Read Online The Billionaire Cowboy's Carolina Girl (Contemporary BWWM Romance) by Mia Caldwell - Free Book Online
Authors: Mia Caldwell
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PROLOGUE
“Can’t you transfer to Texas A&M, Anita?” Billy held me close and kissed me. The water was cool around us, and the swimming hole was conveniently absent of people that day. It seemed like the Smoky Mountains were always full of tourists trying to find the hidden swimming holes after a hot day of walking around in Asheville, but right then it was just us. I kissed him back, and that familiar ache ran through my body again. That ache that said, “This is it. This is him. This moment is everything.”
But that ache… well, lust isn’t everything. There was real life to consider.
“I can’t. My family is here. My granny is in Greenville, and she’s already hoppin’ mad that I went all the way to Asheville for college. My life is for my family, Billy. Hell, what would your family say about me?” I already knew the answer to that question. We’d skirted around that topic way too many times, and I’d gotten the point. I was damn proud of my heritage. I had Korean and African and Irish all wrapped up in one beautiful person, and I wasn’t about to waste my time on a white boy whose family would snub me. Billy kept telling me that they weren’t like that, but I knew better.
Billy blushed deeply. He avoided talking about his family, especially his daddy. My family had its dark times too — my daddy walking out on my mama, my Korean granny and my black granddaddy being the talk of the town… and not in a good way. Billy had often told me that his parents only wanted him to associate with the rich kids at school, and eventually they moved him into a private education. I was thinking they might not like a girl who had grown up dirt poor — and on top of that, I was a dance major. And that whole thing about being a woman of… a different heritage.
All that information told me that this relationship wasn’t worth the effort. It told me that Billy wasn’t the one, no matter what my body had to say about the matter.
Billy ran his fingers down my neck and over the thin black strap of my bikini. He hooked his finger under the strap and brushed his knuckles over my bare, wet skin as we bobbed in the water. He brushed just slightly against my nipple, sending a flood of that ache through me. That feeling that undid me and shattered all of my logical thought.
“Billy, don’t. You know we can’t be together.”
“I don’t know that,” he said, reaching around and unhooking my suit until it floated free in the water. I laughed, listening to the echo off of the rocks. My voice filled the cove, and right then it all felt like it was there for us and only us. Anita and Billy. The frivolous dance major and the farmer on an internship for the summer in Asheville. That one summer, we’d talked over and over about running away to the Midwest. We’d have a farm with goats, and I’d learn how to make cheese and sell it at the farmer’s market. He’d bring organic farming to the small town, and we’d give free tours to all of the local elementary school. I’d teach dance lessons out of the refinished barn, and we’d be happy and far away from anyone who could hurt us. “Think about the farm. We could run away. We could run away today,” he said.
I let myself float into that dream, relishing the touch of his firm, calloused fingers on my skin. That was our last day before Texas A&M started up again, and Billy would be gone that next morning. As much as my body ached for his… as much as that vision played over and over in my mind, none of that was real. We were from two very different places, and his family would never accept mine. And hell, Texas was half a world away.
Billy moved his hands over my body, squeezing my bottom and pulling me up so my legs wrapped around him. He trailed his lips over mine and down my neck and over the long line of my collarbone. Chills ran through my body, activating that need deep inside my core.
“Not here, Billy Joe,” I whispered.
“Can’t you transfer to Texas A&M, Anita?” Billy held me close and kissed me. The water was cool around us, and the swimming hole was conveniently absent of people that day. It seemed like the Smoky Mountains were always full of tourists trying to find the hidden swimming holes after a hot day of walking around in Asheville, but right then it was just us. I kissed him back, and that familiar ache ran through my body again. That ache that said, “This is it. This is him. This moment is everything.”
But that ache… well, lust isn’t everything. There was real life to consider.
“I can’t. My family is here. My granny is in Greenville, and she’s already hoppin’ mad that I went all the way to Asheville for college. My life is for my family, Billy. Hell, what would your family say about me?” I already knew the answer to that question. We’d skirted around that topic way too many times, and I’d gotten the point. I was damn proud of my heritage. I had Korean and African and Irish all wrapped up in one beautiful person, and I wasn’t about to waste my time on a white boy whose family would snub me. Billy kept telling me that they weren’t like that, but I knew better.
Billy blushed deeply. He avoided talking about his family, especially his daddy. My family had its dark times too — my daddy walking out on my mama, my Korean granny and my black granddaddy being the talk of the town… and not in a good way. Billy had often told me that his parents only wanted him to associate with the rich kids at school, and eventually they moved him into a private education. I was thinking they might not like a girl who had grown up dirt poor — and on top of that, I was a dance major. And that whole thing about being a woman of… a different heritage.
All that information told me that this relationship wasn’t worth the effort. It told me that Billy wasn’t the one, no matter what my body had to say about the matter.
Billy ran his fingers down my neck and over the thin black strap of my bikini. He hooked his finger under the strap and brushed his knuckles over my bare, wet skin as we bobbed in the water. He brushed just slightly against my nipple, sending a flood of that ache through me. That feeling that undid me and shattered all of my logical thought.
“Billy, don’t. You know we can’t be together.”
“I don’t know that,” he said, reaching around and unhooking my suit until it floated free in the water. I laughed, listening to the echo off of the rocks. My voice filled the cove, and right then it all felt like it was there for us and only us. Anita and Billy. The frivolous dance major and the farmer on an internship for the summer in Asheville. That one summer, we’d talked over and over about running away to the Midwest. We’d have a farm with goats, and I’d learn how to make cheese and sell it at the farmer’s market. He’d bring organic farming to the small town, and we’d give free tours to all of the local elementary school. I’d teach dance lessons out of the refinished barn, and we’d be happy and far away from anyone who could hurt us. “Think about the farm. We could run away. We could run away today,” he said.
I let myself float into that dream, relishing the touch of his firm, calloused fingers on my skin. That was our last day before Texas A&M started up again, and Billy would be gone that next morning. As much as my body ached for his… as much as that vision played over and over in my mind, none of that was real. We were from two very different places, and his family would never accept mine. And hell, Texas was half a world away.
Billy moved his hands over my body, squeezing my bottom and pulling me up so my legs wrapped around him. He trailed his lips over mine and down my neck and over the long line of my collarbone. Chills ran through my body, activating that need deep inside my core.
“Not here, Billy Joe,” I whispered.
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