Page 107 of Slow Hands Cowboy

“Relationships can be volatile. Especially new ones.”

He gritted his teeth, practically snarled. “I mean, yeah. But it’s not a relationship thing. It’s a having good sex thing.”

“Really? Because you have a lot of sex, as far as I know, and I’ve never seen you practically whistling while you work.”

“Yeah. Well. That’s just... sex. There’s nothing more to say.”

“You took her out to see the mustangs?”

Just remembering that made his blood run hot. “Yeah. I did take her out to see the Mustangs. And she enjoyed it.”

“I think you did too.”

“Why are you so invested in my mood?”

“Because I care about you, you bonehead.”

“Yeah, well, I’m doing great. All that aside. Our business is booming in ways that I never imagined it would be this early on, and we are reaping big benefits from everything that’s happened in the last month. So yeah, I’m in a good mood.”

“I don’t think it’s money, Walker. We’ve had money. This is the one thing you haven’t had.”

“This is nothing,” he said. “Or maybe it is. Maybe it’s just that I’m finally fucking the girl that I used to fantasize about in high school. Getting what you want does feel pretty sweet.”

Guilt clawed at his stomach for saying that. Because he just couldn’t find a sincere bone in his body, even now. Because he didn’t want to get down to sincerity, honestly.

“Really? That’s what you’re going with?”

“It’s the truth. Listen, I know that you desperately want there to be more to me, but there’s just not. And she knows that. I’m not using her, she’s well aware.”

She probably wasn’t well aware that he was saying things like this to anyone, much less his brother. And he had already said some pretty vile shit last time they had talked about this, because whenever Cody started digging, he just felt defensive. Felt like pushing back against it, because what else could he possibly be getting at? That he had feelings for her? It wouldn’t matter if he did. It wouldn’t matter if he did. That was the beginning and end of it. There was nothing more to say, there was nothing more to even consider.

“Don’t go romanticizing this. You’re making this about you, Cody, and the fact that you won’t feel like you’ve accomplished your job if the rest of us don’t have what you have, because suddenly you decided that falling in love was this big, great thing. But it’s not what I want, it’s not that big of a thing to me.”

“All right, I get it. You’re Walker Grayson, you don’t care about shit, you just like to have nice things. Except that’s not you. It’s not. I grew up with you. Don’t forget that. I know who you are. You were a sensitive kid, and you had a lot of feelings, and everybody made you feel like you couldn’t show them or you would get run over. So that’s why you are the way you are. But there has to be more than that, Walker. When you grow up, there has to be more than just protecting yourself.”

He started to get into his truck. “No, there doesn’t.”

He drove away from the barn and didn’t dwell on that exchange. Because it didn’t matter. He was on his way back to Addison, and he couldn’t wait to kiss her, touch her. Taste her. It was like air that he needed to breathe. It was some kind of intensity that he couldn’t readily comprehend or explain.

Only that she had been under his skin for years, and now that he had been inside of her, it was even more profound. But it didn’t make it anything other than sex, that was for damn sure.

He was thinking about that, not the drive, so he was somewhat surprised when he was pulling up to the house. He had lost track of all that, because he had been busy thinking about her.

And when he walked inside, he was even more surprised, because he could smell food cooking.

Food that he hadn’t made.

“Addison?”

She popped out of his kitchen wearing an apron, an apron, goddamn. For some reason that was the hottest thing he’d ever seen. Her standing there with her blonde hair piled up into a bun, a pink, frilly apron covering the T-shirt and shorts she was wearing. She was barefoot. Her toes were painted bright pink.

And everything inside of him growled.

“I hope you’re ready for dinner.”

“I’m ready for dessert,” he said, moving toward her and gripping her hips, pulling her in for a kiss.

He had the strangest out-of-body experience as their lips met.