Page 29 of Toxic

I grinned at her because I knew she was shocked by that. She wasn’t the kind of woman who let people in easily. And she was used to being in charge. Giving over control to a bunch of menshe’d never met must be difficult, but she was managing. I liked hearing that she trusted me enough to let me fix this for her.

“We won’t let anyone fuck around with your place again,” I promised.

“There’s no way for me to put a price on that. To repay you,” she said with a shake of her head. “It’s priceless to me.”

I didn’t take offense. If she was officially my woman and had said that to me I would have been furious. When she became mine, she’d have to give up this idea that she needed to pay me back for the things I did for her. It was my duty, my pleasure, to take care of my old lady. But she wasn’t mine yet. Or didn’t know it anyway. And money was the most important bargaining chip in the ranching world.

She was just doing what she knew. In her world, men didn’t work for free. They expected compensation for every ‘favor’. For every minute of work. Cowboys were hard workers, but they required payment for services rendered. I understood this world just as well as she did. So I didn’t take her words to heart.

She didn’t know yet that I would take offense to such things. I’d let her know when the time was right that I would always take care of her. And it never needed to be tit for tat. It was the way that I showed my love.

“You finished?” I asked, realizing we’d fallen quiet while we finished eating.

“Yeah. It was really good, but I can’t…finish,” she looked down at her still full plate.

“No problem,” I told her. “Why don’t you go take a shower and I’ll clean up in here.”

She stood up, then paused and looked over at me as I got up as well. “Toxic…”

“Yeah?”

She searched my gaze, then shook her head. “Never mind.”

“What?” I pressed.

She opened her mouth, then shook her head again. “Nothing.”

She didn’t give up her vulnerability easily. I could see that clear as day. It would be simple to let her run away to her room, but I’d been touching her, taking care of her for three days now, and my patience snapped.

Crossing the room, I caught her arm before she made it to the hallway that led back to her bedroom. My mouth was on hers the same moment her back hit the wall.

Her gasp of pleasure was all I needed to sweep my tongue into her mouth and invade. My hands dove into her hair, keeping her still while I pressed my body to hers and deepened the kiss. I’d been wanting to do this since that first day when she held a shotgun leveled at my nuts.

She moaned and it took all my self-control not to toss her over my shoulder and bring her back to her bedroom. My dick was throbbing and I wanted to fuck her more than I wanted to take my next breath. But again, I didn’t want to push her away.

Her hands went to my chest and her nails dug into my skin through my t-shirt as she flexed her fingers. Then she was pushing me away. “I’m- I’m sorry. I-” Her eyes were wide, her cheeks flushed and those sexy lips were a little swollen from my kisses.

I hadn’t gotten nearly enough, but she was already running away from me. It wasn’t going to be long before I ran after her. Not tonight. But soon.

CHAPTER 11

Billie

He’d kissed me and then insisted on driving me to the hospital since he was ‘going that way anyway’ and could just pick me up again in the morning. And the kiss had been… I sighed and stared at myself in the bathroom mirror. My cheeks were washed in pink and my heart was pounding just thinking about it. I wasn’t honestly sure how I’d managed to push him away.

It was the next morning and the nurses were out speaking with Gramps while I used the bathroom. They were working on discharging him. They’d already given me all the instructions and the medications he would need to continue recovering at home. I’d texted Toxic and he’d just replied to let him know when we needed to be picked up.

I shook my head. I didn’t understand him. He looked like one of those types. You know, the kind who flirted with every woman in a five foot radius. But those kinds usually weren’t sweet andhelpful and amazing. Only, Toxic was. He had me doubting myself.

It didn’t matter. I needed to pull myself together. Even though I was highly attracted to the man, I couldn’t keep him. He had a club he’d want to get back to eventually and my life was the ranch. And Will had taught me a very valuable lesson about trust and betrayal. One I wasn’t about to forget.

So, I would do my best to get along with the gorgeous biker, and once Gramps was healed, I would pay him and send him on his way.

“And youwon’tfall in love with him in the meantime,” I muttered at my reflection, giving myself a warning look.

A knock on the door made me jump, but I yanked it open and smiled at the nurse.

“He’s all set,” she said in a cheery voice. “We’re going to be so sad to see him go.”

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