Unbreak My Heart (Rough Riders Legacy #1)(16)
“Don’t run when I say this.” I lifted my hand, trapping her hand against my face to keep it in place. “Looking at you…having you this close…makes it goddamn hard to breathe, let alone think straight.” Immediately after I admitted that, I slammed my eyes shut. I could not deal with her rejection right now.
I swear to god I heard her murmur, “I know what you mean.”
Then her sharp fingernails scratched my hairline. “I liked you better with long hair, West.”
I smiled at her attempt to lighten the mood. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, it’s a no-go in the military. A buzz cut, the same as everyone else’s, makes it impossible to wear the label of brooding bad boy when the hipsters and the rednecks look exactly like you.”
She laughed.
I wanted more of that. I wanted more of this easy banter. I opened my eyes.
She tugged her hand away, but she didn’t retreat. “You still want to do this today?”
More than ever. “Wow me with your expertise, college girl.”
“Smartass. I’m a college graduate. Come on.”
Sierra drove a Mercedes.
“Why are you grinning like that?” she demanded.
“You drive the same kind of car you had in Wyoming.”
“Because even the new models have the highest safety ratings on the market.” She smirked. “With way more drive time, I upgraded to a kick-ass stereo.”
I climbed in and buckled up. “What’s first?”
“Showing you the areas your friend can’t afford.” She paused. “Scottsdale and Arcadia.”
“Where do you live?”
“Scottsdale.”
I bore white knuckles as Sierra wove in and out of traffic. The music on her kick-ass stereo didn’t provide enough distraction—I wouldn’t have pegged her as a Taylor Swift fan.
“You okay over there, West?”
“Trying not to think about whether my life insurance info is up to date.”
“Traffic is the one thing I hate about Phoenix.”
“Did you always know you’d come back here?”
She weighed her response. “Dad moving us to Sundance felt like punishment, even when he did it so we could both get to know his family together. That first year was rough on so many levels. Junior and senior years of high school I became more involved with everything. The McKays expected I’d attend UWYO because I’d taken classes there my senior year, but I picked ASU.”
“Why?”
“I felt like a third wheel with Dad and Rielle. That didn’t mean I wasn’t flipping cartwheels because they found each other. But between me and Rielle’s daughter Rory, they’d never lived alone together without kids. Plus, I knew if I hated Laramie I could drive home for the weekend. Going to ASU felt more like an adult decision.”
“Had your mom moved back from France? Was that part of it?”
“No. Her dipshit boy toy in Paris ditched her after he decided to settle down with a younger woman and have kids. She returned to Phoenix after my first year at ASU, a total mess. Her plan to feel young, hip and cool was to hang out with her college-aged daughter.”
I groaned. “Fun for you, huh?”
“Oh, it gets better. Then she decided hooking up with a college-aged guy would prove her hotness. So, as usual, she chose the easiest option and banged my boyfriend.”
“Fuck. Seriously?”
“Her behavior didn’t shock me as much as she’d hoped. I went, ‘Eh, you can have him.’ In a way she did me a favor. The guy was a total ‘S’up, bro?’ frat-boy douchebag with a small dick and smaller ambitions.”
I had no idea what the f*ck to say to that. Did I laugh? She acted unaffected now, but it had to have pissed her off when it’d happened.
“Oh, so now you don’t have anything to say?”
I did laugh at that. “Parents suck. At least you have one good one. Both of mine are worthless. Just say the word, baby, and I’ll track down that cheating, frat-boy douchebag and beat his tiny-dick ass.”
“Four years after it happened?”
“He won’t suspect you waited that long to get revenge.” And I’d love to pound the shit out of a guy who’d had Sierra in his bed and hadn’t cared enough to keep her there.
Sierra laughed. “The army would approve of that response?”
“It’s not like I’d wear my uniform. I’d be in total stealth mode.”
“I’ll take it under consideration, tough guy.”
During her thorough tour of the city, I listened to her spiel without much comment because I liked the sound of her voice and I appreciated seeing the area through her eyes. She clearly loved living here more than she ever had in Wyoming.
After two and a half hours my stomach rumbled. “Can we stop for lunch? It can even be fast food. I just have to eat something.” I pointed to a Cheesecake Factory. “How about there?”
“That’s not fast food.”
“It’s close though.”
“Fine.” She pulled into a parking garage.
Feeling antsy, I climbed out of the car first and waited for her at the bottom of the steps. She’d slipped her sunglasses back on, but I felt her eyes on me. In a total junior high move, I dropped my arms behind me and stretched. That move flexed my biceps, pecs and abdomen. I knew she’d look.