Page 10

The food arrives, and I barely register the perfectly seared steak in front of me. All I can do is watch Reine as she takes her first bite. Her eyes flutter closed, lips parting around the fork, and fucking hell, my cock nearly rips through my pants. She moans, just a little, and the sound shoots straight through my chest and lands low in my gut.

I want to drag her out of this booth, right now, haul her into the alley, and pin her against the wall until she’s screaming my name.

Instead, I grip my whiskey hard enough to crack the glass. Every move she makes is torture. The way she licks a drop of red wine from her lip causes my heart rate to triple. I want to taste it off her mouth. Off her skin. Fuck, I want to devour her.

There’s a lull while the waitress brings dessert menus, and Reine surprises me by ordering the chocolate lava cake. “My favorite,” she says, unapologetic.

“God, you’re perfect,” I blurt, then want to kick myself for sounding like a Hallmark reject.

She laughs, this cute little sound that nearly knocks me out of the booth. Her smile is bright and messy and real, and all I want is to lean over and devour her right here.

Shit. I’m so far gone it isn’t even funny.

Our dessert comes, but I ignore my apple pie and concentrate on my girl as she licks at the chocolate on her fork and rolls her eyes like she’s embarrassed. After a few bites, she lays her fork on the side of her plate and sits back. “What are your plans for Thunderbolt?”

Oh, sweetheart. If you think all I want is your horse, you haven’t been paying attention.

My hand finds her knee under the table and squeezes, slow and possessive. “I’m planning to leave him here.”

She chokes on her wine. “What?”

“Since I’ll be here, too, for a while.” I drag my thumb along her thigh, loving the way her breath hitches. “I have important business in town.” Her. The tips of my fingers drag along the inside of her soft thigh, so close to the hem of her dress I can feel her shiver. “You’re the only business I give a shit about, sweetheart.”

She blinks, cheeks flushed, her lips parting like she wants to argue. Instead, her tongue darts out and swipes the tiniest drop of chocolate from the corner of her mouth. Holy fucking hell. My cock rages against my zipper, and I grip her knee a little tighter, barely stopping myself from hauling her onto my lap in front of the whole goddamn restaurant.

“I don’t understand any of this.” Her expression is a mix of hope, confusion, and disbelief. I’ll work on each of those.

I lean in, mouth barely an inch from her ear, and drop my Texas drawl a little lower just for her. “I don’t either, Montana. But we’ll fucking figure it out together.”

She stares up at me, her cheeks pink, lips slick from the last bite of cake. I want to bend her over this goddamn table and make her scream my name. But what I want more is to see her happy, and fuck if I didn’t figure that out the second I watched her with Thunderbolt.

No way in hell I’m taking that horse away from her. I knew it the minute she hugged the stallion’s neck and nearly cried saying goodbye. I’d rather rip out my own heart than make her miserable. She belongs with her horse, and I belong right here, with my soulmate.

I already called Hudson and told him the deal was changing. He bitched for a full minute, then laughed and asked if I’d been drinking the Silver Spoon Falls water.

He hit that nail right on the head. On my way out of town, I stopped by the 5th Avenue Diner for breakfast. When Janine, the waitress, asked if I wanted bottle water, I looked her dead in the eyes and told her, "Hell no. Pour me a tall glass of that regular old Silver Spoon Falls tap water."

I never gave the old town rumor any thought, but damn if it doesn’t explain this batshit obsession with the gorgeous brunette across the table. The Carringtons have been in Silver Spoon Falls for generations, and we always treated that love-at-first-sip crap like a joke for tourists and bored housewives. But now? Hell, I’m starting to wonder if the stuff really did infect my bloodstream.

Because one look at Reine and I was fucking finished. And I couldn’t be happier. I don’t care if it was the water, the universe, or plain old good luck that brought her into my life. I’ll thank whatever it was every day for the rest of my life for my good fortune.