She stared at him coolly.
“I never thought… Goddammit. I’m such a fuckin’ bastard for doin’ that to you.”
“I’d guess you’re pretty fucked,” Chase said cheerfully. “Lyin’ to your woman for personal or business reasons is never a good idea. And from where I stood in the bar tonight, you looked awful close to cheatin’ on her, too, with some of them horny toads known as bunnies.”
“Not. Helping,” Tell said through gritted teeth. “Why don’t you get the hell out of here before I lose my sense of humor.”
“Fine. I’ll go. But remember, Georgia. I owe you a good PR turn. Just name it.”
“While that’s generous, Chase, it’s not necessary.”
“It is partially my fault Tell wasn’t at the Pine Haven Rodeo. I asked Verna to bump one of the judges and requested Tell as a replacement. I had no idea he had other judging duties lined up for today.”
Silence.
“Of course the only reason I got the gig was because of you.”
Tell’s embarrassment softened her temper. Why hadn’t she considered it would still bother Tell to be in his cousin’s shadow? That if he had the chance to step out of it and into the spotlight, he’d take it?
Georgia wanted to look at the gravel beneath her feet or the streetlight or the stars above—anything but the misery in Tell’s eyes. But she forced herself to stay firm.
“So, cowboy, what do you want to apologize for first?”
Georgia was asking him. Like he had a clue. Wasn’t like he could ask the self-centered teenage boy he’d reverted to for advice.
Man up. Think.
“Tell?”
He didn’t reach for her, as much as he wanted to. “Can we go someplace where I can explain in private?”
Her eyes flashed a warning. “I don’t want an explanation, I want an apology.”
“I mean to give you an apology. Even if it takes all night.”
“If by takes all night, you’re thinking that you and I will get naked and have wild sex—”
“It doesn’t. I mean, yes, I wanna have wild sex with you all the fuckin’ time.” Shit. That hadn’t come out right. Tell shoved his hands in his pockets and took a step back. “I swear. I just want to talk.”
“We can’t go to my house because my mom is staying with me.”
Was that part of the reason she’d been so scarce this week? And why hadn’t he known? Because you got your feelings hurt and you’ve been sulking. “How about my place?”
“Fine. I’ll meet you there.”
The short drive would give him time to figure out what the hell to say to her.
He opened the windows in his trailer to let in the cooler night air. He poured two glasses of tea, setting a sugar canister and a spoon beside hers. By the time he’d changed clothes, she was coming up the drive.
His heart beat as loudly as her knocks on the door.
“Hey. Come in.”
She kicked off her shoes, making herself at home like she always did. After stirring three spoonfuls of sugar into her tea, she sat in the corner of the couch with her feet tucked under her.
Tell gulped half his tea, wishing it was whiskey, and perched on the coffee table across from her. “First off. I’m sorry for bailing on the Pine Haven Rodeo. It won’t happen again.”
“Because you’re only scheduled for three more rodeos in conjunction with Barb Wyre PR?”
“No. Because it was a shitty thing to do. You deserve better after all you’ve done for me. I can’t apologize enough, Georgia.”
“Keep going.”
“And if I’d known Chase was pullin’ the strings in Upton, I definitely would’ve been in Pine Haven.” He set her tea on the side table and took her hands in his. “I’m sorry you had to call Deck. Was he a prick to you?”
“Not bad, actually.”
“Good.” Tell rubbed her knuckles on his cheeks. “I missed you this week.”
“Same here.”
“Really? Didn’t seem like it.”A tiny frown line appeared between her eyebrows. “Why would you say that?”
“I didn’t see you Monday. You didn’t come to Ziggy’s Tuesday night.”
“But I did ask you to come to my place.”
“True. But you stood me up Thursday night.”
“You know that wasn’t intentional,” she said softly.
“Do I? Because I went lookin’ for you. And I saw you cozied up in a booth with the movers and shakers in Sundance. Every one of them slick dudes was flirting with you. Made me crazy. I knew if I stuck around, I’d end up in a bar fight with one of them, so I took off.”
Her eyes cooled. “If you were there, then you know I wasn’t flirting back.”
“All my brain saw was those successful guys. And how freakin’ beautiful you are. And then I wondered what the hell you’re doin’ with me. I figured you had the same thought and were finding new people to hang out with as a way of ending it with me.” He had to look away. Christ, he’d already said too much.
Georgia’s fingers were firm on his chin as she turned his face toward hers. “It was a business meeting over cocktails. Not my idea. And trust me, it wasn’t fun. Even though I had to pretend it was.”
“So if I would’ve interrupted your meeting to remind you of our dinner date?”
“I probably would’ve kissed you. Just like this.” Her lips met his in a hard kiss. Then her grip on his chin tightened. “As long as we’re on the subject, what was up with you and those rodeo groupies? Were you hanging out with them to make me jealous? As a payback for the jealousy you felt Thursday night?”
Feeling his cheeks heat, he jerked his chin out of her grasp. Then he pushed to his feet, grabbed his tea and retreated to the kitchen. Tempting to pour a slug of Irish in it.
“Tell?”
Her soft voice was directly behind him, but he didn’t turn around.
“Talk to me. Please.”
He hated to talk about this stuff. He hated acknowledging that he had personal insecurities, so why point them out to others? But for some reason, laying himself bare to Georgia wasn’t as unnerving as shutting her out. She might not understand, but the fact she was here meant she cared on some level.
A fact Chase had shoved in his face. His cousin had been lying in wait for him by his pickup, grabbing another chance to chew his ass. Reminding him that one good woman was one in a million, but Tell didn’t have to go through a million women to find her.
Sometimes Tell hated that fucking bastard.
Mostly because he knew Chase was right. Tell had found that one woman in Georgia. And he hadn’t mustered the guts to let her know how he felt. But maybe showing her that he could talk about his feelings and shit would be the first step.
Tell inhaled a slow breath. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be so deep in someone’s shadow you disappear? That’s how it is with me when it comes to Chase. He’s the star. Here, there and everywhere else. I’m not sayin’ he doesn’t deserve it. He’s always had the talent, the women, the fame, the money, the charm, the good looks. I pale in comparison to him on every level.
“Chase let me tag along to rodeos when I was fifteen or sixteen. Didn’t matter if it was because he felt sorry for me because of my family situation, or that I was nowhere near him as far as ridin’ skills. I felt cool…until some asshole tossed off a stupid comment about I wouldn’t be allowed to hang around with Chase if I wasn’t his poor, wannabe, butt-ugly relative. I didn’t have the life experience to let it roll off me, so it ate at me.”
“I can imagine.”
“It wasn’t just my cousin’s ridin’ skills I envied. He always had all these women around him. So the night this older chick was all over me and I thought I was hot shit. I had the moves, right? Come to find out, she was one of Chase’s castoff bunnies. She wanted to fuck a McKay, and since Chase was unavailable she made do with me. I never wanted to feel second-best again. But I have. So many times. So today I wanted him to see that I had my own posse. I wasn’t that scrawny kid stuck with his seconds.”
A gust of wind blew so hard it rattled the screen door.
“Has that been a big life goal of yours? To have your own pussy posse?” Georgia asked without sarcasm.
Tell spun around, ready to deny it, but something in her eyes curbed his intent to lie. “Not my only goal, but a pussy posse was definitely one of them.”
“Did you reach it?”
“A long time ago.”
“Thank God you crossed that one off your bucket list.”
Thank God she wasn’t pissed off and throwing things at him. “I’m sorry, Georgia. I was a fuckin’ idiot today. Remember when you told me that selling advertising to my relatives had nothin’ to do with me personally? This is sorta the same situation. Me flirting with those women had nothin’ to do with you personally. And you hafta believe I didn’t plan on takin’ any of them women up on their offers.”
“I believe you. I surprised myself by how much I wanted to challenge them all to a hair-pulling, eye-scratching cat fight.”
Nice boost to his ego that she had been jealous. He rested his chin on top of her head. “So are we okay?”
“I guess. Once again we dropped the ball on that adult relationship thing.”
“Yeah. Fightin’ with you sucks. I hate it. I’ve never been in a relationship long enough to fight.”
“Now I feel special.”
You are special. So special it scares the crap outta me.
“But I’ll point out the weeks we’ve had fights is when we haven’t spent time together.”
“A simple solution would be to spend all our free time together.”
“Mmm.”
“Georgia, darlin’, will you stay with me tonight?”