I closed my eyes and shook my head. “We McAllisters pay our own way. It’s just our pa keeps putting us in trouble every time we get our heads even a little above water.”
Erik lifted his hand and rubbed at his bearded chin. I wanted to touch him there, feel whether it was soft or bristly.
Why wait?
We were engaged, technically.
Feeling emboldened by my logic, I lifted my hand and cupped his cheek, running my thumb across the soft hair at his chin before allowing my fingers to scratch lightly down his jaw.
Erik’s eyes closed, and he hummed in a way that almost sounded like a purr.
Jarod used to love when I’d run my nails down his scalp.
Guilt, sticky and hot, soured my stomach instantly at the realization that I wouldn’t be touching Jarod in this manner for a long, long time. If ever again. By the time I was available, he’d probably be married to some sweet girl back in Sandee who was able to give him the world. I snatched my hand away as though burned. Erik’s eyes flashed open. He reached for my wrist, then curled his fingers around mine. He lifted my palm to his mouth and kissed the center softly, which had the added effect of sending little pleasurable tingles racing up and down my arms.
“Feel free to touch me, Savannah. Any time you want.” His eyes were a mixture of melted caramel and newly grown grass. One side of his lips curved up into a crooked, boyish smile that had me grinning.
“Duly noted.” I dropped my hand and focused on my sister, whose expression was set at formidable yet venomous. Not a healthy combination to be sure. Growing up, I’d been on the other side of her fury, and it wasn’t a pleasant place to be. Sutton had it coming. Not only for what he was forcing onto our family, but with her as his wife.
He wouldn’t know what hit him. I almost felt sorry for the man. Almost.
“So what does the cowboy have to do with all of this?” Erik asked, his Norwegian accent making each word and syllable sound more interesting than the last.
I narrowed my gaze at the handsome man allowing an attendant to pin a pristine red rose to his suit jacket.
“His family farm borders ours. We share a fence. Though theirs is twice the acreage, they’ve always wanted to force us off our land so they can take it over.”
Erik squinted as he took in Sutton Goodall.
You couldn’t deny the man was gorgeous. Even if he and his family were the worst of the worst. They definitely had good genes because Sutton was well over six feet, had a chiseled jaw, nice eyes, and a body that was made for manual labor. If we weren’t in a generations-long feud, I’d have found him very handsome. Many of the women back in Sandee talked about him rabidly, but I personally hadn’t seen him in years. While I was in high school and then college, he’d been away making business deals from what I understood. Jarod had briefly mentioned in one of our phone calls that he’d come back, and the town floozies were in a tizzy over it. Guess that would end quickly once they found out he’d married a McAllister.
The town was going to freak.
Not to mention our pa.
I shivered thinking about how my father was going to react. He’d respond with dramatics and bad behavior for sure. My sister thought I hadn’t seen the fist fights between him and my mother or between him and Dakota as I grew up. I knew he didn’t reserve his fists for bar brawls and had no problem laying into my mother or my sister.
What neither Dakota nor our mother saw was the way he’d constantly pinch me whenever I was around him. Nearly every day. Sometimes several times a day. He’d tell me my ass was too fat and pinch it hard enough to leave a big purple and blue mark. Same with my belly being too big, and my arms too flabby. I had so many marks on my ass, belly, hips, and inner arms that Jarod had thought I needed to see a doctor. I made excuse after excuse.
I bruised easy.
The goats got their nibbles in.
The chickens were feisty.
I fell into a prickly bush.
You name it, I made up an excuse. It only stopped when I went away to college.
Suddenly I felt two warm hands cupping my jaw. I blinked through the haze of horrible memories and came face-to-face with Erik’s concerned gaze.
“Hey, now. It’s okay. If you want me to break up this wedding, I’ll do it. Anything to make those tears disappear.” His thumbs swiped at the falling tears.
I shook my head, sniffed, and accepted the handkerchief he pulled out of his pocket.
“Thank you. I’m fine.” I swallowed down the old memories and patted my face with the soft cloth. “My sister has to make her own decisions, and if she feels like she needs to do this, then I won’t stop her. I can only be here to support her.”