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‘I told you I wouldn’t hurt you, Skye.’ But knowing that humour was easier for her, he affected an exaggerated sigh. ‘And, despite my rugged charm and devilish good looks, I am a man of my word.’

Skye slanted him a look over her shoulder. ‘I’m beginning to think that might be true.’

‘What? That I have rugged charm and devilish good looks?’

Skye used both her hands to shove him playfully. And when TJ stumbled dramatically, and Kai let out a condescending sigh, Skye’s laughter peeled out. ‘You’re unbelievable.’

He righted himself. ‘Okay, okay. We’re being serious now.’

She picked a stick up off the ground. As they walked, she broke it into tiny pieces, her movements quick, frenetic. ‘I don’t know many men.’

TJ fell quiet as he listened. He barely even breathed, too afraid that if he made a sound, he’d spook her away from telling him the truth.

‘In fact, I purposefully avoid them. And even when I think a man might be good, it doesn’t quite squash the anxiety response sometimes. And once it’s there’ – she tapped her hand over her heart and took a shaky breath – ‘it’s hard to come back down. The panic kicks in. TJ …’ She laughed sadly. ‘You might be the tenth guy I’ve had a full conversation with. Ever. I’ve never even been on a date. The only time I tried to have sex, I picked someone I knew was incapable of physically harming a fly, and he had to call my best friend to pick me up from his dorm room because I had a panic attack. And we didn’t even do anything.’

TJ didn’t know what to say in response to that deeply intimate secret. He’d lost his virginity in the cab of his truck at sixteen to an eighteen-year-old city girl who’d come to the rodeo with her friends. And even though he was far from the Casanova Skye accused him of being, he hadn’t exactly been discerning since. He loved women. He loved their soft skin and their pretty perfumes and their mysterious ways. And while he’d always assumed he’d meet the right one and know it instantly, so far, it hadn’t happened. But he sure as shit had fun while he was waiting for her to show up.

‘I’m not telling you this to make things awkward,’ Skye said, her cheeks pink with embarrassment. ‘I’m just trying to explain … me, I guess. I do trust you,’ she said, her words firmer now. ‘But that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll always be at ease with you. Both can be true.’

‘I think I’m beginning to understand that,’ he replied. Because he was. But there was also another part of him that rebelled at the idea of her being so hurt, so afraid. And the fact that she was afraid of him just about killed him. ‘How about I be your practice dummy?’

‘My what?’

‘Well, anytime you want to try something new, I’m the guy you trust to show you.’

‘What’s the “but”?’ she asked.

‘You have to ask me directly for what you want. I am a flirt. And I have a real thirst for you, Skye.’ He watched her eyes widen at that. ‘But I’m not going to take one step towards you unless you’ve asked for it. I think it would be safer for both of us that way, with one exception.’

‘What’s the exception?’

‘Could I still take you on a date?’

Her brow pinched. She looked up at him, almost as if she wasn’t sure she’d heard him right. ‘What?’

‘It’s a crime that you’ve never been taken on a real date.’ TJ stopped walking. He faced her, letting her see the absolute honesty in his eyes when he said, ‘I promise, I won’t so much as touch you unless you ask. But we need to rectify that.’

Skye gnawed on her bottom lip. ‘I don’t know what to say to you.’

He shrugged. ‘Say yes.’

‘What would we do on this date?’

‘I’m not telling you where we’re going. The surprise is half the fun. But we’ll get off the farm, have fun.’ And because he sounded desperate, he teased, adding, ‘Maybe you’ll even ask me to give you a kiss goodnight by the end of it.’

She didn’t baulk or even roll her eyes at that, only looked at him with those huge baby blues.

TJ wanted to be the one to unlock all those firsts for her, and not because he wanted her – or, not only because he wanted her. But because he’d meant what he’d said: it was a crime that she hadn’t experienced all those scary intimacies of growing up.

She straightened her spine as his challenge settled between them. Her eyes flashed, and while she might not have noticed, TJ saw that wildness rise up and consume her anxiety. ‘Okay,’ she finally said. ‘I’d like to get that out the way anyway. It may as well be with you.’

He snorted. ‘Hey, Skye?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Wanna bet you actually enjoy it?’

Chapter 8