Page 34 of Risking it for the Cowboy

Right after she’d met Jason? You don’t know for sure if Jason is the ex or not.

“Dang, girlie,” he huffed.

And was his hand holding Charlie’s nape tighter? Why? Revelations about this woman now or not, she’d still kicked him to the curb like he was nothing but a browned banana peel—sweet while she’d tasted, trash after.

“You done took a year off my life.”

“You saved me,” Daisy said, looking at him with wide blue eyes like he was some hero.

“Of course I did. Can’t have a sweetheart like you flattened like a pancake,” he quipped, and the girl giggled.

“You’re funny. I thought you might be funny.” He grinned. The girl was sweet. “My momma is a huge fan of your music.”

“Is she now?” He quirked a brow.

Charlie was what? Something thumped against his back and smeared his arm. He craned over his shoulder to find that shaggy, slobbering monstrosity, the culprit of this debacle.

“Hey, it’s my favorite pup,” he replied, craning around to Artex. “The one who didn’t want me to leave.”

He couldn’t resist the quirk to his mouth, except Charlie scoffed, pulling away from his touch, and gathered up Artex’s leash.

“C’mon, Daisy May.” Charlie held her hand out to her girl.

Ah, he was dismissed again. “Flower Girl got thorns?” he asked and set Daisy down.

Charlie retorted. “Trouble’s still got game? Your friend’s waiting.”

She nodded over his shoulder, and he glanced back to see the girl he’d hauled up on stage. Irritation pricked.

He rounded back on her and leaned into her ear as a smile titled up his mouth.

God, she smelled so much better than cheap body spray and, for a moment, his eyes rolled shut while she shivered beneath his breath. “What do you care, beauty queen?” he whispered. “You didn’t want me. I already figured out you think I’m trash.” He stood back, smirking, except calling her jealousy out and upping the ante didn’t make him feel better.

If anything, the silence he’d just induced on her lips and the fire suddenly lapping in her eyes stabbed at him with regret.

His smirk fell. Voice gentled. Tyler had just warned him he might regret his choices. Both he and Heart had suggested he be patient. He glanced back to the girl on stage.

Karma delivered fast, because shame coursed through him even though he had no reason to feel ashamed. “I just wish I knew why you didn’t call—”

“Oh. You’d never know if I called, would you?” she seethed through her teeth.

He balked—

“But you’re right,” she choked out through a tight smile, gesturing to the stage. “A one-night stand is no reason for me to feel hurt. Sorry. Your next fool is waiting. Just wish I’d known the fool you were making of me when you did it. What lie do you have for her? Some honest proposition?”

Full snark.

“What?” His skin prickled as she backed up a step.

“Flower Girl?” someone nearby said.

“Is she who you wrote the song about?” another face in the crowd said.

“It’s her!” people began to call, as her skin raged red, and she threw a hand up to shield her face.

His heart suddenly raced. He suddenly didn’t want anyone to see that random woman on stage clinging to him. He’d just been trying to fill a void the woman in front of him had left empty. What had she meant by that? He’d never know if she’d called?

Gripping his nape, his bicep twitched, mind reeling.