Page 48 of Saving Jared

Willa nodded with a slight grin. "Yeah. So, I suppose Hart’s manhood should be fine." She turned from him and headed to the stable. He followed close behind, letting his gaze travel over her back, down to her flared hips—lingering where her jeans molded to her slightly rounded ass that had cushioned his cock so nicely.

You’re not touching her.

"Okay," she said, turning toward him after they’d walked in silence inside the barn—a silence broken only by his internal arguments with himself—until they came to a stop in the aisle. "About the—"

"I wanted to—" He’d gotten ahead of himself and hadn’t meant to interrupt her. "What were you about to say?"

"No, you go first."

"Okay. I think we need to discuss how we’re going to handle this with our families."

"Our families?" A frown knit her brows. "That’s your main concern?"

Jared leaned back against the gate of an empty stall. "They’re going to have questions."

"They’re going to have questions?" A flush ran up her creamy brown cheeks. "Jared, how can I answer their questions when I have so many of my own? Well, actually just one." Her pleading gaze held his. "Why?"

He scrubbed his hands over his face, blocking her out for a moment, then stared back at her rigid stance. "Willa, do you really want to get into this?"

"You’re damn right I do." She paced in front of him. "I don’t understand. One minute everything is fine, and the next you’re treating me like I’m nothing." She stopped and threw an accusing glare at him. "Nothing. Is that how you saw what we did together? What I am to you?"

"We don’t have time right now to get into this."

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say as her features hardened and she marched toward him.

"You had time enough to take me to bed," she said, poking a finger in his chest. "You can make time to tell me what I want to know."

His own anger rose to match hers. "Fine," he clipped out. "I know. All right?"

She frowned, the finger digging into his chest dropping away. "Know what? What are you talking about?"

"Come on, Willa" he told her with some derision. "Don’t lie to me. Not now. You’ve lied enough and I don’t want to hear any more of them."

She took a step back, shock mixed with confusion evident in her gaze. "How have I lied to you?"

"How haven’t you?" He let out a humorless laugh. "Let’s see, though I don’t know why you bothered, you played the innocent virgin with me." Her brows rose. "Did you think that’d make me believe there was no one else but me?"

"There isn’t anyone else," she said, low. "It’s always been you."

He’d had enough, yelling out, "Then you might want to tell your firehouse quickie he’s mistaken."

True surprise filled her gaze. "My firehouse what?"

Rage rapidly pulsed through him, and he threw all of it at her. "The man you’ve been fucking while you’ve been with me."

Her head snapped back and body jerked. He might as well have physically slapped her. She shook her head, while her dark complexion blanched—turning ashen—her expression stunned. "I’ve never—"

"What in damnation’s going on in here?" Russ’s booming voice cut Willa off from where he strode into the barn and cast his gaze between the two of them. Concern filled his eyes as his steps grew hesitant the closer he got to Willa. "Are you okay?" he asked, his tone gentle.

Willa slowly nodded, her guileless, devastated gaze never leaving Jared’s. In that moment, doubt at what he’d just accused her of raised its head, while he wanted to kick himself when her eyes glistened with tears.

A low grumble sounded from Russ as he positioned himself between them and took her by the shoulders. Jared strained to hear but couldn’t make out anything as Russ leaned close to Willa. Whatever it was he whispered, she shook her head over it before Russ dropped his hands from her and turned on him. "Apologize."

"Russ, this has nothing to do with you." He glared at the man he’d known for years and had never had a cross word with. "Why are you here anyhow?"

Russ stiffened, his fists clenching as he stalked toward him. "That’s neither here nor there." Was Russ planning on fighting him? "Now, I don’t know what you’ve said, but you will apologize," he said low.

"This shouldn’t matter to you. You don’t even know her." It was a fact that made Russ’s anger even more irrational.

---