The Proposal & Solid Soul

She shook her head. Even that would be too close for comfort for her. “No, Jason, I’ll be fine. Go home.”


“Not before I do this,” he said, leaning down and capturing her mouth with his. She didn’t have a problem offering him what he wanted and he proved he didn’t have a problem taking it. He kissed her deeply, thoroughly and with no reservations about making her feel wanted, needed and desired. She could definitely feel heat radiating from his body to hers and wasn’t put off by it. Instead it ignited passion within her so acute she had to fight to keep a level head or risk the kiss taking them places she wasn’t ready to go.

Moments later she was the one who broke off the kiss. Desperately needing to breathe, she inhaled a deep breath. Jason just simply stood there staring and waiting, as if he was ready to go another round.

Bella knew she disappointed him when she took a step back. “Good night, Jason.”

His lips curved into a too-sexy smile. “Tell me one thing that will be good about it once I walk out that door.”

She really wasn’t sure what she could say to that, and in those cases she’d always been told it was better not to say anything at all. Instead she repeated herself while turning the knob on the door to open it. “Good night, Jason.

He leaned in, brushed a kiss across her lips and whispered, “Good night, Bella.”



BELLA WASN’T SURE WHAT brought her awake during the middle of the night. Glancing over at the clock on her nightstand she saw it was two in the morning. She was restless. She was hot. And she was definitely still bothered. She hadn’t known just spending time with a man could put a woman in such an erotic state.

Sliding out of bed she slipped into her robe and house shoes. A full moon was in the sky and its light spread into the room. She was surprised by how easily sleep had come to her at first. But that had been a few hours ago and now she was wide-awake.

She moved over to the windows to look out. Under the moon-crested sky she could see the shape of the mountains in their majestic splendor. At night they were just as overpowering as they were in the daylight.

She was about to move away from the window when she happened to glance down below and saw a truck parked in her yard. She frowned and pressed her face closer to the window to make out just whose vehicle was parked in her yard and frowned when she recognized the vehicle was Jason’s.

What was his truck doing in her yard at two in the morning? Was he in it?

She rushed downstairs. He couldn’t be in a truck in front of her house at two in the morning. What would Marvin think? What would the police officers cruising the area think? His family?

When she made it to the living room she slowly opened the door and slipped out. She then released a disgusted sigh when she saw he was sitting in the truck. He had put his seat in a reclining position, but that had to be uncomfortable for him.

As if he’d been sleeping with one eye open and another one closed, he came awake when she rounded the truck and tapped on his window. He slowly tilted his Stetson back from covering his eyes. “Yes, Bella?”

She opened her mouth to speak and then closed it. If she thought he was a handsome man before, then he was even more now with the shadow covering his jaw. There was just something ultrasexy about a man who hadn’t shaved.

She fought her attention away from his jaw back to his gaze. “What are you doing here? Why did you come back?”

“I never left.”

She blinked. “You never left? You mean to tell me you’ve been out here in the car since I walked you to the door?”

He smiled that sexy smile. “Yes, I’ve been here since you walked me to the door.”

“But why?”

“To protect you.”

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