Roped Tight (Ryker Ranch #4) - Kim Loraine Page 0,42
before opening the door and stepping out into the evening air. The scent of beer and sawdust hit me before anything else when I walked into the crowded bar. A band played something rough and sexy while still somehow holding onto their country roots.
“Sam? What are you doing here?” Clint’s rumbled words had me turning around with my heart in my throat. He and his wife Ever stood together to my right.
“I… Just blowing off steam. You?”
He grinned and wrapped an arm around Ever. “Date night.”
She smiled wide. “Do you want to join us?”
The look on my brother’s face said he loved me, but he’d cheerfully beat me to death with my own belt buckle if I took her up on that offer. “Nah, I’m good. I’m meeting a friend.”
That wasn’t a lie. Tucker was as much a friend as anyone else. A friend who’d had my dick in his mouth only a few hours ago. A friend who I fantasized about on the regular. A friend who crushed my heart.
I tipped my hat at Ever and said, “Y’all have a good night.” Then I walked to the bar and ordered a club soda with lime before settling on a barstool at a nearby table for two with anticipation humming in my veins.
Where was he? Would he stand me up because he was pissed about what I’d said? Except, this wasn’t a date. He couldn’t stand me up.
But everything stopped when he walked through the door. A tight black t-shirt stretched across his broad, muscular chest. He wore jeans that fit him like they’d been made special just to hug his thighs exactly right. Fuck me, I was already fighting a hard-on, and he wasn’t even looking at me. Until suddenly he was. His dark brown gaze saw straight through the unaffected mask I was wearing. Wicked lips twisted up into a smirk, then he bit his lower lip and looked down at the floor for just a second as a slight flush bloomed on his cheeks.
After stopping by the bar and ordering what looked like bourbon, he joined me at my table. “You’re tense, Sammy.”
“Am I?”
“Yeah.”
“I wonder why.”
A long moment passed between us, enough time for me to take in his scent, clean and fresh and distinctively Tucker. “You come here often?” I asked.
His grin widened. “More than I’d like.”
“Is this where you come to pick up guys?”
Shrugging, he tossed back half his bourbon. “Sometimes.”
“I don’t know how to do this.”
“Do what? Sit next to me at a bar? It’s not like we’re professing our undying love in front of a crowd or anything.”
I snorted. “Not like this crowd would even hear us.” The music was loud enough we had to raise our voices to be heard.
“So, how’s…Greg?” Tucker took another drink and sighed as he set the glass on the table.
“I wouldn’t know.”
“You two seem pretty cozy.”
Frustration curled in my chest. “I told you, I’m not fucking him.”
“You don’t have to be fucking someone to be involved with ‘em.”
“You think I’m…dating Greg?”
He shrugged. “Why wouldn’t you be? He’s good looking. Helpless as shit, but maybe he’s got some redeemable qualities hidden under all that self-tanner.”
“I don’t date.”
“You just fuck.” It was a statement. A way for him to poke at me and see if I’d crack.
“What’s wrong with that? Sometimes I need a release.”
“And you’d rather get that with a random guy than me?”
How did I respond to that? The truth was, ten years ago, he was the only guy I ever wanted to spend any time with. “It seems to me the two of us have been getting our rocks off with each other plenty over the last little while.”
A low chuckle escaped him as he drained the last of his bourbon. “We sure have. So why are we dancing around this thing between us, Sammy? You want me. I want you. Let’s see this through together.”
God, I did want him. But I wouldn’t be able to let him go again when he was done with me. I opened my mouth to shut him down, but a pretty girl with big brown eyes and a wide smile came up to our table.
“Um…excuse me? Are you Sam Ryker?” Her hesitant question had me smiling on instinct. I didn’t want her nervous.
“Sure am, darlin’.”
Her cheeks turned a bright pink, and it was then I noticed her shirt. A white tee, tied tight at the waist, with our ranch logo on the center and the words Call me darlin’ written