Page 33 of Just Can't Fall for the Enemy

The air smelled of pine, crisp autumn wind, and Sophie’s citrus shampoo. Her hair still fell over her shoulders in messy waves she didn’t seem to care a whit about. Where did this girl come from?

“It’s a little bit of a hike,” she said, approaching a hill. She whipped out her cell phone and turned on the light. I did the same, and we made our way up a hill and over a series of boulders. I felt a little winded when we reached a clearing at the top. Then I turned to see what she was looking at and felt winded in a different way.

Wow.

A diamond-filled lake spread below us, a nearly perfect replica of the starry sky above. The world was quiet, like a painting, exquisite and beautiful, the only sound the buzz of a mosquito near my ear.

She watched me, expressionless, as if this moment mattered more than all the rest. I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to say. I couldn’t speak if I wanted to. This moment, thisplace,was the perfect complement to the company.

“I have no words,” I finally told her. It was incredible. Life-changing. Somehow, deep inside, I knew something in my soul had shifted forever.

It was the right answer. She nodded in approval, then squeezed my hand before breaking contact to sit on a fallen tree log. “I know. It’s hard to talk when words break the stillness of it all, you know?”

“That,” I said, sitting next to her, “and the fact that I can’t think of a single word to describe this.” I took her hand again. She didn’t pull away. “Thank you for showing me. I can tell it means a lot to you.”

“I’ve only brought one other person up here, and my relationship with him was a disaster. I’m not sure why I wanted you to see it. It just felt right.” She looked away now, but her hand gripped mine more tightly than ever. She said nothing more about this mystery man, and despite my rising jealousy, I knew better than to ask for details.

“I’m honored you would trust me with this,” I said.

Now she looked at me, her eyes flashing even in the moonlight. “Are you going to tell everyone now?”

It felt like another test, but I barely hesitated this time. “Not a chance. It’s yours, and that’s how it should stay.”Somehow, the more I learned about Sophie and her fierce independence, the more I wanted to protect her. Even if it meant protecting her from myself.

Her mouth curved into a shy grin, and her eyes darted away, giving me the perfect opportunity to examine her in the darkness. Her hair fell in front of her face in loose, messy waves she didn’t bother to push out of the way. It hid most of her, but I’d already memorized the way her jaw sloped into a perfect, long, kissable throat. I wanted to comb my fingers through her hair and sweep it behind her neck so I could taste her lips. And maybe her neck too.

You’re leaving soon,an annoying inner voice said, sounding a lot like Carmen. And an even deeper inner voice nudged that I still hadn’t told her about Olivia. But I wasn’t the same guy who’d proposed to the famous soccer player and tried desperately to keep our relationship together despite her indifference. Not anymore. Not when I was with Sophie.

I cleared my throat, which felt surprisingly raspy. “Uh, so I’ve been thinking. I have an important question about Huckleberry Creek.”

There was disappointment in her expression. “Oh?”

“Certainly. And I can’t leave until it’s answered.”

Her eyes flicked to my mouth. “Well, we can’t have that.”

“Of course not. Not when you’ve been counting the days until I leave you in peace.”

She smiled with one eyebrow raised. “No, I mean I won’t be answering questions that allow you to leave.”

That smile—it was a mischievous, dangerous, adorable thing, and it captured me like a fish on a hook. My hand lifted slowly to her face, brushing the hair from her cheek. She leaned into my touch, so I cradled the back of her head and brought her face ever so slowly to mine. My lips hovered just above hers, asking. Wanting. Waiting, ever so impatiently.

She closed her eyes. I felt her breath on my lips, considering.

Then she slid her arms up my chest and around my shoulders and pulled me to her, practically crashing her lips onto mine. There was nothing coy about this kiss. She’d made her decision, and she was 1,000 percent in.

I deepened it with an involuntary growl, which made her grin against my mouth. Something about Sophie captured me, and I couldn’t even pinpoint when it started. This girl didn’t just have my body like the others—she had my heart, and deep inside, it terrified me how easily she’d stolen it right from my chest.

We spent about a century like that until I found her on my lap, her fingers tangled in my hair and her face soft against the rough stubble of my chin. Our breaths came in hard gasps and I longed for more. Far more.

Even as the thought came, I pulled away and rested her head against my chest, breathing hard. That was the old Tanner, the one chasing a life that followed in his father’s footsteps. The man I’d been before Olivia came along and broke my heart, leaving it shattered in a hundred pieces. The man I had to resist becoming again.

Sophie was different. If I meant to win her, I had to be different too.

“Again,” I breathed. “I have no words.”

“Then stop talking.” She pressed her lips against my jawline, soft and warm, and I shuddered with desire.

No.Not tonight. Not now, when she’d been crying earlier.

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