Page 18 of Untamed
I’m still staring out my window, watching them talk, unable to turn away. My eyes don’t want to let the sight of him go.
“Kade told me about him. You know he’s a champion bull rider, right?” Haylee rests her chin on my shoulder and looks out the window with me.
“I know he’s a bull rider, but I didn’t know he’s achampionbull rider.”
Haylee’s quiet for a moment, looking out my window with me. “That’s who you got in the truck with, right?”
“Yep,” I admit, still watching. Dad and Grayer walk toward the barn, our vision cut off when they disappear inside the stables.
With her hands on my shoulders, Haylee turns me around. “So what happened? Tell me everything.”
I smile, reaching for my bag at the end of my bed and my cell phone. “Good girls never tell.”
She bursts out laughing in a fit of giggles, holding her bare skinny side as though the thought’s funny to her. “Yeah, like we know one of those. Girl, even the devil shakes his head at us.”
Downstairs, I hear Dad come inside and that sexy drawl Grayer has. He talks slow as he’s introduced to my mom, a thick southern accent that rattles deep in my chest. My breath catches as if the sound is something I’ve been waiting for.
Haylee and I practically run right into him when we come around the corner. It takes him all of a half second for the grin to appear when he looks at me, remembering who I am.
He’s even better looking in the daylight with the early morning sun filtering in through the open front door. That jawline, the scruff, the distinct curve of his lips. He’s so pretty.
Dad ruins my delicious daydream of me leading Grayer up to my bedroom by saying, “This is my daughter, Maesyn, and her friend Haylee.” He gestures to Morgan, standing in front of Grayer holding a bucket of toys in one hand and a towel in the other. “And that’s Morgan, our youngest.”
Grayer only looks at me, his brow scrunched as if he’s trying to decide what he’s going to say when he realizes Archer is my dad. More importantly, that I’m the rancher’s daughter.
Lifting my head, I meet piercing blue eyes that make me tingle all over. I reach out and offer my hand. “Nice to meet you. . . .” I wait for him to offer his name, though I already know it and hoping he acts like we’ve never met in front of my dad.
Honestly, I want to hear him talk again. Or whisper. Either would be fine.
He blinks as he takes me in. “I’m Grayer Easton,” he says, shaking my hand. His thumb moves softly over mine once, and then back again as if he doesn’t want to let go right away. His eyes search my face slowly, lingering on my lips.
I bet he remembers them wrapped around his cock last night. I do!
With his touch, pieces of the night flash in my head and I know they’re doing the same to him. A small grin curls his lips, and I see those beautiful baby blue eyes for the first time up close and not shadowed by his hat that’s being held in his left hand against his side. “Nice to meet you.”
My dad clears his throat and Grayer lets go of my hand and drags it through his dark hair.
Haylee shoves her hand at Grayer. “I’m Haylee. Maesyn’s best friend.”
“Nice to meet you too, Haylee,” Grayer says, giving her a smile too, but nothing like the one I got. I look over at her and see he has the same effect on her. She looks a tad disappointed by that.
“Are you a bull rider?” Morgan asks, gawking at him with wide eyes as she points to his belt buckle with the bull on it. I take a closer look at it. Sure enough, it’s a champion belt buckle like Haylee had said.
Grayer nods, the corners of his mouth twisting into a smirk. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
Uncaring, Morgan tugs on the wedgie from her bathing suit bottoms and says, “So you’re like famous then, huh?”
“Not really,” Grayer notes, trying to play it off. “The bulls I ride get all the glory these days.”
It’s a joke, but Morgan doesn’t quite understand it.
She looks at Haylee. “Why are bulls famous? They’re so mean.”
I want to laugh, but I don’t. I’m worried about what my dad is going to say next. The glare I’m getting tells me he’s about to say something I don’t want him to. I’m a bundle of nerves waiting for what comes next.
And then as if he’s trying to ruin my life, my dad turns to Grayer. “She’s seventeen so don’t even think about it.” And then he walks into the kitchen expecting Grayer to follow.
Life ruined.
