Dodge the Bullet (18 page)

“Yeah, sure.” Kevin set his shoulders,
cleared his throat. “Shiloh’s dad doesn’t like you much and,
well….” Kevin shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “How do
you know the fence wasn’t cut because of you?”

Dodge had to give the kid credit for having
the guts to come right out and ask. “I’m pretty sure it was, but
either way, you all could be in danger. I don’t want anybody
getting hurt.”

“Does this kind of stuff happen to you a
lot?”

“No.”

“What’d you do, anyway?”

Dodge slung his arm around Kevin’s shoulder.
“That’s for another day. Go say goodbye to your pretty girl and
let’s get these cows back. Your mom’s working on breakfast.”

###

Dodge ate every bite of the bacon and eggs,
drop biscuits and strawberry preserves Sarah put in front of him.
He was too tired to work up a really good mad, but he knew it was
there, simmering underneath his skin waiting to come to life. His
past had done more than include Sarah and her kids in gossip mill,
it’d put them in the line of danger. What if one of them had heard
something last night and tried to confront whoever cut the fence?
Did Sarah have protection for herself and the kids? Would she even
think to use it if she did?

“All right,” Sarah said sliding his plate
away and refilling his coffee mug. “You look like the walking dead.
I’m going to drive you home and let you get some sleep.”

Dodge rubbed his tired eyes. He could almost
feel the blood draining from his head and working its way to his
stomach, leaving his mind a foggy mess. “You don’t have to drive me
home. I’ve got my truck up by Miguel’s house.”

She turned off the faucet and dried her
hands on a towel. “You’re in no condition to drive.” And when he
opened his mouth to argue, she said, “I insist. Whatever needs to
be done about the cows while you rest the boys can do, or they can
help you once you’ve gotten some sleep.”

“They did great today. Really great. Now
that school’s out, I wonder if they’d be interested in doing some
work.” Dodge turned around in the barstool and looked at the two
boys lounging on the couch battling each other in a video game.
“I’d pay them.”

Sarah moved around the counter and joined
him at the bar. “I’d love for them to have some responsibility
around here. I’d like to help as well, if you’ve got enough
patience to teach me.” She looked over at the boys before zeroing
those green eyes back at Dodge. “I’ve been writing again. Just a
little, mostly in the mornings when it’s quiet. I get pretty sick
of being inside by midday. I’d love an excuse to get outside and
play in the dirt. I’ll have my hands full for the next few days
getting the yard back in order.”

“I’m sorry about that. I’ll have Phil come
out from the nursery and replace your stuff.”

“You’ll do no such thing. It wasn’t your
fault the cows got out.” She stood and reached across the counter
for her keys. “Guys, I’m driving Dodge home. I’ll be back in a few
minutes.”

Neither boy looked up from their game or
replied.

“Kevin? Lyle?” she said louder. When they
both turned she pointed her thumb at Dodge. “I’m taking him home.
I’ll be right back.”

###

Sarah listened as Dodge told her to turn
East on the Rifle Range. When he tried to lean his head back
against the seat rest and knocked the back window he cursed her
truck again.

“You’ll need to tell me where to turn,” she
said.

“I’ll tell you when you get there, don’t
worry. I want to sleep as much as you seem to want me to.” Dodge
turned in his seat and Sarah felt his eyes watching her drive.

Her cheeks flushed. “I’m worried about you,
Dodge.”

“I was going to say the same about you. I
want you to be careful. Call me anytime night or day, even if you
just feel a little spooked.”

“I don’t spook easy. Besides, I think
whoever cut the fence was trying to hurt you.”

“I agree, but I can’t take the chance you’ll
get caught in the crossfire.”

Sarah sniffed and glanced at him. “You make
it sound like a gun battle.”

“Speaking of guns…do you own one?”

“No, I don’t own a gun.” Her grip tightened
on the wheel. “And I don’t plan to.”

“I think that’s a mistake. Barring what
happened last night, on a ranch of your size with wildlife all
around, I think you should get one. I can show you how to use it,
and show the boys.”

“The boys? Are you crazy?”

“Take the next right, just past the curve in
the road,” he said. “And no, I’m not crazy. This isn’t the suburbs.
Your kids need to know how to use a gun. It’s a way of life out
here, not just a means of protection. I’m not talking about an
automatic weapon, but a shot gun is a pretty handy thing to have
around. Bear can wander down from the mountains and I know you’ve
heard the coyote.”

He was trying to make her nervous and she
hated that it was working. “A bear? Don’t you think you’re
overreacting just a bit? What am I supposed to do if I hear a bump
in the night? Grab a gun and start shooting?”

“No, I expect you to call me, then get the
gun and wait until I get there to help you. Here’s the drive on the
left, the one with the black mailbox.”

She maneuvered the truck down the long rock
drive, past a line of spruce trees whose tops waved in the wind and
driving rain. Just beyond a small bend in the road sat a
farmhouse.

“Just because your cows live on my property
doesn’t mean you’re obligated to defend us.”

“I want to take care of you, Sarah. I
feel…responsible for you.”

She shook her head and shoved the gear stick
into park. The last thing she wanted was for him to feel obligated.
“You shouldn’t. I’m an adult, Dodge, not a child. I may not
recognize the danger we face at the ranch, but it’s my
responsibility to take care of us, not yours.”

Dodge rubbed his eyes. “Ok, maybe
responsible was the wrong word.” They sat listening to the
methodical clicking of the windshield wipers and the pitter patter
of the rain. “If anything happened to you or the boys because of
me…”

Sarah placed her hand over his where it
rested on the bench. His fingers were long and tan and felt
surprisingly warm as she wrapped her fingers around his, felt the
calluses on his palm. He squeezed her hand and when she looked up
into his eyes she felt startled to see his tired gaze had
sharpened.

“Nothing happened to us.” Her voice sounded
normal despite the tug of emotion the simple act of holding a man’s
hand had sent through her system. Without thinking, she reached her
free hand across the small cab and rubbed it along his stubbled
chin.

His need to protect her, while foolish, made
something inside of her break apart. How long had it been since
someone put her needs before their own? She leaned in and pressed
her lips to his, a soft kiss meant to heal and thank. His eyes
widened as she watched him through the slits of her own.

When she began to pull away, the realization
of what she’d done came back with each centimeter of distance. She
felt him tangle his hand in her hair and pull her back, saw his
eyes drift close before she released the breath in her chest. It
came out as a moan. She’d expected an assault, but the only thing
rough about his kiss was the scratch of his beard against her skin.
He rubbed his lips against hers enticing her lips to part and let
him in. She tasted heat with an edge of impatience for more. She
surrendered to him just long enough to draw a very detailed map in
both of their minds about where it could lead.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped and backed slowly
away. What was she sorry for? Sorry she kissed him? Sorry she let
him kiss her back? Or sorry it ended?

“Don’t be sorry.” He lifted their still
joined hands to his lips, kissed the knuckles that gripped his and
made her galloping heart turn over in her chest. “Thanks for the
ride.” He jumped out into the driving rain and made a quick dash to
the porch.

Okay, thought Sarah. No need to panic. Just
because her heart slammed against her chest at triple the beat of
the windshield wipers, nothing unusual there. Hell. As she put the
truck in gear and began the short drive back to her ranch, she
considered the implications of what had just happened. She’d kissed
him and he kissed her back. They were even. And it didn’t mean
anything because he was exhausted and she’d meant to comfort him.
The fact that she’d spent quite a bit of time thinking about what
it would be like to have him touch her and kiss her didn’t
necessarily mean that the line between friendship and something
more had blurred. Did it? Hell. She needed to call Jenny.

###

So much for getting some sleep. Dodge
stepped into the warm house and let the screen door bang closed
behind him. He could still taste Sarah’s lips on his, hear the
throaty moan she’d let out and could’ve taken his pulse in his
loins. This was the last thing he needed, the last thing he wanted.
He couldn’t tell himself she didn’t mean anything more to him than
a friend. He wanted her and from the look in those green eyes of
hers he’d have to say she wanted him too. It’d taken every ounce of
self restraint not to pull her into his lap and satisfy them both
right then and there. But then where would they be? Probably right
where they were now. Except a whole lot less tense. Fuck.

“I
kissed him,” Sarah whispered into the phone. She sat alone in her
truck, parked in the garage. The boys couldn’t hear her talking to
Jenny through the sound of the rain hitting the metal roof.

“Finally you call with the good stuff. How
was it?”

“It wasn’t that kind of kiss, not at first.
It was brief, but there was heat. I think he felt it too.”

“Hell yes, he felt it too,” Jenny said.
“What’d he do?”

“Well, he seemed surprised, and then he
grabbed me and kissed me back.”

“My God, Sarah, are you in grade school?
Give me the details.”

“It was soft and then rough and thrilling,
like being on a dangerous roller coaster. Oh, God, Jenny. What have
I done?”

“You finally let yourself do something
without thinking it to death, thank goodness. Why do you sound so
hysterical?”

“Because… I can’t believe I’m saying this,
but I wanted more and I think he did too. I feel so guilty
and…turned on and…confused.” She knew she was babbling but couldn’t
stop herself. “Part of me feels like I’m cheating on Todd and the
other part really wants…more than a kiss. A lot more.”

“Sounds to me like it’s out there for the
taking. Why’d you stop?”

“It’s ten in the morning. We were in my
truck in his driveway and I…I don’t know.” She wound her hair
around and around her finger. “I swear, Jenny, if he’d made one
move, one little encouraging move, I would have melted all over him
in that truck. Christ--his dad was probably inside the house and I
would have let him have me in the truck, I just know it.”

“What would’ve been so wrong with that,
Sarah? He’s a good man, you’ve said that over and over again. He
cares about you and the boys. God knows that’s a hell of a lot more
than I get from the men I sleep with.”

“I’ve never slept with anyone but Todd.”

“I know that, sweetie.”

“I don’t know how to do this, Jenny. I don’t
know if I want to.”

“You’re a woman. You know how to have sex.
Just because you gave Todd everything when you slept with him
doesn’t mean you have give it all every time. Sometimes sex is just
sex.”

“Just sex?” Sarah repeated and let the idea
of it roll around her head for a second.

“Just sex. You need it and he needs it.
Welcome to my scary world. It’s not so easy to have sex without one
of you becoming attached. That’s why I love my vibrator.”

Sarah dropped hair she’d spun tight around
her finger. “Wait a minute. You try not to get attached to the men
you have sex with? What’s the point?”

“Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. Not everyone is
looking for forever. And even if you are, you end up settling for
Mr. Right Now.”

“Okay, wait. You’re getting a little ahead
of yourself, and you’re starting to sound like a country song. I
don’t want to have sex with just anyone. I want to have sex with
Dodge.” And when she heard the truth out loud her stomach did a
queer little flop. “Oh shit.”

“What? Don’t say ‘oh shit.’ I’m proud of
you. You want to have sex with Dodge, he wants to have sex with
you. So go for it.”

“Oh, God. I think I’m going to be sick,”
Sarah said and then jumped when Lyle knocked on the window of the
truck.

“Mom? What are you doing in there?”

“Uhh, nothing, sweetie,” she said through
the glass. “I’ll be right up.”

“Sarah, listen to me,” Jenny pleaded. “Don’t
be a chicken. Just do it. You can thank me later. And I’d better
get a call after it happens.”

###

Dodge walked into The Stand, one of Hailey’s
two bars and the only one he’d ever step foot inside, and set his
hat beside him on the bar as he took a seat. “I’ll have a Sam
Adams.”

Stan Trippington slid the beer in front of
Dodge and perched his elbows on the grimy wood surface, settled in
for an update on the life of one of Hailey’s more scandalous
citizens. “How’s things out at the Woodward place working out?”

Despite the fact that he hadn’t seen Stan in
a week or two and rarely, if ever, discussed anything of a personal
or business nature with the man, Dodge wasn’t surprised or even
offended at the question. Stan took pride in keeping up with
everyone in Hailey. Dodge knew when he’d taken a seat that the
questions would come not long after his beer. “Good enough. Had
some cows get out a few days ago. We got them all back.” Dodge
sipped his beer, content he’d get around to the reason he’d come to
The Stand. No better way to feel out information than from the man
who considered himself the county’s authority.