“Dalton. Look at me.”
I set the mug down harder than necessary. “What do you want me to say, Cade? That I care? That watching her drive away feels like my chest is being ripped open? That I’m terrified she won’t come back?”
“Yes. That. Because at least then you’d be honest instead of pretending you don’t give a shit.”
“It doesn’t matter if I care. She’s leaving in a few weeks anyway. The job will be done. She’ll go back to her life in Billings and that’ll be the end of it.”
“Only if you keep pushing her away.” Cade moved closer, his voice gentler now. “She’s not Sarah, Dalton.”
“I know that.”
“Do you? Because you sure as hell treated her like she was.” He paused. “Sarah left because she didn’t want this life. Didn’t want you. Amber’s coming back because she promised she would. There’s a difference.”
“Is there?” I turned to look at him. “Because it feels the same. Wondering—”
“Wondering if she’ll realize you’re not worth coming back for?” Cade’s voice was soft. Understanding. “Is that what you’re really afraid of?”
The words hit too close to home.
Because that was exactly what I was afraid of. That Amber would get back to her real life and realize she didn’t need to come back. That whatever this was between us wasn’t worth the complication. That I wasn’t worth it.
I’d spent five years believing I wasn’t worth fighting for. Sarah had made sure of that. And now here was Amber—smart,beautiful, too good for me—and I was so damn scared of losing her that I’d pushed her away before she could do it first.
“She’s better off without me anyway,” I muttered. “I’m a mess. I can’t even let her visit her sick mother without losing my mind.”
“You’re a mess because you have feelings for her. Real feelings.” Cade grabbed the coffee pot and refilled both our mugs. “Have you told her that?”
“No.”
“Have you done anything to show her?”
I thought about the kiss by the fire. The way I’d pulled her onto my lap. The sounds she’d made. The way she’d felt in my arms—perfect and right and like she belonged there.
The best damn thing to come into my life in years, and I’d told her it was a mistake.
“I kissed her.”
Cade’s eyebrows shot up. Then a slow grin spread across his face. “Well. At least you’re doing something right.”
“I pulled away. Told her it was a mistake.”
The grin disappeared. “Fuck, Dalton. Why would you do that?”
“Because it was. Because getting involved with her is the stupidest thing I could do.”
“Or the smartest.” Cade studied me. “The tension between you two is enough to set this ranch on fire. I bet it was the night I stayed out late, wasn’t it?”
I growled at him.
Cade’s grin returned, wider than before. “So you just kissed her? Nothing else?”
“Cade—”
“Come on. Give me something. Was it hot? Did she kiss you back? Did you—”
“She was on my lap,” I ground out. “My hand was under her sweater. And yeah, she kissed me back. Then I stopped it because I’m an idiot who can’t handle good things when they happen.”
Cade let out a low whistle. “And then you told her it was a mistake?”
