Page 68 of Burned & Bound

Something inside me broke.

“I need you to stop!” I exclaimed, my temper flaring. “Just stop asking all the goddamn questions!”

“Okay.” His casual response irritated me even more.

“You have no idea how… fucking horrible it feels!” I continued. I couldn’t stop. “I’m here, ain’t I? I’m doing this whole fucking thing with you, ain’t I? Isn’t that enough? Do you need to put me under a goddamn microscope every time anything comes up? You want to hold my hand, then hold my goddamn hand! You want to touch me, fine! Just do it! Do it and… and… and…”

I stumbled over my words, my brain glitching as I struggled to say what I wanted to say. I shoved my hand through my hair, frustrated and overwhelmed by it all.

”Just what?” Jackson prompted quietly.

“Just…” I felt myself deflating until my voice was barely a whisper. “Just… stop if I ask you to stop.”

The look on his face was unreadable.I fucking hated it.I wanted to know what he was thinking—needed to know.

I hated not knowing.

I just…fuck.

He crossed the short distance between us and took hold of my face, stepping close. His warm breath fanned across my face as his forehead pressed to mine.

“You don’t ask, you hear me?” he said softly. My brows came together in confusion. “You just tell me, okay? That ain’t the kind of thing you ask for. Just tell me to stop, West, and I’ll stop.”

A pathetic sound passed through me as I tried to make the words make sense. I wanted to trust it.I wanted to trust him.But that little voice in theback of my head picked at it. What if he was just saying it to say it? What if he didn’t mean it? How could I trust the words?

“Just tell me, okay?” he repeated. Words stuck in my throat, and I wasn’t sure how to say the little things bubbling up inside me, so I just nodded. Tipping my head down slightly, he pressed a lingering kiss to my forehead.Why was it so oddly comfortable when he did that?It confused me. “Come on. I’ve got somewhere I want to take you.”

I bit back a frustrated groan. I didn’t fucking want to go anywhere.

“You’ll like it,” Jackson assured me. “I promise.”

CHAPTER 48

The Kent Farm washalf an hour from ours, straight down the road and through the woods. More than once, West and I had taken our horses on the old beaten paths to Kent Farms—mostly because we liked to pick fights with his son, Matt.Maybe we really were shitheads as kids.

“So, what the hell are we doing here?” West asked as he stepped out of my truck.

“You remember Matt?” I replied.

“Didn’t we dump his ass in the creek one year?” He leaned against the hood, his brows furrowing slightly.

“Yeah.” I chuckled.Fuck, we were assholes.“Anyway, Matt up and moved to Canada a few years back.”

“Why the fuck is he in Canada?” he demanded.

“Who fucking knows. All I know is that Warren is selling everything to retire down to Florida or someplace old people go,” I told him. Warren Kent, Matt’s dad, was pushing eighty. Running a full farm was too much for him. It was easier for him to let everything go rather than to preserve a legacy of sorts.I wondered what the hell thatfelt like.

“Maybe he’ll go hang out with your mom.”

“You shut your mouth,” I snapped. We were not talking about my mother that way. “Besides, Ma would eat him alive.”

“That’s why it’d be fucking funny.” West’s lips quirked slightly at the corners, making me smile. That tiny gesture meant more than he’d ever know. I liked being the reason he relaxed a little. “What the hell are you looking to buy from him? I’m assuming we’re here to buy farm shit.”

“Horses,” I said and started up the gravel drive.

“Wait!” West called after me. I heard his boots on the drive as he rushed to catch up. “Horses?”

“Warren is getting rid of everything—selling it off—including the animals,” I explained. “The cattle are spoken for and so are his chickens, but his horses are still available.”

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