Made him want to stay somewhere long enough to see what could grow between them if he stopped running and she stopped being afraid.
Made him want to be the kind of man who deserved her.
"Dustin."
Her voice was different, lower, with a breathiness that made every nerve in his body come alive. She was looking at him like she was seeing him for the first time, like the afternoon had changed the space between them in ways that couldn't be reversed.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. For bringing me here, for letting me meet Thunder. For..." She gestured vaguely, encompassing the barn and the horses and the world he'd introduced her to. "For today."
"Thank you for coming with me."
They were standing close enough that he could smell her perfume mixed with hay and horse and the scent of her skin. Close enough that when she looked up at him, he could see her eyes, the way her lips parted slightly.
Close enough that when she rose up on her toes and kissed him, it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
Like this was what they'd been moving toward since the moment they'd met.
Her lips were soft and tentative at first, like she was testing his reaction, giving him a chance to pull away if this was a mistake. Instead, he slid his hands into her hair and kissed her back, tasting coffee and possibility and sweetness that was purely her.
She made a small sound in the back of her throat and pressed closer, her hands fisting in the front of his shirt like she was afraid he might disappear if she didn't hold on tight enough. The kiss deepened, became hungry and desperate, had nothing to do with careful consideration and everything to do with a week of wanting each other while pretending they were just landlady and tenant.
A week of falling in love and being too scared to admit it.
When they finally broke apart, they were both breathing hard, and Vanessa's cheeks were flushed in a way that made him want to kiss her again, longer and deeper, until she forgot every reason why this was complicated.
Until she forgot everything except how good they were together.
Her lips were swollen from his kiss, and he wanted to see what else he could make swell. Wanted to taste every inch of her until she was begging him for more.
"That was..." she started.
"A mistake?" he asked, though he was already reaching for her again, his hand sliding down to cup her hip, pulling her against him so she could feel exactly what she did to him.
"I don't know." Her hands were still fisted in his shirt, holding him close even as she looked uncertain. But her hips pressed forward, fitting against him in a way that made his breath catch. "Probably."
"Probably."
"Definitely."
"So we shouldn't do it again."
"Definitely shouldn't."
But she didn't let go of his shirt, and when he lowered his head to kiss her again, she met him halfway with an eagerness that told him she was just as lost as he was. This time there was nothing tentative about it. She kissed him like she'd been thinking about it for a week, like she was tired of being careful and ready to find out what happened when she wasn't.
Like she'd been falling just as hard as he had.
His hands slid down her back to grip her hips, pulling her impossibly closer. Her body pressed against his was soft and real and everything he'd been imagining during those early morning showers when he could hear her moving around on the other side of the wall. She fit against him perfectly, her curves molding to his body like she'd been made specifically to drive him out of his mind with wanting her.
He cupped her breast through her t-shirt, and she gasped into his mouth. No bra. Jesus. He could feel her nipple pebble up under his palm, and the knowledge that she was responding to him made him hard as a rock.
"Dustin," she breathed against his lips, and the way she said his name nearly undid him.
"Tell me to stop," he said, even as his thumb circled her nipple through the thin fabric. "Tell me this is a bad idea and I'll stop."
"It's a terrible idea," she said, but her hands were sliding under his shirt, her fingers tracing the muscles of his abdomen. "The worst."
