Kansas Heat Page 13

  Never one to back down from a challenge, Cody stepped up to own his statement. “For being a smartass and a sore loser.”

  “I didn’t lose.”

  Cody rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Get over yourself. You lost.”

  “Go apologize.” Hard and inflexible, Knox’s order held a silent threat to anybody who dared to disobey.

  “Excuse me?” Talk about arrogance. Amanda stared in amazement at Knox. With his arms crossed, he acted like he had the final authority over the situation. Knox’s scowl clearly said he didn’t bear any arguments. So did his grunt.

  “You heard me.”

  Amanda lifted her chin and crossed her arms, imitating Knox’s stance. “I will not.”

  “Jesus,” Cody muttered before turning her away from Knox with his hand on her arm. “Amanda, just do it.”

  “No.”

  “Why must you be the most stubborn woman in the world?” Cody groaned.

  “Why do you have to be the bossiest man?”

  That got her a sharp smack on the ass. She jumped and turned to gape in amazement at Knox. Her mouth worked over a series of curses, but none could make it through her shock. He actually spanked her. And it hurt!

  Damn, her ass still throbbed. The flash of intense heat made her pussy cream instantly. Humming with awareness, Amanda couldn’t help but feed her arousal with a healthy dose of nerves as she took note of Cody and Knox methodically surrounding her. Two rough, rugged cowboys blocked her in, looking at her as if she were the pig offered for the roast.

  “Run,” Knox’s breath stirred the loose hair around her ear, “while you still can.”

  Her muscles might have headed the warning, but her mind dug in. Stubborn in the face of Knox’s blatant intimidation, her brain refused to give the order to move. Instead, Amanda tossed her hair defiantly, knowing it smacked Knox in the face.

  “From what?” Amanda smirked at Cody. “From two little boys with nothing better to do then pick on a woman?”

  Knowing she’d stepped over the line, reason finally pressed her to move before Knox smacked her ass again. She retreated with dignity, though. Chin angled up, Amanda forced her legs to move slowly toward the door. She offered a silent prayer to her maker when Cody moved out of her way. Even though her rational side told her to keep going, her pride dictated she stop in the doorway and turn to deliver one final parting shot.

  “Don’t mess with me, boys, unless you are prepared to lose again.”

  She focused her gaze on Knox, delivering the insult right into his steely gaze. He tensed, shifted, and Amanda didn’t wait to see if he bolted before hauling ass. Instinct replaced determination, and with a squeak, she flew down the hall and out the front door.

  The spontaneous cowardice shamed her all the more when the only thing that gave chase was deep, booming laughter. It wafted after her, claiming victory over her obvious defeat.

  Smug bastard. Amanda knew it was Knox laughing. Straightening off the front door, she swore to give him his one day. And just when is this supposed day going to come?

  * * * *

  “You’re such an ass.” Cody shook his head at Knox.

  Knox scowled at his brother’s reprimand. “What? It was funny.”

  “You can only torment a puppy for so long before it bites you.”

  Cody’s warning left something to be desired in the threat level. Instead of feeling the least bit concerned, Knox laughed. “You are afraid of a woman? Get a grip, Cody.”

  “I’m going to enjoy watching her take you down.” Apparently, his youngest brother couldn’t find one because Cody stormed off after making another hollow threat.

  Knox shrugged it off, shaking his empty beer can as he headed for the kitchen. He didn’t want Amanda around in the first place. Maybe if he was a big enough ass, she wouldn’t want to come around. The plan sounded desperate to Knox, but he didn’t have many choices left.

  Hell, she was technically only involved with Cody and she already started to make trouble. It had been a long time since anybody roused Jace into a temper, but she had him as tense as a calf trapped in a corral with a coyote.

  Not that Cody was much better. Amanda reduced him to acting like some green teenager about to blow a load in his jeans just because the cheerleader smiled at him. Cody reverted back to eighteen, when he couldn’t seem to get enough screwing into one day, except this time, it was just one girl.

  Knox’s attention diverted from searching through the fridge for another beer to the back door when it smacked the wall. Jace stormed back in much as he had stormed out. Shaking off his momentary start, Knox grabbed the last cold beer.

  “I thought you were making yourself busy.”

  “I saw Amanda’s car go down the drive.” Jace nodded to the beer Knox had just opened. “I could do with one of those.”

  “Sorry,” Knox shrugged, “no cold ones left.”

  “That sucks.” Before Knox could react, Jace snatched the beer out of Knox’s hand. “For you. I guess you’ll have to pull some out of the pantry.”

  Normally, Knox would have gone head-to-head over Jace’s attitude, but he could see the tension in his brother’s muscles. Jace was brewing from the fight he’d had to walk away from earlier. No doubt, he’d like to find a new one with Knox. Only Knox didn’t feel like being hit right then. With a nasty look in Jace’s direction, he turned toward the pantry.

  “Never knew you to let a woman drive you out of your own house.” Just because he was letting the beer go didn’t mean he wasn’t going to give a little of what he’d gotten. “Much less to drink.”

  “Watch it, Knox,” Jace called out to him as Knox pulled a twelve-pack from one of the shelves in the pantry. “I’d be happy to oblige you if you are looking for a fight.”

  “I can tell,” Knox muttered as he carried the case back into the kitchen. “What I can’t tell is when you are going to wise up and admit this girl is trouble. Of course, you are the one who put her name on the list, so I have very little hope.”

  “Don’t beat around the bush, Knox. If you got something to say, say it.”

  Pretending to almost ignore the conversation, Knox focused on loading up the bottom of the fridge with beer. “You know what I’m saying. What I don’t know is when you got stuck on this girl.”

  “When?”

  Knox rose off his knees and shot Jace a dirty look as he folded down the empty beer box. “How’d you even know her name in the first place?”

  “Probably the same way everybody else does,” Jace snorted, “or don’t you remember the summer of ninety-seven?”

  Knox settled a hip against the counter and raised an indulgent eyebrow at Jace. “Should I?”

  “Remember the deputy who died in the car accident, and it turned out the other driver was her drunk son?”

  “Vaguely.” Jace’s words did rouse a memory of everybody talking about how horrible it all was.

  “Yeah, well, go to the library and do your research, brother, because it was Amanda’s mother and brother who died.” Jace paused, obviously waiting for Knox to respond. He didn’t, not at all sure what to say. Jace just sighed and shook his head after a moment. “I didn’t think there was anybody in this town who didn’t remember the story or her because of it.”

  Knox scowled at the reprimand in his younger brother’s tone. “Well, excuse me for being more focused on my own life than gossip, but I don’t remember it. I certainly don’t see why that would have any effect on our list. We weren’t making one about people with tragic pasts, otherwise we’d have to put this whole damn town on the list!”

  Jace stood tense, defiant for a moment, but then he folded as Knox knew he would. Of his two brothers, Knox felt the closest with Jace. They were the two older brothers, responsible for corralling their younger sibling and keeping everything together.

  There was always a natural division in their family between Jace and him and Cody. It had more to do than with just age. Knox understood Jace, knew how his mind wo
rked and respected his opinion when, more often than not, Cody left him wondering if he had any sense at all.

  “Fine,” Jace sighed, shifting back from his older brother. He settled against the countertop, and Knox could feel something powerful moving beneath Jace’s calm surface. This couldn’t be good. “I remember the first night I told Sharon I loved her.”

  Sharon. Knox hadn’t been expecting to hear her name. He couldn’t fathom what she had to do with Amanda.

  “I remember I told her I loved her and would love her forever,” Jace repeated, his voice going soft with regret. “I told her she was the only one here.” Jace thumped a fist over his heart. “I made all these vows and promises to Sharon. Then the next day I got up, went into town, and ran into Amanda.”

  “Amanda?” Knox should’ve seen it coming. “You never met her before?”

  “Oh, no.” Jace shook his head. “And I didn’t actually meet her then. I just saw her…from a distance…”

  Knox waited, but Jace’s voice faded out and didn’t return. “I don’t get it. You saw her from afar and what?”

  “I knew it then.”

  Knew it…What the…Oh, no!

  “Don’t even imply it, Jace.” Knox shook his head as he stumbled back from the blow his brother delivered. “You are not going to tell me you…you, what? Fell in love at first sight?”

  Jace turned his head. That’s all the answer Knox needed to feel the world dissolving into some fifth dimension of hell around him. Instead of answering directly, Jace just murmured to himself.

  “That’s why I never talked to her.”

  Knox took a deep breath and counted to three. It didn’t help. He could still barely get the words through his tense jaw. “You are not in love with Amanda Johnson.”

  “I felt so guilty over the years.” Jace’s chin lifted toward Knox. He could see honest pain in his younger brother’s eyes. “I felt like I had betrayed Sharon.”

  “This is insane.”

  “I wanted to put her name on the list. I had it all worked out so I could be her first, but then Cody bumped Marsha North up and—”

  “It threw your rotation out of order,” Knox finished for Jace, totally disgusted at his brother. “If you had tried to move her up the list, I would have been her first. That scared the shit out of you, didn’t it?”

  Jace’s features hardened, his tone sharpening. “It didn’t give me a warm feeling, that’s for sure.”

  “So you just let her sit there on the bottom.” Knox stared at Jace in amazement. Of all the stupid-ass things he ever put up with from his brother, “love at first sight” shouldn’t have been one of them. It so clearly was, and as Knox stood there, more pieces started to fall into place.

  “But you ain’t crying over it, are you, Jace? This all worked out perfectly. You kept her low on the list so you could dismiss everyone before her. What? You hoping to wear Cody and me out so we’d settle for your little Amanda?”

  Jace stared Knox straight in the eyes and shook his head sadly. “You really don’t like her, do you?”

  Knox took a deep breath. He felt cornered and tense. “Let me ask you this, Jace. Do you really think Amanda can handle a relationship with us?”

  “Why not?” Jace shrugged, an actual grin tugging on his lips. “Cody said she called my name out when he was fucking her last night. I think that says she isn’t turned off by the idea.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about.” Knox couldn’t believe he had to spell it out. “The woman has no self-control. Seriously, our situation requires discretion. I think with Amanda that concept ends with not belching in public.”

  “What an asshole thing to say and you got no basis for it,” Jace snarled back.

  “No basis? Do you remember the pool game on Friday night?” Knox didn’t give his brother a chance to respond, going full speed into his point. “Now take that woman, put her in a dress, and show up with her on your arm to Henry’s ball.”

  “I’d be proud to.”

  “Yeah? Proud of the fact your date started a cat fight in the middle of the party with mine? Because that’s what a relationship with us means. It means Amanda has to control her temper enough not to maim our dates when we have to show up at public functions.”

  A tic appeared in Jace’s cheek. Knox knew he had his brother cornered. Not that Jace would concede defeat. “Every relationship has its issues to be worked out. Even Sharon had a problem with that at first.”

  “Yeah, but the difference is Sharon wouldn’t have cut your balls off while you sleep to get revenge.”

  “You saying you’re afraid of Amanda?”

  “Don’t even,” Knox retorted. “What I’m afraid of is your dick has you so twisted up you don’t even see the obvious. Amanda won’t be able to adjust to our lifestyle.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Oh, this is crap!” Knox snapped. He should just tell Jace he refused to accept the girl, but he couldn’t. Knox wouldn’t hurt Jace like that, wouldn’t rip his family apart over a woman. No, he had to figure out how to diffuse the Amanda time-bomb or wake Jace out of his stupor.

  Either way, Knox had no clue how to get the job done. It made him want to hit something—Jace in particular. He settled for intentionally shouldering Jace out of the way as he passed him. Slamming through the back door, Knox took his foul mood off to his wood shop.

  Chapter 15

  Friday, July 4th

  Amanda drove her Jeep down the long drive at a very slow crawl. Trucks and cars lined nearly the whole mile, narrowing the road even as people peeked and darted out from between the vehicles. It made her nervous she’d not only take somebody out, but that this entire affair was not as advertised.

  When Cody told her last night that he and his brothers were grilling out for the Fourth and he wanted her to come over, Amanda envisioned a small affair, maybe the brothers and a few friends. Not this. As she pulled into the main yard, there wasn’t a spot left. There had to be over a hundred cars from the entrance of the house to the end of their drive.

  A constant flow of people moved in waves around the edge of the ranch house. Smoke billowed over the shingled rim of the house, and the sounds of a live band bellowed out over the din of the mob. The edges of the party grew before her eyes and nerves set in.

  Looks like the whole damn town has shown up. Cody hadn’t mentioned any of this. Amanda didn’t like big crowds as a general rule, but the sight of this throng made her even more anxious. She thought she’d be Cody’s date, if not at least his guest. Either way, she expected to pass the day with Cody at her side and now she felt kind of…Stupid? Unsure.

  Well, she certainly did feel insecure with her little Jeep idling in the middle of the front yard and drawing way too much notice. People looked at her as if she were a moron for having driven all the way up to the house. One particular cowboy even took it upon himself to come up and tap on her window.

  “Hey, darlin’, parking is in the south field.”

  He said it like she had a broken bulb darkening her intelligence, which irked her. Never one to make a bad situation good, Amanda went ahead and made it worse. “Thanks, but I think I’ll just park there.”

  “There?” The man’s eyes widened at where she pointed. “But that’s Cody’s spot.”

  Exactly.

  “I’ll just block him in.” Keep him from escaping until I have a word or two with him.

  The cowboy actually laughed at her as he shook his head. “I don’t think so, darlin’. Parking is in the south field.”

  “Yeah. I heard you the first time.” And she didn’t intend on hearing him again.

  Without so much as glance in his direction, Amanda jerked the Jeep forward. The arrogant cowboy cursed and jumped back before she kicked up any dirt onto him or, worse, ran over a precious toe. She heard him spewing a long strain of profanities as he raced alongside.

  Apparently, so could others. As she pulled her Jeep under the shaded overhang of the carport, Amanda c
ould feel eyes gathering on her. More than she disliked large crowds, she absolutely hated being the center of attention in them. Perhaps you should have considered that when you refused to park in the south field.

  Oh, well. She’d done it now, and Amanda wouldn’t back down. Instead, she brought her bumper right up to kiss the back end of Cody’s oversized pickup and threw the Jeep into park. By the time she’d climbed out, the cowboy caught up with her, dragging at least thirty peoples’ attention with him.

  “You’re gonna have to move this vehicle.”

  “You’re gonna have to get out of my way.” She mocked him slightly by imitating his tone and stance.

  “Listen here, Miss—”

  “Johnson. Amanda Johnson. I was invited by Cody.”

  “Cody invited a lot of women,” the man snorted, telling her just where she stood. “That don’t give you the right to…”

  Did he now? And when did he have the time to invite all these women?

  We’ll just have to ask him, don’t you think? And just who are all these women? And where are they? Cody better not have…

  Oh, my God! I’m jealous!

  “…understand? Now I’m going to have to insist you move your vehicle.”

  Well, shit. Missed that little lecture. Amanda scowled at the cowboy, finally noticing he wore a name tag—Johnny. “What are you? The parking police?”

  “Actually, yes.” And he managed to sound kind of arrogant about it. “I work here at the ranch, so I’m going to ask you nicely one more time—”

  “Well, then. Just go find Cody and ask him if it’s all right if I park here.” Amanda cut him off with a wave, enjoying taking her annoyance out on the nearest man.

  Johnny got all stiff and proper, trying to make his authority felt, no doubt. “I don’t have to ask him. If he had wanted you to park here, he’d have left special instructions for you to do so.”

  See? Told you so.

  “Well, too damn bad.” Amanda didn’t know if she was responding to herself or to the cowboy. Either way, she went with it. “If he has a problem with me parking here, he’ll just have to get over it.”