Page 14 of Rogue Cowboy
Leave her family?He’d lost his mind.Texas was as south as Montana was north.She took a step back and came up against the kitchenette counter.Trapped.
“And you travel all over the world with no warning and have a very dangerous job.”
“You worried for me.”
If he’d had a touch of smug, she probably would have slugged him after the morning she’d had, but instead he sounded unbearably tender.
“Of course I worried.Duh.Every time my brother deployed, I was terrified, but he pretended he was just having a big adventure.Rohan was a hero.You’re a hero, and I’m a disaster.”
“You’re not a disaster, Riley.You’re strong.Smart.Beautiful inside and out.Kind.”
“Cole.”She didn’t know what to do with his sweet.“I can’t be what you want,” she confessed—more truth than she’d spoken in years.“I can’t.”
“Do you know what I want?”
A million word fragments shattered in her brain, but she shook her head because really, why was he here other than to have her sign something legal to forever cut the last frayed, skinny thread?
He smiled.“It’s not your job to try to be what you think I want, Riley.”
She frowned.She hadn’t thought about it like that—not exactly.
She tried to formulate another argument to push him away.She felt so off-balanced by his appearance.Getting clocked by her brother.And now Cole saying he didn’t want his freedom.But she had to cut him loose.Stop her girlish fantasies, because she was as flawed as a woman could be—she couldn’t imagine being…like that with a man, trusting a man like that, having a child.And Cole would want and deserve all of those things.
She jerked her shoulders back, straightened her spine and raised her head, drawing on her inner fire, her cowgirl like she’d done every time she competed in a race or exhibition, mounted a stage with just her guitar.
“Cole,” she began, but her stomach rumbled—loudly.She crossed her arms over it, cheeks heating, and heard the first laugh out of Cole that she could remember.
“We have time, Riley,” he promised.“I’ve left the service.”
“What?”The hits kept coming.
“Let me court you as you deserve.We’ll get to know each other as we are now.”
He ran his thumb along her bottom lip.“You have such a beautiful mouth, such a temptation.”
She blinked.No one had ever said that to her, ever.Not even guys in high school who were trying to cop a feel so they could brag about it later.
“But no pressure or expectations.Instead of kissing your lips like I’ve dreamed of, let me buy you breakfast.A date.”
She wasn’t touching the word ‘date.’
He swung open the trailer door and stepped back.“You first, Riley Jameson.”
“Shshsh.”She jerked to a stop on the first stair and pressed her fingers over his mouth.“Telford.No one knows and I intend to keep it that way.”
“Hard secret to keep.”He nipped at her fingers.She yipped and jerked away, but he caught her hand, kissed the pads of her fingers one through four while she just stared at him, helpless at the sensuality that softened his features to something she barely recognized but that stirred something deep inside of her like an ancient spring beginning to flow.
“But we will.”
“For now,” he said, and relief shafted through her.
*
Cole watched Rileytuck her cute pink polka-dot socks into her turquoise cowboy boots then cuff her boot-cut jeans.
She sat on a large flat rock partially in the Marietta River that looked closer to a creek at this point of the summer.Her toenails were painted clear with a white stripe at the top of each nail.He’d seen a similar design on women’s fingernails on various bases or in bars or restaurants over the years, so it probably was a style with a name.Seemed too plain for Riley.She’d been a burst of a vivid kaleidoscope of colors, words and energy when he’d first seen her on a stage at an outdoor concert in a large park.She’d captivated him from the moment she’d taken the stage and looked out over the crowd, a light in her eyes and a snapping, shimmering energy around her that had hooked him like a fat trout.
She wasn’t the woman he’d dreamed of settling down with.He didn’t have that good of an imagination.
