“When I have to drive home, yes.”
“You’re so small it probably doesn’t take much to get you drunk.”
Victoria shrugged.“No.It doesn’t, but it also doesn’t help that I very rarely drink alcohol.I’m too much of a lightweight.”
“Smart woman.”
Victoria couldn’t help feeling the glow of praise he gave her.She tried but couldn’t pull her eyes away from him.Everything about him was so masculine.Even his scent was pure male and intoxicating.With just a few words, he commanded attention.
“Here you go, sweetheart.”
The endearments he used always made something inside her melt and made her feel special.They drank in silence for several minutes.His gaze was away from her as he scanned the room, but for some reason, she thought she had his full attention.The hand that slowly slid up and down her back soothed her.Even when people stopped to talk or introduce themselves to her, he didn’t stop touching her.
Trisha and Ben stopped to talk to them.Victoria had to bite her lip a few times at the expressive look on Trisha’s face.The “oh my God” Trisha mouthed silently to Victoria from behind Ben’s back when she noticed Cole’s hand just about set Victoria off.Trisha continued to make faces behind the guys’ backs.
“You’ve got some explaining to do, girl,” she whispered in Victoria’s ear.
Victoria rolled her eyes.She wouldn’t be surprised if she got a call later that night.
They said their goodbyes when Trisha and Ben had to move on.
Cole’s hand slid under Victoria’s hair.She liked the way it felt, like a wave in the ocean.She wouldn’t care if he played with the soft tresses all day, every day.
“Are you ready to go?”he asked.
Victoria looked up at him.Her heart stuttered in her chest at the dark look of impatience, mixed with desire, on his face.“You don’t have to wait for me.”
Cole snorted and shook his head.“I’m not leaving here without you.”
Victoria looked at him, confused and aggravated.“Good heavens, why?”
“First of all, I don’t want you driving home in the dark.Secondly, I’m not leaving you here to get hit on and picked up.That shit isn’t going to fly with me.”
A ball of tension solidified in Victoria’s stomach as confusion and a sense of anticipation grew in her head.
Victoria cleared her throat.“You’re making it sound like we’re a couple.”
His hand tightened on her hair, holding her head up and back so he could see her face.“I’d very much like to be.”
A thrill of desire swelled in her body before reality surfaced to smack her in the face.“How do I know you’re not doing this to get the ranch?”
“Screw the ranch.I don’t need your ranch, Tory.I don’t want to talk about it again.It’s you I’ve wanted all along.”
“Then why ask to buy it in the first place?”
“At first, I did want it, but that changed very soon after we met.It changed into needing to control you and the situations you put yourself in.I wanted to finally get a good night’s sleep knowing you’re not getting hurt.”
Her stomach was so tight with nerves right then, she felt dizzy.Victoria drew in a breath.
“You really care about me getting hurt?”
His eyebrows came down in a fierce scowl.The hand not stuck in her hair raised her chin.“Hell, yes.”
She cleared her throat and licked her lips before setting her hands on his waist.Did she have the guts to ask for what she desperately wanted, for what her body demanded?She knew she could be opening herself up for emotional suicide, but she couldn’t walk away from him if she tried.“I want to go home.”
