Page 141 of Burn the Wild

Telling her made me feel raw, vulnerable. But hell, if that wasn’t what I needed. I wasn’t talking to a therapist. I was telling Reese.

My girl.

I could have lied, but I told her the truth.

Reese listening and understanding was like the calm after a storm.

The way her pretty face was filled with sweetness, not pity.

She’s a damn good woman.

And for the first time in a long time, I want to keep a woman. I want Reese.

We’ve shared everything. I can’t remember the last time I trusted a person aside from my brothers. She is a home I’ve never had. Not down in Georgia, not with Savannah. Not even with my brothers. Reese breathed her own kind of life into me with her first high-heeled stomp onto the ranch. Strutted her way into my fucking heart.

Suddenly temporary feels like bullshit. Feels like the biggest bullshit lie I’ve told myself.

The two-way radio crackles on my hip.

“Ford, we got a cow in distress out on Old Mill’s Farm. Need you to go check it out. Make sure it’s not a calf.”

“Fuck.” I sigh. “Always the goddamn cows.” Into the receiver, I say, “Roger that. I’ll load up Eephus.”

I head for the barn and outfit Eephus for the twenty-minute ride there and back. As I settle a saddle on his back, I lift my eyes to the early morning sky. A summer storm advisory has been in effect all week. The air is thick and humid as dark storm clouds muscle their way over the horizon.

I don’t like it.

“You wanna get roped, Country Boy?”

I laugh as Reese tugs me back by my belt loops. When I spin around, my eyes slide over her toned legs and cowboy boots. In her milkmaid sundress, she’s the prettiest country girl I’ve ever seen.

She lifts her radio. “Heard you got a cow call.”

“Headin’ out. Should be back in twenty minutes.”

Before I realize her intention, she nods at Eephus. “I want to go with you.”

I frown. “Reese.”

“What if you need help?”

“With what, my patience?”

She moves closer, smiling that little siren’s smile. I feel my willpower die a slow death.

“Please, Ford, I want go.” Standing on tiptoes, she nuzzles my cheek. Her breath is warm against my neck. “Please.”

My blood roars to life. I crush my mouth to hers, not giving a shit who sees. Everything I want is Reese. I inhale the sexy little gasp that pops out of her mouth.

“I can’t be without you,” she whispers against my lips.

I manage to tear my mouth from hers for a split second. Grip her fingers at my fly. “That your plan to win every argument?”

She bats her lashes. “So you’re telling me I won?”

“Fine.” It’s fucking ridiculous how fast I cave. How hard my cock is.

“Good,” she says smugly.

---