“But we’re evil, so we’ll always do the bad idea.” He feathered his sturdy fingers through her hair. “Since I’m going to be staying in the vicinity, and my sister’s going to join the Chamber of Commerce, and possibly live in that haunted house Tami showed her, I want to start over with you. Wipe the slate clean. Will you let me volunteerhere?”
“You want tovolunteer?”
“Heard you couldn’t afford to pay, so I reckon it’s free labor you’re looking for.” He feathered his fingers through her hair, tilting her face towardhis.
“Sure, burying the hatchet is good. I don’t want us at each other’sthroats.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” He raised an eyebrow and smirked. “I’ll draw blood for make-upsex.”
“There’s nothing for us to make up for.” She speared him with narrowed eyes. “Since you won’t forgiveme.”
He patted her behind. “You didn’t think I’d go soft on you, didyou?”
Oh, no, he was never soft, ever. Not that she’d complain. She didn’t need forgiveness, not after what she’d done. Any forgiveness now would be wasted on her when he discovered what else she’d kept fromhim.
For now, she’d enjoy date night and steak—maybe a little dancing and a littletouching.
As for accepting him as a volunteer? It made sense, and it was only fair for her to let him take Cedar out onwalks.
She was, after all, hisdog.
“I’ll expect you to stay long and hard, whenever I’m around.” She inhaled the mouth-watering aroma of grilled steak and aroused male. Opening her mouth, she let herself enjoy one more hungry kiss before they’d attack thesteaks.
* * *
Grady dimmedthe lights and pulled the antique cane chair back for his date. Time slowed as he admired her beauty, the way she swept her hair back, the smile she graced him with, and the soft voice ofthanks.
He couldn’t help leaning down and feathering his lips over the column of her neck. Her sultry scent and the indrawn breath sizzling through her lips stirred the want deep in hisgut.
She turned her head and rubbed her face against his. Her gaze studied him, taking all of him, open and vulnerable. Was this his wildcat, or had he never seen this side of her—feminine, comforting, andaccepting?
Taking her hand, he pulled her from the table. The steaks would be stone-cold by the time he was done with her, but it no longermattered.
Gazing into the dark pools of her eyes, he touched her, lightly, exploring the contours of her face, slowly, gently, as she, too, touched him—truly touched, considering, gettingacquainted.
Below their feet, Cedar lay on a braided rug over the heart-pine floor, watching them as they swayed to “Once in a Lifetime Love.” This was the way it should have been—all those years ago. He needed her and he needed her love—or her brand of love, however she expressedit.
He shouldn’t have run. Only cowards ran, and even though it had never made any sense back then, now, surrounded by her perfume, her touch, her warm breath, inside her home, with her dog at his feet—time stoodstill.
He never believed in love, didn’t trust it, and ran from the slightest whiff of love. But love had a way of worming its way, like the puppy found behind the woodpile, or the newborn cradled in a father’sarms.
And love had a way of growing and consuming and crowding out hate, turning bitter and lonely men like Connor into smitten husbands and doting fathers. Taking each of his sisters from selfish and entitled girls and changing them into beautiful, glowing women whose eyes reflected love at the sight of their men. They touched and comforted, they considered and cared. Their serene faces while growing babies in their wombs were polar opposites to the frantic anguish on the faces of women with unwantedpregnancies.
He didn’t know how long he drank in the sight of Linx, or the feel of her in his arms, or the way their bodies moved. But the candles burned out and the steaks grew cold. The sun set and the cabin grew dark, but he didn’t want to let hergo.
Not now, and notever.
And as he kissed her, he knew that whether he loved her or hated her, the pain would never leave. He might as well love her and risk the tragic ending, rather than an abortedbeginning.
