Page 10 of Seeking Shelter

Propping myself up with my arms on either side of her head, I lean over her. The yearning in her eyes nearly cuts me off at the knees. There’s not a force in the universe that could stop me from dipping my head and meeting her lips with mine. Her hand presses over my heart and I’m sure she can feel it thudding heavily.

I should keep it short, just get a taste to sustain me, but she parts her lips, her tongue sliding against mine, and the kiss rockets straight to hot and seductive.

I need this. I need her. More than my next breath.

When she unzips the sleeping bag and holds it open in invitation, it takes every ounce of self-control I possess to pull back.

Once again, her brothers have asked me to watch out for her and I’m fighting the temptation to do so much more. To slip into that bed and do things with her that I’ve only dreamt about.

Beyond her brothers, danger waits outside our door. I won’t jeopardize Angel’s safety by letting down my guard.

“Angel, we can’t do this. Not right now.” I brush the hair back from her eyes.

A myriad of emotions I can’t define cross her face.

“Abel and Denny are out there and we need to stay alert.”

“Of course. You’re right.” Her voice sounds unnaturally bright in the early morning.

Sitting up abruptly, she nearly clips my chin with her head. I straighten. There’s a weight in my gut and the realization that I’m fucking this up. Bad.

“I want to be with you, but I want to do it right, not when we’ve got this other shit to deal with.”

“I get it. Really.”

“I don’t know that you do.”

With her gaze focused somewhere around my throat, she lifts a brow. “Can you give me some space so I can get out of bed?”

I step back and she drops her legs over the side and pulls on her jacket over wrinkled clothes. She finger-combs the hair that’s come loose overnight, then braids it, quick and sure. It’s like she’s putting on pieces of armor.

I jam my fingers into my own hair and pull. Hard.

Talking about my emotions is my least favorite thing to do. I’m getting that Angel feels the same. But we’ve got to talk this out. The way things have been between us no longer works for me. I want something more with this woman and maybe, if I haven’t totally screwed things up, she wants something more with me too.

We’d kissed all those years ago. She’d hinted she’d been crushing on me and had shyly let me know her roommate was out of town, and we could go back to her apartment. I’d shut that down fast. There’d been reasons. Valid ones. But all I succeeded in doing was hurting her.

Her crush had cleared up pretty damn quick. Joke’s on me, though, because that kiss awoke feelings for her that are now etched so deep in my soul they’ll never let go.

Resisting the attraction has left me fucking exhausted, not helped by lack of sleep. She invited me into her bed and now I’ve hurt her again and she’s erecting solid steel walls of resistance.

She’s put on her poncho and is at the door before I know what she’s up to. I hook an arm around her waist and slap a palm on the door. “Where do you think you’re going?”

She shoves my chest and I let her go. “What the hell, Cooper? I need to check on the horses.”

I’m Cooper now? “I’ll check on them. And we need to talk.”

“I grew up on a ranch, remember? I can deal with the horses.”

“Angel.”

Her gaze skewers mine. “I made it clear I prefer Evangeline.”

I need to pick my battles.

“Fine, Evangeline then.” There’s a flicker of hurt in her eyes. Because I did what she asked and used her given name? Who fucking knows. “But I’m taking care of the horses.”

“Will you go pee for me too?” She gives me a saccharine-sweet smile.