Page 14 of Possessive Cowboy

And this whole time, she’s been in my town. How did I not know who she was? People drive into those shitty dive bars from all over because they’re the only place to drink. Out here in Faith, there’s little more than the General Store and a few shops here and there, the local library, the post office, and of course, ranches. Ranches as far as the eye can see.

How would I miss a rare flower like her in a town with such a small population?

When I finally stop kissing her, she looks at me with wide, bewildered eyes and swollen lips. I like that. I like the way that I can leave my mark on her.

“Raina, huh?” I ask.

“Yeah,” she says in a small voice.

“I like it better than Bridget,” I say. “It suits you.”

It does.

Raina, like the rain that hammers the tin roof of my back porch lately, chilly autumn mornings where it’s just me, my cup of coffee, and the rain. Rain is needed and cleansing. With the ability to soothe and calm…and at the same time, with the potential to come down in heavy sheets, threatening to sweep you away and upend your life.

I can already tell that for me, Raina is dangerous in all of the best kinds of ways. I’ve been a solitary cowboy for far too long, and since our one night stand I haven’t been able to forget about her, haven’t been able to ignore the loneliness that gnaws at me from within, reminding me that I’m not supposed to be alone like this, that there’s something missing from my life.

That thing? A woman.

Not just any woman, but a woman like her.

Nurturing, innocent, sweet. All the things I’m not. A ray of sunshine, the softness that I sorely lack and can’t provide.

I spot Levi looking at us through the window and wonder how much of this scene he saw. There’s so much more I want to do to Raina, but not here.

“Let’s go,” I growl, starting the truck. “You’ve got some explaining to do.”

“Explaining?” she asks as we pull out of the long, winding driveway of Levi’s ranch and onto the dirt road.

“Yes,” I say. “Why’d you leave like that?”

“I’m sorry,” she says. She tugs at the sleeves of her sweater, hiding her hands as though to hide from me. Nervous. She’s nervous.

“Don’t be sorry,” I say. “I just want to know…why? Was our night together that bad that you needed to get away as quickly as possible?”

She shakes her head and I hear her sigh – a soft, breathy sigh. I can barely keep my damn eyes on the road for the short trip from Levi’s ranch to mine, and the sounds she’s making don’t help matters. I steal a long look at her and see her looking right at me, those big innocent eyes watchful and wary.

“No,” she says. “It wasn’t like that at all, really. That night was incredible. It was…exactly what I needed.”

“What you needed?” I repeat.

“I needed a night of fun,” she says. “Abby says I’m in a funk, and it’s true. Well, it was true. I think our night together shook me out of that funk, though. Which is exactly why I needed it.”

“What kind of funk?” I ask. “What do you mean?”

“I had a bad breakup,” she says slowly. “He dumpedme,to be exact about it. It’s been over a year now. When we met, for some reason I just couldn’t get out of my post-breakup gloom.”

I don’t say anything, my eyes back on the road. I’m trying to mentally picture the kind of man who would break up with Raina, the kind of fool who would throw a good thing like her away.

“I’m over him though,” Raina follows up quickly. “I’ve been over him for a long time.”

I look over at her and see that she’s watching me absorb her words carefully, needing me to believe her.

And of course I fucking believe her.

“Darling,” I say. “If I thought there was even a chance that you were thinking about another man that night, I would have left on the spot. The only guy you were thinking about that night was the one burying his cock deep inside of you.”

She bites her lip.

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