Weekend With Her Bachelor (Bachelor Auction Returns Book 4) (9 page)

“Hey!” her mom cried out. “You’re here.”

“Shhhh,” Ally chided. “It’s a library.”

“Let me get my purse and we can go. I’m starved!”

Ally walked around the children’s room, looking at some old favorite books and browsing through some new books she’d never seen. Coming to the library was always special. From the time she was very little, to the study sessions with friends, the library had been at the center of her existence.

Her mother emerged and the two of them walked back across Court Street. Marietta was so predictable. The shops were practical, the food was good and simple, and the people were friendly and hardworking. Every place should be this way.

“So,” Mom began once they were seated in a booth. “How go the plans for the big wedding?”

“Good,” she answered. “Everything is confirmed. The ranch is ready for us. I think my dress will still fit after eating like a pig for the past week. The bride and groom are all set. I think it’s going to go off without a hitch.”

“That’s lovely, honey. Have you heard from Gavin?” And there was the question she was waiting for. Her mother was downright giddy Gavin had agreed to go with her. She didn’t say why, but she was ridiculously excited.

“I heard from him yesterday. He’s fine. Busy, I guess.”
That’s it, Ally, keep it vague.

“Is he looking forward to seeing you?”

“I guess you’d have to ask him, Mom.”

They ordered their food and settled into small talk about the library, Mom’s retirement, and her father who was on a new kick at home. He was trying to automate everything, from lights to music to when the heat went on. It was keeping him occupied, but it was driving her crazy.

It was a pleasant lunch. Ally was enjoying her loaded burger and fries way too much when her mother sent her into shock.

“Maybe you and Gavin could just be friends with benefits.”

The rapid intake of breath when Ally heard her mother’s statement forced her iced tea down the wrong pipe, and sent Ally into a choking fit. Gasping and coughing wildly, her mother came around to the other side of the booth and slid in, frantically trying to help.

Friends with benefits? Holy shit.

“Oh, oh! Raise your arms honey. Here, let me help!” The next thing she knew her mother was grabbing her wrists, pulling them up over her head. God, this was humiliating. “Goodness,” her mother exclaimed. “You’re a big girl!”

The entire diner was watching her coughing fit while her mother treated her like a three-year-old, holding her arms above her head, shaking them around, and patting her back. “Breathe, Ally. Atta girl.”

“MOM! Stop!” The words came out on a hoarse growl as she tried to catch her breath. “I’m fine. Just stop.”

All the eyes? Still on them.

“What was that all about?” her mother asked. “It wasn’t the friends with benefits thing, was it?”

“Mom, please stop talking about it.” Ally hoped if she kept her voice down, her mother would temper what she always called her ‘teacher voice’.

“I don’t see the problem. It’s the perfect solution because face it, my dear, you seriously need sex.” No such luck on the volume. Her mother rose and went back to her side of the booth, completely unaware that her voice had carried through the diner and had stopped everyone mid-bite. Again.

Ally was becoming quite the lunchtime attraction.
Great.

This would be all over town before supper.

Gavin would hear about it, too.

Craptastic.

“I’m available!” came a hopeful voice from the end of the diner.

The place erupted in laughter and Ally felt the heat rise in her face. Forget charm, this was the hell of small towns.

*

Gavin sprawled on
his couch, exhausted from another marathon shift. The last thing he wanted was visitors, but someone was banging on the door of his apartment. When he opened it, he found his brother Dan, carrying a six pack.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Dan grinned as he made his way inside, tossing his hat on one of the chairs. “Hey to you too, bro.”

“Something wrong?”

Choosing a space on the couch, his brother sat and plopped his booted feet on the coffee table, popped the top off a bottle of beer, and handed it to his brother. “I guess that depends on your point of view.”

Gavin took a long pull from the bottle and sat next to his brother. A true cowboy, with ranching in his blood, Dan was probably the smartest of the five of them, but he had the least amount of formal education. A philosopher, a deep thinker, he only ever cared about working with the horses and had become known as one of the best breeders and trainers in the west.

Gavin was a doctor, Eli a lawyer, but Dan had a way of seeing to the heart of a matter, which made Gavin wonder what had happened that he took the drive to Bozeman.

“Why don’t you explain this to me instead of talking in code.”

Dan rubbed his hand across his cheek. “Ally.”

It seemed that was everyone’s favorite conversation to have with him. Too bad he didn’t want to talk about it. Gavin hadn’t been able to get Ally out of his head since the kiss they shared in the gazebo. It gave him the kind of rush that said he and Ally would either be really good together or would be really bad for each other. This middle ground they were on at the moment wasn’t going to last.

“What about her?”

“She was at the diner today having lunch with her ma, I don’t know how it came up, but your name got tossed around with the term ‘friends with benefits’ attached. Ally was even more embarrassed when her mom said something, loud enough for everyone to hear, about Ally needing sex.”

“For Christ’s sake. Parents. They do it to us every time.”

“Based on reports out of the diner, Ally just about crawled under the table when a few volunteers offered to help her out.” Dan was chuckling and having a good time at Ally’s expense, or Gavin’s, depending on how you looked at it.

The thought of anyone making offers to Ally made Gavin’s blood boil. Which was another problem. He was starting to feel things for her again. It was more than physical; he wanted her. All to himself.

They’d been texting, and there had been a few late night phone conversations that gave him a look at the woman she’d become. It was true she was no longer the girl he knew in high school. She was better. Yeah, she still had a huge heart, and was whip smart, but Ally was also accomplished, sassy, and five-alarm sexy. Pretty damn perfect.

He was screwed.

“She walks back into my life and everything gets complicated.”

Dan laughed. “I remember watching you when the pair of you were in high school, and all I could think was that you two were going to love each other forever, or kill each other.”

“She must have been so embarrassed.”

Dan nodded. “I’m guessin’. What are you going to do? You have to go to that wedding with her in a few days. Are you rooming together, because that could prove to be a problem.” Dan took a sip off his beer. “Or not, depending on your point of view.”

“Fucking point of view. Of course it would be bad. She lives in Seattle. I live here. That doesn’t make for an easy relationship. What am I supposed to do?”

Ally said they wouldn’t have to worry about sharing a bed, but just being in the same room with her meant he’d be in a constant state of agony. The woman had him tied in knots.

Dan was no help, shrugging it off and grabbing for the remote.

“Comfortable?” Gavin asked.

“Yep. Good thing too, since I’m sleeping here.”

“You are?” Gavin enjoyed the closeness he had with his family—most of the time. This was not one of those times.

“I’m drinking, it’s late—I’m not going back to Marietta tonight. I’ll be out of your hair early. Probably leave about five.”

Perfect. Tomorrow he didn’t have to be up at the buttcrack of dawn, and Dan was not his quiet brother. “I guess I’ll go to the gym in the morning.”

“If you’d get your ass back to the ranch more and do physical work, you wouldn’t need a gym.”

“I’ll tell that to the crazed patient I wrestled to the floor this morning.”

“Stubborn stallion kicked and tried to bite me today.”

“Yeah, me too.” Gavin stood and grabbed a book he’d been reading.

“What? Are you shittin’ me?”

“Nope. Wouldn’t think of it.” He looked back at his brother, who’d flipped on ESPN. “Are we done with the pissing contest?”

Nodding, his brother asked another question. “Where are you going with Ally? Some ranch resort or whatever the hell it is.”

Gavin sat on the arm of the sofa. “It’s called Whispering River Ranch. Hundreds of acres. It looks nice.”

His brother took out his phone, and after a little searching came up with the destination. “Damn, this place is more than nice. Even the tents have big bathrooms.”

“Yeah. I think we’re staying in one of those big tents. She said they have sofa beds so we won’t have to… ah… share.”

“Well that’s a damn shame.”

“What are you driving at, Danny? I’m too fucking tired to play your mind games.”

“Look…” Dan stood, walking to the window at the front of the apartment. He looked out, all while exacting a posture only a real cowboy could pull off. “You and Ally have been headed down this road for a long time. The two of you should be together. Why you’re fighting it, I don’t know, but the woman is smart, funny, and gorgeous. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.” Gavin ran his fingers through his hair. “Maybe I don’t want to mess up a good thing.” That was a lie. What they had going on wasn’t good. It was torture.

“Right. You’re scared.”

“Scared? No.”

“Sure you are, and you should be.”

“Really. And you have all this relationship experience? I don’t think you’ve had a steady girlfriend since you were in seventh grade.”

Dan leaned back with a shit-eatin’ grin on his face. “Yeah. Pam Belton. She let me kiss her after the Valentine’s Dance. Told me I got lucky.”

“I guess when you’re twelve…” Gavin chuckled, wishing things were that simple. Silence settled between them, awkward and telling. “Women.”

“She’s got you hogtied already, doesn’t she?”

“You have no idea. I don’t get affected like this. Not since I was in my teens.”

“You mean since the last time Ally was around?”

Yeah, that’s exactly what he meant, but he wasn’t going into it any further. “Help yourself to whatever’s in the kitchen. I’ll see you before you leave.”

*

Later, stretched out
on his bed, Gavin picked up his phone and sent a text to Ally.

See you in a couple of days.

The response was almost instant.
Looking forward to it. Let me know when you’re on your way.

How are you holding up after today?
His thumb hovered over the screen. He really hesitated before finally pressing send.

Not so instant this time. He waited. And waited. When she didn’t answer, he figured he’d pissed her off, or embarrassed her. Or both.

Then his phone buzzed in his hand.

Ally. She was calling.

“Hey.”

“Hi,” she said, her voice barely there. “It’s not too late, is it?”

“No. Are you alright?”

“How did you hear? I mean, I figured you would, but…”

In his mind, Gavin tried to picture what happened in the diner. Unfortunately, he kept seeing Ally’s blissful expression after their kiss the week before. “My brother is here. He filled me in.”

“Great.”

“Don’t let it get to you. There’ll be something new for everyone to latch onto in a couple of days.” It was true, but Gavin knew no one would ever forget it. The story would be around for ages.

“It was humiliating. It was bad enough it was so public, but that my mother thinks that I’m, I don’t know, hard up, is the worst.”

“I’m sure she doesn’t think that.”

“Yeah, she does. I know her heart is in the right place, but oh, my God. The place went into shock when she said ‘
you need sex
.’”

He laughed, even though he was trying hard not to. “Was the shock more, less, or equal to when I kissed you?”

He thought he heard a little sigh from her end, and that made him stupidly happy. Shit. He really hated when his brother was right.