AllFreeNovel
Share Us
To be safe, he grabbed her arm and marched her back behind the barn for relative privacy. "It was a stupid mistake," he said through gritted teeth. "And I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't talk about it in front of everyone."
"Well if you don't want anyone to find out about it, you probably shouldn't be sticking your tongue down her throat in the middle of the bar."
He didn't bother to point out that his tongue hadn’t been down her throat at that point. Rather it had slid just inside her lips, gliding against hers, gently tasting.
He cursed silently as the mere memory of it sent a tight feeling to his groin. He tried to shove it aside, but had no better luck now than he had for the past twelve or so hours. Over and over he relived it in his head.
The hot caress of her breath against his lips right before they made contact. The flowery, womanly scent of her skin, the silky fall of her hair teasing the back of his hand. And oh, God, the taste of her... hot, sweet, delicious. Flooding his senses and taking over until the memory of that brief kiss chased out the memory of every woman who had ever come before.
Christ, he was an idiot. He never should have touched her. Not when he'd been fantasizing for years about how good it would be. One kiss proved to be even better than he ever could have imagined. And now that he had a taste of her, he didn't know how the hell he was going to stay away.
"How's it a mistake? You've had a crush on her for years, and clearly she was into it—"
"I'm really tired of having this same conversation with you," JT said tightly. "I have good reasons not to take it any further."
Paulina blew a raspberry at him to show her opinion of his reasons. "I know you worry about Colleen being an employee, but it's not like she's some wide-eyed college girl chasing after a cowboy fantasy."
"She's also Liam's little sister. That means she's off limits."
"That whole thou shalt not go after your friend's sister is bullshit. I mean do you really think Liam is going to beat you up if you sleep with Colleen? You're not in high school any more. You're both adults."
"Thanks for your opinion, but it's not a good idea. Now did you come up here expressly to annoy me or is there something you need to talk to me about?"
Paulina told him she'd finally gotten Dad and the uncles to agree to set up mountain bike rentals for the guests. "They say they can only ride in the afternoon when there are no horseback riders out, which will suck on a hot day like today," she groused.
As she talked, JT's mind kept wandering back to that kiss, and to his sister's words. You've had a crush on her forever. While true, he hated that it made him sound like the dorky sixteen-year-old he’d once been, panting after her like a puppy dog.
And clearly she was into it.
That was the part that was hardest to ignore. The way she'd leaned into him, lips parting, her tongue sliding eagerly against his tongue as her fingers sank into his hair. The soft, breathy little sound she made in the back of her throat, telling him she was experiencing the same roaring heat as he was.
Maybe Paulina was right. They were both adults now, and the attraction was clearly mutual.
Then he thought about his friendship with Liam, their history as friends and neighbors, their small town whose citizens who were way too wrapped up in each other's business...
Not to mention all the baggage Colleen was carrying around. Too much potential for things to get messy, for feelings to get hurt. He'd crossed the line once. He wouldn't do it again.
Colleen took a bite of her chicken and surreptitiously checked her phone where it rested in her lap. Two days, and nothing from JT other than a curt "OK" when she asked if someone else could cover happy hour at the ranch tonight so she could have dinner with her mom and Liam.
The one word—did OK even count as a word?—reply was the only thing she'd heard from him since the night he'd kissed her.
Even now, as she pushed her dinner around her plate, the memory made her lips—not to mention a few other parts of her body—tingle. The feel of his big, calloused hand wrapping around her neck. The faint rasp of stubble against his lips as they came down on hers.
And the way he parted her lips with his tongue, the way he gently slid it against hers like she was the best thing he'd ever tasted...
It was, hands down, the best first kiss she'd ever experienced. And he'd enjoyed it too, damnit! So why was he acting all weird and going no-contact on her?
"Don't you think, Colleen?"
Colleen snapped out of her reverie at her mom's question. She blinked hard, focusing on her mom's lined face. Although Eileen's appetite had improved somewhat over the past couple of weeks, she'd still consumed even less of her chicken and roasted potatoes than Colleen had.
Colleen forked another potato in her mouth on the off chance her mother would follow her example. "Sorry, I spaced out a second."
"I was just saying that I think it's odd, is all, for a mother to move halfway across the country from her children."
"People get divorced and remarried," Liam said. He stabbed a piece of chicken like he wanted to kill it a second time. "It happens all the time."
"Of course it does," her mom fretted, "but for a woman to give up primary custody of her young child, it just seems unnatural. Children need their mothers."
