Page 49 of Say the Words
Her eager expression fell at the bite in my tone, and she pressed her lips into a pert frown. “The words you’re looking for arethank you.”
“It’s not that I don’t appreciate you. You’ve done all I’ve asked of you, and then some. But I can’t just sit around watching soap operas while you do my chores. That’s not me.”
I expected her to dish out another sassy response about how I was liable to wind up in the hospital, but instead, she looked thoughtful as she gazed up at me.
“No, that’s not you. You are an interesting man, Ty Hardy.”
“That almost sounded like a compliment.”
Her soft smile did me in.
“Almost.”
The moment went on too long until I couldn’t help myself. I’d spent too much time around her this last week, too much time wanting to touch her and not being able to. Too much time letting myself wonder what it would be like to hold her. To have her to myself. To kiss her.
So Lord help me, I did.
I drew her to me, at once celebrating her closeness, and stunned by how readily she came to my arms. In the moment before our lips met, thoughts of Bret and all the reasons June should be off-limits scrambled around in my brain. But then, my mouth was on hers, and all those excuses shattered in the absolute perfection of our kiss.
Perfection. Bliss. Everything.
Better than all the heated dreams I’d indulged in over the last years, better than my whole lifetime of realities. One kiss could never be enough when I needed her like I needed oxygen to survive. My senses overloaded on her sweet scent, her soft mouth, the warmth of her body against mine.
I lightly ran my tongue over her lips, and she opened up to me. Logic and reason escaped my grasp. I couldn’t have given my own name if I’d been asked. I only had one thought in my mind—June.
SIXTEEN
june
Oh.My.
All the tiny sparks of attraction that had zinged between Ty and me coalesced into a fireball when he kissed me. I’d wondered what it would be like—you don’t spend time around a man like that without wondering what it would be like to be kissed by him. But none of those vague daydreams could compare to the vivid reality. I kissed him back without hesitation, ready to get lost in this new side of him.
Who could have known this sometimes cranky rancher would be such a gentle kisser? Ty was all surety and confidence, but with nothing selfish or demanding in his give and take. He teased and explored my mouth, his hands lightly running along my back, until my whole body sparkled with awareness. It felt like we had been made especially to kiss each other, like we knew already what the other wanted, what they needed.
My thoughts swirled out of focus, everything else paling compared to this single perfect moment. I laced my arms behind his neck to pull him closer, to ground myself before I drifted away entirely. Was this really happening? I pressed harder to him to confirm it, and he groaned against my mouth.
I dropped back to earth. My eyes flew open, and I pulled away. For that brief, glorious window, I’d forgotten his injury.
“I’m sorry,” I said, a little dazed and out of breath. “Are you okay?”
His eyes had grown dark and heavy-lidded, his lips rough and pink. Just the sight of him like this set me on fire again, and I drifted back into his space, my gaze on his mouth. I leaned forward a touch, ready for another kiss.
“It was my fault.”
The edge in his voice made me take half a step back, replacing the distance between us. Once again, the grimace that lined his face made him look like a man torn apart.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” he added.
All the delight coursing through my body went cold. “Why shouldn’t you?”
He gave me a look as if the answer should have been clear in front of us. “You used to be my brother’s girl.”
Guilt crashed over me as I thought of the early days in my relationship with Bret, when Ty and I had seemed so close, when we had just fit together. All our little stolen moments, shared laughter, and quiet conversations I had simultaneously adored and agonized over. I’d excused it then as a sort of brotherly affection, but I knew now it never had been, for either of us.
Memories of Bret came flooding back, too. The day he sat me down to let me know the relationship was over, and, oh yes, he’d already started dating someone else. I was long past worrying over what Bret might think of my actions.
“In case it’s slipped your notice, he has a new girl.”
