Rode Hard, Put Up Wet (Rough Riders #2)(68)

“Aw shoot, Keely, that’d never happen.”


Carter snorted. Keely the cowboy conqueror had struck again.


He heard the cooler lid open and slam shut. Macie sidled up to him. “Hey.”


“Hey.”


“You’re awful quiet tonight.”


He grunted.


“You okay?”


“Fine.”


Laughter erupted behind them. Conversations rose and fell.


Carter looked up at the sky. “Hard to believe it was just last night we were layin’ on a blanket lookin’ at the stars.” He drained his beer. “Seems a lifetime ago.”


She put her hand on his arm.


He faced her. There was that punch in his gut again. “You look beautiful by firelight, Macie. So goddamn beautiful you make me ache.”


“Carter—”


“I want so much to…shit. I can’t be here right now.” He spun on his heel and pitched his beer bottle in the trashcan.


He said, “See ya’ll tomorrow,” and half-heard the shouted goodbyes as he let dust devils and bad memories chase him home.


Chapter Twenty-seven


Feeling stung by Carter’s behavior, Macie returned to her chair by the fire, anxiety replacing her earlier relaxation.


The discussions among the group were less raucous. The four bull rider wannabes stumbled to their tent on the other side of the house. People were starting to yawn. The campfire burned to a pile of red embers.


Suddenly Colby grabbed Channing’s hand and jerked her to her feet. “We’re goin’ to bed. ’Night.”


Keely snickered. “Didja notice he didn’t say they were going to sleep?”


“I heard that,” Colby shouted over his shoulder.


“Yeah, well remember we can all hear you. Keep it down tonight, Tarzan and Jane.


Those two, I swear. Everyone in three counties knows when they’re doin’ it.”


“I heard that too, Keely McKay,” he barked again. “Get your smart butt in the camper before I whip it.”


“Fine. But I will remind you I am an adult.” Keely and Amy Jo argued all the way to the horse trailer.


Cash and Gemma doused the fire, said goodnight and disappeared into the house.


Macie remained outside alone, but she wasn’t tired. She tilted her head and studied the night sky. It was as beautiful as always, something she’d taken for granted. She knew she’d never look at the stars the same.


Carter. It’d surprised her he hadn’t shown up right away to welcome his family. She hadn’t seen him until supper. Even then he hadn’t said much. He drifted into the background. No one seemed to notice his withdrawn behavior.


Unless…that was his normal behavior with his family. The distant one. The quiet one.


Now that she thought about it, it was kind of weird, Carter living on Gemma’s ranch, when the McKays owned tens of thousands of acres. Surely they could’ve found someplace for him to live and work. He had family there. Roots there.


But were those roots strangling him?


His words, I’m nothing like my brothers, echoed in the back of her mind .


Along with, there’s no place for me on the home place.


Even with all his family surrounding him, having a shared history, and a constant connection, did Carter suffer from the same sense of displacement she did?


She never felt displaced when she was with him. She suspected he felt the same. But she hadn’t really been with him tonight, not like she’d wanted. Not like he’d wanted, apparently, since he’d left.


Macie climbed in her car and drove to his place.


The lights were off in his trailer, a glow spilled through the cracks in the wooden slats of the barn.


He was working. Big surprise. He was always working.


Well, the time had come for a little play.


Rather than sneak inside his sanctuary, she shouted, “Carter?”


No answer.


“Carter, are you in there?”


“Macie?”


“Uh. Yeah. Can I come in?”


“No! Shit. Hang on. Just a second.” Unfamiliar shuffling, creaking, and crashing noises sounded, followed by, “It’s clear. You can come in now.”


Macie skirted piles in the darkened walkway and didn’t look up until she’d reached the main portion of the barn.


When she saw Carter, her heart skipped a beat. He looked so…raw. A powerful male, his sweaty chest bared. Ripped sweatpants hanging from his hips, drawing her attention to his ripped abs. His hair was damp and curlier than normal. His lips were full, a little pouty, his jaw rigid, and his eyes…his eyes.


Lord God almighty his eyes were absolutely savage.


She couldn’t think straight.



“Why are you here, Macie?”


The guarded look on his face said he expected her to say I’m here for hot sex, baby cakes, strip.


And seeing him standing there, all tough and masculine and yummy—it was tempting to be flip and reduce this… need to be here for him tonight into nothing more than a physical act. But at some point in the last few days, things between them had gone beyond physical. So, she simply said, “I missed you.”