Page 81 of Make Me Crazy (Loco, Texas 2)

Jake caught Red’s grin and Jake growled, “So help me Red…”

Red shook his head. ”Better not Rand. Jake’s in a pretty foul mood.”

Rand shrugged and turned her back on them. Jake wasn’t about to let her get away that easy and followed her, grabbing her hand to stop her retreat. “Come on, Rand, you can dance with me.”

He pulled her against his chest and she snapped, “I don’t want to dance with you.”

The feel of her curves fitted against him molded so perfectly he lost some of his irritation. He slipped his thigh between hers and said, “One dance won’t kill you.”

“No but I might kill you!” Her eyes were flashing with anger but she wasn’t fighting him. He let go of her hand to wrap his arms around her waist and started moving with her to the music. He rubbed his thigh between her legs and her lips parted.

He was hard as a stump and aching like a sore tooth watching the way her eyes darkened every time his thigh rubbed against her. He felt her hands run up his arms to his shoulders and he bent his head down to hers and she didn’t resist him when he kissed her. God, he’d missed her mouth, and the way she kissed him back like he was the last drop in a pot of honey.

She yanked away from him and yelled, “Damn you, Jake! Damn you!”

She pushed through the crowd and Jake yelled her name, taking off after her.

Rand ignored Jake’s confused shout and ran. She didn’t know where she was going but she needed to get away from him. Had to get away.

Damn it, why did he have to kiss her? Why did he have to remind her of all the pain and confusion that came along with loving him?

She dashed at her eyes as she finally burst outside and started walking up the sidewalk. There was no way in hell she was going to give in again.

“Rand, will you stop running and listen to me?”

She kept walking, listening to his boots eating up the distance between them, and when he grabbed her arm, she spun in the gravel and shoved him. “What? What could you possibly have to say to make this any better?”

He felt his mouth open and close like a fish and she threw her hands up with an “ARGH! What is the matter with you? You come out here after me and then you just stand there like a dummy!”

A week of pent up anger, frustration, and broken-hearted agony bubbled up and erupted. So he had nothing to say? Well, good thing she didn’t have that issue.

Rand kept screaming at him in the middle of the honky tonk’s parking lot and every time he thought he could break in and tell her how he felt, she revved up again.

He needed to think. He needed quiet.He needed to shut her the hell up.

He grabbed her and slammed his mouth down over hers, kissing her until she went limp and pliable and he pulled back to look down into her dazed face. “I came out here to tell you…you make me crazy.”

She blinked at him. Several times.

Then she exploded again. “I make you crazy? I make you crazy? No, you make me crazy! You with your mixed signals and commitment issues and-“

He kissed her again, stopping the overflow of words. When he thought he had her pliable enough, he pulled away and said, “Make me crazy. Make me nuts! I don’t care as long as you’re here. With me. Letting me love you for the rest of our lives because I don’t want anyone else. If you want babies, I’ll give you a hundred and be there for each and every one.” He sucked in a deep breath before continuing, “You make me crazy, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I love you, Rand. I love your orneriness and you strength and your beauty and your sweetness and your pass-“

Abruptly she threw herself against him and he lost his balance, falling backwards with her hitching a ride. His head and back hit the gravel hard and he wheezed in pain, the world spinning.

“Jake? Jake are you okay?” He tried to focus on Rand’s voice but there seemed to be two of h

er floating in front of him.

“Ow. Why the hell did you jump me like that?” His voice sounded far away to him but he caught a smile on the twin floating faces.

“I’m sorry. I was excited. I never thought you’d love me, not in a million years, especially after-”

“You decided it would be a good idea to give me a concussion?” He asked.

“No, but now it’s my turn again and I’ve got a lot to say.”

He couldn’t wait to hear this one. “Yeah, what’s that?”

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