Throttled (Wild Riders #1)(57)

Who is this guy?

“Of course,” Nora replied. “The more the merrier.” She looked incredible as always—a pair of dark jeans and simple, pale yellow, long sleeved shirt. The girl looked good in anything, but these particular jeans seemed to be hugging her ass in an exceptionally tempting way tonight. Her long hair was down and wavy, looking a little blonder from all of our time outside on the bike recently. She pulled it to one side as I stood next to her, purposely showing off her delectable neck to me. I leaned in a pressed my lips to her skin, chastely.

“I don’t know about you Brett, but I’m about sick of these two and their constant groping,” Georgia teased. “You wanna grab a drink?”

“Yeah, they’re pretty gross,” he said with a smile before following Georgia to the bar. As soon as they walked away I turned Nora in my arms and pressed my lips to hers.

“If they want to see groping, we can show them groping.”

“You’re incorrigible,” she said against my lips.

“You love it.” I tightened my arms around her waist.

“I do,” she said wrinkling her nose. “So, what’s the deal with them?” she asked, turning her head to toward the bar. Georgia and Brett seemed to be having a friendly conversation as they ordered drinks.

“No idea,” I answered. “I know he thinks she’s hot. You mean you haven’t gotten any gossip from your sister on the topic?”

“Not really,” she said. I released my arms from around her and took her hand in mine. “She’s been busy at work and I’ve been busy with you so...”

“Yeah, I’ve kind of dropped the friend ball with Brett, too.” I sighed. “I might have said that I didn’t think he was good enough for her a while back. I don’t think he’d tell me the truth about her anyway.”

“Hmmm.” Nora stared up at me pensively. “I mean, I don’t think he’s a bad guy,” she hesitated. “And, I think Georgia is pretty good at making her own decisions.” As she was talking, Georgia playfully slapped at Brett’s arm and it appeared that she was actually flirting with him. “We might just have to wait and see how it plays out.”

“Well, we might not have that much time,” I said, deciding it was best to just tell her that I had to leave in a week.

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve gotta go back. For work.”

“When?” Nora’s big blue eyes were full of concern, a crease had formed between her brows and I wanted to kiss it away. I wanted to tell her that we were going to be fine and that it was all going to work out. I wanted to keep telling her that until she believed it.

“A week.” I squeezed her hand in mine. “It’s going to be fine though. I’ll be able to come back when the house is completed, and you can fly out for the weekends. We’re going to be fine.” I needed just as much reassurance on this topic as she did. What if she decided that I wasn’t worth the trouble and was the one to end things? I knew she thought it would be me, but I was the one that was worried.

She nodded, but didn’t say anything. I could see the tears welling in her eyes and I felt helpless. I hated seeing her cry, and knowing I was the reason for her tears was almost more than I could handle.

“Shutterbug. Please don’t cry.” I pulled her against my chest and pressed my lips to the top of her head.

“I’m not,” she said, shaking her head and trying to muster up a smile. “I’m fine. I just need some air.” She pulled her hand from mine. “I’ll be right back.”





One week.

It didn’t seem fair. It was too soon for him to be leaving. I paced the sidewalk in front the bar. The sun had set and the street lights had turned on. For a Friday night the town square was exceptionally bare. Which was fine, I really didn’t feel like explaining to anyone why I was wiping tears off of my face.

I knew that he would eventually have to leave, but the house wasn’t finished. I thought we still had time.

Stop being so ridiculous, I told myself. Yes, he was leaving, but it wasn’t like last time. This time was different. We’d talk every day. We’d see each other whenever it was possible. We were going to be fine.

“Nora?” I heard my name and turned expecting to find Reid. Instead I nearly ran right into Beau. I placed my hands on his chest and steadied myself.

“Sorry,” I said, taking a step back. He looked at me and I knew that he could see the tears on my face.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” I said. “I was just having a moment.” He reached out and rubbed his hand on my shoulder and I looked up into his eyes that were sweetly trained on me. Maybe he did really care about me. “I’ll be fine,” I told him.

“Rethinking leaving me for Travers?” he said. Of course he would assume that my tears had something to do with him. “I told you it would end this way.”

“Nothing is ending.” I wiped the last bit of wetness from my face. “For your information, Reid and I are just fine.”

“Yeah, well, I give it a month.”

“I get that I hurt you, but you don’t have to be a dick about it.”

“Actually, I can be however I want to be about it. You’re the one that made the mistake. You’re the one that cheated on me.”