Page 62 of The Cowboy's Surprise Return

Kissing Cole was so beautiful Jackie wanted to cry. She clutched the front of his shirt in a fist and lowered her forehead to his collarbone to catch her breath. This felt like so much more than a fake relationship.

She tipped her head up, trying to decipher how Cole was feeling. Judging by the glazed look in his eyes, he was as lost in the moment as she was.

He cupped her face with so much tenderness that she caught her breath, and he angled in, giving her a sweet, soft kiss that made her feel so loved and cared for it left her fighting tears again.

When Cole’s feet bracketed hers, like they did now, she felt sheltered, and as though everything would be all right.

His lips ran a line of light kisses up the bridge of her nose and across her forehead, worshiping and cherishing her. It was sensual and so unlike any of their other kisses.

“What are we doing?” she whispered.

He grunted something indecipherable and scooped her up in his arms, his cowboy boots echoing across her wood floors before he kicked open her bedroom door and gently laid her on her bed. “I thought we’d go dancing, but I believe our plans have changed.”

Instead of peeling off her clothes, Cole climbed onto the bed beside her and pulled her against him. He was sheltering her, giving her what he felt she needed as he had earlier in the day. Knowing she needed someone to hold on to even though she’d refused to let him in.

But she had. She’d let him in back at the ranch, told him her worries, released them. It had been freeing, exhausting, and it left her feeling hollow, yet less alone.

As she grew sleepy in Cole’s safe warm embrace, he continued trailing slow kisses, and when she woke up in the shelter of his arms the next morning, he was still there, watching her.

Yesterday’s painful feelings of being alone, lost and broken, had waned. Today she felt as though she could tackle the world again, and as though life wasn’t so bad, after all.

“Thanks for staying,” she said, as Goose jumped up onto the bed and dropped himself over her feet.

“Anytime,” Cole said, his voice gravelly with sleep. He rolled onto his back, smiling at the ceiling, eyes closed, his five o’clock shadow adding to his rugged appeal. A tuft of dark hair stuck up on the side that hadn’t been resting on the pillow. They were still cuddled close, his shirt snaps open, revealing the white T-shirt he wore underneath. She ran a hand through the gap in his plaid shirt, absorbing the warmth and strength of his body.

“I like Saturday mornings,” she said, realizing there was no rush, nothing to pull her away to face the day.

“Me, too,” he said, deepening what started as a light kiss and segued into something with serious heat.

Jackie peeled his shirt upward and tossed it on the floor. Her own shirt quickly joined it.

“Are you sure?” Cole asked, such tenderness in his voice that Jackie hesitated, wondering if she was making a mistake. Wondering if she was going to fall the rest of the way out of this crush and into something that could only be defined as love.

* * *

Jackie was wrapped in his arms, her bedroom smelling uniquely, deliciously of her. As they cuddled, slowly allowing their heart rates to calm, Cole settled into that pleasant place between intense satisfaction and sleep. His body felt relaxed, spent, content. Happy.

The tender, giving moments between them last night, as well as this morning, had been a lot different from anything they’d shared in the past.

And soon she’d be leaving town. Leaving him.

He wanted to follow her, but wasn’t sure she’d allow it.

None of this felt fake any longer. Not for him. And the idea that it might be one-sided left him feeling choked up.

He sighed, burrowing his face in Jackie’s soft hair, refusing to think about the future. They had now. Right now.

“I heard you coughing in your sleep,” he said. “You should probably stay in bed.”

“I wasn’t coughing!” Jackie rolled over so she could drape herself across Cole’s chest.

“That’s too bad.”

She checked the time with a frown. “Don’t you have chores?”

“I texted Myles. He’s got them.”

Jackie sat up. “He doesn’t mind?”

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