"Oh God," she gasped. "Right there. Don't stop."
"Never," he promised. He'd never stop. Never leave. Never let her go.
When her climax hit, it was with his name on her lips and her eyes locked on his, her body clenching around him so hard hesaw stars. It pulled his own release from him in waves that left him shaking and spent.
He collapsed beside her, pulling her close, and they lay tangled together in the morning light, neither wanting to break the spell that had settled over them. But reality had a way of creeping in, and eventually she stirred in his arms.
"I really do have to get ready," she said, though she made no move to leave the bed.
"I know." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, breathing in the scent of her shampoo mixed with sex and satisfaction. "But first, tell me about these interviews."
She was silent for a moment, and he could feel the tension creeping back into her body.
"One's for a buyer position at a smaller chain, but the pay is terrible. The other is with a consulting firm that wants someone to help struggling retailers reorganize their inventory systems."
"That sounds like something you'd be good at."
"Maybe. If they actually want to hire someone instead of just going through the motions." She sat up, pulling the sheet around her. "The temp agency might have something short-term, but nothing permanent."
Nothing permanent. The words hung between them, loaded with meaning that went beyond job security. He thought about Jake's message, about the rodeo in Oklahoma and the choice that was getting harder to avoid.
The choice that wasn't really a choice at all anymore.
"Vanessa..."
"I should shower," she said, slipping out of bed before he could finish the thought. "Rain check on that conversation we need to have?"
She was running, putting distance between them now that the intimacy of morning sex was fading into daylight reality. He wanted to pull her back to bed, make her talk to him, force theconversation they were both avoiding. Instead, he watched her wrap a robe around herself and disappear into the bathroom.
The shower started, and he lay back against her pillows, trying to figure out when his life had gotten so complicated. Three weeks ago, his biggest concern had been healing his ankle fast enough to get back on the circuit. Now he was lying in bed trying to decide whether love was worth giving up everything he'd thought he wanted.
Except that was a lie. He'd already decided. Love was worth everything. She was worth everything.
Love. The word didn't scare him the way it should have. Somewhere between her awkward questions about his horse and the way she'd kissed him in that barn, he'd fallen completely and irrevocably in love with Vanessa Baldwin.
The woman who needed stability more than anything else in the world.
The woman who deserved better than a broken-down cowboy with no permanent address and a profession that might cripple him before he turned thirty-five.
Except maybe he could be better. Maybe he could be the man she needed. Maybe love was enough to make him want to try.
His phone buzzed again. Another message from Jake:Seriously, man. Bill says your ankle's good enough. Don't let whatever's got you spooked keep you from getting back out there. This is who you are.
This is who you are. Jake was wrong. This wasn't who he was anymore. The man who'd moved into this house three weeks ago would have been packed and gone by now, chasing the next rodeo and the next eight-second ride. But the man lying in Vanessa's bed, breathing in her scent and listening to her shower, wanted a different life.
He wanted to be the kind of man who could give her what she needed. The kind who could promise her tomorrow and nextmonth and next year without flinching. The kind who could love her without leaving.
And maybe, just maybe, he could be that man.
When she emerged from the bathroom twenty minutes later, dressed in another conservative business suit with her hair pulled back, the distance between them felt like miles instead of feet.
But he could cross that distance. He would cross it.
"Coffee's ready," he said, pulling on his jeans. "And I meant what I said about driving you."
"That's not necessary."
"Maybe not necessary, but I want to."
