Which wasn’t to say that Jeremiah was my favorite. He wasn’t even in the same category as all the othercowboys in my mind. There was Jeremiah, and then there was everyone else.
“Thanks, Lennon.” Liam raised his plate to me, then grabbed a biscuit.
“Yeah, thanks, Lennon.” Seb was at my elbow with a plate of his own. “I’m starving.”
“Amos and Cecily did most of it.” I suspected they knew that, but I hated taking credit I didn’t deserve. I craved head pats as much as any average girl who didn’t get enough attention from her parents, but I liked to earn them.
“Yeah, but we pay them.” Seb winked. I liked him, too, and I had a feeling a lot of girls felt the same way. It couldn’t be more obvious if he’d had a neon sign flashing on his forehead:Great fuck, terrible boyfriend.
Fine by me. Men were more trouble than they were worth, and it was the biggest disappointment of my life that I remained attracted to them. The last thing I needed was a new boyfriend when I was still dealing with the fallout from the last one. A great fuck, though…I wouldn’t say no to that. Depending on who was making the offer.
My gaze strayed to Jeremiah like it was pulled there by a magnet. I didn’t try to kid myself about what that meant. I had made a promise to myself a long time ago, and I had kept it every day since. Everyone else might lie to me, but I never would.
I wanted him.
I wanted him, and unless he’d had a flashlight shoved down his pants during the storm this morning, he wanted me, too. Judging from the way he stood, arms crossed over his broad chest, a clipboard clenched in one hand, lips flattened to a grim line, he wasn’t too happy about that. He hadn’t looked at me once since I’d come in ten minutes ago to set up breakfast for them.
And he hadn’t gone near the food.
My eyes narrowed. The cowboys we’d fed earlier had gobbled up the food like they hadn’t eaten in a week. Ranch work led to big appetites. So Jeremiah standing there, refusing to take a single bite? Yeah, I took that personally.
“Are you hungry?” I asked. “I could fix you a plate.”
He had been glaring at Seb next to me, but now he turned his face away so all I could see was his profile. His throat bobbed as he swallowed. He shook his head, heightened color cresting his cheekbone.
I couldn’t resist poking at him, just a little. If he couldn’t eat my food and fucking like it, then at least he could have the decency to meet my eyes. I wanted him to look at me like he had this morning, the way his blue-gray eyes were blazing hot and soft all at the same time.
Honey.
It wasn’t the first time someone had called me that, but it was the first time it hadn’t been condescending and so damn smug. The way Jeremiah said it, it flowed warm and sweet through my veins.
And now he wouldn’t even look at me.
“You look flushed.” I crossed the room to him. “Maybe you have a fever?”
I lifted my hand, but Jeremiah was faster. His hand snapped to my wrist like one of those old slap bracelets my mom kept from when she was a kid.Shit. I’d gotten what I wanted, made him look at me, but now that I had it, it felt like a lot more than I had bargained for.
For the breathless space of a heartbeat, I had the crazy notion that he was going to kiss me, right here in front of three cowboys, a cowgirl, and—for reasons that remained unclear to me—one very fluffy chicken. But of course he didn’t.
Slowly, he lowered our hands and stepped back, his eyes still locked on mine. “Don’t get too close. You might catch it.”
Too late for that.
THE GUARDIAN
My hands shook as I gripped the steering wheel. That wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to turn the other way. The other way! I wanted him hurt, not dead.
Maybe he wasn’t dead. I hoped he wasn’t. I didn’t mean for it to happen like this. I got out of my car on unsteady legs, looked both ways, then crossed the road. It was still dark out, and the rain was coming down something fierce. I shined my flashlight. He didn’t go too far—not all the way to the bottom. A tree stopped his descent. I breathed a sigh of relief and then dashed back to my warm, dry car.
He was going to be fine. The universe was looking out for me. Maybe he’ll have, like, a broken arm or something. That should keep him away for a few weeks.
Soaked to the bone, my teeth chattering, I crankedthe heat. Three miles down the road, I pulled over and reached for my phone. Hesitated. Can they trace the call back to me? I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth. Better not risk it.
I pulled back on the road, following the twisty Mercy River, but half a mile later I pulled over again. Fuck. I had to. I couldn’t just leave him there.
“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?” a woman’s voice answered.
“I just saw someone drive over the cliff!” I made my voice high and panicked. “Hideaway Road.”
