Slow Burn Cowboy(30)

Alex chose that moment to walk into the house. “You going out?” he asked both Finn and Liam.

“Yeah,” Liam said. “We’re going to the bar. You want to come?”

“Did I say this was an open invitation?”

“I need a drink,” Alex said. “Give me a minute.”

Alex walked back toward the stairs, and took them two at a time. Finn looked after him incredulously. “Let’s go find Cain,” he said, his tone resigned. “Maybe he wants to go get laid too.”

As if on cue, Cain appeared from the kitchen. “Well, as tempting as that sounds,” he said, “I have to spend some time with Violet. I can’t leave her alone. Not right now. She’s acting depressed. Or maybe she’s not. Maybe she’s just a teenager, but I can’t tell and it makes me nervous. I might take her out, though. That would be a good idea. Let her see the town. So that maybe she feels a little more enthusiastic about living here.”

Liam snorted. “You don’t remember the town very accurately, do you? Because if you did, then you would know that showing a teenager around the place isn’t exactly the way to make her excited about it. If your goal is to make her run away, though, by all means give her the grand tour.”

Cain scowled. “Thanks for that. I hope someone breaks a beer bottle over your head tonight.”

And that was how Finn ended up with a full truck driving down into town. Because he was in a particularly bad mood, he made Alex sit in the bed, rather than having the three of them squeeze into the cab, on his bench seat. If his brothers touched him in addition to crashing his evening, there was going to be bloodshed.

“I remember this place,” Liam said when they pulled into the parking lot at Ace’s. “It used to be called something else, though. Also, the last time I was here I wasn’t quite old enough to drink.”

“Lucky for Copper Ridge,” Finn commented as he got out of the truck and made his way across the parking lot. “One of you better stay sober,” he added. “I’m probably going to get a ride home with my friend.”

“I’m hoping to get a ride myself,” Liam said.

“Don’t worry.” Alex clapped his hand on Finn’s shoulder, a wide grin on his face. “If anyone asks if we know him, I’ll deny everything.”

Finn walked in ahead of his brothers, then scanned the room, looking for Lane. He saw her sitting in the corner and forgot about the two jackasses who had come along with him. He forgot everything except last night. Or, more specifically, the way it had felt when her lips met his.

And then she’d told him about the baby and he’d broken inside for her. The thought of her going through that alone like she had. The thought of her being so young and making such a hard choice tore at his guts.

It was no wonder she’d seemed so fragile when she’d come to Copper Ridge all those years ago. No wonder he sensed that same vulnerability inside her now.

But knowing about the baby didn’t change the fact that he wanted her. He wanted her more than he could ever remember wanting another woman. And until he had her, it wasn’t going to go away. What he’d said to her last night had been the God’s honest truth. Nothing and no one had done anything to dim his desire for Lane Jensen. At this point, he doubted anything could.

Except maybe having her. That might do it.

It was about the most pleasurable solution he could think of.

He took his hat off, placing it on the table, before sliding into his chair. “You came.”

“I wasn’t about to say no to a free dinner.” The corner of her mouth quirked upward, but there was no shimmer in her dark eyes. She looked tired.

“Who said I was paying?”

“Hey,” she said, frowning, “this was your idea. That means you’re paying. I, of course, already took the liberty of ordering for us.”

“What am I eating?”

“Fish and chips. Regular French fries.”

“Don’t tell me you pulled some bullshit like ordering a salad thinking you were going to eat all of my fries.”

Her lips twitched. “You don’t need all the fries. And I’m in the mood for salad.”

“You have never in the entire history of our friendship been in the mood for salad. You get it so you have something green to look at on the table. And so it looks like I’m the one who eats fried crap.”

She seemed to be warming to him a little bit now, and some of the exhaustion had faded from her expression. Still, the conversation felt strange and unstable. Like a truck driving on a muddy dirt road. At any moment it could all skid off course, no matter how well it seemed to be going now.

“Oh, I’m sorry. You can have my salad. Then everyone will think you’re healthy.”

“No. I don’t want your salad. I want my French fries. And you don’t get any.”

She gasped. “I don’t even know you anymore.”

Her rage was fake, but his resolve not to let her have his French fries was real.

Because he was done with this. With this thing that she did. Wanting something, pretending she didn’t. Using him for certain things and not for others. The woman needed to ask for what she wanted. And then maybe she would get it.

When his dinner was placed in front of him, he pulled it back away from Lane. “I told you, no fries for you,” he said, when she extended her hand.

She frowned. “You were kidding.”

“I wasn’t. If you want something, ask for it.”

Her gaze turned stormy. “Are these French fries an object lesson?” she asked, her tone stiff. “Because I didn’t come here for a lesson, Finn. I thought we were going to let the weird stuff go.”

“Why?” he asked. “Because you want to?”

“Yes,” she said, reaching down toward her plate, touching the edge of a lettuce leaf and frowning. Then she slowly picked up one piece of lettuce, dunking it in a blob of ranch on another lettuce piece before sticking it in her mouth. “That is exactly why.”

“I know it pains you to hear this, but you aren’t in charge, Lane.”

“Of what?” she asked, looking at him angrily. “The world? Because I am pretty aware of that.”

“Of our friendship. You don’t get to be the one that sets the rules and makes sure they never change.”

And just like that, the metaphorical truck skidded off the road.

She looked miserable, and for a moment he felt like a villain. It made him want to let it all go. To drop it, and to put things back where they had always been.

Except, it wasn’t what he needed. It also wasn’t what she needed. Last night had definitely demonstrated that she’d been holding things in for too long. She couldn’t hold all this in too.

They lapsed into silence, and Lane continued to crunch angrily on her lettuce. He ate his French fries without remorse.

He looked up and past her and saw Alex sitting at a table surrounded by women. They were leaning in, and he was gesturing broadly, clearly telling a story. Probably one about his deployment that made him sound like a very brave hero. Not that his brother wasn’t a very brave hero. Finn had nothing but respect for his brother’s choice to serve in the military. That didn’t mean Alex wasn’t milking that service for all it was worth when it came to impressing women.

Liam was sitting between a couple of Alex’s admirers. They couldn’t all hook up with Alex, so he had a feeling Liam was going to sit there and brood until one of them decided that the quieter, more intense energy he put off was something she wanted to explore.

Watching them together made Finn feel old. He didn’t want to do that. Didn’t want to go to a bar and pretend to be interested in what a woman had to say just so he could get into her pants. That had lost its appeal when he was in his twenties. Hell, it had never had all that much appeal to him, but sex had, so he’d done what he needed to do.

It was a damned inconvenient thing. To be a man who didn’t care for shallow hookups, but didn’t want a long-term relationship.

Suddenly, he saw Liam’s expression change. Turn sharp. Turn hard. He followed his brother’s gaze to the door of the bar, where he saw Sabrina Leighton. He didn’t know Sabrina all that well.

Her sister-in-law, Lindy, owned Grassroots Winery just outside of town, but Finn had always been more of a beer drinker, which kept them pretty far outside his circle.

Still, there was no denying that Sabrina’s presence affected Liam.

But it was Sabrina’s reaction that really stood out. Because when her eyes locked with Liam’s she froze, and then she turned right back around and walked out the door.

Finn half expected his brother to follow her, but he didn’t. Instead, he picked up his beer and took a long drink before turning resolutely back to the woman sitting on his left.

And that, Finn supposed, was the aftermath of what happened in small towns when things went wrong.

Sure, Finn was making assumptions about Liam’s association with Sabrina, but he didn’t think he was wrong.

That, he supposed, was the possible fate of himself and Lane if things went wrong.

But how could they? He and Lane were friends. And maybe for him it all made sense because the sexual feelings were new. He knew that he could be her friend and want her. He knew that he could handle both aspects of their relationship. That desire didn’t have to lead to any kind of deeper emotional connection. Hell, for him there wasn’t really a deeper emotional connection to be had.