Crazy Little Thing Called Love (33 page)

She shivered but pulled away from him,
“You’re such a sweet talker.”

“I do try.” He chuckled.

They ate dinner together at his kitchen
table. They drank Shiner and had steak and it was the best meal
Blue could remember having in ages. The food wasn’t spectacular.
Burned steak and salad rarely were. The conversation wasn’t
anything special. They traded stories about things as mundane as
ranch work and cattle. But the longer she sat in his house the
bigger the pressure in her chest got and she knew she needed to
leave before she did something really stupid like falling for this
perfect moment in time.

“I should get going.” She carried her plate
to the sink as soon as she finished.

“Why?”

“Because there’s probably still a house full
of people at the Oaks.”

“Sounds like a reason to stay here to me.” He
stood from the table. “Besides, you still owe me for burning the
steaks.”

“I didn’t burn the steaks you did.” She
circled the island in the middle of the kitchen, keeping it between
them.

She couldn’t think straight when he was close
to her. If he touched her she’d melt and then she’d be in a heaping
pile of trouble. He’d touch her and she’d remember how sweet he’d
been the past few days, she’d remember how he saved her from
sinking into a pit of despair. She’d remember everything but the
fact he was never going to love her back. It was best if she put
some space between them. She’d been too close to him the past few
days, that’s all it was. A few days away and she’d be able to see
him clearly again.

“But it was your fault I burned them.”

“I’ll make it up to you later.”

“Or you can make it up to me now.” His hand
darted out so fast she couldn’t avoid it and he grabbed her wrist.
He held her steady as he circled the island to stand in front of
her, “You’re not really trying to get away from me are you
baby?”

She licked her lips nervously as she met his
soft green eyes, “Maybe.”

“You’re going to have to try a lot harder
than that because now that I got you, I ain’t ever letting you
go.”

His mouth claimed hers and she melted just
like she’d known she would. It wasn’t fair. He couldn’t say things
like that to her. In her silly heart she heard things he didn’t
really mean.

He kissed her and she knew the war was over.
It was too late. It had probably been too late for a long time now
but she’d been kidding herself into not believing it.

She’d tried hard not to let it happen. She’d
tried not to fall in love with Zach West, the self-proclaimed
bachelor, the king of one night stands, the master of emotional
unavailability. She’d tried and she’d failed.

She hadn’t had a chance. She was destined to
love emotionally unavailable men just like her daddy. She knew it,
knew he’d probably break her heart into a million little pieces and
she’d have to rebuild herself when it was over but she gave in to
it. It was crazy but just this once she was going to make love to
Zach and then she was going to pack it away and get on with her
life. Tomorrow. She’d get on with her life tomorrow.

Something was wrong. Blue could feel it the
minute her eyes opened. She blinked and looked around, tried to
figure out where she was. It took a couple of seconds to process
that she was in Zach’s bed, in Zach’s house but Zach wasn’t beside
her. She rubbed her sleep filled eyes. It was dark. She had no idea
how long she’d been asleep. That’s when she heard voices.

“Don’t fucking come into my house and yell at
me.”

Zach. She could barely hear his voice, it
sounded far away. She sat up and looked around for her clothes. It
took a second to remember they were in the kitchen. He’d stripped
her bare and touched her and kissed her and she’d been silly enough
to think for just a second that his soft caress might mean more
than it did because she was in love with him. She needed to get her
clothes and get out of there. She never should have fallen
asleep.

“Don’t be an asshole then!”

A second voice. Shit. Somebody was here and
Zach was arguing with him. She didn’t want to eavesdrop but she had
little choice now that she was awake. Her clothes were in the
kitchen. She couldn’t go out there and get them with somebody else
in the house.

“Keep your voice down, Blue’s sleeping.”

She groaned. And now whoever was out there
knew she was here. Fabulous.

“Like I give a flying fuck if I wake sleeping
beauty.”

She frowned. That seemed uncalled for. What
did she have to do with this? Who was out there?

“Watch it Devin.”

There was her answer. His brother was here.
They were arguing. She remembered their conversation from earlier
in the day. He’d said Devin was the one frustrating him. She’d
wondered how bad Zach’s temper could get. She hadn’t been hoping
for a display.

“Oh don’t give me that crap like you actually
care about her. You were supposed to talk to her, get her to sign
over the land and instead you’ve been screwing her.”

Her mouth fell open. What? No! She couldn’t
have heard what she thought she heard.

“I told you I’d talk to her and I will. She
buried her father less than twenty-four hours ago. Back off.”

“I heard from Bobby. He said she burned the
papers. Did you even know that?”

“No. I didn’t.”

“You might if you’d stop thinking with your
dick.”

Oh God. She was going to be sick. They were
talking about her. They were fighting and it was about her.

“Lyle Carter was going to sell us that land.
What the hell did you do to mess that up?”

“I didn’t do anything. I told you to deal
with the land. I told you I’d talk to her. I meant it.”

The land? The ranch? She hadn’t bothered to
read the documents to see who her father was selling to. She’d
simply told Bobby she wasn’t selling. She should have been able to
figure out who the interested party was though. The Triple Star was
the only other ranch in the area.

“You literally screwed us out of that
land.”

“Get outside. Now.”

She heard the door slam and muffled voices.
She couldn’t make out the words anymore but she’d heard enough. Her
stomach turned. If the Triple Star was trying to buy Montgomery
Oaks that meant… She swallowed hard. It meant that every time she’d
talked to Zach about it he’d been lying to her.

Every time she’d mentioned inheriting the
land, every time she’d talked about her father leaving it to her,
he’d known that wasn’t the case. He’d known and he’d let her
believe he hadn’t. He’d lied.

She tried to recall the conversations. There
had been several. They’d talked about it while they drove around in
the Impala, right before she slept with him. They’d talked about it
that first night when he made her a sandwich, right before she’d
slept with him again. He’d slept with her time and again and he
hadn’t said a word.

Hastily she shoved the sheets away. She
couldn’t be in his bed. She couldn’t be here now. All of his talk
of honesty and he’d been lying from the start, maybe not about who
he was or what he could offer but a lie was a lie. Omission was a
lie.

Devin’s words turned nasty in her head as she
tried to find something to put on.
You were supposed to talk to
her, get her to sign over the land and instead you’ve been screwing
her
. She felt nauseous again and had to take a deep breath.

Had it all been one big lie?

Zach’s response haunted her.
I told you
I’d talk to her and I will
. She hadn’t meant to hear any of it
but now that she had she couldn’t undo it.

It was too horrible to even think about. She
needed to get away. She needed some time and some space to think
about what she’d heard. She couldn’t be in his house, in his bed
and not know if he’d been using her all along.

She scrambled through his closet to find
something to wear. She pulled on an old sweatshirt, found a pair of
mesh shorts and pulled those on too. She couldn’t find her clothes
and she had to get away so this was going to have to work.

She was almost to the bedroom door when it
swung open. Zach came to an abrupt stop. So did she. They stared at
each other for a long second in silence. Finally he broke it.

“What are you doing?”

“Leaving.”

“What?” His head tilted.

“I have to go. I can’t be here right
now.”

“What?” He repeated and then his brows
furrowed, “Why?”

“Maybe because I don’t feel like being used
anymore?” The words dropped out of her mouth before she could bite
them off.

He stared at her, “What the hell are you
talking about?”

“I accidentally overheard part of your
conversation with Devin. For instance, the part where you were
supposed to talk me into selling you my land.”

He blinked, scratched his head and sighed, “I
told Devin I’d talk to you about selling when he asked me a few
days ago. It’s what your father wanted. It’s what Devin and Riley
want. That’s all.”

“Funny how you seem to know what everybody
else wanted all this time and yet you never mentioned it.”

Her confusion was giving way to anger. The
more she thought about it the madder she got. The madder she got
the more she hated that he looked so innocent standing in front of
her with his soft green eyes that she loved so much. God, she loved
him. She was an idiot.

“It wasn’t my place to tell you. Your father
should have told you he wanted to sell. I hated not being able to
talk to you about it.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it was really hard for you to
keep that to yourself while I was bitching about the land and the
ranch and how my daddy had tried to keep it from me but he wouldn’t
be able to when he died.” She shook her head, “Except he had a plan
to do just that and you didn’t tell me.”

“It wasn’t my place.” He repeated and his
shoulders heaved with a deep breath, “Look, Bluebell, I’m
sorry.”

“You said you’d never lie to me.”

“I know.” He cleared his throat and stared at
the floor, “It wasn’t supposed to get this complicated. You were
supposed to be a one night stand.”

As if that made it so much better? Her world
was crumbling around her again. She’d buried her father. She’d
fallen in love. And now she was going to do something even dumber,
she was going to tell him the truth despite the fact that he hadn’t
given her the same courtesy.

“You were supposed to be a one night stand
too.” She shrugged apologetically, “But then it wasn’t just one
night and you were there for me, really there for me despite
everything you said you didn’t want. Even from the beginning you
made sure I ate and that I didn’t drink that beer.”

“Blue?”

She felt something clench tight in her chest
and the aching only got worse. He looked so confused. He looked
like he had no idea what she was talking about and she knew
immediately that he didn’t know just how much he’d done for her. It
meant the world to her and he’d never meant for it to mean
anything.

“You let me lean on you when I needed a
shoulder but now it’s all going to end.”

“What? No!” He took a step toward her but she
shook her head.

“I fell in love with you Zach.” He stopped in
his tracks but the words tumbled out anyway, “I love you.”

Silence stretched between them. For the first
time since she’d met him on the side of the road that first day she
drove back into Fate the silence between them was awkward. It was
uncomfortable. She told him she was in love with him and he looked
like she was a ticking time bomb he didn’t know how to diffuse.

“I’m sorry.”

Oh God, she felt like he’d just taken a knife
to her chest and cut straight through her. She told him she loved
him and he apologized like it was the worst thing that could have
ever happened. He still stood just a few feet from her but his
physical presence didn’t quench the loneliness this time.

“It’s late do you um… do you want to go
home?” He didn’t look directly at her and the cut got a little bit
deeper.

She told him she loved him and he offered to
take her home. He couldn’t get away from her fast enough. She’d
known it would happen this way, known it all along and been unable
to do anything to stop it.

“Yeah. I should go.”

“I’ll drive you.”

Silently he turned and left the room. She
quickly followed him, darted into the kitchen and collected her
clothing. Neither of them spoke as she clutched her things to her
chest and followed him to his truck. Neither of them spoke on the
drive back to Montgomery Oaks.

She tried to take deep breathes but it didn’t
help. It was over. No more distraction. No more flirting or talking
or dinners. No more sexting or laughing or making out. No more sex
in crazy places and positions because they couldn’t wait to get
each other naked. No more Zach in her life. She knew it would come
to this if she was stupid enough to fall in love with him and she’d
been right.

He dropped her at the front of the house at
the Oaks and she watched his taillights fade into the distance.
There was no talk of calling or texting or speaking soon. There
were no future plans to be made.

He might have lied about the ranch, kept what
he knew about the land and her father to himself, but he’d never
lied about what he wanted from her. He’d never wanted a
relationship, didn’t want her love. He’d been clear on that point
from the very first second and she’d agreed. She was the one that
had gone back on their deal. It was her fault for wanting more.

She hadn’t meant to. She’d only wanted a
distraction at first. She’d only wanted to forget about everything
that was wrong in her life. He’d been good for that, too good,
because at some point she’d known it wasn’t just lust anymore.
She’d known that at some point in the past few weeks she’d stopped
just wanting him and started needing him.