Rough Ride (16 page)

Heat flushed his cheeks and curled around the back of his neck. “Well hell, you gave them to me.”

Her brows slashed down. “She’s my best friend.”

He gave a one-shoulder shrug. “Hasn’t stopped other people.”

“Okay, well it does me. Lord.” She shook her head. “You look like hell, by the way.”

“I just talked to Gretchen.”

Tonya beamed. “Good for her.”

He cocked an eyebrow.

“You look like shit, so I figure you walked in, thinking she was going to melt in your arms and she told you off.”

He stretched his neck. “Pretty much.”

“What are you doing back here anyway? Thought you left.”

“I’m back.” He was tempted to tell her to fuck off, only in nicer words, then thought better of it. This could be his chance. They were best friends and no doubt this conversation would be repeated word for word. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise him if he was being recorded. “I changed my mind. I want her back.”

“If you wanted her so bad, you probably shouldn’t have left.”

He laid the pathetic on as thick as he could manage. This was probably what Gretchen needed to hear. That he was miserable. “Yeah. Didn’t realize that until I left.”

“Lucky for her.”

“For her?”

Tonya blinked and cleared her throat. “I mean,
lucky for her
. Sarcastically. That the man she’s falling for has his head tucked so far up his ass he can’t see what he’s got.”

He frowned. “That’s not what I meant.”

Flora walked by in a blur of movement and dropped into the seat next to Tonya. “Hey, dipshit.”

Lane blinked. Nice. “Hi.”

Flora arranged her napkin roll and stared at him. “You look like shit.”

Tonya glanced over. “He wants Gretchen back.”

“Of course he does. Only an idiot would leave her. If I was a lesbian, I’d turn her and make her mine.” Flora shrugged. “I mean, she’s loyal, faithful. Loves with her whole heart. Do anything you asked of her at the drop of a dime. She’s caring, sweet, but would do her best in a bar fight if I needed her, bless her tiny little ass. That and she—”

Lane leaned back. “I know. I’m an idiot.”

“Don’t forget dipshit.”

His eyes narrowed.

Flora shrugged. “That’s what Jacob’s calling you.”

The man in question appeared and spun a chair around and sat at the end of the table. “True. What are we talking about?”

Flora smiled at him and Lane was glad for it, though it sickened him just a little knowing what he’d thrown away. “Lane wants Gretchen back.”

Jacob nodded. “I know.” His brother met his gaze. “Guess you talked to her.”

“Yep.”

“How’d it go?”

He twisted the bottle around between his palms. “She asked for references and a deposit if I wanted to rent my trailer back from her.”

“Ouch.” Jacob winced.

“Yeah.” Tonya and Flora high-fived.

This was humiliating, but if these two girls had a clue of how to get her back, he’d suffer the embarrassment. “She said she doesn’t trust me anymore. I don’t know how to get her back.”

“It’s simple.” Tonya smiled.

Definitely worth laying his ass out.

Flora also grinned. “You’re going to have to earn her back.”

“Earn her,” he repeated. He wanted a short cut. He wanted what they had before he left. “Earn her how?”

Jacob shook his head. “Win her trust, dipshit.”

“I was just gone a couple of days.”

“God, you men are stupid.” Tonya leaned her elbows on the table. “You want her back, you’re going to have to work for it. You had her. You left her. It’s not complicated.”

He stared at them while they just stared back. “
How?
”

Flora shook her head. “It’s official. Gretchen dodged a bullet when you left her.”

He flipped his snickering brother off by scratching his nose with his middle finger. “I just…it was easy before. That’s what I want back.”

“Yeah. But she doesn’t.”

“What does she want?”

Tonya shook her head. “Why don’t you try talking to her about that?”

“All she’ll talk about is business. The rental agreement. References, fuck—heck if I know where to get those.” He watched the girls, waiting for a response when a small idea came to him. “You two. You’re two of my references.”

Flora’s lips parted. “How many beers have you had?”

“No. This is perfect. You want us back together. Be my references.”

Tonya was laughing again. “No. I want her happy. You’re not making her happy, so you’re out of the picture.”

“I can make her happy though.”

“Can you?”

“I did before.” And they would get back what he screwed up.

Tonya wasn’t letting him off easy. “That was a temporary relationship. Gretchen deserves more than that. She wants the house. The yard. Kids. You barely stuck it out a few weeks with her.”

“There were circumstances.”

Flora shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. You made your choice and it wasn’t her.”

He groaned and raked his hands across his head. “I’m putting you both down. Tell her whatever you want.”

Flora shrugged. “Your funeral.”

He refused to believe that. What they’d had was fantastic. It was going somewhere until he’d been stupid and they
would
have it back again. He just had to make her see he was different now.

That temporary wasn’t what he was after. He would be there for the long haul and give them a chance. He just had to prove it. How in the hell he did that, he didn’t know.

How did any other relationship work? He rubbed his eyes. He didn’t know people who did stuff like that.

He pushed out of his chair. Screw it, he needed his baby brother. “I have something to do. Be thinking of what you’ll tell her.”

He walked out of the diner with the three of them watching him go. Grant would know what to do. He was happy. Seemed it anyway.

Lane ignored the itch in the middle of his back. He’d tell Grant about their mother soon. But not yet. Winning Gretchen back was enough of a hardship on his mind. Losing his brother at the same time would be too much.

Chapter
Twenty

Gretchen lifted the small stack of papers which had been shoved through her mail slot overnight. Nothing could have stopped the grin that spread over her face when she saw Lane’s information, but she had to force the frown to follow it.

She didn’t know what he was about, what his plans were, but she wasn’t a part of it. That was the point of putting him through this. She wanted him to realize she meant business. They were done. They were done the moment he left. That had been their arrangement from the beginning.

She flipped through his pages and noticed the names at the bottom. She lifted her gaze and faced the two women who were poking in her paints this morning. “He put you two down as references.”

Tonya and Flora shared a look.

“Did you know?”

Flora shrugged. “He mentioned it. We told him it was a bad idea.”

Gretchen dropped the pages on her desk and raked her hands over her hair. What was he getting at? “Well? Reference.”

Flora didn’t wait. “He’s a jackass not worthy of you.”

Tonya put her paintbrush down. “He seems sorry he left, but I agree. He’s a jackass. Who wants a man who is too afraid to stand up and simply say something?”

“Right.” Flora nodded. “Dude could have at least asked you to run away with him.”

“Definitely.” Tonya flipped through the papers. “If he wanted you enough to begin with, he could have taken you. Don’t fall for his shit.”

Gretchen looked at them both. “Do you really believe that?”

Tonya frowned. “I do.”

Flora nodded. “Absolutely. No questions.”

Gretchen sank in her office chair until her bones wouldn’t allow her to slouch further. Of course they were right. She’d said as much nearly two days ago when she’d been high on ambition and girl power for
the
mission
. Now she was stuck on his scent and the taste of his kiss. Both of which, she craved more of.

Tonya eased onto the desk next to her. “But I think it says something that he came back. And he came here pretty fast too.”

Flora gave her a small smile. “According to Jacob, it wasn’t until they told him you called him a coward that he finally moved his ass to come back.”

Tonya nodded. “That’s got to be something.”

Maybe, just maybe it was. She tapped her fingers. “I don’t want it this way. I wanted him before he was a jerk. Why did he have to be a jerk?”

Flora smiled. “Part of the charm of men. I have to go check on a few things.”

“Me too.” Tonya slid off the desk. “You have plenty of time. If he wants you enough, he’ll wait.”

Gretchen smiled. “Sounds like sex advice to a fifteen year old.”

Tonya laughed. “Some advice never changes.”

They slipped out and Gretchen glanced back over the papers he’d filled out. He’d taken his time. Wrote in print and filled out each section plainly. She smiled. Most people slopped it down so fast, she could hardly make out a word, but he’d done this with care. And then there was his third reference.

Grant. The one he’d left this town for. She set the papers aside, unsure of what angle he was getting at. She crossed her arms over her chest and rocked in her chair. Or maybe there was no angle. Maybe she should just go with it.

The frown came easy. Like last time. She’d just gone with a relationship, or whatever they’d had. A certain part of her had a damn right to be angry he’d just left her, but she’d also known the stakes on what they were.

Now it was all so messed up. What were they, exactly? Was he here just until the end of their drilling project? Was he looking at forever?

No sooner did she groan out a sigh for even considering it, than her door opened and the man stepped through.

“Morning.” He held up a white sack. “I’ve got donuts.”

This was all too much. She needed time to think. To figure things out. It’d been years since she’d had relationship issues and she had no desire to make the wrong step. “Already ate, but thanks.”

He put the things down anyway and leaned against her desk. “Did you get the papers I left?”

How’d she end up backed in this corner, trapped behind her desk again? No. Not happening, she slipped from her chair and eased out the makeshift jail. “I have them.”

“Well? Am I your newest renter?”

“I haven’t made up my mind. I just got your papers today.”

His arms crossed his chest and made him look so much bigger, stronger. “Why are you doing this?”

She so wasn’t walking into that. “It’s standard procedure.”

“When we first moved here, we didn’t do any of this.”

“Yes you did, it was just done for you. The arrangement was made because I know and trust Rebecca. She vouched for the three of you.”

“And now her word isn’t good enough.”

“I haven’t talked to her to find out, but either way, you left, agreement ended.”

“Back to the leaving thing again.” He frowned.

What did
that
mean? Was he frowning over regret or frowning over this hassle she was putting him through? She turned away to paint the trim around the window. “That is the reason why we’re redoing the agreement.”

“Is there more to it?”

She paused for only a second then resumed the red trim work on the kitchen window. “Like what?”

“Something with us, for example.”

“There isn’t anything with us.”

His footsteps thudded over the floor and she knew seconds before he grasped her by the arms that she might have gone a touch too far. “Yes there is.”

“There
was
. Big difference.”

His face was in hers. His breath on her cheeks. Lips all but on hers as he leaned over. “There is. Let’s go back to how we were.”

She swallowed. Perhaps this was what they needed. Get all the dirty aired out. “Back to what we were? All right. A temporary relationship until you leave. That’s what we had. That’s not what I want anymore.”

“Not temporary. I’m not leaving any time soon.”

“Not even after the drilling?”

“No.”

She licked her lips. “And if there’s no oil in the ground, then what?”

His eyes never left her face. “There will be. And if there’s not, there are jobs in this area. Trent has it all figured out. We talked to Grant, let him know we’d stay as close as possible if there wasn’t oil and he agreed to quit stalling on drilling and checking the wells. I’m staying.”

She swallowed, trying not to be too tempted. “So where does that leave us?”

“I hope back like we were. Without me leaving hanging over the both of us.” His hold on her arms softened from gripping to caressing.

“Tonya and Flora said you’re a jackass and I deserve better.”

The corner of his lips turned up. “They’re right.”

Her brows lifted. “I don’t think you’re supposed to agree.”

He chuckled. “No, they were right.
Were
. I was a jackass.” He winced. “And you still deserve better, but I’m not a jackass anymore. Or at least I hope not.”

“You don’t sound sure.”

He cupped her cheeks just the way she liked. Pulled her in close in that most perfect way. “I do know what I am sure about. Us.”

His mouth lowered and sealed over hers. Sensations flooded through, wrapped her in him and all they had together. Undeniable chemistry. The instant want and desire. Even after being together for such a short time, he was familiar and everything soft about her curved right along to his hardness.

His kisses stole across her cheek, to her ear. “I’m going to lock the door. You wait here.”

All she could do was nod and gasp for air. Then he pulled away and she was left feeling cold without him. She broke her promise to stay put. If he got too far away, doubt might creep in. Doubt was scary.

With Lane, she didn’t want doubt. Didn’t need it. He was back. He said so. Now she just had to believe it.

He turned the lock and swept her up in his arms. “I said don’t move.”

“You want to argue now?”

He grinned. “Not really.”

He started toward her room, but she stopped him. “Other way. I’m remodeling there too. No bed left.”