Page 33 of The Cowboy's Surprise Return

“So does she.”

Cole blinked. “Don’t speak ill of her just to make me feel better.”

“Oh, shush,” Jackie snapped, her eyes flashing. “It takes two and you know it. You and April are like bleach and ammonia. You’re fine on your own, but when you’re together too long, you make a toxic gas that kills people. How many lives did you destroy in your years away?”

When he didn’t answer, she stated, “None.” She did so with surprising authority, and all he could do was nod. He hadn’t let anyone close to him, that’s why.

But the way Jackie described what it had been like with April felt true. They were strong and capable on their own, but somehow when they were together everything went wrong.

Still, if he’d been a better man, he could have prevented sending her life off the rails like that.

“Together, y’all were just never quite right. Why do you think you were always breaking up? It was unreasonable of your family to expect you to be together forever. I certainly wasn’t expected to stay with my first boyfriend. Or even my second. Or third.”

Cole crossed his arms, leaning against the tractor, studying Jackie.

“Well?” she asked, her tone imperious.

“You’re wrong.”

She gave a long, exaggerated sigh. “So you’re going to carry this around forever?”

He tried glowering at her.

“Fine, go ahead and give me that I-was-a-properly-raised-Texan-and-can-fix-and-prevent-everything excuse. You may have been raised right, but you’re still human, and so is April. In fact, she was raised pretty much by the same people you were, so you can take your excuse and eat it.”

Cole let out a snort of laughter, appreciating Jackie’s feisty efforts on his behalf. The way she believed in him almost made him want to believe, too.

Without thinking, he closed the space between them, his cowboy boots bracketing hers as he pulled her in for a long-overdue kiss that sent searing heat all the way down to his toes.

* * *

Jackie rocked back on her heels as Cole broke the kiss. She looked at him for a long moment before throwing herself back into his arms, letting her lips do all the talking.

When they came up for air again, they stared at each other for another half beat before diving in for more. Jackie stumbled backward, propping herself against the tractor for support. Cole’s body was pressed tight to hers and she snaked a leg around his hip, their kisses desperate. There was a need that thrummed and grew between them. A hole that could only be filled by the other.

Their lips were bruised, their breathing unsteady when they finally broke apart.

“We seem to be kissing again,” Jackie gasped.

Cole watched her, his clear, bright eyes moving over her face as though he was wondering what to do next.

She had ideas.

She pulled his face toward hers, giving him a tender, sweet kiss.

The earlier desperation had waned, and the moment felt quiet, poignant. Something was changing between them, and Jackie wasn’t sure what it was. It was scary and left her feeling vulnerable.

“You weren’t just saying all of that to get me to kiss you, were you?” His tone was light, but a muscle in his jaw flexed, proving how serious his question was.

She placed her hands on his cheeks, trying to steady herself. “You’ve made sacrifices most men couldn’t, or wouldn’t. And I know you carry the burden of it.”

He shook his head, as though not wanting her words to be true.

“There’s no way you could have found the right path out of the situation with April, because there wasn’t one.”

“No. I could have found a gentle way to—”

Jackie covered his mouth with a finger, receiving an irritated look. “You have a lot of love,” she whispered. “You have a strong desire to do right by the people you love.” She tapped his chest above his heart. “I know you’re not wild and flighty.” She felt emotion welling inside her as she thought about all that Cole had sacrificed, the judgment he’d faced, both from himself and his family over trying to do the right thing.

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