Page 23 of Saving Jared

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Willa punchedher pillow and repositioned herself in her bed for what seemed like the hundredth time. It didn’t help. She’d tried for the past hour after finally getting Kinsley out of her room to relax enough to fall asleep. But whatever she did—however she laid—she couldn’t turn her mind off from everything that had happened between her and Jared the past few days.

After having just a taste of his lovemaking, she had been ready for more. And it looked like Jared had been too. That is until she’d said it had all been a mistake. Jared had known exactly what she meant by that, and the expression on his face had shown his displeasure.

But the kiss had reawakened her body, and now she couldn’t think of anything else. She kicked the covers off, but it didn’t help in cooling down the heat filling her. If they hadn’t been interrupted, where would she be right now? Here alone, or wrapped up in Jared’s arms?

She had her money on the latter.

Jude would have been none the wiser. Though Kinsley might have discovered she wasn’t in her own bed at some point. Either way, she would have gotten the third degree from her friend.

Kinsley had grilled her in earnest as soon as they had gotten to Willa’s room, along with going on the occasional tangent of ranting over Hartman Fremont. Willa hadn’t shared much with her friend about what had gone on in the kitchen—and definitely nothing about Jared coming to her bed.

She’d dreamed of being in Jared’s arms for who knows how long—to know how it felt to be the focus of all that intensity. Now she knew. And it was better than anything she had imagined.

And though she wanted more, she couldn’t let it come at the expense of dividing the two brothers, or of having to force Kinsley to pick sides. Not that her friend hadn’t already. She was firmly in the pro-WillJar camp—a name Kinsley had come up with and thought completely hilarious. Willa hadn’t been too thrilled with it and had cringed each time she’d linked hers and Jared’s names together like that.

Ever the fair one, Kinsley had tried to make a few concessions for Jude’s attitude, even if she didn’t agree with them. Her assessment that, "Jude’s worried you being with Jared will come between our families—especially where Darin’s concerned," had already crossed Willa’s mind about a thousand times.

Willa would never forgive herself if she caused hard feelings between the five men who had been friends forever—something that could happen if things progressed any further. Her brothers had just been outed on how they reacted to anyone they didn’t approve of dating their little sister. Although she had to believe most of that had been instigated by Darin.

But when the man in question happened to be Jared?

Darin would go apeshit.

Her oldest brother took his head of the family role seriously—too seriously at times—and if he ever found out what had gone on under the McComb’s roof and on their table, well…

The table.

Willa groaned and covered her head with an extra pillow. Great. She’d never be able to sit at it again without going back to the feel of Jared’s hard length teasing her core, or how her breasts had tingled at being crushed against his solid chest. Too bad that’s where the family took all of their meals. And that would include her for as long as she stayed.

"I’m just going to have to leave," she muttered into the pillow that held a trace of Jared’s scent. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes tight. Her brothers had a semi-apology coming anyhow, so going back home wouldn’t be a problem.

Except she couldn’t.

Kinsley—her best friend—had sat on the toilet seat while Willa had showered and had badgered her into staying. "I need you here to keep me from murdering the asshat." Hartman Fremont rubbed Kinsley the wrong way, but she doubted her friend would kill the man. Willa let out a quiet snort. However, Kinsley doing the man bodily harm wasn’t out of the realm of impossibility. So, she was kind of stuck at the ranch until at least Sunday afternoon.

And being stuck at the ranch meant she and Jared would be in close proximity. She threw the pillow aside and stared toward the bedroom door illuminated by moonlight streaming across the room from her window. How was she going to handle that now that she’d experienced how thorough his lips and hands and…

Her stomach clenched in awareness.

She chuckled at having butterflies in her stomach over the man. Then she frowned up at the ceiling as the tightening in the pit of her stomach grew stronger. Or maybe it was hunger. Between the kissing and subsequent drama, she’d never eaten anything. Breakfast started at about 6:00, but waiting…

She peered at the clock on her nightstand. Almost five more hours seemed like a long time to wait, especially since she couldn’t sleep.

"Good grief," she groused, rolling out of bed. She carefully made her way in the dark to the bedroom door, then cracked it open and stuck her head out. No sound. And no lights shone from under anyone’s door here in the family wing of the house. As late as it was, and as busy as the next day would be, she hadn’t expected anyone would be up.

The Big M Rodeo was a big event that started at noon. It was something the ranch had hosted on the last Friday of their tourist season for the past ten years or so and would take everyone’s time from sunup to late into the evening. The other Fridays during the season offered a line dancing party. Fun, but nothing to compare to the spectacle of bulls and horses and cowboys.

Most of the performers would have already arrived and been housed in the quarters attached to the rodeo complex/arena on the property about a mile from the house. Local riders and participants would be showing up in the morning.

Eric would be there for the bull riding competition, which meant Darin and Ben would be on hand too. A small smile touched her lips. It had only been a few days, but she’d missed seeing and talking with them.

The big dunderheads.

It would be a good time for her to make things right with them. But that didn’t mean they didn’t have to set a few ground rules where her dating life was concerned.

She stared at the door sitting catty-corner to hers.

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