BUCKED Box Set: A Bull Rider Western Romance (28 page)

I knew, deep down, that what I had done
was not a complete and total accident. Even though I knew I could barely admit
it to myself, much less anyone else, I was sure that at some level, I had let
him get that close to me.

I had fair warning and I hadn’t stopped
him. Instead, I just enjoyed the feeling in my stomach and the pang of
excitement that rose up in me.
Why didn’t
you stop him?
I thought to myself as I smashed my fists into either side of
the bed, while tears streamed down my face in the dark room.

I was sure of one thing though. No matter
how I felt or how tempted I was, there was no way that I was ever going to let
him get that close to me again.

With this in mind, I tried to stay away
from him for another week.

The feelings that I had for him, in that
moment, scared me to death and I was sure that if I spent time with him again,
I could possibly do something that I would regret. I knew that I was vulnerable
and I was sure that he had skills of persuasion that I couldn’t even begin to
imagine.

How
else could he have made me hate him, to possibly have intense feelings for him
in a matter of weeks?

However, every time I thought about that,
I cursed myself.

You
do not have feelings for him!
I insisted, wondering
exactly how many times I had to tell myself that before I had a prayer of
actually believing it.

After all, Tyler was my stepbrother and no
matter what he said or how I felt, that just wasn’t right.

Besides, even though he seemed to make an
effort to be nice to me, it didn’t meant that he was making an effort to be
nice to everyone else. I was sure that the way he acted around me was simply
that; an act and therefore, I was sure that I didn’t want to be associated,
especially romantically, with someone who made a lifestyle out of being an
asshole.

It was bad enough that he was my
stepbrother.

However, one day, about a week after the
incident, Tyler walked into my room, unannounced.

When I glared at him, he said, “Hey...The
door was open. I don’t know what the hell you’re giving me that look for.”
Then, before I could respond, he added, “Come with me,” before he made his way
out of the room.

No,
I told myself as I readied my mind to ignore him. I moved back to focus on what
I was doing, which wasn’t much.

In fact, while staying clear of Tyler was
a lot of work in one respect, it had also made things incredibly boring.

I had returned to being a recluse and was
even starting to lose my tan.

Yet, I was sure that it was for the best,
since I was sure he didn’t really need anything important; he was probably just
trying to get me alone so that he could lay another move on me.

Still, after one more look around my room,
I groaned and swept myself off of the bed, moving into the hall where he was
waiting.

He led me into his room and closed the
door.

I glared at him suspiciously as he turned
to face me, but when we were alone, he immediately pulled out some kind of card
and pushed it at me.

“What is this?” I peered down at it.
Immediately, I recognized that it was an obviously fake, but very convincing
identification card. The name on the card was fake, but my picture stared back
at me.

“I know you’ve been avoiding me,” he said
as the whole situation sunk in. “And I never meant to make you this
uncomfortable, but I figured I would try to make it up to you by showing you a
good time.”

Intrigued, I looked up at him and smiled.
“You did this for me?”

He shrugged, like it was nothing. “Shit,
don’t get all fuckin sappy. It’s just the clubs around here are always fun and
I thought you might enjoy having a real good time.” He smiled at me in a
devilish way.

Feeling an involuntary pang of excitement
rise up inside of me, I quickly stared down at the card, trying to get the
thought of how attractive he was out of my head. Usually, I tried to walk the
straight and narrow, but that certainly didn’t mean that I wasn’t interested in
the chance to go to a good party.

Before he could change his mind or say
anything that would make me want to slap him, I smiled up at him and answered,
“Thank you. That sounds fun.”

“You bet your nice, tight ass it’s gonna
be fun!” He walked out of the room before I had the chance to smack him.

That night, I took him up on his offer. I
had actually looked forward to it all day.

The two of us had a great time and the
fake IDs worked great.

However, it didn’t take me long to realize
that, even in the short time they had stayed at the beach house, Tyler had
managed to earn quite the reputation for being a tough guy.

While we were at what I was sure was going
to be my last stop for the night, Tyler went to get us drinks and I was sitting
down at the bar. A man walked up behind me and I heard a deep voice say, “Hello
Beautiful…”

When I turned around, I could smell the
alcohol on his breath and I saw the signs, even through my own intoxication,
that this man had way too much to drink.

“Hello…” I said, automatically getting a nervous
feeling in the pit of my stomach.

At first, I wasn’t sure if the feeling was
actually nerves or just the alcohol taking its toll. Yet, when he sloppily
placed a hand over mine and leaned into me, I was sure that the root of my
feelings was the latter.

“What do you say you and I get out of
here?” he asked.

I slid my hand out of his and answered,
“No, thank you. I’m here with someone.”

He laughed in a belligerent way, before he
answered, “Well, I don’t see anyone…” and grasped my arm.

“I’m right here, shithead!” I was never so
happy to hear Tyler’s voice.

The man immediately turned around and
stared at Tyler, taking his hand off of my arm. The drunkard had a pugnacious
aura about him, until he realized who was talking to him.

Once he realized that it was Tyler, he
backed away. “She’s your girl?” the man stuttered. “I’m sorry…”

“Never you fucking mind whether she is my
girl or not. The point is, I’m telling you stay away from her or I will kick
your ass,” he sneered as his eyes glimmered, almost as though he was
anticipating the fight greatly. “And if I do that, you probably will not
recover.”

The man’s eyes grew wide. Even in his
current state, he was convinced of exactly how serious Tyler was and so, he
nodded, before turning around and making himself scarce.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, ya pussy!”

Being that I was a little tipsy, instead
of insisting I was fine, regardless of how I really felt, I showed that I was
flattered by his act of what I considered, in my current state, a sense of
heroism.

Doesn’t
every girl want a guy who is willing to fight for them?
I thought as we watched the man walk away.

Little did I know, that sense of what I
thought was heroic went far deeper, into a cavern of secrets that was
completely unimaginable.
 

Chapter
10

Tyler

Everything seemed to be falling into place
for me, and for the next week I took her to the bars every goddamn night. I got
her in, hooked her up with some of the shit I knew she loved and helped her
have a great time.

Of course, when I had the chance, I snuck
away to get a little bit of love on the side; after all, I was being strategic,
not waiting for marriage. Yet, I always made sure that I was never gone too
long. I was never missed, not once, the entire week and I was always there when
she needed me.

After the first night, word spread and if
anyone spoke to Ashley, it was in a very respectful manner. I had no problem
with that. I was there to make her happy, not be overprotective. However, that
seemed to make her feel safe, so I was happy to have done it.

Still, I refrained from trying to put a
move on her myself. I probably could have a couple of times, but then I would
have to earn her trust all over again. No. I wasn’t about to blow it because I
couldn’t keep my dick in my pants long enough. I knew I was closing in. I
didn’t really need to have any boost in my confidence. I knew that I was the
only one she had her eye on at the moment; even if she still refused to admit
it, so I didn’t see the rush.

However, one night, the opportunity seemed
to be giftwrapped and I was sure that I was going to get everything that I had
worked so hard to receive.

Between the drinking, the dancing and the
generalized partying, we were having a lot of fun.

Even though the woman could hold her own
as far as liquor was concerned and even impressed me a few times, I could tell
that for her small frame, she had quite a lot to drink.

Throughout the week, she had warmed up to
me quite a bit, but tonight there was a look in her eyes and a sense of
excitement in the way she interacted with me that told me I was extremely close
to pressing up against her sweet spot and having her melt into my hands so that
I could mold her to do what I want, just like fucking putty.

“Hey!” I yelled over the music and tapped
her on the shoulder to get her attention. “It’s getting late. Do you want to
get the hell out of here?” I asked, trying to sound innocent enough in my
intentions. I wasn’t lying, after all. The bar was about to shut down for the
night and I didn’t want to fight the onslaught of drunks that were going to go
stumbling up on the beach as soon as they were given their last call.

That
would be shitty ambiance
I thought.

Ashley thought about this for a moment,
before she smiled at me and answered, “Yeah, I think I do.”

I wasn’t sure exactly what that smile
meant, but it was different than her normal expression. Perhaps it was the
alcohol, or hopefully, it was something else, but in her state, I was sure I
had to be pretty close. I definitely wasn’t above playing dirty to get what I
wanted and tonight, feeling the strong sense of arousal overtake me, I was more
willing than ever to use that to my advantage.

Even though it was late when we made our
way out of the bar that night, the air was thick, hot and muggy. After being in
the bar with all of those sweaty, drunken people though, the fact that we
noticed the heat was definitely noteworthy.

We began to walk back to the beach house
as I tried to think of a plan that would end us up on the beach, when I felt
fingers lace in-between my own. I looked over to see Ashley smiling at me
sweetly.

I winked at her and returned her smile,
which made her giggle and lull her head onto my shoulder.

With the feeling that I was about to get
lucky increasing, I simply curved our walk from the road towards the beach and
Ashley didn’t say a word about it.

I took this as a sign that I was right
about tonight. It was indeed going to be the night that I had worked up to. I
was finally going to receive my much deserved reward and it was going to be magnificent.

Fuckin’
A,
I thought as I felt my
body naturally kick a little bit more of a swagger into my step.

Chapter
11

Ashley

I could not remember the last time I was
this drunk.

Usually, I was a responsible drinker. Even
with my literal license to drink, this week, I had thought I had done really
well. I had gotten buzzed every night and woke up with a slight headache each
morning, but I had not done anything that would have deterred me from going
drinking again the very next night.

Of course, my father hadn’t noticed that I
was either drunk or slightly hungover at all. He was too busy with his wife.
Tyler hadn’t been kidding about the amount to which the two of them enjoyed
making love. In a way, I was happy that my father wasn’t bothering me, but it
also hurt a little that he seemed not to care.

Throughout the week, this had bothered me
more until finally, on this particular day, I had a terrible bout of sadness
that caused me to feel incredibly sick.

It wasn’t a physical ailment, though.
Rather, it was a mental state of dread. Everywhere I looked, I was bombarded
with memories that I didn’t want to have and it had driven me crazy.

So, when I went out that night, I decided
to hell with it.

I wanted to forget the world and I wanted
to be drunk.

Even though Tyler didn’t ask why I was
asking for drink after drink, much more than I normally did, he seemed to be
happy to oblige. Yet, the drunker I became, the crazier my ideas.

By the time we were walking back to the
beach house, now hand-in-hand with Tyler, resting my head on his shoulder, I
was just drunk enough to realize that I was out of my mind, but far too drunk
to care.

Taking in his manly scent and feeling his
muscles ripple underneath my head as we walked, I closed my eyes and allowed
him to guide me.