I turned around to see Amelia with her hand over her mouth looking horrified. “Brax, you wanna let Austin know we’re going home now?” Braxton nodded and walked off to find Austin in whatever dark corner, with whichever girl he’d picked up.

“Sorry you saw that” I told Amelia, trying to avoid her eyes. I hated the idea she was disgusted at my stupid reaction or worse, afraid of me now. I hated the kneejerk reaction I’d just had; it confused me more than I cared to admit. Normally, I’d just get up and walk off, but his crass words about her, mixed with his jabs about city girls had made all common sense flee my mind. “C’mon, let’s head out to the truck and wait there.”

Amelia followed close behind me. The moment we stepped outside the front doors, I moved off to the side hoping to block her view of Jake.

“I’d be all over her too, bud. Knew she’d be a firecracker in the sack. You know how I love riding what Destry thinks is his” Jake’s mouth just wouldn’t close. Having his nose broken obviously wasn’t enough to make him shut the hell up. I attempted to ignore him and focused on a red-faced Amelia.

“He’s just shooting his mouth off. Go stand by the truck for me, darlin’” I guided her forward and turned around, taking a few purposeful steps toward where Ryder had Jake.

“You’re a stupid son of a bitch,” Ryder told him shaking his head.

“Why’s it your problem, pretty boy?” Jake taunted Ryder. I gave Ryder a nod, knowing full well Ryder wasn’t on duty and would sort Jake out. I turned back to Amelia who was leaning against the side of the truck, wringing her hands together, and opened the passenger’s side door and gave her a hand up.

“Don’t listen to anything he said. He’s the town drunk and an asshole to boot,” I told her, leaning over to clip her belt. While she seemed to have been disgusted earlier, she now sat staring at me with an expression I wasn’t able to read.

“I’m catching a ride with Ryder,” Braxton called out to me while I rounded the truck. Austin crawled into the truck bed and sprawled out wasted, to the point of passing out.

Just as I pulled out of the parking lot, I looked up to see Ryder ‘accidentally’ smack Jake’s head on the door of the cruiser he was helping him into.

I pulled over along the interstate on the way home and threw my door open. Climbing out, I put my hands on my hips and took a few long breaths, needing a minute to get my shit together and cool my temper. I managed to keep it together while in front of the dick, Jake, but his words had caused my anger to spike.

“Destry.” Amelia’s soft voice had me turning around from where I was pacing. I took one look at her in her tiny skirt and heels and closed the distance between us in a few long strides. I took her gorgeous face in my hands, and without a second of hesitation, my mouth collided with hers, taking her breath in an instant. She immediately opened her mouth allowing me access, and my tongue drove in all my pent up anger, morphing into unbridled passion covered in cherry fucking lip balm. Her hands came up and grabbed my head as she greedily took everything I was offering up. My cock strangling against my jeans, I gripped her ass under her skirt and lifted her onto the hood of my truck, planting myself firmly between her thighs. Both of us grinding against the other, neither of us able to get enough, our teeth clashed. Hands grabbing and hips moving, we were completely caught up in the moment.

Pulling away, our breathing was heavy, filled with want and a need for each other that I couldn't explain. It scared me. I hadn't been like this since....

“Shit!” I cussed under my breath, ran a hand through my hair, and took a step back.

I couldn’t compare Amelia to her. Amelia wasn’t her. She couldn’t be her. I broke the distance between us and wrapped my arms tightly around her waist, drawing her heated body to mine. Leaning my forehead on hers, I took in her eyes and was the most honest I had been since I met her. "One thing you need to know about me, Amelia, is that I don't do secrets. That's one thing I won’t fucking tolerate. Secrets destroyed me once and I won’t let it happen again.'”

Her face went from lust filled to soft and thoughtful. She dropped her head and took a deep unsteady breath before looking back up at me. “We better get back,” she whispered. I helped her down from the hood of my truck and opened her door, waiting until she was tucked safely inside before I closed it and walked around to my own side, climbing in and starting it up. She was quietly reflective as I drove toward the ranch, thinking about the day and all the events that had brought us to this moment.

“You were defending me?” Amelia asked softly, a few miles up the road. I gripped the steering wheel tighter and nodded my head stiffly. Thinking about Jake’s insults brought back some of the anger I’d felt earlier.

“I didn’t... I mean nobody’s ever… thank you,” she stumbled on her words. The only thing I really heard was ‘nobody’s ever’. I clenched my jaw tightly and stared straight out the front window. The fact nobody had ever defended a girl like her irritated me. Every girl, no matter who they were, deserved to be stood up for.

The rest of the drive home was silent, unlike my riled up internal monologue. Regardless of trying to convince myself that Amelia was a mistake, there was something about this girl that had me teetering on the edge of a drop off. I just needed to decide if I could jump and still survive the fall.

I curled deeper into the comforter trying to block out the alarm clock screeching just out of arm’s reach. I’d been having the most delicious dream about one very handsome cowboy and the fact I had been so rudely interrupted by the incessant sound of ‘wake the hell up’ o’clock made me curse into the moss green pillow. I still wasn’t quite used to getting up so early, but I was going to do it even if it killed me. And killing me it was.