She and Jared had kissed, and there had been a promise in that kiss, there’d been words spoken in the heady heat of desire, but did any of it really mean anything? When she had feelings for someone, when she respected someone—a rarity for her—was she doomed to sabotage herself before she could even get started?
The whole stormy night was ahead of them. Just the two of them. She could take this opportunity, or she could watch it slip through her fingers out of stubbornness or fear. All at once, she realized her hands were trembling. The first fat splats of rain hit the windshield. Scooting across the seat to be by his side, she put one of those trembling hands lightly on his denim-clad thigh. Feeling the muscle strong and firm under her fingers, imagining touching the skin underneath the fabric. He looked at her, his eyes piercing and intense even in the darkness. Those eyes caught her, pulled her in, drowned her.
“I want you,” she said softly.
His breath caught. He had to look back at the road in front of him, but he slid an arm around her shoulders and hugged her close to his side. The entire world held its breath while she waited for him to say something, to do something, to stop the truck and take her right here on this lonely road if he had to. She could crawl on top of him. It would be so easy.
“You’ve had a lot to drink,” he said.
Her heart dropped to her stomach. “Don’t tell me that,” she said. “Don’t tell me I’ve ruined this, that something else is my fault—”
He put the brakes on. Stopped the truck right in the middle of the dirt road and threw it into Park. Looked at her so intensely, she wondered how her soul would survive being pierced so deeply. “You haven’t ruined anything. When it happens for us, Starla, you’re going to remember it for the rest of your life.”
Oh. Oh God.
The lightning slicing overhead had nothing on that which flickered through her body at his words. The thunder had nothing on her beating heart. “When it happens for us…”
When. Not if.
He kissed her, not the teasing exploration from last night, not a promise—promises could be broken. It was an assurance as definite as the sun rising tomorrow that he would make good on his words. Deep, thorough, his tongue meeting hers, sliding, causing her to whimper in her throat as his hands framed her face, his fingers sinking into her hair. No one to interrupt them now. Everything about him invaded her—the spice of his mouth, the rasp of his beard against her tender flesh, the sound of his shuddering breath. He smelled like heaven. She couldn’t describe the scent, but already she craved it like air. Her nipples hardened, tightening around her piercings, the tiny weights only accentuating their sensitivity. She throbbed. All over.
But his hands never strayed from her face. They didn’t stroke and soothe all the inflamed areas craving his touch. His mouth broke from hers, both of them panting raggedly, inhaling each other’s breath as they tried to get a grip and thunder growled overhead. His hands hadn’t strayed, no, but somehow she felt the effort it was costing him to leave them where they were, cradling her face as if it was precious to him.
It didn’t seem right. Less than twenty minutes ago, she’d broken down in front of him over another man. And he wanted her anyway. He’d admitted to the ruination of his marriage because of another woman. She wanted him anyway. Maybe they weren’t right for each other. Maybe they would tear each other to pieces before it was over. Having him just once, feeling this all the way to completion, would be worth the danger to her heart. She knew it somehow.
“Know what I like to do when it’s dark and stormy and I’m by myself?” she asked in the silence following that apocalyptic kiss, their noses and lips still only a breath apart.
“What?” His voice was lower and huskier than usual, dark and thrilling. She could imagine it saying all sorts of wicked things; she could imagine he was waiting for her to confess all sorts of wicked things.
“Huddle on the couch under a blanket with popcorn or ice cream and Netflix old black-and-white Twilight Zone episodes.”
He grinned, then chuckled, and finally gave an outright laugh, stroking her hair. “I have to say that wasn’t what I was expecting.”
“Didn’t think so. I just always thought it would be fun with a friend.”
Within the frame of that luscious beard, his lips curled. “That sounds like it would be amazing with a friend.”
Minutes later, though, after he’d turned on the windshield wipers and nudged his truck forward again, she feared it wasn’t to be. A sudden deluge made it hard to see beyond the initial glow of the headlights, but it was impossible to miss the sudden appearance of a large brown-and-white cow standing in the middle of the road, and a couple of others up ahead.
“Shit!” he cursed, slamming the truck back in Park. “My cows are loose.”
She almost wanted to laugh, but given his tone and the storm now raging outside, she knew it was no laughing matter. “What the hell do you do?”
Jared was already grabbing for his phone. “Round them up and repair the fence.”
“In this?”