Fall to Pieces (2 page)

He stepped forward, ready to introduce
himself, when something about that smile snagged at his memory. He
froze, and all thoughts of spending the next month wrapped in those
mile long legs came screeching to a halt.

"Holy, shit, Sadie?"

"Hey," she said with an awkward little
wave.

"Come here," he said and pulled her in for a
hug, immediately questioning that decision when every nerve ending
went on high alert at the feel of those slim curves pressed up
against him. He quickly pulled away but couldn't quite let go,
settling his hands on her shoulders.

He looked her up and down repeatedly, waiting
for the real Sadie Thornton, the one who was all pin thin limbs and
awkward angles, to reappear. "You look..."

He shook his head as her cheeks turned beet
red and her gaze dropped to the floor.

Ah, there was the Sadie he remembered.
Awkward, blushing, barely able to string a sentence in front of him
that didn't involve explaining a math problem or the significance
of the green light in
The Great Gatsby.

Sweet Sadie, following him around with her
heart in her eyes. Definitely, he decided with no small amount of
disappointment, not the kind of woman who would be up for his
dating MO Which consisted of not much dating, lots of sex, and
ended whenever the woman started angling for "a relationship" or he
got shipped off.

"I believe the word is, smoking," the
gravelly voice of Damon's best friend from the Army, Brady McManus,
broke through Dylan's haze.

Dylan had always liked Brady, but now, as the
other man grabbed Sadie by the hand and said, "Come on, sweet
thing, let's dance," he fought the almost overwhelming urge to
punch the guy in the throat.

Only because he knew Brady's MO was similar
to his own, he told himself, and he just wanted to keep Sadie from
getting hurt.

He turned to Damon. "Is that seriously Sadie
Thornton? What happened to the stork legs and the glasses?"

"A lot can happen after high school," Molly
said with an elbow to his ribs.

You have no idea,
he thought as his
brain flashed on some of the things he'd seen and done in the time
between.

His gaze lit on the other woman sitting at
the table and he felt his smile dim several watts. "That it can,"
he said as his gaze rested on Ellie Tanner, Molly's older sister.
And Damon's ex-girlfriend, the one who had ripped Damon's heart to
shreds when he revealed he'd enlisted in the army.

Twelve years later, Ellie had been widowed
and left flat broke by her Wall Street shyster husband and had,
according to Dylan's mom, come back to Big Timber to get back on
her feet.

And apparently, despite all of Damon's
protestations to the contrary, she and his brother were once again
tying each other up in knots.

He shook his head and signaled Cassie, who
called everyone "hon" and whose red bouffant hadn't changed in his
memory, over to take his order.

He and Ellie exchanged small talk and Dylan
patted himself on the back for being civil while Damon stared at
her like he didn't know if he wanted to kiss her or throttle
her.

Considering he avoided his own relationship
drama like the plague, Dylan sure as shit didn't want to get drawn
into his brother's. So he was relieved when JT Osborne, a friend
from high school who now ran his family's guest ranch a few miles
out of town, came over and greeted him with half hug/back slap.

They started to catch up when Molly grabbed
Dylan's hand. "You guys can talk later," she said, yanking him to
the dance floor. "This is my favorite song!"

Dylan pulled her into his arms as his feet
fell automatically into the two step. Considering all the shit he
had to put his body through to stay in shape for his job, it was
kind of comical the amount of relief he experienced when he felt no
pain as he executed the steps.

But after his accident and the excruciating
pain after, every pain free movement was yet another reminder that
he was fit, he was healthy, and it was only a matter of time before
he was back to doing exactly what he wanted to do.

But in the meantime, dancing with a pretty
girl wasn't the worst thing in the world.

As he twirled Molly, he caught a flash of
something sparkly on her left hand. That's right—somewhere in his
mother's gossip filled letters/emails/phone calls (though she would
smack him across the mouth if she heard him calling it that) she'd
mentioned that after over ten years of dating, Josh Patton had
finally proposed to Molly. It was, in his mother's opinion, long
over due and she couldn't imagine why Molly had stuck it out for so
long considering—also her opinion—Josh was a bit of a doofus.

Dylan wasn't about to share any of that with
Molly, so he simply said, "Congratulations on you and Josh."

"Thank you!" Molly beamed. "Took him long
enough, and I still can't get him to nail down a date, but at least
it's a step in the right direction."

Was it just him, or was there a slightly
desperate note in her little laugh?
Not his business.

"What about you? You seeing anyone?"

"Nope."

She was quiet for a few seconds, then, "I
hear you're in town for almost a whole month."

"Yeah," he said, and felt a little niggle of
warning at the shrewd look in her eye.

"Plenty of time to renew old acquaintances."
She shot a meaningful look over his shoulder.

He was not surprised when he turned his head
to see Sadie, laughing at something Brady said as he whirled her
around the floor.

He couldn't keep his lip from curling. "Sadie
looks pretty well occupied right now."

"Brady?" Molly's own lip curled. "Sadie would
never. Brady is..." she trailed off with a little sound of
distaste. "Anyway, you have no competition from that front, or any
other," she said with a meaningful look.

Dylan sighed. No surprise Molly was trying to
push him on Sadie. Even back in high school, she'd never missed an
opportunity to talk up her best friend to Dylan. At the time, Dylan
hadn't taken the bait because, to put it bluntly, as sweet and
funny and smart as Sadie was, she'd had all the sex appeal of a
broom stick.

And now, as tempted as he was by the knockout
Sadie had become, the memory of her, in all her sweet, funny,
broom-sticky awkwardness was enough to remind him of why he
couldn't make a play.

"You know me Molly. Things haven't changed
too much since high school. You don't want your friend with a guy
like me."

###

Sadie could barely hear the strains of Dwight
Yoakum's
Little Sister
over the roaring in her head as Brady
twirled her around the Last Chance's crowded dance floor. Thank God
he was a strong lead, because her limbs still hadn't recovered from
the way Dylan Decker had looked at her.

It was a fantasy come true, the way his blue
eyes had glimmered with appreciation as they lingered over a face
that had finally grown into its too big eyes and too wide mouth.
Over the long, lean body that had mercifully developed breasts and
hips her sophomore year of college.

Oh my God, Dylan Decker was totally checking
me out. And now I feel like I'm going to faint.

And, OK, a big part of that wasn't just from
the way Dylan had looked at her, it was how he looked himself.

As in, completely, utterly, smoking hot. Of
course, he always had been, somehow smoothly transitioning from a
good looking, lanky kid into a high school hunk who filled out his
football uniform in a way that didn't go unnoticed by any
heterosexual female in a fifty mile radius.

If the last ten years had been kind to Sadie,
they'd been equally generous with Dylan, she thought as she peeked
around Brady's shoulder to get a better view of Dylan smoothly
moving Molly across the floor.

It didn't seem possible that a near perfect
specimen like Dylan could get any better looking, but somehow he
had. Time had further defined his already chiseled features. Fine
lines bracketed his mouth and radiated out from his blue eyes,
adding a depth and maturity to his face that made him infinitely
more attractive.

Dylan's full mouth curved into a smile as he
spun Molly around, giving her an unimpeded view of his back.
And
oh my God, his body.
From her estimation, Dylan had added a
solid twenty five, maybe thirty pounds to his tall frame, and from
what she could see of the muscles straining against the thin fabric
of his olive green t-shirt, not an ounce of it was fat.

Bigger, harder, hotter...

Oh my God, get a grip on yourself. Seeing
the guy you were in half in love with all through middle school and
high school is not a legitimate cause for a heart attack.

"Good to see you out tonight," Brady said
over the music. "You've been keeping yourself scarce."

Sadie gave herself a mental shake, and
focused on Brady.

"I've been crazy busy," she said. "I've
barely had time to breathe, but Molly twisted my arm into taking a
break."

"You sure it was Molly who convinced you to
come out?" There was no mistaking the teasing note in his voice as
he gave her hip a little squeeze, and no pretending he didn't see
her following Dylan's every move over his shoulder.

Sadie wasn't about to admit out loud that
she'd come out tonight because she knew Dylan was flying in today
and that he and Damon were planning to stop at the Last Chance.

But the sheepish look she gave Brady pretty
much said it for her.

"Then what the hell are you doing dancing
with me?" he grinned, his silvery gray eyes glinting with humor.
That sexy smile and a body that rivaled Dylan's and the other
Decker brothers’ had charmed many a woman passing through Sweet
Grass county out of her panties since he'd moved here to work at
Adele's cafe as a favor to his best friend Damon.

While Sadie was certainly not immune to the
appeal, she knew better to push their flirty friendship any
farther.

Especially when anyone with eyes in her head
could see that despite his dalliances, Brady had his eye firmly on
her best friend Molly.

"Come on," he said and started pulling her
across the dance floor, toward the other couple.

"Whatever you're doing, I don't think it's a
good idea," she said, squeezing his hand in a death grip as they
got within a few feet of Dylan and Molly. Christ, she could barely
talk to Dylan standing still. Doing it while moving her body in a
semi-coordinated fashion?

All the makings for a disaster.

Then it was too late, as Brady tapped Dylan
on the shoulder and swapped dance partners in one smooth
motion.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Molly
scowl and stomp off the floor.

Then she couldn't think of anything but the
feel of Dylan's hard chest pressed against hers, his big hand
curling around her fingers and the sway of his hips as he
moved.

The music changed, slowing to a ballad. He
adjusted their position, shifting her closer, close enough she
could feel his legs brush hers with every step.

That heart pounding, suffocating,
about-to-pass-out feeling came over her again, and she was suddenly
desperate to get away.
Stop it!
She snapped at herself.
You are no longer the skinny, awkward, braces-wearing giraffe
girl too scared to talk to the boy you like! You are a grown up, a
grown up who is actually attractive enough people wanted to take
your picture to advertise their clothes! Attractive enough that
most men, INCLUDING THIS ONE, take notice of you! Now stop acting
like a loser and seize the freaking day!

Her mental ass kicking managed to get rid of
most of the panicky feeling, and she smiled up at Dylan in her best
imitation of an I'm-sexy-and-I-know-it kind of girl. "I bet your
mom will lose her mind when she sees you managed to get away for
Deck's party."

Oh, nice opener, talking about his mom.

He smiled down at her and she nearly fell
over. "I imagine so. It will be even worse when she finds out I'm
staying for almost a whole month."

Her eyebrows shot up her forehead. "A month?
I thought you guys only got like, forty-eight hour furloughs or
something like that."

"Usually that's true," he said, his smile
tensing so subtly she wouldn't have noticed had she not been
mesmerized at the way his lips formed the words. "But I have a few
more weeks of recovery till I'm back on active duty, and my CO
thought it would be good for me."

"The way you say it doesn't sound like you
agree," she said.

His shoulder shifted under her hand in a
shrug, tempting her to trace her fingers over the hard bulge of
muscle. "I heard about your injury, but I didn't realize you were
still recovering." Her throat clenched like it had when she'd first
learned he was injured, imagining him wounded in a hospital on the
other side of the world.

"I'm fine now," he said quickly. "Back to a
hundred percent. The evaluation at the end of the month is just a
formality."

"It must have been so awful—"

"Nothing out of the ordinary in my line of
work," he interrupted. "Speaking of injury, I was sorry to hear
about your dad. How's he doing?"

Okay, subject of his injury was obviously
closed. "Better," she sighed. "I swear though, when I moved back
last spring to help out, I never thought I'd be staying this long."
Back in April, her father had suffered a massive heart attack, and
Sadie had left her job in San Francisco with a leading mobile app
company to look after her father and help run his horse breeding
operation outside of town.

"Can't wait to get back to the hustle and
bustle of the big city, huh?"

She smiled up at him. "There's that. There's
also the fact that while I'm stuck here, my career is stuck in a
holding pattern." Before she left, she'd been on track to be
promoted to an executive role within the next twelve months. She'd
managed to keep an income stream doing freelance work, but she
missed working with a team, missed the energy and camaraderie that
came with a fast-paced, leading edge company.