And Then You Kiss (Crested Butte Cowboys Series Book 3) (8 page)

“No,” she might not be able to resist him, but she was
not
leaving. “I’m here to watch Billy and Jace ride. I’m not going anywhere with you. If you want to see me, you’ll have to do it right here.”

He grinned. “Oh yeah? You puttin’ your foot down?”

She smiled. She didn’t want to, but when Tucker did, she couldn’t help herself. When he went from thundercloud broody to hot as the summer sun
,
there was nothing she could do but melt under the heat of him.

“Yeah,” she answered. “I am.” She shimmied away from him but took his hand as she did.

“Where you takin’ me girl?”

“Extra seat where we are, your lucky night,” she murmured.

He released her hand as they merged into the crowd, and planted his hands on her hips. He held on tight and when she turned, his hand cupped her bottom. And when she swatted at him, he squeezed tighter.

“You want my hands all over you, don’t you girl?”

“I see you didn’t leave your arrogance in Spain.”

He couldn’t help but laugh. She pushed every one of his buttons. All the right way.

“You remember Renie,” Blythe said when they got back to the seats. “And this is Lyric Simmons.”

Tucker was polite and said hello, but his gaze went straight back to Blythe. Even when they sat, he couldn’t look away. He’d pictured her in his mind, he’d painted her from his memory, but now she was next to him. He wanted to do nothing but soak in the sight of her.

“You’re making me uncomfortable,” she whispered.

“I don’t care.” His eyes trailed from hers, over her body. “You wouldn’t leave with me, so you’ll have to deal with me longing to see you, touch you, sink into you. I thought about you every minute Blythe. Every minute.”

Her eyes closed, longer than a blink. Her cheeks flushed. He leaned over and put his lips where he watched the pulse of her heart beating, stronger and stronger the more he said.

“Oh my God,” she groaned. “You’ve made your point.” She moved away from him. “I’m not leaving until Billy and Jace have ridden. The minute they have, we can go. Good enough?”

He answered her with a kiss, deep and hot enough that he was sure he was making everyone around them as uncomfortable as he was making her. He didn’t care; he wanted to make her uncomfortable. He was sure she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

Jace wanted to slam his hand into the nearest wall, but it was concrete, so he pulled his punch right before it made contact.
Goddamn Tucker.

Part of him wanted to storm out, throw his hands in the air, and quit. But that wasn’t who he was. He’d wanted to ride for Blythe tonight, show her how hard he’d been working at this. Make her proud. Now he doubted she’d be paying attention anyway.

What was wrong with him? Why had he told Tucker he planned to see her?

“How ya doin’ there
Romeo
?”

“Fuck off Billy.”

“Couple rabbits over there checkin’ you out.”

“I mean it Patterson, leave me the hell alone.”

Billy slugged him. “We gotta get you a woman Rice. You’ve been strikin’ out on yer own. I’ll see if I can help ya out.”

***

“Come on,” Lyric said to Renie. “I need to talk to you.”

When they got to the bottom of the stairs, she spun around.
“What is going on?
I thought Blythe was with the other twin.
Oh my God, is she with both of them?
”

Renie laughed; she couldn’t help herself. “Yes and no. I mean they’ve been fighting over her. Not fighting, but, gosh I don’t know how to explain this.”

“Start at the beginning.”

“Well…um, I used to be with Jace.”

“The other twin? Wow, this gets better and better.”

“Yeah, this is embarrassing.” Renie started to chew her nails. How long had it been since she’d done that?

“Billy and I were, uh, broken up last summer. That’s when I started seeing Jace. Then when I got back with Billy, Jace and I obviously decided to be friends.”

“I should be writing this down,” joked Lyric.

“Don’t you dare—”

“Calm down, I was kidding. Go on with your story. I’ll be quiet. I’m dying to hear this.”

“Well, Jace is my mom’s husband’s cousin.”

“Oh my lanta, this . . .”

Renie glared at her.

“Sorry, go on. I’ll try not to interrupt again.”

“My mom’s husband invited Jace and Tucker and their family to spend Thanksgiving with us, and Blythe and her family were there too.”

Lyric hung on every word Renie was saying.

“So they sort of competed for Blythe. Then, it was the weirdest thing…Tucker got up in the middle of dinner and left.”

“Why?”

“We don’t know. Blythe’s dad, have you met him?”

“No, but I know who he is.”

“He can be a little…crazy. Anyway, he said something that must’ve made Tucker mad, and he left. He didn’t say goodbye to anybody, or as much as thanks for having me.

“So then, about a week ago, Jace called Blythe and asked if he could take her out while he was in town for the stock show.”

“You completely lost me.”

“Okay, well, the first night she met them, Tucker took her out. Then, the next day, Jace took her skiing.”

“Oh yeah, I want her problems. Jeez.”

“That was Thanksgiving day. When Tucker left, it kind of put a damper on things. The next day Jace left with his mom and dad. Blythe didn’t hear anything from either one of them until last week. Then Jace took her out for dinner last night.”

“That’s when I met her. So why is she with Tucker now?”

“I have no idea. But, by the look of things, she must like Tucker more than Jace. Although that surprises me.”

“Why?”

“Well, the whole thing on Thanksgiving was so weird. And also, he’s kind of grouchy from what I’ve seen. Jace, on the other hand, is so easy going. I’m surprised Blythe would be more interested in the broody one.”

“Damn, how would you pick?”

“Good question. But, I feel bad for Jace. He must be pissed.”

Lyric was pulling on Renie’s arm again. “Come on, let’s go back and see what’s happening now.”

When they got back to their seats, Blythe and Tucker were gone.

***

He was putting her in an unfair position. Could he help it though? Doubtful. Jace would have to face facts; Blythe was his. He’d upset her though, and he hadn’t wanted to.

When she got up from her seat, she looked as though she was ready to cry. She’d hurried off before he even realized what was happening. By the time he got up to follow her, she was far enough ahead of him that he couldn’t catch her before she slipped into the ladies room.

He hoped there wasn’t another way out of it. He’d been standing here long enough to worry she wasn’t coming back out. He thought about asking one of the women going in to check on her, but what could he say? He was tempted to go in after her himself.

“Hey,” she said.

He was relieved to see her walk back out that door. “Hey. You okay?”

“No. I’m not. What’re you gonna do about it? Anything?”

He laughed; he couldn’t help it.

“It isn’t funny asshole. And you know what else? You’re a shitty brother.”

He shrugged.

“This is Jace’s night, not yours. Is this the way it’s always been with you two? Do you always sweep in and ruin his plans?”

Tucker didn’t know what to say. He didn’t think so. Maybe.

“You know how I feel, don’t you?” she asked him.

“I think I do.”

“Why did you leave?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Why did you leave?”

“I heard you the first time.”

“I think you have serious problems, problems I don’t want any part of. I mean, you just got up and left Tucker. What the hell?”

“It was what your dad said.”

“Now this is my dad’s fault.” She started to walk away.

“Wait,” he grabbed her arm. “That isn’t what I meant.”

She pulled her arm away. “You know, I’m getting tired of you grabbing me. Don’t do that. If I walk away you can either let me go, or you can follow me, but
quit
grabbing at me.”

He held both hands in the air.

“I don’t even know you,” she stammered.

“But you want to.”

“I don’t know that I do, and I’m not being a smart ass when I say that.”

“Sure you do. You can’t help yourself any more than I can.”

“I don’t know Tucker. It would be so much easier to walk away, find another guy who doesn’t have a twin brother, for one. And doesn’t have so many damn problems, for another.”

Tucker and Blythe’s phones both pinged at the same time. If they hadn’t, neither might have looked. But it was Jace and he was getting ready to ride. He wanted to know if either one of them were still there.

Blythe stormed off. Tucker couldn’t decide which way to go. There was one thing she was right about. He was a shitty brother. He headed to the chutes.

Blythe sat back down in time to see Jace climb on the horse in chute. She held her breath as she waited for him to signal that he was ready for the chute to be opened.

Lyric leaned over. “Marking out is the first step. Do you know what that is Blythe?”

God she could kiss Lyric. That would certainly solve some of her problems, but this was for a different reason. Blythe had no idea what to look for, and Lyric was going to explain it to her.

“He has to have both spurs touching the bronc above the point of the horse’s shoulder on its first jump out of the bucking chutes. If he doesn’t, he won’t get a score.”

“Then what?”

“Then he has to time his movements with the horse’s jumps. He’ll need to move his feet in an arc from the horse’s shoulders back to the saddle skirt. The more even and accurate his movements, the more points he will earn. Course he’s gotta stay on for eight seconds, if he gets bucked off, none of the rest matters.”

“Thanks Lyric.”

The chute opened. Jace looked like he was in the right position based on what Lyric told her. Blythe couldn’t tell if he was doing the rest of what she’d said, she only watched the clock. Six, seven, eight seconds…the pickup men scooped him off and he was on the ground, standing, celebrating.

Blythe was jumping up and down, clapping her hands. Renie let out a loud whistle and Lyric was hooting and hollering. He saw her, she was sure of it. He knew she’d watched him ride. At least she hoped so.

Tucker made her blood boil, but Jace, he melted her heart. It was at that moment she realized what she had to do. She couldn’t see either one of them, ever again.

By the time the excitement died down and anyone was paying attention, Blythe was gone. They’d assume she went to see Jace, or to find Tucker, but she wasn’t doing either.

***

“What do you mean she’s not with you?”

“I thought she was coming down here.”

Jace ran his hand through his hair. Where in the hell had she gone? She wasn’t with Tucker, he was standing right next to him, at least as exasperated, if not more so.

“Call her,” he hissed.

“What do you think I’ve been doing? I called her, I texted her. She isn’t answering. And you can stop yelling at me now Jace Rice.”

“What’s goin’ on?” Billy put his arm around Renie’s shoulder and scowled at Jace.

“Blythe left. We don’t know where she is.”

“Call her dad.”

“You think she would’ve called him?” asked Jace.

“Why the hell would I tell you to call him if I didn’t think so?” Billy shook his head.

Renie had her phone to her ear and was walking away, trying to get away from their chatter. A minute or two later, she came back, no longer on the phone.

“He said she’s fine, but that’s all he’d tell me.”

“Where is she?”

“He wouldn’t say, but I think he’s coming to get her.”

“How does he know for sure she’s okay?”

“Jace!” Renie stamped her foot and put her hands on her hips. “Stop it. I told you what I know.
Her father
said she’s okay, but that’s all he’d say. Now quit barking at me.”

“Yep, this little lady right here, she’s all mine,” Billy bragged. “Spitfire, that’s what she is. Damn that makes me hot Renie. Let’s get outa here.”

Jace wanted to wipe the smile off Billy Patterson’s face. Smug bastard.

Renie slugged Billy, but smiled. She gave Jace a completely different look. He didn’t remember ever seeing her mad, but he guessed this was what it looked like.

“And you,” she pointed at Tucker. “You started this. She was fine until you showed up.”

Tucker raised his head and looked at her, but didn’t say a word.

“Where’s Lyric?” asked Jace.

“I have no idea,” answered Renie. “Wasn’t she here a minute ago?”

***

“Did they see you?” Blythe asked her.

“I don’t think so. They were too busy arguing amongst themselves.”

“Thanks for coming and rescuing me.”

“No problem girlfriend. Let’s get outa here before they realize I’m gone and come lookin’ for us.”

Lyric took Blythe to meet up with some of her friends, ropers mainly. They weren’t competing tonight and were hanging out at the Grizzly Rose bar, not far from the stock show.

“What about Renie, you think you should at least let her know you’re okay?”

“I did. She texted me and said she was pretending she was talking to my dad. She said she’d tell everybody I was okay and that’s all she’d say.”

“Shoulda figured.”

“What?”

“You two. You don’t even have to talk, do ya? You’re both so in sync with each other.”

“It isn’t always that way, or it hasn’t been in the last year anyway.”

***

“You didn’t call Mark, did you? You know where she is.” Billy said on the ride home.

“She’s with Lyric.”

“Who’s Lyric?”

“It’s not important,” Renie answered. “She’s fine. And she’s away from Jace and Tucker. That’s all that matters.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know exactly. She said she needed to get away from them.”

***

“Dance. Drink. Repeat.” Lyric held up her glass to Blythe’s.

“I like you Lyric. You’re a good friend.”

“Back at ya girl. Now let’s go find some more cowboys to dance with.”

“There are hundreds of them here.” Blythe surveyed the room. “And only ten girls.”

Blythe’s counting skills might’ve been impaired, but she had the right idea. Cowboys outnumbered them by at least four to one. They’d be doing a lot of dancing tonight.

***

Jace stopped at the front desk to see if he could change his room from a king to one with two queens. It hadn’t been a problem. He was stretched out on one of the beds when Tucker came in with a bottle of Crown Royal and a six-pack of cokes.