Page 36 of Wild and Unruly
She frowned, genuinely confused. “What are you talking about?”
I smiled and ripped off my gloves, stuffing them into my pocket so I could cup her jaw with my hand. She leaned into my hand without prompting and grasped my wrist with her fingers. “I can’t seem to focus on work because my attention is all on you.”
She scoffed lightly. “That’s not my fault.”
“No?” I asked, pulling her closer to me. It was hotter than sin outside and inside this stall. With only a fan blowing into it, it didn’t do a whole lot for the heat in the middle of the afternoon, but having her pressed up against me had me hot in more than one way.
“No. Control yourself,” she said quickly, giving me a feisty look.
“What if I don’t want to?” I leaned in, rubbing my nose against hers, her breath hitching against my lips. “What if I wanted to let go of all control?” I moved my head to the side, giving her jaw a gentle kiss. “What if I wanted to go back to that mountain?” I pressed my lips lower over the pulse in her neck. “What if I wanted to make you scream my name again?”
I could feel her heart pounding at the pulse under my lips and found myself clutching her close to me, wishing that there wasn’t a barn full of people who could hear everything if we were too loud.
“That could—” I feel her swallow against my lips and open my mouth, letting my teeth graze against her neck. She gasps softly. “That could be arranged.”
“Could it?” I ask, unable to stop myself when I pull her mouth back over to mine and press my lips against hers. She was mine.
I couldn’t get the scene out of my head.
I take a breath as Freckles circles me in the round pen, trying to get ahold of myself. We couldn’t find time to be with each otherprivately because something called her away last night, and she had to go back to The Lodge. I’d offered to accompany her back, but she waved me off, a concerned look on her face as she left.
But that last thought when I was kissing her kept running through my head, and I can’t say I hate it. I felt possessive of her. I felt the need to own her, body and soul. Maybe that was because I knew the moment she allowed it all to happen, she would be taking my heart with her wherever she went.
I was actually terrified of it happening. We knew so little about each other, and yet, there was something about her, a gut feeling that told me she was important. That we were important.
The sun rises higher into the sky, signaling the afternoon, and still, there was no sign of Bonnie showing up at the ranch.
I track Dani down after putting Freckles away, and she looks up from where she was working in the office. We really need to gut the office and get her something proper, not just this run-down space she’s in.
“Hey,” I say, plopping into the folding chair against the wall.
“Hey, Stets, how’s that filly doing?”
“Good, I’m calling her Freckles,” I say, reaching into the mini fridge for my water bottle.
“Freckles.” Dani smiles, tapping something into her computer. “That’s cute.”
I nod and shrug, looking around. “So, where’s the reporter?”
I’m not sure if she does, but I’m pretty sure Dani knows my blasé question is bullshit. “Not sure where she is. But she said she’d be back sometime next week.”
My heart drops into my stomach. “Next week?”
“Mm-hmm. She said it was a family emergency.” A frown of worry creases Dani’s forehead, and I sit forward, resting my elbows on my knees.
“What kind of family emergency? Is she okay?”
I’m a shit actor. Dani smirks at me. “I’m really not sure, Stetson. She just texted that she had to go home for a few days. I’m sure if it was serious, then she wouldn’t be coming back.”
That night, I lay on my bed in my small apartment that I have in town, wondering if I should call her or if that was too much. But what if she was waiting for me to call her? What if I don’t, and she assumes that we’re nothing, that it’s not serious?
Panic makes me reach for the phone, and I tell myself to chill the fuck out. See, this is why it would be nice if I didn’t fall for someone this easily.
But the only other person I thought I’d fallen for was now one of my greatest friends, and part of me has to wonder if it’s because I fell for her heart rather than her person.
What if Bonnie was that chance, that one soul connecting with another soul chance?
The phone rings before I can talk myself out of it.
