I squeezed his hands tighter, my throat tightening with emotion. Was now the right time?
“Gray, I could tell something was bothering you when we left the ranch. What is it?”
I released him and sat back in my seat. If we didn’t want to miss the play, we should get moving.
“Everything’s turning into a bit of a shit show. This is very confusing for me, Ozzie. I don’t know who should have my loyalty. You or Carter.”
“What does that mean?”
“Did you sleep with me two nights ago because you saw a photograph of Carter with some other guy?”
“Wait. How did you know about that?”
A cold shadow crept across my heart. So it was true? “Carter called me before we left. He mentioned it. Said you’ve been ignoring his calls.”
Ozzie stared out the window with his lips pressed together. He gave a tiny shake of his head.
“You really slept with me because you saw that picture of Carter and that guy?” The words choked out of me, thick and slow with a sour taste of betrayal.
“What?” Ozzie jerked his head around. “No, of course not.”
“I’m supposed to think it’s just a coincidence you slept with me the same night you believed my son cheated on you?”
“Well, yes, but—hell, I’m not explaining this right.” He inhaled deeply and let out the breath. “Gray, I’ve admitted to myself how attracted I’ve been to you since you picked me up at the airport. What happened between us in the barn has weighed heavily on my mind, and I’ve thought about it a lot, but I always felt guilty when I consider where things could have gone between us. Seeing that picture of Carter just made me not give a damn anymore. What was the sense of holding back and doing the decent thing when he was obviously not thinking about me in that way? This wasn’t revenge, Gray. It was me giving in to what I’ve wanted to do since we spent the night together in the barn.”
“And you’re sure about that?”
“Yes.”
Silence fell between us, and slowly my lips curved into a smile. Ozzie tiptoed his fingers up my arm and to my cheek. He brushed the back of his fingers against my skin. I turned my head and kissed his palm. “What now?”
He’d put back on Carter’s ring. I twisted the band on his finger.
“I’m not going to marry Carter, Gray.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“I want to kiss you and learn ranch things with you and make love to you.”
“Yeah?”
“Hmm.”
“You know, even if you don’t marry Carter, it doesn’t make this okay.”
“I know.”
“He’s going to hate us.”
“I know I should be upset about that, but the fact that I’m not says a lot. What about you? You’ve always wanted to have a relationship with him. I don’t want to come between you two.”
“I don’t know what will happen. When are you going to tell him?”
“When he gets here. I can’t do it over the phone.”
“Yeah, I agree.”
“Do you think I should ask him to cut his trip short because we have something urgent to discuss? Not that he’d do it anyway.”
