The line, p.16
The Line, page 16
So I did.
He let out a long whistle before saying, “Beautiful—on the inside and out.”
I blushed at his compliment. “Does Beau know how lucky he is to have your affections?” I asked.
He let out a dark chuckle. “I’m gonna go with a big, fat hell no.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “Looks like Cole is late,” he said, effectively changing the subject.
With wide eyes, I said, “For real?” And, just like that, my anxiety was back in full swing. “What if he doesn’t come?” I paced around the room, pushing my hat off my sweaty forehead. “What if he’s changed his mind?” I bit my lip.
Cody snorted. “Stop talking crazy. Cole would never stand you up. Ever.”
Literally two seconds later, I heard a light knock on my bedroom door.
My eyes shot to the door and back to Cody, and then I did it again. And then once more because I was a freaking lunatic. My eyes bugged out of my head at Cody, and he shooed me towards the door with a swing of his hand.
“Go,” he mouthed to me, giving me a hard stare from my bed.
There was another knock, a little harder this time. I fidgeted like hell, checking every facet of my outfit again and then pushing my hat back down over my forehead before finally opening the door.
Cole looked gorgeous. Devastatingly handsome, even. And my skin prickled with the awareness that this sexy, ruggedly beautiful man was there for me. Despite trying to hold it back, a low moan grumbled out of me at the sight of him freshly showered and clean shaven. His hair was perfectly styled and a little damp. He was wearing a black, long-sleeved button-down shirt over dark-washed jeans. He rocked back a little on his black boots as he took me in.
I studied the bottom of my skirt, pulling at it a little, feeling like maybe I wasn’t dressed up enough or my skirt was a smidgen too short.
“You look beautiful,” Cole said.
I snapped my gaze up to him. He smiled at me with sweet eyes, and my panic immediately eased.
“You’re late,” I teased.
He raised his arm, showing me a white picnic basket. “Had to pick up food and take a shower.”
“We’re not going out, then?” I asked, reaching for my purse. I was curious what his plans were.
Coming into the room, Cole gave Cody a hello in the form of a nod. Boy speak.
“Nah,” he said. “I thought we’d stay around here and have a bit of a picnic.”
I wasn’t underdressed, thank God, and a picnic was just my speed. I wasn’t the type of girl who needed frills and fancy. “Sounds good.” Then I waved at Cody. “Bye, Cody.”
Yes, I left him in my bed. You don’t kick hot men out of your bed. Ever. Even if he’s your gay best friend.
“See ya later, man,” Cole said, grabbing my hand with his free one as we turned to leave the room.
“You kids behave. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Cody said, smirking.
“Is that even possible?” I threw over my shoulder while laughing.
“Hey, Cole,” Cody called as we exited the room.
Cole turned back to Cody, raising his eyebrows.
“Wrap that pickle then slip her a tickle,” Cody said, stone-faced.
It took me five solid seconds before I caught on. Oh Lord. My face flushed with embarrassment, and a nervous giggle bubbled out of me.
“Don’t be a fool. Cover your tool,” Cody laughed.
My mouth fell open. “Oh my God. Make it stop!” I yelled while Cole dragged me from the room, shaking his head and grinning.
We were almost down the stairs when Cody yelled, “Wrap it in foil before you check her oil!”
I stopped on the last step and gawked at Cole. “Why? Why is that happening?” I rubbed my forehead.
Cole only continued to laugh at Cody’s antics and my embarrassment while pulling me towards the front door. I looked for Joe so I could say goodbye but didn’t see him on my way out.
We hopped onto the four-wheeler, which happened to be parked at the front of the big house, and zoomed away, Cole’s picnic basket strapped to the back. We sped through the orchard until we reached the center of it. I slipped off the seat and glanced up while Cole reached into the basket and pulled a blanket out. Then he laid it on the dirt floor beneath the trees.
“Our date is in the orchard?” I asked, smiling because it was breathtakingly gorgeous.
Cole sat on the blanket and patted the spot beside him. “I’ve always thought this was one of the most beautiful places at night on the farm. But here, lately, it’s come to mean something more to me.”
Reclining back on my elbows, next to Cole, I looked up at the trees over us, their limbs heavy with fruit, the stars twinkling between branches. He was right; it was beautiful there.
“Why’s it come to mean something more to you?” I asked.
“Because here,” he said, glancing around, “in almost this exact spot, is when I knew.”
I looked at Cole, confused. “Knew what?”
He pointed to a tree about four feet to our left. “See that tree? You passed out right there. Scared me to damn death, and in more ways than one. I was scared you were hurt, but when you opened those eyes and looked at me so tenderly, I was terrified. Because I knew. I knew in that moment it was more than my body just wanting your body. It was just plain old me wanting you.” He let out a sarcastic chuckle. “Still, I tried to fight it. I was an ass.” He shook his head.
My mind flashed back to the day in the orchard. Him standing over me. I loved that he remembered that moment as I did, that it was just as special to him.
“No, you weren’t.” I placed my hand on his on the blanket, and his eyes met mine, smiling. “Okay, maybe you were a little bit of an ass.” I chuckled, and he did too.
He reached for the picnic basket and placed it in front of us.
“I hope there’s something good in there. I’m starving,” I said, sitting up.
Cole seemed nervous as he opened the basket and produced two greasy cheeseburgers still in their wrappers from the fast food joint he’d picked them up from. “I’m praying you still like these as much as I remember.” Then he pulled out two milkshakes.
Our meal in the diner flashed in my mind. He’d remembered. A slow warmth started in my chest and moved through my torso and out into my limbs, making me feel hot and lazy all over. This man. My heart almost couldn’t take him. It was too much.
“You remembered.” I smiled, took a sip of my shake, and made a low humming noise.
Cole leered at me like that noise made him want to kiss me senseless, so I did it again.
“You’re playing with fire, Eve.” He smirked.
“I like it hot,” I said, my eyes daring him..
He laughed.
I asked between sips of my shake, “So, what’s in this for you, Cowboy?” I was replaying our conversation at the diner from years ago and having way too much fun doing it.
Cole chewed on his bottom lip and nodded side to side in thought. But all I could focus on was that mouth, because damn. I wiped some sweat from my forehead and took a long pull of my cold milkshake.
“Kisses,” he said out of the blue.
“Kisses?” I asked, confused.
He grinned. “All. The. Kisses. That’s what I want.” He took a bite of his burger.
My eyes widened. “Like, forever?”
His gaze seared me through. “And ever,” he answered.
This was the conversation and date that dreams were made of. There wasn’t a Southern little girl in the world who didn’t dream about a handsome cowboy feeding her junk food in the country and asking her for all the kisses.
“I’m good with that,” I murmured before taking a bite of burger.
We ate quietly underneath the gorgeous copse of fruit trees, the stars shining on us, the warm wind rustling our hair, tiny stars dancing in the sky above us. When our meals were done, Cole placed everything back into the basket and settled on the blanket, pulling me down with him. I laid on his chest, his heartbeat and the rustling of leaves the sweetest song I’d ever heard. He told me about what he had done on the farm that day. I told him about Cody’s not answering my calls and how he was the most useless gay best friend I’d ever had. We talked and talked and talked until my eyes started to close. It felt so good to be that close to him. I recalled our day in the barn and wiggled against Cole’s side. He’d been over the top, so in charge, so demanding. I’d been incredibly worked up, so in the moment, that I’d have done anything he’d asked of me, and I pretty much had.
And, even though I wanted more of those moments, I could tell what Cole was doing. This wasn’t about sex. This was about more. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted the sex—like really wanted the sex—I wanted the more, too. I wanted it all. So I didn’t press for kisses or touches or any more than what we were already doing. And it was still perfect.
He walked me to the front door, and I wanted to invite him in. Hell, I wanted him to invite me over to his place, where’d we have real privacy, but he just pressed me to the door and kissed me so slow, so sweet, so damn hot, the base of my spine tingled and my toes curled achingly in my boots.
“Goodnight, Eve,” he whispered against my lips.
And it had been—the very best.
“He’s wooing her. It’s the sweetest damn thing I’ve ever seen,” Jane said, her voice dripping with the intonations of love in the air.
I rolled my eyes.
Cody grumbled before commenting, “Sweet isn’t gonna cut it. He needs to tell her how he feels or at least invite her over to his place for the night. Everly is getting impatient, and that snake Leo is gonna try to make a move any day now.”
“No. My boy knows what he’s doing. Taking his time with Everly is smart and responsible. She deserves dates and wooing. Jane’s right,” Joe chimed in.
I gritted my teeth while I was beneath Joe’s van. “You crazy people do realize I’m in the room, right?”
I’d come in here thinking I’d change the oil in the vehicles and have a little peace and damn quiet like I usually did every couple of months when I worked on the cars and the four-wheeler, but no. This nosy, meddling group had decided to interrogate me the entire time I had been working on the cars.
“What are your plans for you and Everly?”
“Are you guys serious?”
“Do you think she’ll stay longer than the summer?”
“When are you going to make it official?”
These were just a few of the million questions they had thrown my way. Summer was wrapping up. And I needed to make things more permanent with Eve, but Joe and Jane were right. I’d spent the last few weeks wooing my girl. I had been taking her on long dates at all of my favorite spots. Last week, I’d even taken her back to Jack’s. I hadn’t let her drink an ounce of alcohol, but I had taught her to two-step. I’d brought her flowers, and we’d parked at a spot on the lake and talked and listened to slow songs on the radio. I was the wooingest damn cowboy around. Everly wanted more than dates and kisses. And trust me. I did, too, but I was on a mission.
Everly had spent the beginning of the summer earning my trust, giving me her friendship, and making me care for her, and most of that time, I’d been either a raving asshole or holding back from her. So, now, I was demanding she give me everything back in return tenfold. Only I didn’t want her to just care for me. I didn’t want just her friendship. I wanted everything. I wanted her to love me. It may have taken me a while to warm up to the idea of Everly and me as an us, but now, I was all in.
“Oh, we’re completely aware you’re in here, Cole. Why the hell else would we all be in the damn garage in the heat of the day?” Missy snarked, clearly a little annoyed she had to be out in the hot garage but too nosy to stay away.
I twisted the oil cap back in place on the van and scooted out from beneath it. I sat up and wiped my hands off on a nearby rag. Everyone crowded around. I gave them all an annoyed look.
“If all of you are in here, who the hell is running this place?” I asked grouchily.
They all just looked at each other.
I got up and walked over to the sink to wash my hands. “What happens between me and Everly is our business and you guys need to stay out of it,” I said, examining my oil-stained hands, but I knew they were all listening because I could have heard a damn pin drop in that garage.
A firm hand landed on my shoulder, and I turned my head and found Cody standing behind me, his face earnest.
“We care about her.”
“We love her,” Jane threw in.
I looked behind Cody to my family. They were clearly more worried about Everly than they were about me. And it didn’t bother me a bit. It made me proud that they loved her like I did.
I dried my hands on my pants and said, “Okay, y’all, I get it. You’re worried I’m gonna fuck this all up.”
“Watch your mouth, Cole.” Missy pointed at me, Jane nodding in agreement.
I smiled. “I’m not gonna mess this up. I want Eve to stay, and I’ve made plans with Marla to have her come over at the beginning of next week so we can move past all of this sh—”
Missy and Jane stared me down, daring me to curse again.
“Stuff. All of this stuff. After that, I’m gonna talk to Eve, make all this more official. She’s not going nowhere, okay? So everyone take a damn chill pill and get back to work.” I glowered at Cody and huffed. “I dare Leo to make a move on my girl.”
The women looked over at me, their faces all full of mushy emotion, and I ran for my truck and dove under it to change the oil before they attacked me and we ended up hugging or singing “Kumbaya” or some bullshit.
“Cole’s right. Time for everyone to go and get back to work,” Joe said, herding everyone out with his wheelchair.
The crowd all headed out quietly, murmuring and giggling.
Just when I thought I was finally alone, I heard Joe’s wheelchair pull up beside the truck. I looked over to the right and could see his wheels stopped there. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him what he needed when he spoke.
“Real proud of you, Cole.” And he was gone in a flash.
I smiled beneath the truck in the hot-ass garage. Joe was proud of me, and it was Saturday night. We were having a big bonfire on the property, and everyone was coming. I couldn’t wait to sit around the fire with my girl.
Because of the mob of busybodies in my garage, I finished the cars a little later than I’d thought I would. By the time I’d washed up and gotten dressed, the fire was already going and the beer and barbecue were already being served. I grabbed a beer and walked around, trying to find Eve.
It figures I found her seated on a log near the fire, Joe at her side. Because, if I wasn’t with her, chances were he was. He was beyond protective of her, and I loved him for it. I never had to worry about her because Joe or Cody or I almost always had eyes on her. Which was good because Eve was a bit of a wildcard.
“What did she look like?” Eve asked as I walked up.
I took a spot next to her on the log, moving in closer until my leg was pressed to hers. She gave me a soft look and then turned back to Joe, giving him her full attention.
Joe laughed, and his eyes got dreamy. “My momma was beautiful. She had blue eyes like the sky.” He studied Eve. “A lot like yours. And she had thick, long, dark hair. I remember my daddy couldn’t hardly be in her presence without touching her in some way.”
Eve’s eyes got all dreamy, too, and I smiled at the two of them, such hopeless romantics.
Joe went on. “When I was younger, it grossed me out how they kissed and held hands or even how he would sit next to her but always have his hand on her leg or back. But, when I got older, I realized what they had was something special. And, when I think of them, it’s always both of them together, never separate. Theirs was a unique kind of love and so very rare.”
Eve pressed her leg closer to mine as she gave Joe her attention. “I wish I could have met them, Joe.”
“Me too.” He sounded a bit choked up. “They would have loved you.”
Joe’s parents had passed in a car accident when he was only nineteen. He talked about them often and always with a fondness that made everyone aware of how much he loved them.
He let out a sigh. “Well, I’ll let you two spend some time alone together. Don’t need me cramping your style.”
“Thanks for keeping me company, Joe,” Everly said a bit shyly.
In the moment, a thousand emotions crossed Joe’s face, and every one of them said that Everly had come to mean a lot to him. He looked like he was going to say something important, so I leaned forward, waiting for it, but his face cleared of emotion and he bit his bottom lip, seeming to change his mind.
“Anytime, sweetheart,” he finished before riding off.
Eve fidgeted with her back pocket like she did sometimes when she was nervous and said, “What about your momma, Cowboy? Where is she at now? I think the last I heard you talk about her was four years ago on the train.” Her voice was a bit strained with emotion.
I looked away from Eve and instead focused on the fire. “She passed away two years ago. It was sudden, heart attack while she was baking a cake in her kitchen.”
Eve looked heartbroken. “I’m so sorry, Cole.” She leaned closer to me, laying her head on my shoulder.
I smiled softly at her. “I miss her every day, but I’m not sorry. My momma and me were close, and I have no regrets when it comes to her. She knew how much I loved her, and I knew how she felt about me.” I wrapped my arm around Eve, cradling her to me. “I take solace in that and the fact that she died quickly and it wasn’t some long, drawn-out thing.”
“Oh, Cole.” Everly sighed and backed out of my arms, her face grief-stricken. “I stole something from you.”
I quirked an eyebrow at her, not sure what was happening.
“On the train, four years ago,” she whispered.
I laughed. “I know. I was there, remember?” I leaned forward, rubbing my nose against hers.
She pulled back again, shaking her head.
“Eve, we’ve been through this already,” I said, trying to console her.
