Page 11 of Burly and Possessive

“I’m sorry,” he says, his eyes barely meeting mine.

The words hit like a punch to the gut. I stare at him, my lips still tingling from the kiss, my heart racing for all the wrong reasons now. “What?” I manage to say, my voice shaking.

He doesn’t answer, his gaze dropping to the floor. The silence between us is suffocating.

I step backward, needing to distance myself from whatever just happened. The ache in my chest is back, and it hurts with a depth of sorrow that’s confusing. Why do I care so much about a random kiss?

I walk to my bedroom, my steps shaky. Once inside, I close the door and lean against it, my heart pounding painfully in my chest.

Of course he pulled away, I think bitterly.No way someone like him would want me. I’m not a prize.

CHAPTER 6

JAX

Iswing the axe harder than needed, the sharp crack of wood splitting beneath the blade reverberating up my arms. The log tumbles to the ground, but the tension coiled tight inside me since last night doesn’t ease up. Sweat drips down the back of my neck, and the burn in my arms should feel good. It doesn’t.

“Damn it, Jax,” I mutter.

Leesa kissed me last night. Sweet and soft and so damn sensuous that I nearly lost control. She’s the woman I didn’t know I’d been waiting for, yet I pulled back when she was finally in my arms, her sweet kiss melting my grumpy heart.

Like a goddamn fool, I pushed her away. Kissing Leesa was like coming home, and it scared the fuck out of me. Running into a firefight in the Middle East wasn’t as scary as the emotions that burst free with Leesa in my arms. It’s also hard to reconcile making a move on a woman fresh out of a major breakup despite knowing with absolute certainty that she’s the woman I want. All the many things I don’t know about her are irrelevant because she’s the one.

One kiss and I wanted to see her wearing a wedding dress forme. I wanted to see her walking down the aisle and into my arms for the rest of our lives.

One kiss and I saw a future I never imagined for myself. I immediately and powerfully understood the attraction of opening myself up to a woman, to building a life with someone. Now, it all makes sense—it just took meeting my woman to unlock the grizzled heart of mine.

In my heart and mind, she’s already mine. If she says she wants to go, I can’t stop her, but I have to make her realize she belongs to me.Me. The only other man who will ever hold her will be our son.

I was so scared about what she’d say this morning that I left early to come to work. Because, despite barely sleeping last night, I was haunted by the hurt in her eyes when I broke our kiss. I pray she’s still there when I get home tonight.

Andrea is unloadingcrates when I get to the general store, her unruly hair bouncing as she moves.

“Jax,” she says, grunting as she hefts a box onto the counter. “I wasn’t expecting to see you today. What’s the occasion? Everything okay with Leesa? You’re not one to drop in unannounced.”

I grab a crate and set it down beside hers. “Just thought I’d come give you a hand. Leesa is fine.”

“Uh-huh.” She straightens and wipes her hands on her jeans, giving me a once-over. “So, what’s going on? And don’t say‘nothing’ because you look like you’ve been chewing on barbed wire.”

I glare at her, but she knows she’s right.

Her lips curve into a smirk. “This have anything to do with the woman you’ve been hiding up on the mountain?”

“I’m not hiding her,” I snap. Do I want to hide her and keep her for myself? You bet your ass I do. But am I a kidnapper? No, I am not.

Andrea’s eyebrows shoot up. “Really? So her car is fixed, and she can leave at will?”

Anger sparks in me, but I take a deep breath. I don’t need two women mad at me. “It’s not like that. Mack is still working on her car.”

She leans against the counter, arms folded. “Spill it, Jax. What’s going on? You obviously need to talk, even if you won’t admit it.”

“She kissed me,” I admit, my voice low. It’s embarrassing as hell to have this conversation with my little sister, but I don’t know who else to talk to. If I told any of the men working for me, they’d never let me live it down—especially if by some stroke of hell I can’t convince my woman that she’s mine.

Andrea gasps, and her eyes narrow. “Are you serious? I swear to God, if you hurt her… I’ll get Ace to help me through you in a ravine. You know what she’s been through.”

“Yes, I do.Shekissedme,” I repeat, though I recognize the clarification will do nothing to defuse my sister. I’m rethinking coming here to ask her advice, but she’s the only one who’s spent time with Leesa. “And you stay away from Ace.”

“Don’t tell me what to do and don’t try to change the subject.” Andrea’s eyes flare and the color rises in her cheeks as I see a hint of her temper flaring up. Ace has been sniffing around Andrea for far too long and she hasn’t shut him down. She knows it gets under my skin, but she’s off limits to my men. “What happened? Did you let her in, or did you clam up like the emotionally stunted man you are?”

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