Page 70 of Snow in Texas

She flicked a quick grin. “You gonna try to coerce me with sex?”

“In a minute.” He spanned her ribs with his hands, aware of the way he could crush her if he wanted, taking comfort in the idea of protecting her instead. “First I wanna get some shit straight.”

“Sounds official.” She was relaxing; he could feel it. Hear it in the note of teasing in her voice.

“It is. Okay, first off, I’m a shit liar. If I’m feeding you a line, I get this stupid look on my face, and I sound like some kinda cheesy douchebag.”

She grinned. “You mean you don’t always sound like that?”

“You’re a bad girl.” He aimed a finger at her and she laughed. “And no. Remember that first night? When you went behind the bar?”

“Ah.” Her eyes danced. “That was, like, super douche.”

“Yeah. Which means I’ve gotta be telling you the truth now. You know, when I’m all cool and sophisticated.”

“Oh God.”

“And second off,” he said, growing serious again. “You’ve gotta stop assuming stuff about me, and believe me when I tell you the truth.” He took a deep breath that felt like it might crack his ribs. “And the truth is, it doesn’t matter if I like kids, or if I want to be tied down, or if I’ve got a bad reputation. Because I’m with you now, and I love you. And you can’t just call me an asshole and pretend we don’t mean something to each other every time you get scared.”

He heard her swift breath. Felt her go rigid in his arms. Her eyes flew wide and she stared at him, expression blank with shock. Then the emotions started to bleed through, a deep blush in her cheeks. Surprise. Gladness. Intense pleasure.

“You said you loved me.”

“I did.”

“Do you need me to say it back?”

“I just need you to act like it, ‘cause I already know you do.”

She kissed him, and after two weeks of separation, it was all he could do not to throw her down and rip her clothes off. Straining with the effort, he sat still and let her play with his mouth, her tongue teasing along his lower lip.

She was a little breathless, eyes dilated in the dim light when she pulled back. “You didn’t mess around with any of the groupies the last two weeks, did you?”

“You didn’t take a trip down memory lane with Fox, did you?” he countered.

“Ass,” she accused, and kissed him again.

~*~

Jenny

Note to self: Expect the best sex of your life after a long run. Because after two weeks apart, Colin had beeninsatiable.

Or maybe that had something to do with the tension that had been living between them. Either way, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to walk tomorrow.

“Hey,” he said, stretching against her back, a heavy arm curling tight around her waist and drawing her into his chest. She felt his chin against her neck, his breath on her face. “You didn’t pass out yet, did you?”

“You can’t possibly go again,” she mumbled. “Not even you. Not even if you took something.”

His laugh tickled her skin, dark and heavy as smoke. “No. I have a serious question.”

“More serious than ‘was that good for you’? ‘Cause that’s all I’m capable of answering at the moment. And the answer is yes. Hell freaking yes.”

He chuckled and pressed a kiss to the soft underside of her jaw. “Good.” Then pulled back. “But not that. I was gonna ask…” Tension streaked through him, turning him into a six-foot-four piece of rebar behind her.

Jenny twisted her head, saw his lamp-gilded face tight with worry and wonder. “What?”

He wet his lips. “The baby. You’re having it, right? Or are you…” His brows knotted together, deeply troubled.

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