Abby stood in the middle of the bus aisle, clutching two grocery bags to her chest. Her blue eyes widened as she took in my appearance. “Oh my God, Jake, are you all right?” she asked, her voice laced with concern.

I gave a maniacal laugh that surprised even me. “No, I’m not.”

She sat the bags down on the counter and took a step toward me. “Are you sick? You look so pale.”

“That’s because the jackass chased two beers with half a bottle of Jack,” Brayden replied, shaking his head.

“Go easy on him,” Abby chided.

“Why should Bray go easy on me? He’s always riding me about something,” I spat, scowling at Brayden.

“Jake, you did this to yourself because of your mom, didn’t you?” Through my haze, I felt Abby’s hand rubbing my arm, and all my senses hummed at the simple touch. As much as I hated to admit it to myself and wanted to keep fighting my feelings, there was no doubting how much I wanted her.  

Her brows furrowed as sympathy etched across her face. “Can I do anything for you? Please tell me what’s wrong?”

Before I could stop myself, a snort escaped my lips. “Don’t you get it, Angel. You are the problem.”

“Jake—” AJ warned.

Her eyes widened as she swept her hand over her heart. “Me?”

“Yeah, you.” I lunged forward causing her to take a tentative step back. “It’s you with those sexy as hell cowboy boots that I want digging into my ass as I fuck you until you scream my name. And those perfect tits…” I licked my lips at the mere thought of my mouth on them. But in that pause, my cloudy thoughts veered in a different, less perverted direction. “It’s the way the dimple comes out on your cheek when you smile really big and the way you blush when I tease you.” I sucked in a breath as the fuzzy memories from the night before crashed over me. “It was the way your sweet, soft hands wiped away my tears, and the way your body curved into mine when you let me hold you. It all made me feel for just an instant that everything really was going to be all right. No one has ever comforted me like that…except my mom.” What the fuck? Did I just say all that out-loud? I shook my head furiously from side to side as the room started spinning me like a Titled Whirl at the county fair back home.

Abby grabbed my shoulders to steady me. I blinked my eyes trying to focus on her blurry, but beautiful image. “Most of all, it’s that I want someone like you to want me—just for me, not for Jake Slater the singer of Runaway Train.” I smacked my hand hard against my chest. “For what’s really inside me.”

Abby gasped. “Oh Jake, I—”

She never got the chance to say what I hoped to hear because my churning stomach chose that precise moment to lurch, causing me to puke all over Abby’s pristine sundress.