Cowboy Casanova - Lorelei James [127]
“She ended it?”
“Yeah.”
“So what if she wouldn’t have?”
“I’d still be with her. The ironic thing about Dalton seeing me at the club? I hadn’t been there for the month I’d been with Ainsley. As I walked around? I felt nothing. I just fucking missed her. Missed who I was with her.” And it all poured out. “Since the night I met her I felt our relationship would be different. Club subs want good times and the anything-goes sex. Bringing them out of that world and into mine wouldn’t work. But Ainsley…works. She’s smart and sexy. She challenges me. She gets me. She goes from bein’ the bank prez, to hanging out with me, to bein’ my sub, all in one night. Almost seamlessly. She’s amazing.”
“So what did you do to fuck it up?”
“She’s the bank president. No one can know she associates with lowlife sexual degenerates like me who belong to the Rawhide Club,” he said with a slightly bitter edge.
Gavin shook his head and chuckled.
“What?”
“You. All ‘I’m the dominant, I’m in charge’, and yet, here you are, moping around in your house with your dogs. You’re not that guy, Ben. I’m that guy and trust me, it’s beyond fucking pathetic. So I’m going to mimic the ‘be a man’ advice you gave our brothers. If you want this woman for the long haul, make it happen. Screw the club. You haven’t needed it the last month, you don’t need it now. Play with her here. Or at her place. Set your own rules. Or change the rules.”
Ben was as flustered by the admonishment as he was by Gavin’s admission of brotherly ties. “It’s not that easy.”
Or was it?
Chapter Thirty-One
Ben had come inside from cleaning out the cattle truck when she burst through his front door. The dogs went berserk. Barking and jumping until she threw two rawhide chews out the door and slammed it shut behind them.
Christ. His mother was mad as a wet hen. She angrily pulled off her purple gloves finger by finger. Only after she’d shed the outer layer did she seem calm enough to speak. “Hello, son.”
“Mom. It’d be nice if you didn’t banish my dogs from their home every time you come over.”
“Those mutts belong outside. I’ll take a cup of coffee if it’s fresh.”
He poured a cup, refilled his mug and faced her.
“You look like hell, Bennett.”
“Gee, thanks. What brings you by?”
“This and that.”
She curled her hands around the coffee mug and wandered to the kitchen window, appearing to gather her thoughts.
Not good.
Finally she looked at him. “I heard something a little disturbing today.”
His gut roiled. Goddamn Dalton. Hadn’t he stressed the importance of keeping his big mouth shut? Was it a coincidence that one day after Dalton’s accusations, Ben’s mother showed up, hot under the collar? How was he supposed to look her in the eye when she questioned him about the rumor? Would she be disappointed? Would she ask where she’d gone wrong raising him?
Ben managed a nonchalant, “What did you hear?”
She blew across her cup, expecting him to fess up like a ten-year-old boy.
Not happening.
She sighed. “Tell me about the woman you took out for lunch last week.”
Why did she give a rip about that?
“Just answer the damn question, Bennett.”
He was punchy if he hadn’t realized he’d uttered that out loud. His thoughts backtracked. Last week? Right. A last minute lunch with his client from Jackson Hole who’d been driving through town to give him an overdue payment. “You mean Dani? She’s a friend. That’s it.”
“That’s it?” she mimicked. “You move fast, which I find disturbing.”
This conversation wasn’t about Dalton’s intervention? His relief was short lived.
“What happened between you and Ainsley? Weren’t you two an item just last week? Because I like her.”
I like her too. A lot. In fact, I fell in love with her.
“Bennett?”
“Ah, well, it’s sort of complicated and—”
“What did you do to her?”
Ben’s gaze hooked hers. “Me? Why does the problem have to be from my end?”
His mother rolled her eyes. “Because you’re a McKay.”
“Like that makes me a defective man or something?”
“Watch your tone, Mister,” she warned. “It’s my job as your mother to find out if you’re being a jackass to