Sweet and Wild - Carmen Jenner Page 0,17
you back to the ranch house because your Mama don’t need to see you like this.”
I puff out my cheeks, blowing my bangs out of my eyes. “Like what, drunk and grieving?”
“That what you’re callin’ it?”
I yank my hand from his and stop dead in my tracks. “How dare you. My father was just laid to rest.”
“Yeah, and all your worst demons are coming out to play. I don’t think your family needs to see that side of you right now.”
“That side of me? What the hell does that mean?” I scowl. “And how would you know what they need?”
“Goddamn it, woman. You haven’t changed any. You’re still an obnoxious drunk.”
I deepen my scowl and throw in a pout for good measure. “And you’re still annoying.”
Colt raises a brow. “Annoying?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Okay, that’s it.” He bends at the waist and scoops me up and over his shoulder. My stomach protests with the sudden lack of the-right-way-up-ed-ness.
“Put me down!”
“Nope.” He slaps my ass and I squeal and pound my fists against his back. Colt climbs the stairs to his cabin and opens the door. I buck and kick and he tosses me on the bed as if I weigh nothing. I’m on my feet as soon as the room stops spinning, but Colt blocks my path, his back pressed firmly against the door.
“You best get comfortable, Lemonade, because you ain’t goin’ nowhere until you sober up.”
“You can’t hold me here. That’s called kidnapping.”
“Call it what you want, darlin’. You and me are gonna be spending a long night together.”
I cross my arms and sit on the edge of the bed, eyeing the whiskey bottle like a lover he’s keeping me from. “When did you become so un-fun?”
“I don’t know, Lemon. Maybe it was around the time my girlfriend walked out on me.”
I sigh and lie back on the bed, staring up at the peeling paint on the ceiling. “It never would have worked with us.”
“Oh, really?” He smirks and folds himself into a chair, still close enough to the door to keep me from sneaking by. “Why is that?”
“Because I was dying to get out, and you were determined to stay.”
“How the hell would you know? You never even discussed leavin’ with me. I just woke up and you were gone.”
“I couldn’t stay here, Colt. I didn’t want their pity. All those empty words, the judgement, the way they looked at me like I was something that might break.”
“No one was lookin’ at you like that, Lemon.”
“You looked at me like that,” I accuse and instantly regret it. A quiet sob tears free of my chest and I roll onto my side and close my eyes. The bed smells like him, like wilderness and sage. I press my nose to the coverlet and breathe him in because I can’t say these things to his face. “I loved you. I was so madly in love with you, I thought it might kill me.”
He laughs, but it cuts bone deep. “The feeling was mutual.”
“You said was,” I murmur as sleep beckons to me like a gentle lover. “You don’t love me anymore, but seeing you again makes it all so clear. My heart still beats for you, Colt. No matter how much I wish it wouldn’t.”
CHAPTER TEN
Colt
“What did you say?” I whisper into the quiet cabin, though I know I’m never getting an answer to that question.
Lemon’s breathing deepens and she rolls toward me. She’s a different person than the Lemon I knew from twelve years ago. Time has aged her. Lemon’s face is still just as gorgeous as it ever was, maybe more so with the faint laugh lines bracketing her luscious mouth. Her body is tighter now too, hips a little wider, her ass rounder, and her tits are much more than the handful I used to cup, but inside, she’s still the fiery Lemon I loved. New York didn’t dull that. If anything, it made her even more passionate. I stare at her sleeping form and debate my choices. I could throw her over my shoulder and walk her back to the ranch, but she’s just as likely to make a ruckus and wake everyone up, so I shoot a text to West.
Me: Don’t kill me, but your sister’s spending the night.
West doesn’t bother to reply. Instead, he calls, and I head into the bathroom and answer it on a whisper, “Hello?”
“What the fuck is my sister doing in your bed?”
“Come on now, West. You really think I’m gonna