Page 9 of Full Mountie

Interesting reaction. Now I want to know what Lachlan knows. I almost laugh, but he doesn’t see anything funny about this situation, so I’m not going to push any more of his buttons tonight. I take a deep breath. “He told me he’s not looking for anything serious. So you can—”

“You deserve serious.”

“I want fun. And besides, how am I supposed to find someone to get serious about when you keep cock-blocking me?”

“That’s—” He cuts himself off. A muscle twitching in his cheek is the only reaction I get. It’s probably the only one he can’t control.

What, he doesn’t like me accusing him cock-blocking?

Well, I don’t like anything about this. And frankly, if he’s going to be this difficult, I don’t know why I’m holding back. He came to me. He got in my face about this, and now I’m going to blast him right back.

I jam my finger into his chest. “You know what? If Hugh wants to use me for sex, that’sjust fine. He can use me like that any time he wants.”

“Beth…”

“And you really should know that it didn’t feel like he was using me when he kissed me.” I drop my voice. “It felt good.Hefelt good.”

He groans deep in his throat. I jab my finger at him again, but my hand is shaking now, and it skips off the hard planes of his broad chest. He grabs my wrist, holding me still.

“You can’t tell me who to kiss,” I whisper, my voice cracking.

“I know.” His voice is equally ragged, but he’s not shaking at all. He’s tense all over. Tense and big and suddenly, right up against me. His mouth crushes against mine, the kiss demanding and primal, and before I can stop myself I’m kissing him back.

It’s messy and confusing. It’s also probably wrong, but oh my God, Lachlan is kissing me. It’s totally different from Hugh’s kiss.

But it feels just as right.

Before I can stop it, I’m dragged into the feelings of it, the hunger and bite, the desperate need zinging between us.

A kiss a year in the making.

A kiss that should have happened for a hundred other reasons, not insane jealousy. But I don’t care, I’ll take this however I can get it.

And before I can get enough, it’s a kiss that ends with a curse.

Lachlan drags himself back, and I find myself following him.No. He shakes his head and I skid to a halt.

No, no, no, I want to scream at him, but he’s backing away just as fast as he came at me.

I watch, regret building inside me so fast it hurts, as he lurches backwards and turns, letting himself out of my apartment without a word of explanation or apology or even rejection.

Nothing.

Communication has never been his strong suit, but this kind of takes the fucking cake.

Men.

Two kisses in one night.

Two men who couldn’t be more different. Now what the hell do I do?

4

Lachlan

Everything I’ve done—well, everything I haven’t done—in the last year would point to me being a coward.

I’m not.

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