Summer Love by Piper Rayne

Chapter Three

Sierra rolled over, pain stabbing her temples like white-hot knives. Her throat felt raw and scratchy like sandpaper, and her mouth tasted like days’ old unwashed feet. Not that she’d personally sucked on unwashed feet, but she did occasionally massage them in her reflexology practice and the sentiment seemed to fit. God, she couldn’t remember the last time she drank that much, with no clue how she got home or what she’d done last night. Or, God help her, who she’d done. Because there was one thing that tickled in her brain and that was a guy’s face, prominent in all of her visions from the prior evening.

She reached and patted the other side of the bed, sighing with relief when it came up cold and empty. Only then did she open one eye, realizing the blankets were relatively unmussed. So she hadn’t brought him home, or, if she had, they hadn’t made it to her bed. She shifted, stretching muscles that were sore, but no more sore than if she had danced the night away.

The room wasn’t as bright as she expected. The shades were drawn, which surprised her since she knew she had left them open the night before. When she looked at the clock on the night table to check the time, something strange caught her eye.

A bottle of water. A bottle of aspirin. And a piece of paper.

She shuffled to a half-reclined position and downed a couple of aspirin with water immediately, then picked up the note, blinking a few times to moisten her dry, gritty eyes.

Sierra,

Hope you feel better this morning though you probably feel like you’ve been run over by a truck a few times. Your keys and phone are on the kitchen counter and I brought your car. If you have any questions, my number is below.

It was nice meeting you. I hope we can meet again sometime.

Colt

Sierra swung her legs out of bed and stumbled to the kitchen where, as promised, her keys and phone were on the counter. She looked out the window and her car was in the parking lot, parked evenly between the lines. Damn. Colt really was a gentleman.

As her mind played over what little she remembered, more memories returned in a blurry flood and she flushed with embarrassment. Yeah, she hadn’t been quite so innocent, propositioning him on the dance floor, in the bar, at his car, and right there in the hallway of her apartment . . .

Oh my God. She’d thrown up on him! She checked the hallway but it was clean, as was her bathroom. A guy who cleaned up? This was beyond humiliating.

She picked up the phone and saw a text message from Colt.

Are you okay?

She paused, staring at the screen. She was horrified by her actions the previous evening. It would be best if she ignored the message and left it to the past where it belonged.

She went to take a shower.

* * *

Colt checked his phone most of the day, hoping to see a text, a voice mail, something from Sierra. By the time he had settled Sierra and returned to the bar, everyone had left except Zane, so he and Zane had brought Sierra’s truck to her then Zane brought him back to the bar. Ty and Piper, not to be left out, had sent him numerous text messages and were waiting this morning to find out the scoop.

He’d received no message from her all day, and he felt . . . betrayed.

Not that she owed him anything. Hell, they’d danced and had a fun time, nothing more. No promises were made but he kind of thought he’d like to pursue something. He wasn’t hanging around in Granite Junction, however. His life was in Nashville and, unfortunately, on the road for months at a time. What did he have to offer her?

His sister changed her whole life when she met Ty. Granted, she had never been especially happy performing in concert. When she fell in love with a singing cowboy who lived in Montana, well, she was content to move there, too. Colt glanced around the wide-open plains from the back of the bay horse he was riding and had to admit it was pretty spectacular country.

He pulled out his phone. Ty caught the motion and smothered a grin. “She didn’t call yet? Service is spotty out here.”

Colt grunted and put it back in his pocket. “No signal. And no, she hasn’t called that I know of.”

Ty settled back in the saddle. “She might be embarrassed. She was pretty drunk.”

Colt scoffed. “I’ve seen half the town in that bar whenever I’ve been here. She has nothing to be ashamed of.”

Ty shrugged. “Yeah, it’s different for Sierra. She’s pretty private and reserved. She probably just wants to forget last night happened. Do you want to see her again?”

Colt thought about it. He liked her. She was funny, easy to be with, and he found her hella sexy. He doubted that was solely due to the alcohol content in her blood. He wondered if that was the real Sierra. Some people were different when they drank and maybe she wasn’t that person. He kind of wanted to find out. However, he had no business starting something when he wasn’t going to be hanging around. She was anchored in Granite Junction while he was a wanderer and his roots, the few he had, were in Nashville.

He shook his head. “No, it’s probably for the best that I don’t talk to her. I’m not staying. I just want to be sure she’s okay.”

Ty shrugged. “You can always do a drive-by. Check on her. Or we could ask Nathan to do it. It’s kind of his job as sheriff.”

Colt grunted, annoyed by the idea of someone else checking on her. He spurred the horse to a canter and headed down the hill to the creek, mostly to avoid the conversation, Ty following with a laugh. This was why Colt had never needed or wanted a brother. A sister was bad enough.

When he got back to the ranch, and his phone had signal again, he had a voicemail.

Thank you for being a gentleman last night. I hope I didn’t ruin your boots.

He grinned. Yeah, those boots were toast. Leather and vomit didn’t mix. At least he knew she was okay.