Rode Hard, Put Up Wet (Rough Riders #2)(23)

“It might help if you tell me what happened.”


Macie suspected he wouldn’t quit pestering her until she told him the truth. “When I was about four, I woke up in the middle of the night during a bad thunderstorm. We were living in a two-bedroom trailer in Texas. I went into my mom’s room, only to find she wasn’t there. So I crawled in her bed and waited for her. Scared out of my mind that someone had broken in and kidnapped her. I hid under a blanket, but I couldn’t even cry because I thought maybe the bad guys would hear me and come back. The lightning was so close I remember the hair on my arms and the back of my neck standing straight up.


“Then a hailstorm blew through and hailstones the size of baseballs pounded the roof, and beat on the side of the trailer hard enough the bedroom windows broke. Glass covered the floor. Everything was soaking wet from the rain. I remember it was so dark and I was alone and I couldn’t move. For hours. It seemed like I spent a solid lifetime in that bed. Whenever it storms it reminds me of being helpless and alone—”


“Ssh. Macie, darlin’, I’m here. You’re not alone now.” Carter rocked her.


She released another shuddering sigh. “My mom never understood why I was afraid, so I’ve never told anyone else.”


“I’m glad you told me.”


“Yeah, well, it seems kind of embarrassing not to have outgrown that childhood fear.”


“It seems perfectly justified to me. Besides, we all have fears we try to hide.”


“Even you?”


He laughed softly. “Even me.”


Macie lifted her head and peered in his eyes. “You know mine, it’s only fair you tell me yours.”


“Promise you won’t laugh?”


She nodded.


Absentmindedly, he brushed the damp hair from her cheek. “See, I’m way worse off than you because I have two. The first one is, I’m petrified of dancin’.”


“You’re afraid of dancing?”


“Stupid, huh?”


“Why? Did you have a cowgirl spurn you at a junior high dance or something?”


“No. I’m afraid I’ll look like a fool. It is a bone-deep fear that keeps me far, far away from weddin’ dances and the dance floor in honky-tonks.”


“You’ve never two-stepped?”


“Nope.”


“Slow danced?”


“Nope.”


“So, your high school prom?”


“Skipped it, but I went to the kegger afterward.”


“Huh.” She fingered the collar on his T-shirt. “No woman in your life has tried to teach you?”


“Not a lot of women in my life, Macie.” He laughed softly. “Besides my mom. And to further emasculate myself, I have a fear of monkeys.”


“Why?”


“I think it stems from The Wizard of Oz and those damn flyin’ monkeys. My brothers found out my fear and used to torture me, tyin’ me to a chair and replayin’ those scenes with the flyin’ monkeys over and over. Same goes for Planet of the Apes. Then when I was older I read a short story about a possessed toy monkey—you know the kind that you wind up and it plays the cymbals?—this monkey had the power to make people kill and go crazy.” He shuddered. “Not cute and cuddly creatures. Hairy overgrown rats, that’s what they are.”


A crack of lightning flashed outside the window, followed by a booming crash of thunder; Macie jumped and hid her face against his chest.


“Easy.”


A couple of beats passed as rain pounded on the roof.


“You okay?”


No. “I’m better than I was.”


“Glad I’m good for something.”


“I just don’t understand why you’re here. Or how you knew…”


“Gemma called me to tell me she wasn’t gonna spook the new horses and drag them through the storm. She and Cash would be stayin’ overnight in Spearfish. I figured that meant you were here alone. When the electricity went off, I thought I’d better check on you.”


Gemma had called him? Not her dad? Rather than analyze that, she said, “Thanks.”


“No problem. Plus, I wanted to apologize for not showin’ up last night.” His thumb swept the top of her ear, causing gooseflesh to break out on her neck. “Gemma said you probably needed time to settle in. I should’ve ignored her and listened to my gut and come here like I planned.”


“I wondered what happened. I figured maybe it’d all been—”


“—a line? What I said to you at the rodeo grounds wasn’t a line, Macie. I’ll keep tellin’ you that until you believe it.” His mouth grazed her temple. “So, you wanna pack your stuff and come home with me?”


Macie didn’t respond. Despite the fact Carter was being sweet and thoughtful, she didn’t want to be away from everything familiar.


Right. Nothing about this situation was familiar. But it smacked of trouble to just let Carter swoop in and take care of her. She knew better than to rely on anyone besides herself.