“He’s done it twice.” That Dean knows about, anyway.
“Yeah, well, he’s been salivating over you all damn night. It’s pathetic.”
Uh-huh, and while Spencer was watching me, I was watching Dean. Does that make me pathetic, too?
“Look, I appreciate you stepping in. I don’t know what else to do to make him stop. But do you have any idea how frustrating these mixed signals are? One night, you swear you and I are never going to happen, and the next, you’re telling people we’re together.”
He stops a few feet away and locks his hands behind his head. “What do you want from me, Tessa? Honestly?”
“What?” I already told him, I—
“A little taste of the forbidden? Maybe something you can hold over your brothers’ heads? Or is it the casual fuck you’re after?”
“I already told you this isn’t about them,” I grit out, though my voice trembles. He has to be the most infuriating man I’ve ever met.
“So, it’s sex.”
No. Maybe. I don’t know. “I just… I like you.”
“You don’t know me, sweetness.” He shakes his head, and a crooked smile breaks through the frustration.
“I know your type.” And Idoknow him. We may not have talked a ton at Christmas, but I watched him. I listened.
A low laugh escapes his throat, and I shiver. “If you think I’m gonna soften up like Holden and Kaden have for Alana and Carly, you’re wrong.”
“Trust me, that’s the last thing I want.”
I love that my brothers have found women who make them happy, but I’ve only been out of college for a year, and I’ve just started my career. I’m not looking to settle down, much less with a man who lives in another state.
“But would it be so wrong to let go and see what happens? You’ve admitted you’re attracted to me. I know this isn’t one-sided.” I step forward, acutely aware of the desperation dripping from my words. But something tells me that Dean and I together would be the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time, even if it’s just for a night.
He hesitates but eventually puts one foot in the front of the other until he’s so close I have to tip my head back to see his face.
“No one has to know,” I whisper and lay even more of myself bare to him. “I promise I won’t turn psycho on you. At least not any more than I already have.”
He flashes that grin again and lifts his hand, tracing a single knuckle along my jaw. “You’re determined, not crazy.”
My shoulders ease with relief as I reach for his side. “I’m glad to hear you say that. I was genuinely starting to worry you thought otherwise.”
“Nah. You’ve just made your intentions clearer than most. That’s a helluva turn-on.”
“Is it?” The fabric of his shirt is crisp beneath my fingers as I hold his waist with both hands. He’s paired the button-down with black slacks and dress shoes that would make it hard to tell he’s a ranch foreman and not something more businesslike. I like knowing the truth. It feels like a little secret between us.
“Last night, you said you wanted a kiss.” His thumb glides across my bottom lip.
I swallow hard. “It’d be a nice place to start.”
“And what if I don’t want to stop at a kiss?”
“I was kinda hoping that would be the case.”
He chuckles low and dips his head, brushing the tip of his nose against mine. “You have the prettiest mouth, sweetness. I never would have expected so much sass to come from something that looks so perfect.”
“There’s nothing perfect about me,” I whisper. My hips are wide, my stomach is round, I snore a little when I sleep, and I’m a complete bed hog. I also can’t cook to save my life, and I might’ve lied about not wanting more.
Of courseI want more. Dean is amazing. And handsome. And he smells so freaking good that I want to take a bite out of him.
But we live different lives in different places, and as much as he’s exactly the kind of man I’ve finally come to terms with truly wanting, more than a night together simply isn’t in the cards.
