AVERY (The Corbin Brothers Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

me.
    “Oh is right,” I said. “I wanted to, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. You could, and good for you.”
    “I’m sorry that this life hasn’t been what you wanted,” she said.
    “And what the hell is that supposed to mean?” Had I been that obvious? I didn’t know what I’d do if it got back to my brothers that this wasn’t the life that I wanted, even though I was pretty sure at least a few of them had to suspect I was less than happy on the ranch. A Corbin boy who didn’t like ranching was worse than a simple anomaly. It was unthinkable.
    “I mean that you sound like you wish things were different.” Paisley twirled a strand of her hair on her finger. I noticed that beyond a couple of small sips she’d seemed to have taken, her drink was virtually untouched. I’d lost count of how many beers I’d had since she sat down beside me.
    “I don’t know what I want anymore.”
    “I think I know what you want,” she said.
    “Well, I wish you’d tell me.”
    “You want me to take you home.” She smiled so sweetly that it made me half happy and half suspicious.
    “Is that what you think I want?”
    “I think you need it, yes,” she said, not losing an ounce of sweetness. “You’re listing hard on that barstool.”
    “I’m fine.”
    “If you say so. But aren’t you feeling a little sleepy? You look tired.”
    “I heard you’re not supposed to tell a woman they look tired,” I said. “Why should it be okay to tell a man the same thing?”
    Paisley leaned close enough for us to nearly brush noses. “Would it be okay to tell you that you’re really drunk and the bartender just cut you off?”
    “Bullshit.” I believed that I was pretty drunk, but I didn’t believe the bartender would’ve cut me off. We had an understanding. But when I tried to signal him for another beer — even though I still had a few good gulps in this one — he shook his head shortly.
    “This has never happened to me before,” I said, bewildered and angry.
    “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Paisley said. “You’re drunk. Good for you. You’ve obviously achieved what you sat down here to do. Now let me do you a favor and take you home.”
    I wanted to argue, but she was already gently leading me away from the bar, wiggling her fingers at the bartender, bearing most of my weight on her shoulder as my legs apparently decided to stop working properly. Her truck was so nice that I found myself hoping I wouldn’t puke in it. I managed to scramble into it with minimal aid, and Paisley hopped in handily behind the wheel even though she seemed too small to handle such a rig.
    “Your place or mine?” she asked, that smile shining in the dark.
    “Mine,” I mumbled. “Trailer near the house.”
    “A bachelor pad,” Paisley commented. “Nice.”
    I didn’t have much to say to that as my neck muscles were the next to go, my head lolling to a rest against the window. I was drunker than I had been in a long time, but it was nice. All I had to worry about was keeping the contents of my stomach firmly in my stomach, and then we were already home because I must’ve closed my eyes and slept for the entirety of the drive.
    “You snore when you’re asleep,” Paisley said, helping me out of the car. “And I love your ranch. Hard to believe that we’re practically neighbors and yet your land is so different from mine — well, my father’s.”
    “It’s okay,” I slurred, leaning heavily on her, relying on this person I never wanted to rely on to get me inside my trailer. I collapsed in my bed, throwing an arm over my eyes, dreading Paisley’s judgment on my trailer. It was a shit hole. I knew it was because I lived here and I didn’t let Zoe clean out here. She was our housekeeper, sure, but technically, the trailer wasn’t the house. I preferred it that way.
    I felt a tug on my boots and peered down at Paisley. “What are you doing?”
    “Helping you get comfortable, of course. I couldn’t let you