Betting the Farm (4 page)

“Richie said Kai was back in town,” Fritz’s brother Sage
said from behind him.

Fritz grunted and continued to work at loosening the
stubborn, rusty bolt on the tractor’s engine.

“He also said she got drunk Saturday night at Sam’s and you
threatened to beat the shit out of Hoyt Tanner for touchin’ her ass before she
left the bar with you.”

Fritz’s head shot up, banging into the metal engine cover.
“Fuck!” He rubbed the back of his throbbing skull and glared down at Sage from
his perch on the tractor’s tire. “Richie needs to learn how to keep his damn
big mouth shut. He’s worse than a gossipy ol’ lady. I’ll remind him of that the
next time I see him. And I didn’t threaten to beat the shit out of Hoyt. I
just…told him I’d break a few fingers.”

“Uh-huh. But it’s true that Kai left the bar with you. Did
you take her home and fuck her, Fritz? ’Cause if you did, maybe
you’re
the one who needs remindin’ of a few things. Like how it took all me’n Eli
could do to keep you from becomin’ an alcoholic and out of jail for fightin’
after she left town before. Remember those good times, brother?”

“Not that it’s any of your goddamn business, but no, I didn’t
fuck her! And I don’t need you to remind me of anything, Sage. Now hand me that
crescent wrench lying by the tire and shut the hell up,” Fritz barked.

“Yeah, I can tell her bein’ back in town hasn’t affected you
at all
. You’re as ornery as a castrated rooster in a coop full of hens.”
Sage shoved the wrench up at Fritz. “I’ll be in the office,” he grumbled and
trudged off.

Fritz wiped his sweaty forehead on the sleeve of his T-shirt
and scowled at the tractor’s diesel engine as if it had done something to
personally offend him.

No way was he copping to anyone about anything involving
Kai, not even his brothers.

Yeah, Sage and their older brother Eli had saved his ass
back then, and he’d thanked them for it in a dozen different ways. So they were
even. They damn sure didn’t need to remind him of the heartbreak he’d gone
through after she left. Trouble was when he was with her, all that pain seemed
to fade into the background like white noise, leaving nothing but want in its
place. That pissed him off too. He hated that her mere presence had the ability
to turn him into a raw, open wound. Vulnerable and sore and in need of her
attention.

So what if he was in a grouchy mood? As long as everybody
stayed out of his way, it wasn’t affecting anyone but Fritz and the palm of his
hand. At the rate he was going, he was bound to build up calluses on his
calluses, jacking off to the memory of Kai’s incredible naked body in his bed.

As if his imagination had conjured her out of thin air, Sage
announced from behind him, “Look who decided to pay us a visit this afternoon,
Fritz.”

Sighing, he peered over his shoulder to see Sage’s arm
casually slung across Kai’s shoulders, nothing but smugness on the annoying
bastard’s face. Fritz stepped down from the tractor, dropping the wrench to the
concrete floor of the barn next to his other tools. He propped his greasy hands
on his hips and gave his brother a “get lost” look. Sage took the hint but not
before simulating a noose around his neck behind Kai’s back.

She stepped closer, a tentative smile on her beautiful,
makeup-free face. Fritz drank her in, feeling his gut tighten. Not many women
could pull off the clean look without looking lifeless and too many of them
wore cosmetics thick as pancake batter. Kai didn’t need it. Her skin was
healthy and flawless, her lips the same rosy shade as her nipples. And then
there were those incredible blue eyes that watched him warily. Why was she
nervous around him all of a sudden? Maybe she sensed his agitated mood.

And dammit if want didn’t slam into him with the force of a
pissed-off Black Angus bull. Since he’d done nothing but fantasize about her
since Saturday night, it was worse today. Even if he’d tried to watch a movie
or work himself into physical exhaustion, she still crept in.

He was right back where he’d been six years ago. All that
ground he’d gained in getting over her was wiped away in the course of
performing one fucking chivalrous act.

“Hey,” she said.

She shoved her hands in the front pockets of her cutoff
denim shorts and hunched her shoulders, inadvertently pushing her breasts
together beneath the baby-pink tank top she wore. He swallowed a groan. The
shorts alone were enough to inspire a few more fantasies, never mind the sexy
top that hid very little and clung to her curves like another layer of skin. He
could see the lace trim on her bra through the thin fabric. But then, he’d find
Kai sexy in a burlap sack and hip waders.

“What brings you out to farm country, Kai?” His voice
sounded tight, impatient. Fritz snatched the rag from his back pocket to scrub
at his dirty hands, another indicator of their differences.

She rocked on her heels. “I, uh…I realized I hadn’t thanked
you properly for taking care of me Saturday night. I wanted to tell you in
person how much I appreciated it.”

“I wasn’t going to leave you in that bar alone, especially
with the way Tanner was pawin’ all over you. And you’re welcome.”

Kai meandered over to the tractor while looking around at
her surroundings. “You’ve built a bigger barn. This one’s nice and roomy—concrete
floor, roll-up doors, even an air-conditioned office.”

Fritz propped his butt against the tire of the tractor he
was working on and shrugged. “Business has been good the last several years.”

“That’s great. I’m happy for you and your family. You always
did like farming.”

“I guess it’s in my blood.”

“Speaking of which, how are your mom and dad?”

“Fine. They’ve handed over the reins for the most part,
lettin’ me, Sage and Eli run things.”

“Looks like it’s in capable hands,” she said with a hesitant
smile.

“Was there something else on your mind besides small talk?”

Her quiet laugh made his head fill with sexy recollections
of sweaty nights on his truck seat, skin that tasted like heaven under his
lips, the whispered words “don’t stop” sliding off her tongue.

“You don’t miss much, do you?”

“Not when it comes to you, I don’t.”

She was so close now he caught the soft scent of her shampoo
or perfume. Whatever it was made his knees weak. No doubt he smelled like
grease and hard-earned sweat.

“I also wanted to apologize for…everything, Fritz. For not
writing or calling enough after I left for college like I should have. Like I
promised I would.” She licked her lips. “For so many things that I did wrong.”
She looked down, scraping one toe back and forth across the concrete floor.

The scar on his heart picked that moment to throb at the
reminder of the hurt she’d put him through. He wanted to forgive her, needed to
in order to shed the cloak of resentment that seemed to always be around his
shoulders where she was concerned. But there was also the small part of him
that wanted her to suffer like he had, as juvenile as that was. It was obvious
she hadn’t until now. Not until she moved back and had to face him and her
guilt. It was thatdemon who decided to rear its ugly head.

She looked up, extending her hand toward his face. He caught
her wrist in his fingers, afraid to let her touch him.

She frowned. “You have grease on your chin.”

He swiped at his face with the rag in his free hand.
“Everything’s still the same as before you left though, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“Nothing’s changed,” he ground out.

Confusion wrinkled her brow, and no wonder. He wasn’t making
much sense to himself. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

He leaned closer. “You’re doing what Daddy and Mommy want
you to do. You’re living under their roof, spending his money, and I’d be
willing to bet my truck you’re going to work for Donnelly Motors.”

A deep-pink flush crept into her cheeks. She snatched at her
arm but Fritz held tight, knowing he was hurting her, physically and
emotionally, but unable to let go. “You’re not being fair, Fritz. I just moved
back. Where am I supposed to go, the street?”

“All those years away and you still haven’t managed to grow
a backbone.”

“Why are you acting like this? I came out here to tell you I
was sorry, dammit. Isn’t that good enough?” Her voice cracked. She shook the
arm he held in a viselike grip. “Or do you want bruises too?”

Seeing her blink back tears and her hand turning purple in
his tight hold jolted him out of the fog of anger. He released her and she
began rubbing her reddened, grease-smudged wrist. The hurt in her eyes cut
through him like broken glass but the mean, twisted bastard inside him stood
his ground. “What I want is for you to leave.”

“Wish granted.” She spat the words out before spinning away.
He watched the back of her blonde head weave through the equipment in the barn
before the front door slammed so hard, the corrugated metal walls of the
building vibrated.

Fritz sighed and kicked his tools, sending them scattering
and sliding across the barn floor.

* * * * *

Kai managed to hold it together until she pulled into her
parents’ four-car detached garage, then she dropped her forehead to the
steering wheel and let go, allowing herself a much needed pity cry. When her
tears dried up, she climbed out of her car and went inside but it was the last
place she wanted to be.

She didn’t want to see her parents or Josh, didn’t feel like
watching TV or calling Grace. What she needed was to be alone for a while and
clear her head. She changed into her workout clothes and running shoes then
darted back out the door. A long run had always helped, so perhaps that would
do the trick.

After stretching for a few minutes, she headed out in no
particular direction and about a quarter of a mile in, she found her stride.
Her footfalls ate up the asphalt while her mind gnawed away at her heated
confrontation with Fritz. Clearly he still harbored some anger and bitterness
about their breakup.

Some, Kai?
Try a lot
.

After graduation, she’d been torn between staying in her
hometown and leaving for college. Serenity had nothing to offer as far as
higher education went, not even at the community level. Athens held the closest
four-year university. She’d wanted that experience, along with a degree. She
thought Fritz understood. He’d seemed supportive of her move at first, saying
he didn’t blame her for wanting to go.

What did you expect him to say? Stay with me? Don’t
follow your dreams? He’d loved you too much to do that.
And she’d broken
his heart in exchange for his willingness to step back and let her spread her
wings.

Time away had shifted her priorities. College life had been
freeing. She’d gotten away from her parents and their overbearing influence—a
different life than what she’d had in Serenity waited. The letters and phone
calls between her and Fritz had waned, then stopped altogether. It was one
hundred percent her fault.

And the truth she’d kept hidden from everyone but herself
was—the strength of the connection between them had frightened her. At times it
had bordered on outright obsession. No one should want someone that fiercely at
eighteen, should they? It couldn’t be normal at that age to crave someone’s
touch, or that’s what she’d thought at the time.

So she left, thinking she needed to put distance between
them for her sanity, and the emotions were something she’d outgrow over time.
They both would, and move on to new people, new lives. What they’d had together
would be nothing but a warm memory to look back on one day.

Now that she’d returned to Serenity and she’d seen him
again—heard him, touched him, smelled him—she realized she’d been wrong. She
might’ve convinced her brain she’d gotten over him, but her heart and body
remembered as if it were yesterday.

Kai stopped running and propped her hands on her hips,
trying to catch her breath. Snippets of their late-night conversation from
Saturday flashed through her head like a neon sign.

I wasn’t in love with her.

I’ve missed you.

I’ve missed you too.

Kai winced and slapped her palm to her forehead. Damn
temporary-amnesia-inducing, tongue-loosening Jack Daniel’s.

She checked for traffic at a four-way stop and jogged
through the intersection.

He’d been so kind and patient with her that night and the
next morning. What had happened in the last three days to change his attitude?

She recalled the conversation she’d had with Grace and got
her answer—his buddies or his brothers would be bending his ear with their
brand of advice. The latter were closest to him. They would’ve been there when
he was drinking and picking fights and they would’ve known the cause.

His older brother Eli was a sweetheart. He and Kai had
gotten along well, even became good friends. It had been Eli who’d caught her
and Fritz skinny-dipping one night and kept it a secret. It had been Eli who’d
reassured her that leaving Serenity made sense, that his brother would be fine.
Fritz didn’t know that though, and she’d never want him to find out. Especially
given the way he’d behaved earlier today at the barn.

Sage, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. He was two
years younger than Fritz and the smartass in the family, the pessimist. Fritz
used to blame it on jealousy but Kai was convinced Sage just didn’t like her.
Leaving his brother behind had likely strengthened that sentiment, no matter
how nice he acted to her face.

Kai stopped running again and looked around, familiarizing
herself with her location. Damn, she’d run almost two miles one-way, farther
than she’d intended for sure. She wiped her damp face on her shirttail, then
bent her knee and pulled the heel of her foot toward her butt cheek, stretching
out her tight, underused quads.