Can't Hardly Breathe (The Original Heartbreakers #4)

He might as well have ripped out her heart with a rusty spoon.

“Princess filled a void in your life. A void you might not have known you had until now.” She eased beside him, and they sat in silence for several minutes, passing the milk between them until the cup was empty. Every time she took a drink, he made sure to turn the cup so that his lips settled where hers had been. For some reason, those kisses-by-proxy helped ease him.

They had the opposite effect on her. Warmth pooled between her legs, and she squirmed, searching for relief she might never find.

“You’re cold and wet,” he said, his gaze lingering on her beaded nipples. “You should change. Now.” A croak, the raggedness of his voice only fueling her desire for him. “Definitely now.”

Just went on a date with another man. And I refuse to be a secret. I decided. Not going to change my mind because Daniel had a bad day and he looks hot sitting on my bed.

“You’re right.” She gathered an oversize T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants and locked herself in the bathroom. To prove she wouldn’t be making a play for Daniel, she washed her face free of makeup.

Behold! Dorothea Mathis in all her freckled glory.

She exited the bathroom, her spine fused with steel. He’d abandoned the bed in order to prowl through her room. He stared at the framed ultrasound picture on her mantel—the only thing on it, actually. Acid scalded her chest. She breathed a sigh of relief when he turned his attention to the pictures on the wall. Her and Holly as kids. Her, Lyndie and Ryanne as teens.

“You had sad eyes.” He turned after he’d spoken, proving he’d been aware of her the entire time. A soft smile teased his mouth as he looked her over. “I like you like this.”

“You do?” Really?

“You’re relaxed and soft. So damned soft. And those freckles...they give a man ideas.”

She gulped, taken aback. “What kind of ideas?”

“Very naughty ones.” A pause. Then, “I’d like to show you, sweetheart.”

Lord save me. The way he’d said it...as if he wasn’t saying “show” but “make love to.” As if being inside her was the answer to every problem he’d ever had.

“I...” Want to say yes. So danged bad. “No.” To give in was to give up on her goal. Be the prize, not the secret. “Unless you want to do this thing for real.” She couldn’t believe she’d been so bold, but this was important to her. And yeah, okay, she’d had a moment where she’d doubted long-term relationships could work. Maybe they couldn’t, but she still wanted to try. “Do you?”

He gave her a wry stare as he unabashedly adjusted the fly of his jeans. “I want to keep you all to myself. That isn’t a crime.”

“I’ll take that as a no.” And she wasn’t hurt. She wasn’t! At least she’d made a play for what she wanted, right?

The sound of a hammer banging repeatedly on an anvil suddenly echoed through the room. The hail had arrived. She turned on her TV, avoiding Jazz’s station. The forecaster warned of possible tornadic activity, as she’d suspected. The power flickered once, twice, before going out. Sixty seconds later, the generator kicked on.

“I need to go home, watch over my dad.” He looked at the door, looked at her, then the door again. He remained in place. “I don’t want to leave you.”

I won’t react, I won’t react, dang it, I won’t react. “Well, that’s good, because you can’t leave while it’s hailing. You could be knocked unconscious, and your car could be totaled.”

With a curse, he whipped out his cell. He had a short conversation with...Jude, if she had to guess, who was already at his dad’s. By the time they hung up, Daniel’s relief was palpable. “If there’s a tornado, and I’m not with him...”

“He has a shelter,” she reminded him. Everyone in town had a shelter. The inn had a basement. “Right now, we’re in the clear, though.” She pointed to the TV and explained the storm’s predicted path, the clouds that covered Strawberry Valley and the movement of the wind.

Daniel stared at her with something akin to...awe? “You should have stayed in school. You would kick ass on a news station. And every man in the state would wish we had naked weather girls.”

She snort-laughed.

He studied her for several prolonged moments and frowned. “You want to be behind the camera, get behind the camera. It doesn’t have to belong to a news station. You can live stream for the people of Strawberry Valley. Jude can even help you with a website.”

The idea had merit and gave her something to ponder. Could she? Should she? “Let me think about it,” she said softly. “And thank you.”

His brows knit together. “For what?”

“For taking me seriously.”

“Your talent and passion are obvious. Why would I do anything but take you seriously?”

Softening...

Red alert! Danger zone! If she didn’t do something to disrupt this tantalizingly raw moment, she was going to fall head over heels in love with him. Again!

Not that she was afraid of love. Love empowered. Love healed. It was everything else that hurt. Like rejection. Oh, how rejection hurt. Hate. Bitterness. Envy. Strife. Greed. But love...it gave without expecting anything in return. It built up, never tore down. It protected.

If only Daniel would love her back.

Emotion clogged her throat. She threaded her fingers through his—experienced a jolt of connection, a frisson of acceptance—and drew him to the screened-in porch that led to the roof, allowing them to watch the hail as cool mist brushed against their faces and dark clouds wisped over an equally dark sky.

“This is my favorite place in the world,” she said, releasing him for the sake of her sanity.

But his big hand sought a new resting place, cupping her nape and massaging. “I can see why. It’s as beautiful, wild and unpredictable as the woman who owns it.”

Well. Disrupting the moment hadn’t helped. Then and there, Dorothea Valentina Mathis fell head over heels in love with Daniel Porter, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.





CHAPTER FIFTEEN

DANIEL RETURNED HOME after the storm and ended up pacing all night. Not exactly a new experience for him; his mind refused to settle. Something had changed between Thea and him. Something big. Unfortunately, the particulars escaped him.

He thought back. He’d called her beautiful, wild and unpredictable, and only a few minutes later she’d ushered him out of her bedroom and into one of his own as if he’d begun leaking toxic waste.

Already he missed her. And he missed Princess. He felt like his chest had been hollowed out and glass shards stuffed inside. Every time he inhaled, those shards cut him to ribbons. His need to breathe both kept him alive and killed him simultaneously.

Dorothea was right. There was a void inside him.

One he needed to fill. Which meant he needed a dog of his own. A beloved companion. A bosom buddy.