Rough (RRR #2) Read Free Page A

Scarlet, a man his size, can he even fit in this car?” Holly asks and she’s practically drooling.
    “I fit just fine, and it’s hers,” I say, holding the driver-side door open for Scarlet.
    “W-what? It’s mine?” Scarlet says and I swear to God when those amber eyes widen and dilate I want her naked, under me, screaming my name, ASAP! “You were there? At the hospital? You followed me to Atlanta?” She says ignoring the car, her hand flying up to twirl a strand of hair as she fits the pieces together in her mind. Her voice is dreamy and that’s when I’m certain, she feels what I feel, this need, yearning, the same unquenchable hunger.
    I pull her against me and her dress swirls around us and I don’t give a damn about her sister or the car or the two months of agony as her hands clasp behind my neck and pull my lips to hers.
    “I was worried about you,” I whisper against the sweet warmth of her succulent lips. “How upset you were when you left my ranch. I thought I should stay with the horse, or that maybe I’d be intruding with your family... but I couldn’t not follow you….”
    “I wish I’d known… I was in the corridor with Corey giving him the okay to do an angioplasty on my dad, I have power of attorney over his medical affairs, he and my mother don’t really get along.”
    “Can we go to lunch now or what?” Holly says tapping her foot and fanning herself with the program from the ceremony. “You two can make up and make out later, Mother will be impossible to deal with if we’re a minute late.
    *
    At the Argyle I hand the car keys to the valet and straighten my tie, although I’d like to rip the damn thing off and get some much needed air. Scarlet asked me to drive and I can tell she’s not sure about the car or me, her eyes have deepened to dark whiskey-brown and they are wary with indecision. Holly sat in the back seat and I could feel her watching as her little sister turned sideways in the seat to study me, trying to figure this out, but with her hand clasped firmly on my thigh. Now I’m so hot and bothered I feel like a kid counting the minutes until the prom ends and he gets his date to the closet Motel 6.
    “I’m going to the powder room to freshen up,” Scarlet says when we spot her parents seated at a table with a view of the oak-studded expanse of lawn. “Order me a Tipsy Palmer and tell Mother not to get her granny-panties in a twist, I’m old enough to drink, and I’ll be right back.”
    “You look windblown, Holly, your hair’s a mess. Where’s Scarlet?” Caity O’Neal asks, craning her thin neck to look for her younger daughter.
    “My hair’s just fine, Mother, thank you for coating it with enough hairspray so that it basically looks exactly like your helmet-head-do,” Holly says, pushing the short, dark strands away from her face and giving her mother a bratty little ‘fuck you’ look.
    “Have you ever had one of these? Iced tea and lemonade with a splash of bourbon, looks like you could use one Holt,” Chandler O’Neal says and for whatever reason, I know this man has my back.
    “Daddy, you’re a mind reader! Scarlet specifically asked for a Tipsy Palmer, she’s gone to the restroom to make herself beautiful for the very generous Mr. Corrigan. Why don’t we order a round for the table?”
    “Generous? In what way?” Caity asks, and I didn’t think she could raise her eyebrows any higher but she does as soon as Holly tells her about the Jaguar.
    “I’m just gonna go check on Scarlet, excuse me, please,” I say, shedding my jacket and tie and not giving a damn about the club’s dress code.
    The Argyle was once a fine Southern mansion built as the main residence of a pre-Civil War horse farm, now it’s a super snobby ‘members and guests only’ venue, and I know it well. I’ve been to countless events here with the McCauley brothers. Their dad, Wes, and my dad, Tom, grew up together, best friends who were dirt-poor cowboys moving herds