“Can you meet me at the ranch tomorrow? I’ll text you some bare-bones intel and fill in the gaps tomorrow.”
“Sure, when?”
As we set up a time, I pull out of the parking lot to go to the inn.
When I get to her door at the inn, I’m questioning my decision to buy the flowers. Will she think it’s too cliché? Will she think I’m being pushy because I got red?
As I’m standing there, I hear something fall and clatter inside, and my instincts are on alert as I hit my knuckles on the door. “Nora, are you okay?”
The lack of response has my dander up. He could have left the hotel under cover and is in there hurting her now. I’m about two seconds from kicking in the fucking door. “Nora, sugar, if you don’t open this door, I’ll have to break it down, and Allison will be pissed at me.”
Relief washes over me when the door quickly swings open. But my heart goes to my throat, and my dick hardens in my pants. She’s fucking gorgeous, and the need to back her up to the bed and claim her right now is banging on every door in myhead. I want to make her mine in every way; I don’t care what I have to do to do it.
My mouth is dry as I take in the fringed western skirt that hugs her hips and the open valley between her breasts on display in the skin-tight vest. Taking a deep breath, all I can manage on the exhale is, “Christ.”
Her curves are on display in every way possible, in the best way possible. Her hair is down and curled around her arms and down her front, and her makeup is dark around her eyes, making the green even brighter.
I have to hang back and not touch her yet; she needs to know that her ex is in Oklahoma. If I touch her, all common sense will be shuttered, and I can’t have that right now. When I meet her eyes, I can tell something is off, and I wonder if she already knows. “You okay?”
25
NORA
ALL THEthoughts and emotions swirling in my head and chest come together to form a big lump in my throat, blocking my speech as I stare at him. My head and heart wage a silent war in that moment. My head is telling me to run; my heart wants me to wrap myself up in the arms of the man in front of me and never leave.
I’m sure I look like an idiot just standing here, my mouth partly open, and struggling to take a deep breath. A cool sweat breaks out across my forehead as my head wins the battle and I blurt out, “I have to leave.”
He takes a step toward me, and I take a step back, if he touches me, I won’t be able to walk away. Just one touch from him and all reason will dissolve into his warmth and strength. I can’t chance Matt doing something to him, something worse than false criminal charges. He drained my bank account and shut it down like it was nothing. What would he do to Tuck? Or even worse, his family?
I could never forgive myself if Matt were able to ruin Tuck in any way.
His eyes narrow as they move over my face before he looks over my shoulder to the duffel and my backpack on the bed.When he takes another step into the room, I step away again, putting more space between us.
Turning his head to look around the room, he coolly steps over to the dresser and sets the beautiful bouquet of roses, the box and his cowboy hat on top before turning back to me. Every move he makes is controlled and lethal, like a predator circling its prey. If it weren’t for the slight limp, he would be like a lion.
Sharp hazel eyes have me in their sights as he steps toward me again. I let go of the door handle and step back again; it’s like a game of tag-you’re-it. His intense focus says he has accepted the challenge.
Another step and he’s next to the door. Keeping his stare on me, he softly pushes it closed and turns the lock. My heart stumbles over its own rapid beat, and I clear my throat as my breath gets stuck behind the lump.
Fear of something happening to him because of me plays on repeat in my head as my back bumps against the wall with my next step back. But he closes the space between us anyway, my head tipping back to meet his heated stare.
My new boots add a couple of inches to my usual five foot five, and I don’t have to tip my head back as far to meet his eyes; his nose is just inches from mine.
Setting his palms on the wall on each side of my head, caging me in, my stomach clenches and a rush of heat washes over me. Taking a calming breath, I try to hide my reaction to him, and lift my chin, but that’s the wrong move because his cologne tickles my olfactory and sends a spark right to my center, chipping away at my resolve.
His eyes dip to my lips and back up. “Why do you have to leave, sugar?” His deep masculine voice is controlled and wraps around me like a seductive caress.
The voice in my head is ordering me to tell him I don’t want him, to hurt him so he’ll go away from me where it’s safe. In totalopposition to his firm voice, all I can manage is a raspy whisper. “Because I don’t want my past to affect you.”
In translation, I don’t want Matt to do anything to you because of me.
I didn’t think the heat in his eyes could smolder more, but the warmth from his broad chest is warming my front, and I have to curl my fingers into my palms to stop myself from touching him. Lifting his hand from the wall, his palm moves toward my cheek.
“Don’t.” I’m trying to be assertive, but the word comes out small, on a breath.
Holding his hand suspended in the air next to my cheek, his eyes narrow again. “Why?”
Sucking in a shaky breath, I ignore the tingles dancing on the surface of my skin. “Because if you touch me, I won’t be able to walk away.”
