Page 69 of The Rancher's Unrequited Love

"As long as it's not another man you're thinking about..."

The grimness of his tone makes me bite my lip hard against the urge to laugh...and cry. Aidan's actuallyjealous.It's written all over his beautiful face, and he isn't making any attempt to hide it either.

Aidan.

Jealous over me.

Me!

I lower my hands to my lap, and my fingers automatically clench.

Just make the most out of this, Raffi.

Aidan suddenly cups my chin, and my gaze automatically lifts to his. "Are you sure everything's alright?"

I nod quickly, and with my soul clinging to that one thought, I don't need to force myself to smile. My lips are already curving on its own, and when I see his own lips soften...

"You're so handsome."

This time, the words are something I consciously choose to say, and my heart leapfrogs in dazzled excitement at the rich, sexy sound of Aidan's chuckle.

The rest of the evening is easily one of the most magical moments in my life. The food is fabulous, the music is lovely, and the ambience of the place romantic. Everything's perfect, but it's not what makes each moment magical.

The magic is all in the man looking at me across the table.

The way his dark gaze pierces my soul is magical. The way his words make love to my ears. The way his every touch etches a promise on my skin.

Everything about Aidan Blackwood is sweet, beautiful magic, and I just don't understand why it has to be me.

It should be another girl he's pulling out the chair for. A more deserving girl whose hand he should be holding, a more deserving girl he should be opening doors for. All the perfectly magical things Aidan's doing now...he should be doing them for any girl but me, and I feel my heart breaking as I watch him climb into the pick-up and pull his door shut, and even those things, dammit...every little thing he does is executed with such seamless grace it almost makes me want to cry. And maybe...ask God if he's playing favorites?

Like, c'mon God. Isn't it enough you've made him extraordinarily handsome? Does Wyoming Keanu have to be poetry in motion, too?

I mean, sure, I know Jack also rates higher than me in the attractiveness scale, but I've never found him dazzling. I've been with the guy for over two years, but I've never thought Jack was out of my reach, and it's probably because I've also known of his flaws since day one.

Which is fine, of course.

There's nothing wrong about that.

It just means we're both imperfect, and while Jack and I may not ever make magic together, the two of us make sense at least.

Aidan and I, however...

"Stop overthinking things."

Aidan's tone of gentle chastisement pulls me out of my thoughts, and I can only smile weakly, knowing by now it's pointless to lie. The man is just too good at reading my thoughts, and besides...

"I just can't see things working out between us."

Some things simply have to be said, no matter how painful, and I mentally brace myself right after, thinking he'd tell me it's not true because he's nice like that, and of course I'd have to argue otherwise because I'm just pragmatic like that, and—-

"Have you figured it out yet?" Aidan asks calmly.

So much for my imaginary script, and I can only gaze at him in bemusement, asking, "Figured out what?"

"What you want to do with your life. Or even just what you want, to start with."

"Uh..." I can't help blinking, thinking that those words certainly came out of left field.

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