“In what way?” I stammered. The vision that popped into my head was of me bent over the tailgate while he gave me a second serving of what he’d dished up the other night. I could feel my cheeks burning.
He curved his lips up again. Smiling was turning into a regular occurrence for him. “I was thinking we could take a little drive out in the country.”
Jolene nodded at me enthusiastically right behind Knox where he couldn’t see her, mouthing, “Say yes.”
“Um…”
So Knox added to his sales pitch. “It wouldn’t be anything crazy. Just a sightseeing tour in my new pickup. I’m excited to get this truck, and I want to spin the wheels a little. Plus, if we go home now, you’ll just sit there and fret about Emerald until she gets back.”
This time, after I paused too long, Jolene spoke up for me.
In a heavy country drawl as smooth as honey, she told him, “Gwen says yes, but she expects you to be a perfect gentleman with her. All right? We’re talking church-on-Sunday behavior. You think you can manage that, Ranger?”
Jolene obviously hadwaymore skill at talking to the opposite sex than I did. She seemed to have an innocent, flirtatious edge in her voice as she nudged the two of us together with her words.
I could see why Rusty had fallen for her. They made a cute couple.
Knox glanced over his shoulder, seeming surprised to see Jolene there.
Then he chuckled and looked back at me, his sexy bedroom eyes drawing me in.
“Yes, ma’am. I’malwayslike church on Sunday.”
My face heated up thinking about what he’d done to me in my bedroom during our one crazy night together. There’d been adevilin my bed making me burn with need.
Against all my better judgment, I squeaked out a yes, while I thought of him christening his truck with me straddled over him, hungry hips pumping into me.
I wasn’t an on-top kind of girl. But I wasn’t sure how else we could make love in a truck. Not that it would bemaking love.
What the hell was I even thinking?
I had officially entered the heartbreak stage of my infatuation with the man. If he suggested it, Iwouldsleep with him again, even if I knew it would just make the pain of not having him that much worse.
Why did love have to hurt so bad?
Chapter 10
Knox
The way Rusty’s wife had acted at the mechanic shop gave me some hope that Gwen might actuallylikeme for more than just a quick, hungry fuck.
The two women had obviously been talking about me while I’d been wrangling the deal for the truck.
Jolene practically pushed her into my arms, sweet Gwen blushing the whole time.
And when she said yes to a country drive with me, it almost felt like Gwen was saying it with the same seriousness that she would approach a marriage proposal.
I chuckled at the idea.
A month ago, as a ranger, I hadn’t had a single thought in my head about finding a wife or starting a family.
But now… with Gwen… I could almost see that future.
Which felt entirely insane. No woman had ever tempted to settle down before. But with Gwen, I would do it in a heartbeat.
Unfortunately, I already knew what she thought about me. I wasn’t marriage material. I was just a piece of eye candy that she wanted to ride.
Even as I thought that, I knew it wasn’t true. Gwen would want me to rideher. She’d proven herself to be submissive in bed. She wanted a big, strong man to donastythings to her. And for some reason, she wanted it to bemeinstead of the other men on the mountain. And hot damn, I was up for that task.
