I won?—
I... have no idea what’s real and what’s not anymore.
I swore never to fall for a rodeo man, but my brightest days are the weekends. The way I look for Hadley in every hat-filled sea of people at every crowded event. The way he was kind even before being my friend.
I can’t.
Tugging my bottom lip through my teeth, I raise a hand. Fingers brushing over his jawline, I study the way it flexes under my touch. The staggered breath he takes. Wild beats tap under my palm, still pressed to his chest.
His gaze drops to my lips before swinging back up to meet mine. “Fuck, I want to taste you, Maggie.”
My fingers travel from their point of origin to the nape of his neck, threading through the damp locks. His body presses against mine.
The cool water in the lake disappears until the only thing left is the heat between us, the fire flickering to life in my core as my breaths shallow out like never before.
His hands wrap around my waist, squeezing, a reminder he’s desperately waiting. I trail my fingers back around his jaw, pulling him down to me until our mouths almost touch. His short breaths warm my face. My lungs burn with his proximity. His corded body against mine.
His steady hardness against my giving softness.
“What happens after, Hadley?” I breathe.
“Whatever you want this to be,” he rasps.
I’m burning alive standing in a lake of cool water lapping my body. I study the shape of his mouth. The last of my breath vanishes, but I manage, “I’ll keep you posted after, then.”
I push up on my tiptoes and brush my lips against his.
His grip on my waist tightens.
Hands wandering into his hair, I bring him closer still. Like the last of his control snaps, he hoists me onto his hips.
I devour him.
He returns my hunger with his own fiery need.
I can’t breathe.
His tongue nudges my lips, and I open for him.
I’m obliterated within a heartbeat. He explores, tastes... takes. I willingly give up what he asks for. Clawing at him desperately, I moan and he takes the sound, swallowing it down.
Claiming everything he can, he kisses me deeper. The kind of kiss that’s been a long time coming. His tongue sweeps over mine before he nips my bottom lip. I whimper, the last of my inhibitions drowned somewhere at my feet.
Hadley Jones turned my one fear into the best moment of my entire life.
We break apart, too breathless to see straight, and my body trembles. My mind reeling from the thought that if I’d chosen differently, I would have never had this moment. I mourn the thought, as ridiculous as I tell myself that is.
