I drive toward Diesel’s house but don’t park in front of his cabin. Instead, I leave my car near one of the barns, then walk the rest of the way. Before I go up his porch steps, I look around and make sure none of the ranch hands are working close and can see me. There’s no doubt it’s weird for me to be at his house.
Once the coast is clear, I knock, and within seconds, he whips it open.
“Hey—” Before I can finish my sentence, Diesel has me wrapped in his arms and shuts the door behind me. Then he pushes me against it and covers my mouth with his. After a moment, I suck in a breath and laugh. “What the hell was that?”
He flashes a lopsided grin. “Didn’t want anyone to see you.”
“I checked before I walked up the porch,” I tell him, smiling. “Mmm…you smell good.” I clench my fingers in his shirt and pull him closer, inhaling his scent. “Really good.”
“Fresh outta the shower.” He winks, sliding his hand down to squeeze my ass. “I missed you today.”
“You just saw me last night,” I remind him.
“With a bar between us and a dozen pair of eyes on you.” He growls. “I hate that all the guys stare at you.”
“They do not.”
“Trust me, they do. I want to go all caveman on their asses and claim you publicly so they know you’re mine.” He holds me tighter.
“Oh yeah? And then what?”
“Then we get hitched, knock you up, and raise our ten kids on the ranch.”
My eyes go wide at the seriousness of his tone. Pulling back, I look at him wide-eyed. “Okay, that’s my cue…”
He grabs my wrist before I can slide out of his grip. “Okay, fine. I’ll compromise. Five kids.” Then he winks, and I burst out laughing.
“Why do I feel like you’re actually serious but downplaying it for my sake?”
“I don’t wanna scare you off, so…” He casually shrugs.
“Have you ever done this before?” I ask as he leads me into his living room. It’s half covered with tarps from his remodel.
“Done…what?” he asks, pulling me onto his lap when he sits on the sofa.
“A relationship. Commitment. Dated someone longer than one night,” I reiterate.
“Well, there was Billie Sue in fifth grade. She told everyone she was my girlfriend and made me hold her hand at recess.”
I arch a brow, amused. “That skank. How dare she!”
“I broke it off during the second recess.”
Chuckling, I wrap my arms around his neck as I straddle his lap. “So what makes you think you know how to be a boyfriend?”
“Is that what I am?”
“I don’t know. Do you wanna be?”
He blinks hard. “You have me going in circles here.”
We both laugh, and I blush at the direction this conversation is going.
“What if I said I’ve considered it?” I shyly admit.
“I’d say…is it too early to propose?”
I throw my head back with a groan. “How can you just throw those kinds of lines out when you’ve never had a girlfriend before? Aren’t you like, terrified of commitment and shit?”
“Nope,” he says immediately and with certainty.
“You’re strange.” I lean in closer. “You’ve pushed my buttons for as long as I can remember, and then you’d hook up with my friends.” I pop a brow, waiting to hear how he explains himself.
“You—” He punches the word, gripping my hips tighter. “Wouldn’t give me the time of day.”
“That’s your excuse?”
“If memory serves me right, and I’m sure that it does, you weren’t so nice to me either. Even when I was nothing but sweet to you.” He tilts his head, daring me to argue, but he’s right. We’ve been going back and forth for years.
“You’re obnoxious sometimes!” I admit, chuckling, then biting my lip. “I could never take you seriously, and you liked making me uncomfortable. Or like last month…” I throw up my hand. “You went through my boxes and brought up my red thongs in front of my brother!”
His head falls back with loud laughter, and I swat his chest.
“See!”
“Alright, so I’m not the subtle type.” He shrugs unapologetically. “Most chicks dig that, by the way. In fact, a lot of girls in high school always commented on how much attention I gave you, but you wouldn’t have any of it. Instead, you found ways to get rid of me.”
Rolling my eyes, I shake my head. “Not true. You’re so full of shit.”
“Right. So me going out of my way to do things for you was for what? Shits and giggles? Boredom? It’s not like I had any motive to be nice to you unless I wanted to be.”
His words hit me hard as I think back to all the ways he did do things for me during middle and high school. “I thought it was because Riley told you to,” I admit. “Or you had some best friend’s sister code.”