Page 12 of Forbidden Cowboy

I send him a dumbfounded look. “Do you want to call one of your brothers?”

We share a knowing look as we begin our trek together. We don’t call a single soul for fear of sparking rumors.

A block down the road, and the humidity is sinking into my skin. A roll of thunder threatens. The black clouds are rapidly sweeping above us.

“Looks like Bucky’s prediction is spot on.” I pull my wrap tighter around my arms.

“Indeed.” I catch Levi lifting his head to the darkened sky from the corner of my eyes. Age and worry have etched lines on his once-baby face. Don’t get me wrong; they’re sexy as hell. He’s sexy as hell. But I wonder if he smiles less now and worries more.

He breaks the silence this time. “My pa used to say the same thing to me.”

“That you’re an asshole?”

His low rumble chuckle stirs a flutter in my stomach. “I’d be a liar if I said no.”

A smile steals my lips. So natural. So right with him.

“My old man warned us about the Fox dames and their lust games.”

I laugh now. “Our lust games.” I snap my fingers. “Yes, those are my favorite. I intentionally initiated this drunken Earl and broken truck escapade to lure you in with my lust games.”

“You’re doing a shoddy job.”

Another laugh peals up my chest. I smack his arm at his teasing, enjoying how easy it is to fall back into our old ways. But the touch lights my skin on fire. And the way his head whips to look at the contact before his heated gaze lands on mine conveys mutual desire. There will never be going back with us. We could never be just friends.

The silence stretches between us once again.

We automatically cut through the old Underwood property. It’s a shortcut most locals dare to venture into. In the 20th century, the town's schoolhouse was run by Isabel Underwood. The Victorian house sits abandoned and is said to be haunted.

We trudge along the path of flattened grass. “Our folks aren’t right, you know.” I feel a drop of rain on my shoulder.

Levi doesn’t skip a step in front of me. Nor does he comment.

“Pitting us against each other from young,” I continue. “We shouldn’t hate each other because your great-great-great grandfather stole our cow.”

“He didn’t steal it. The cow rightfully belonged to the Wildes.”

“It had the Fox stamp.”

“Sold to my family by a Fox.”

“A Fox who just happened to be murdered before he could testify.”

“It’s quite suspicious, isn’t it?”

I scoff. “Are you seriously defending the pathetic excuse for a feud between our families?”

He glances over his shoulder, wearing a huge shit-faced smirk. “Darlin’, never. But you getting so worked up about it —” Levi licks his lips.

I don’t know why, but something about the way he’s looking at me makes me mad as a bull. “Now, who’s playing the lust games?” I storm past him, and he catches my arm. The pearls of rain are increasing.

“Hey, what’d I say?”

“It’s what you didn’t say. Twelve years ago, when you walked away from me without a word. You let the rumors of an innocent kiss destroy everything we’d built. And instead of defending us, standing up for us, speaking up, you sat back and didn’t say a damn word.”

His fingers tighten around my arm. His jaw clenches. “It’s not that simple.” He storms past me.

A clap of thunder cracks like a bullwhip.