Page 19 of The Rancher's Code

“What are you talking about?—”

“You’re jealous,” he repeated, before he quietly sank into the flowers, practically disappearing from my view. “It’s a hell of a thing, isn’t it? Makes you wonder what you’re so jealous of…”

7

DYLAN

The barn closestto Amber’s cabin had quickly become Wedding HQ #2. While it was nice to have some space of my own to think, her assistants mostly working out of the wedding planning cabin, I felt like I was losing my mind. I’d been flickering different lights on and off, plugging them in, taking them out, trying to see which combination would be the perfect mood lighting for the indoor/outdoor reception. The lights needed to be warm but not too harsh, and definitely nothing that would wash out the effect of the sparkling night sky.

In practice, all of this just looked like me running around the barn like a maniac.

It didn’t help that I was only half able to concentrate, still thinking about Cole’s weirdness from earlier.

Why is he acting like that?

He wanted to kiss me but not talk to me. He wanted to ruin any chance of someone else asking me out even though we both knew Cole would never ask me out himself because he wasstraight?—

Shit.

Maybe that was the problem. Cole didn’t want me blabbing to anyone about kissing me. He wanted to make sure I kept it a secret and the best way to do that was to make sure I was never out of his sight. I groaned at the realization, desperately counting down the days until I was done with Cole and Stratton Ranch. I never signed up to be a pawn in some straight guy’s weird little game of I-kiss-random-people-when-I’m-bored chess?—

“Hey.” Cole’s voice interrupted my thoughts. He stepped inside the barn, wearing a nervous smile. “Are you wrapping up for the day? Or does my sister have you working through the night?”

“No.”

“What?”

“Absolutely not.” I held up a finger in warning. “I don’t have time for whatever this is, Cole! I truly don’t. Just let me do my job and you do yours.”

“Are you mad at me?”

“Yes! Oh, my God!” I couldn’t believe the question he’d just asked me. “You’ve been weird since last night and you haven’t apologized for any of the weirdness.”

“What would I need to apologize for?”

“For kissing me as some sort of fucked up boost to your ego? For chasing off a nice guy who actually knows what he wants? A guy who’s not just straight and bored?”

“You’re so dismissive.” Cole’s voice was low.

“What?”

“You keep doing this, poking and poking at me. Like I’m… doing something wrong,” he went on. “And it’s really starting to piss me off. I’m not just some asshole, Dylan. I’m not the villain here.”

“I don’t care what you are, Cole. Just please! Let me work—” My words were cut off by Cole quickly closing the distancebetween us, not stopping until we were face to face. “Cole, what the fuck are you?—”

Fuck.

He was kissing me again. And here I was, melting right into it. Unlike our first kiss, this one had a different kind of heat behind it, like Cole had something to prove. His hands were tight around my waist, and I groaned against his mouth, our tongues meeting in the middle. I wrapped my arms behind his broad shoulders, linking my hands together there. As much as it felt like he didn’t want me to move away from him, I made it obvious that I didn’t want him to go anywhere either.

A few moments later, he brought his mouth down to the side of my neck, his lips making quick contact with my skin. I groaned again as he pulled my skin between his teeth, right before letting it go, his lips pressed tight along the area?—

“Cole!” I tried to move my neck away from him once I realized what he was doing. “Are you seriously trying to give me a hickey?”

“Just a habit,” he murmured.

“It’s a little possessive, don’t you think?”

“Do you really want Alex flirting with you the whole time you’re here?”

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