He was the last person she wanted to see right now, the last man she would use to make Luke jealous, and the last human being on earth she felt like putting her arms around. Even so, that was exactly what she did, for the alternative would have surely involved bloodshed.
“How’ve you been?” she whispered in Jesse’s ear, giving him a tight hug. This close, she could smell the alcohol on his breath. For a moment, she thought the ruse had worked, that he’d been placated by her embrace, but then he looked down at her feet and frowned, noticing something amiss.
In heels, she was taller than him.
Jesse moved his bleary gaze from her bare legs to Luke’s face. “I heard you’d been giving the new sheriff a helluva warm welcome.”
It was none of his business, and it hadn’t been for a long time, but Shay didn’t say that. She placed her hand on Jesse’s cheek, turning his head back toward her. “Don’t worry about him. He was just leaving.”
But Luke wouldn’t leave, and Jesse wouldn’t listen. He’d come to the Round-Up looking for trouble, and wouldn’t be satisfied until he found it. Annoyed with her for getting in his way, Jesse pushed her aside with more force than was necessary. Shay stumbled backward, none too steady on high heels and a bruised knee.
Jesse had never hurt her physically, and he probably hadn’t intended to this time, but if Clay hadn’t been standing right there, Shay would have fallen down hard.
Luke had seen enough. “That’s it,” he said, grabbing Jesse by the back of the shirt. Collaring him like a wayward schoolboy, Luke shoved him out the door. “You’re under arrest for being drunk in public, assaulting a woman…”
From the dark parking lot, she could hear the sound of shuffling feet on loose gravel, followed by a sharp knock and a heavy thud.
Shay and Clay, along with a few others, rushed out to see what had happened. Jesse was laid out on the ground, dead to the world. Luke stood over him, rubbing the knuckles on his right hand. He glanced up at the growing crowd. “He was resisting.”
Clay smiled, and everyone formed a circle around Jesse. Shay let out the breath she’d been holding, feeling shaky.
“Are you all right?” Luke asked, taking her by the elbow.
“Yeah, I was just… worried.”
Luke shrugged, looking down at Jesse’s prone form. “He’ll be fine.”
“Not about him, you idiot.”
Luke gave her an incredulous stare. “You were worried about me? He was drunk. And I’m bigger than he is.”
“He doesn’t always fight fair,” she murmured.
“So you thought you’d help me out by putting yourself between us? That was stupid, Shay. You could have been hurt.”
“I was trying to defuse the situation,” she said through clenched teeth. “Next time I’ll just let him have at you.”
“Good,” he said, as if he was looking forward to it.
Shay rolled her eyes heavenward.
The waitress brought Jesse an ice pack, cradling it against his jaw, and the rest of the patrons wandered back inside, deciding the show was over.
“You still want to arrest him?” Clay asked.
Luke deliberated, probably thinking Jesse wasn’t worth the trouble.
“We have a drunk tank on the rez,” Clay offered. “I could take him there for the night.”
“Thanks,” Luke said, nodding his agreement. “I’d like to ask him a few questions when he sobers up.”
They loaded him up in the passenger seat of Clay’s pickup, which took a lot of effort because Jesse was like a ton of bricks. When Clay pulled out of the parking lot, Luke said, “Come on. I’ll take you home.”
Shay snapped out of the daze she’d been in since Luke had knocked Jesse’s lights out. Situations like this often made her feel… disconnected. “No thanks,” she said, heart thumping with fresh indignation. “I don’t need you.”
Freudian slip. She’d meant to say, I don’t need you
Luke’s eyes darkened. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
In the space of five minutes, he’d rejected her, called her stupid, and told her she was ridiculous. If Shay wanted to be treated like this, she could have stayed with Jesse. Too furious to utter another word, she turned on her heel and stomped away.
When she heard him coming after her, Shay made a fist with her right hand. She’d been pushed far enough for one evening. If he grabbed her arm, she was going to deck him.
He caught up with her easily, because her shoes weren’t made for wading through gravel, but he had the sense not to touch her. “What are you going to do now? Strut down Main Street like a-”
“Whore?” she said, throwing the ugly word back in his face. “Why not? That’s what you think I am.”
His mouth made an angry line, but he didn’t dispute her.
“You sanctimonious son of a bitch,” she said, stopping in her tracks. They were standing between parked cars now, his truck on her left side. “Haven’t you ever heard of saying no? If you didn’t want me-”
He moved so fast she didn’t have time to react. “Not want you?” he growled, wrapping his arm around her waist and bringing her body flush against his. “You know goddamned well how much I want you.”
Her hands, one clutching her silver purse, the other still clenched into a fist, rested on his shoulder, ready to push him away. Any second now.
“I’ve wanted you from the first moment I saw you. I just wasn’t interested in waiting in line to get to you.”
She gasped, shoving at his chest, but he brought her even closer to him, refusing to give her room to maneuver.
“You’re right,” he said, struggling to keep his hold on her. “I
Hot color flooded her cheeks. “You’re such a jerk. The only man I’ve been with in the past year is you.”
That statement gave him pause. “Really?”
“Yes. And I’m this close to kneeing you in the groin.” She held her thumb and forefinger an inch apart to demonstrate.
He loosened his grip by a margin, never taking his attention from her face. “At the time, I guess I was projecting my own thoughts onto you. Blaming you, because I wanted you so much I couldn’t control myself.”
Shay stared back at him, wavering.
“I still can’t,” he said, his eyes locked on her mouth. “I can’t stop thinking about the way you feel. I can’t stop remembering the way you taste.”
Tears blurred her vision, because she was in the same boat. How she wanted to hate him! But every time she looked at him, she felt… something else. “Damn you,” she whispered, lifting her lips to his.
With a low groan, he pressed her back against the side of the truck and covered her mouth with his, kissing her senseless. She dropped her purse and threw her arms around his neck. Their tongues met and tangled, hearts pounding, hands seeking. She threaded her fingers through the short hair at the nape of his neck and held on tight. It was the least graceful kiss of her life, and the most exciting. There was a lot of panting and groping and straining. Their bodies slammed into the passenger door. At one point, she may have bitten him.
When his hands found her bare bottom beneath her skirt and his button fly met the front of her thong panties, she whimpered. A little more friction and she’d explode. He put his lips to her throat and she moaned, wanting to wrap her legs around his waist and forget who she was, where they were… how he’d treated her.
The parking lot at the Round-Up had seen this kind of action before, but she hadn’t. Although Shay had made a lot of bad choices in her life, screwing a guy up against the side of a pickup truck in a public place wasn’t one of them.
“Stop,” she gasped, bracing her palms on his chest.
He paused, breathing hard against her neck. Slowly, reluctantly, he let his hands fall away from her.
