Sophie Oak - Pure Bliss

“Hey, so the marriage thing didn’t work out. You were right. She was a bitch after my money, and when she’d gone through my trust fund, she dumped me for a lawyer named Phil. Oh, but there were numerous men before that. I don’t even know their names. We hadn’t had sex in a couple of years, and I spent all my time vaccinating overprivileged Pomeranians. Can I come home now?”

The dog beside him whined slightly, as though deeply moved by his words.

He doubted James would have the same sympathy for him. “You think that’s going to work, Butch? I don’t know. I think I’ve dug a deep hole.”

Butch was some weird cross of Great Dane and Rottweiler. He was an ugly, big son of a bitch, but he was as harmless as a damn fly. He’d also been the closest thing to a friend he’d found in the last several years. He’d known his marriage to Ally was utterly over when she’d told him to choose between the dog and her.

Noah shook his head. His marriage hadn’t been over when she’d cheated or spent every dime he had. It hadn’t been over when she’d walked out for three months and crawled home because her lover had kicked her out. It hadn’t been over when she’d tried to stop him from attending his second father’s funeral. It had ended over a dog. He’d told her to get out, and she’d walked straight to Phil’s arms.

He’d given up his home, his honor, his family over a woman who had taken everything and given nothing in return. He was crawling home with his goddamn tail between his legs.

At least he knew he had a job waiting for him. Stef Talbot had kept in regular contact. Even when he hadn’t talked to his own brother, Noah had talked to Stef. Stef kept tabs on everything. When Noah had called to see if there was still an opening for a vet in Bliss, Stef had told him to get his ass home.

But he wasn’t sure about how James was going to take it.

“Maybe he’ll be satisfied that he’s the rich rancher, and I’m the dipshit brother whose wife ran through ten million dollars in five years. You think so?”

The sad-sack look on Butch’s face didn’t hold a lot of hope.

“We might be living in a tent. Or the caves. Mel used to have a bunch of caves Jamie and I played in when we were kids. Don’t drink the moonshine, though. It can make you blind.” Actually, a little of Mel’s “tonic” might be just what the doctor ordered. Or he could get his ass abducted by aliens, and then everything would be a moot point.

At least he would get to work with large animals again. He’d missed working with horses and cattle. If he had to deal with one more hamster, he might scream. Those goddamn rodents bit him every time.

God, how had he fucked up so badly?

His hands tightened on the steering wheel. He’d spent the night before in a cheap-ass motel. He was seriously considering finding another one. Anything to put off the inevitable moment when he had to tell James what had happened with Ally.

A little resentment bubbled up. James had everything he really wanted. He’d always loved that ranch. The Circle G was James’s personal kingdom. Noah wondered briefly if there was any way his brother had gotten married and settled down. Maybe some gorgeous thing had come into town, and James had taken one look and tied her up. He liked to tie up women. God, Noah liked to tie up women, too. Maybe Noah would walk onto the ranch and see James had been the really smart one who had waited for the perfect woman. The thought was a little depressing, and his reaction to it made guilt boil in his gut. He was the one who had left James, not the other way around. He had left everyone in Bliss behind for a gold digger who couldn’t even love a dog.

He forced himself to focus on the road. He didn’t need a GPS to show him the way home. He knew it by heart, but some things had changed in the last five years. And some things never changed. Inevitably, some poor sap’s car broke down on the emptiest part of 160. Sure enough, there was a compact car on the side of the road. A single figure stood by the vehicle, her brunette head in her hands.

She was crying. He could see it from here. He should drive right on by. Crying women got him in trouble. Ally had been able to cry so beautifully. Her lip would tremble, and she would manage a single, crystal tear that never wrecked her artfully applied makeup. It was all fake, of course.

The woman looked up, and it was easy to see that she wasn’t pretending. Tears coursed down her red face. No one could fake that. This woman was upset. Her face turned down as though she didn’t want to watch him pass her by.

He was an idiot. Even as he told himself this wasn’t his problem, he was pulling over. Butch stuck his big head out the window as Noah rolled it down. “You need help?”

She sniffled, and he could see warm brown eyes behind a pair of dainty glasses. She was cute. Hot-librarian cute. She had a light sweater wrapped around her waist, as though it had gotten too hot for her to keep it on. She was down to a dowdy skirt and a tank top that was just a little too big for her frame. It wasn’t so big that it hid her incredibly nice rack.

“I think I do. Uhm, my car isn’t working.” Her voice was raspy, a little tortured. She bit her bottom lip—a nice, plump bottom lip. She had gorgeous lips to go with that nice rack.

He’d been way too long without sex. Actually, this was the first time in a long time he’d even thought about getting down with a woman. It was kind of nice to know he could still think about sex. Maybe she would be so ridiculously grateful that he helped her that she would take pity on him and invite him back to her cabin, and he could put off the whole “prodigal brother returns” scene for another couple of days. “I’ll take a look at it.”

He put the truck in park. Butch seemed to like the girl just fine. Of course, he wasn’t exactly discriminating. Butch pretty much begged anyone human and in the vicinity for a pet. He opened his mouth to command Butch to leave the poor woman alone, but she smiled at the big mutt and put out a hand. She didn’t move away when Butch leaned forward and gave her a big, nasty kiss.

“Sorry,” he muttered, sliding out of the truck. Yeah, that probably wrecked his shot at getting invited back to her place. Not that things like that ever happened to him.

He really liked the way she smiled. Though her eyes were red rimmed and her skin mottled from her tears, she was kind of adorable in a soft, feminine way. “It’s okay. He’s a sweetie.”

“He probably needs a bath. We’ve been on the road for days.” Noah walked around to her car. It had to be ten years old. He would be surprised if it didn’t have over a hundred thousand miles on it. The car looked tired, weary. The car looked a little like Noah felt. “Can I pop the hood?”

Butch had escaped the cab, and his tail thumped against the ground as the woman knelt and petted the enormous animal. Sometimes Noah was sure Butch’s tail thumps registered on the Richter scale, but Brunette Hot Librarian didn’t seem to mind.

“Of course. I’m afraid I don’t know how to do that. I’m really bad with cars.” She leaned down and touched her cheek to the dog’s head as though she was desperately in need of affection. He checked out her left hand. No wedding ring.

What the hell was he thinking? He reached into the car, releasing the hood. There was a little click, and the hood popped open. Smoke billowed out, but he couldn’t see fire. That was a plus. He wasn’t going to get blown up on the side of the road. “I’m Noah, by the way.”

“Where’s the other dog?” There was an odd little smile on her lips. He liked it. It was slightly mysterious, with the sweetest hint of snark.

“I don’t have another one.” Butch had been too big for the tiny condo in Manhattan that had cost him half a million a year.