?”

She hesitated long enough to frighten him before she shook her head. “No.”

Skeeter let out the breath he’d been holding. “I’m real glad.”

He needed to kiss her again, now more than ever. He bent, moving his mouth closer to hers, but she pulled back a bit.

Her big beautiful eyes met his. “But if you’re here because you’re hoping more than just this is going to happen between us, you can go. I appreciate your help but—”

“Riley, that’s not why I’m here.”

She bit her lip and all he could do was focus on her mouth and how badly he wanted to kiss her and pretend this mess hadn’t happened. Pretend that it was just him and her. Believe in the possibility for more between them without the past and his mistakes interfering. But he’d wait for that. Wait as long as she needed. Until he’d earned her trust back.

“I know, Skeeter. I believe you. In spite of what I just heard out on the porch, I know you’re a good guy. God, I hope I’m not being one of those stupid girls who believe anything a cute guy says.” Riley shook her head.

She thought he was cute. He held in his smile over that because this was serious. He needed to tell her she could trust him. “You’re not stupid, Riley. I’ll prove worthy of your faith in me. I swear to you. I will.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. He should let her go, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it quite yet.

Riley took a step back and ended Skeeter’s internal debate on the matter. “We need to get back out there before they start to wonder. And I have to turn on the A/C upstairs so it can cool the room down before you guys go to bed.”

Now that she wasn’t in his arms, Skeeter shoved his hands into his pockets, unsure of what to do with them if he couldn’t touch her. “I can do that.”

Unmoving, she finally met his gaze and looked as if she had something to say.

“What’s wrong, Riley?” He had a feeling it had nothing to do with the air conditioner.

“I’m jealous of that line-dancing floozy.” She said the last word with such enthusiasm, he had to laugh.

He held it in the best he could and asked, “Why?”

“Because she was with you, in your bed, and I wasn’t.”

It was silly, Riley’s jealousy. But he loved that she was. It had to mean she liked him. She needn’t worry. He barely knew that other girl. Not much more than her name, that she liked french fries and that she had no problem doing stuff with him while her best friend and another guy were in the room.

Skeeter’s short encounter with Tammy wasn’t anything even close to the way things were with him and Riley. Or the way he wanted things to be. He knew so much more about Riley than he ever would about Tammy, and he wanted to learn even more.

He knew Riley snored real soft when she slept. That she was so brave she would walk up to a bull that outweighed her by fifteen hundred pounds without blinking an eye. But she’d just as easily get thrown off balance and cry when Skeeter said something she claimed was too nice for her to handle while she was in this delicate stage of her life. And he knew that the mere presence of the sofa in the living room caused her pain every time she looked at it, but that she’d bear it because of the good memories it held of her father.

Mostly, he knew that her father had been so protective of her because she was something precious and worth protecting. Now that Butch was gone, Skeeter would take over for him and make sure she was all right for as long as she’d let him.

Skeeter kept all of that to himself. He was no dummy. He wasn’t about to compare his ill-advised and short-lived encounter with Tammy to his relationship with Riley, but he could tell her this… “I’m with you now, and I’ll stay as long as you want me to. And remember that it was you I was with last night in your bed.”

“Most of that time I was asleep.” Riley’s pursed lips made him want to kiss the pout from them.

Skeeter took a step and closed the distance between them. Cupping her face, he leaned low and pressed his lips against hers. Not for long. Now wasn’t the time for that, but she needed to know he wanted her and only her.

When he pulled back, he said, “Next time, you’ll be awake. There’s too much going on in your life already, and I have no right to add any more for you to deal with. I should stay far away from you, but I don’t want to. I need you to know, when things settle down a bit, I wanna see where this thing between us leads.”

She swallowed and nodded. “Okay.”

“Good.” Glancing at the clock on her nightstand, Skeeter realized how late it had gotten. It was just about bedtime. He looked back to Riley. She was beginning to look beat. “Why don’t you turn in? Tomorrow’s gonna be another long day.”

She shook her head. “I wanted to finish cleaning up the kitchen.”

“The girls looked as if they’d just about finished when I came through there just now. If they haven’t, I’ll help with the rest. And I’ll make sure all the lights are turned off and the doors are closed for the night.”

“You keep doing everything around here, I’m going to get used to it. Then I’ll never be able to handle it all without you when you leave.”

Skeeter lifted one shoulder. “Then I won’t leave.”

He turned for the door before he lost his resolve, forgot all about what she was going through, and instead backed her up and tumbled her onto that mattress. With her, it would be easy to say to hell with waiting for the right moment. Maybe because after all these years he’d finally found the right girl.

When he glanced back, she was still standing in the middle of the room and looking tempting but vulnerable at the same time. “Good night, Riley. See you in the morning.”

“Good night.” She watched him close the door while he was simply grateful he had the emotional strength to do it.

He pulled it shut with a click and stood in the hallway to gather himself for a second before he had to face the rest of the group.

Aaron found him standing there in the hallway outside the closed door. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, come upstairs with me quick.” Skeeter tipped his head. He led the way down the hall and up to the sweltering attic. Flipping on the light, he headed to the air conditioning unit and pushed the ON button then turned back to Aaron. “She heard you and me on the porch.”

“I’m sorry, Skeets.” Aaron cringed. “I shouldn’t have said those things.”

“You’re right about that. But I think it’ll be okay.”

“Good.” Aaron’s gaze tracked Skeeter as he moved toward the door, intent on heading downstairs. It was too hot to talk up there until the A/C did its job and cooled off the room. Before he reached the stairs, Aaron said, “Skeets. We okay, you and I?”

Skeeter frowned. “Why wouldn’t we be?”

Aaron lifted one shoulder. “Wouldn’t be the first time a woman got between two men.”

“Is Riley between us?” Skeeter asked.

“No, dude. She’s not. Now that I know how you feel, I’ll back off.”

“Thanks.” Skeeter nodded. He felt the sweat beading on his forehead even as the cooler air started to force the hot air out. “It’s part my fault. I should have told you at the last event that she’d given me her number.”

“She gave you her number at the last event? When? In the dressing room when I found you taking to her?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, damn, Skeets. Yeah, that might have been good information for me to have. Jesus. I thought you were my friend.”

“Stop. You are. I didn’t tell you because she said she was giving me her number so I could text her if I was going to be at a touring event that her bulls would be at. I figured it was because she felt so bad about Renegade bucking me right off the circuit. I thought it was a pity number.”

“Skeeter.” Aaron let out a huge breath. “Women don’t give a guy their number because they pity him. They only give out that shit to guys they’re hot for.”

Skeeter shrugged. “I didn’t know that.”

“Which is why you’re supposed to tell me when things like this happen. So I can advise you. What else did she say? What’s her demeanor been toward you in private? Tell me and maybe I can help you figure out how she feels about you.”

He may be a little slow by Aaron’s standards when it came to women, but this thing with Riley was too precious for him to share their private moments. Skeeter knew how Riley felt about him and he wasn’t going to jeopardize that again by discussing it with Aaron and having her overhear him. “Thanks, bud, but I’m good. Come on. Let’s let this room cool off for a few minutes. Then I’m gonna hit the sack early. Five a.m. and Chase’s sunrise run is gonna be here before we know it.”

Aaron let out a snort. “You ain’t kidding.”

Skeeter headed down the stairs and was relieved to see Riley was not lurking at the bottom listening to them. Once again, he’d been talking about her with Aaron. He’d have to make sure he didn’t repeat the mistake of discussing her behind her back.

There were too many people in this house. He knew Mustang, Slade and the girls were leaving in a couple of days to get Jenna to the airport for her flight back to New York. Aaron, Garret and Silver would probably leave shortly after that to go back to North Carolina where Silver must have to get back to her job.

For the first time since planning this gathering, Skeeter was happy to start looking ahead to the end of it. Yeah, he’d miss the help around the place, but having Riley all to himself? That would be well worth it.

Now if he could just figure out a way to keep the preacher man from freaking out if he stayed here alone with Riley, and find a way to stop feeling guilty about his own sinful thoughts, he’d be golden.

Oh, and somewhere in there he had to get back on his game. Win enough smaller events to earn the points to put him back in the zone to ride on the circuit when it started up again in a few weeks.

Piece of cake.

Chapter Fourteen

“Oh my God.” Jenna covered her eyes as Slade hit the dirt hard. She peeked through her fingers as he hoisted himself off the ground and ran for the rails.

Amused, Riley watched the action until Slade was safely above the bull’s reach and Garret and Chase, acting as bull fighters, had herded the bull out of the ring. “He’s safe, Jenna. You can look now.”

Jenna held her hand to her chest. She glanced at Sage and Silver. “I don’t know how you two can stand watching this.”

Silver shrugged. “My brother’s been riding for as long as I can remember.”

“Mustang started years ago. Back when he was in high school. I used to go watch him ride in the local events before he started to travel.” Sage bobbed her head to one side. “You’ll get used to watching Slade ride eventually. Don’t worry.”

“If it doesn’t kill me first.” Jenna let out a huge breath. “And it’s not so much the riding as the falling that gets me. Though I guess I’d rather be there, live, than so far away in New York watching it on the television.”