Snorting, I back away faster. “I don’t know that.”
Bumping into someone, I turn to apologize only to find myself face to face with law enforcement.
The Sheriff groans when he gets a look at the guys I’m standing with. “How did I know you guys would be here in the middle of this?”
“Not my fault,” Stone says, grinning. “My ma told me that I had to go out tonight. And she’d tan my hide if I let some asshole mess with an unwilling woman.”
The Sheriff laughs. “She still looking for grandbabies?”
The smirk fades off his lean face. “Yeah.”
My brows lift and my eyes shoot over to the other guy. Jules smirks at me. “Ma really wants grandbabies. She’s not happy that we’re not cooperating. Nobody bucks ma when she wants something.”
“That’s…um, wonderful?” I really don’t know what to say.
“Let me walk her out of here so she can get home sooner rather than later and I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. But for right now…don’t let that guy leave. He was the problem.”
He points at the bar and I try to dodge around all the men. “I can find my own way out of here.”
But all the men ignore me and I find myself being walked home by the most gorgeous cowboy I’ve ever seen. Or at least out to my car.
“I can get myself home.”
“I’m just walking you to your car. Then I’ll go talk with the Sheriff. He’s gotta be wondering what the hell happened.”
“Oh you mean you don’t usually start fights over nothing.” We stop by my little suv and he shakes his head, leaning on the door so I can’t get away from him.
“Nope. I don’t usually fight with anybody. Unless they lay hands on a woman. That guy needed to learn a lesson. He shouldn’t have laid hands on you.” His deep voice drops to a low growl and a shiver runs along my arms. Something tightens in my belly and I gulp, swallowing roughly.
The guy’s sexy. There’s no way to get around that. But he’s also arrogant as hell.
“I was fine.”
“You were not.” He doesn’t even bother arguing, just shifts back on his boot heels and grins. My eyes can’t help but wander down his long, lean body. His thigh muscles bunch when he moves restlessly and he leans out to push my hair behind my ear. “You sure are pretty.”
He sounds surprised. But I’m the one surprised when he leans in and his lips brush mine softly. Fire flares in my belly and roars out until it’s tingling in my fingers and I flex them, fighting the need to touch him. His broad shoulders block out the dim parking lot lights and his mouth moves on mine gently, his tongue licking at my lips.
Gasping, I open my mouth and my fingers dig into his muscular, warm arms as I fall into him, stunned.
My belly tightens when he finally lifts his head, my breath puffing out in little clouds. Staring at him, I lick my lips. His dark green eyes follow the movement and he groans. He’s so close I can see little pale green and blue flecks in the green. His dark hair curls lightly around his ears where it’s a little long but that’s all I can see under his gray stetson.
I want to take it off and run my fingers through his hair, tugging him closer until…
But then he leans back and steps away. “Go home.”
And he walks away, leaving me confused and so damn turned on that it feels like I could combust at any second.
Mechanically, I sit in my car and finally start it, driving away. This has to be the weirdest night I’ve ever had.
And when I lick my lips, I can still taste him on my tongue. Still feel his strong arms around me.
I don’t know what I’m going to do but Stone Jacobson is not going to get another kiss from me. I’m gonna avoid that guy like the plague.
How hard can that be?
CHAPTER 3
Stone
