My body lights up, every nerve screaming. Heat rushes low and fast, pooling between my thighs.
My hands clutch at his coat, fingers curling into the fabric like I might melt into the snow if I don’t hold on.
Tex’s kiss deepens. His tongue slides against mine, and I gasp into his mouth. The taste of him is coffee and something dark and male. My head spins.
He pulls back abruptly, forehead resting against mine, breathing hard. His eyes are wild. Green and shadowed, like his calm finally cracked.
“Jesus,” he mutters.
I lick my swollen lips, tasting him, my heart slamming.
“What—” My voice is filled with wonder. “What was that?”
His gaze flicks over my face as if he’s checking for regret.
I don’t have regret. I have… confusion. Heat. Want.
“The best damn thing I’ve done in years,” he admits.
My breath catches. I don’t know what to say. So I do what I always do when I’m overwhelmed. I joke.
“That’s… dramatic.”
He lets out a short laugh. “You have no idea.”
Standing, he offers me a hand. I take it. The contact sends another spark through me, and his grip tightens slightly. I’m shaky, but not from the cold. Fromhim.
“Sure you’re okay?”
I nod, retrieving my hat from the snow. “I’m okay. I’m more worried about you. You took the brunt of the fall.”
“I’m fine,” he says, still looking me over instead of himself. “I’ve survived worse.”
Those three words tell me so much. That whatever he survived taught him how to fall so someone else didn’t have to. The thought brings tears to my eyes, and I blink them away quickly. He won’t appreciate what he perceives as pity.
We get the horses sorted. The mare is fine, but. Tex checks her anyway, smoothing her neck as he murmurs soothingly to her.
My mouth tingles. My skin feels too tight. Every time I breathe, I feel like I’m inhaling the memory of his kiss.
I can’t stop replaying it. How he held me like he wasn’t going to let me go.
And the terrifying part is… I don’t want him to.
I want him in a way that makes no sense. I barely know him, yet every part of me feels like it’s been waiting for him.
The ranch hands are gathering near the side building as we approach the barn. I can hear their laughter from here, rough and easy.
And that old familiar itch starts in my chest. The need to belong. To prove I’m one of them. To be accepted.
I just hope I don’t do something stupid to try to earn it.
Chapter 7
Tex
The days after that kiss move more slowly. Not because anything’s wrong, but because I made a decision to give her space.
I don’t touch her unless she touches me first. I don’t crowd her. Don’t press. I let her breathe, let her find her footing again, even though every instinct in my body wants to pull her close and see if that spark still burns.
