Page 63 of Burned & Bound

“You could come with. I know she’d lose her shit to see you again.” I suggested with no belief that he’d take me up on it, but to my surprise, he nodded slowly.

“Sure, why the hell not,” he muttered. “Now, get the hell out of here, so I can get my work done. You’re a goddamn distraction.”

I grinned, liking that idea. However, I liked the idea of him coming home faster instead of delaying that more.

“All right.”I took off my hat and fussed with the brim of it.What was the protocol with him?If he were any other guy, I’d kiss him before I left—it wasn’t like any of my employees had stuck around. But with West? With the way he didn’t like being touched? How the hell did I approach him?

“What’re you looking at, cowboy?” West asked when I did nothing but stare at him.

“If I wanted to…” My voice trailed off, and I shut my mouth. It was a dumb fucking question to ask.If I wanted to kiss you, could I?

“It’s your goddamn ranch. You can do whatever the hell you want.”

“It’s your stables, your rules,” I quipped back. That made him falter, his back going rigid.Fuck.His shoulders squared off as those gray eyes held mine. He was bracing for whatever shit I threw at him. That was the last thing I wanted to make him feel.

“Just ask your question, Jackson.”

“If I wanted to kiss you before I left, could I?”God, it felt stupid asking that out loud.Boundaries. I had to keep reminding myself about the boundaries. And the look on his face didn’t help the situation. It was as if he was debating the right way to respond—as if he didn’t know the right way to approach the situation either.

“I guess,” West whispered. “I mean… yeah. That’s fine.”

But did he mean it?

I couldn’t tell.

I didn’t want to question it either. It was his choice, and he was giving me permission. Who was I to second guess that?

With several long strides, I closed the distance between us and kissed him—the kind of kiss where my lips barely touched his. His chin tilted slightly as he kissed me back, but it was… awkward as hell.

For both of us.

I pulled away and drew in a deep breath, trying to gain some semblance of understanding. That kiss in the barn had been intense and emotional. It meant something. It felt like something. And for the life of me, I assumed it would lead to more. I just didn’t know how—especially not now with both of us just standing there and staring at one another.

“This was awkward, wasn’t it?” I muttered.

“Yup,” he agreed all too quickly, nodding.

“Fantastic.” I dropped my hat back on my head. “See you at home, West.”

“Yeah,” he replied, but I barely heard him as I made a quick exit, feeling all too uncomfortable with everything that had happened. I didn’t know how to be around West.Not like this.

CHAPTER 46

jackson

West furiously smoking hadme reconsidering taking him to see my mom. He insisted he was fine, but his visible anxiety said otherwise. I leaned against my truck as I watched him. There was no reason he had to struggle this much.

“We can go back to the ranch,” I told him.

“No.” He shook his head as he puffed out a cloud of smoke. “No, I’m fine.”

I wasn’t wholly convinced. But I also wasn’t winning in telling him what to do. Sure, I could try to toss his ass in my truck and drive away but then I’d just be stuck for an hour with a feral West pissed off at me. No one wanted that shit, so I just waited him out as he chain-smoked his way through his anxiety.

“I’m fine,” he repeated.

“I know,” I said. I had a lot more I wanted to say, but I kept silent. It was easier to let him work through it than insert myself. Arms crossed, I leaned against the side of my truck as he paced.

“I couldn’t sleep,” West whispered as he joined me. I simply nodded slowly. His quiet admissions were something I appreciated and would wait forever for. I recognized them as his attempt to build a broken bridge across the gap between us—the one where he was fighting something I would never be able to understand. His gaze was a million miles away as he added, “And I’ve got a headache. It won’t go away.”

---