Page 36 of The Maverick’s Legacy

Carly tried her best not to let hope rise in her at his words. Because he’d probably run for the hills after this conversation tonight.

“I thought maybe this wasn’t working for you and you’d prefer for us to be friends. You don’t call or text much and…”

Her voice trailed off as he ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up adorably. She refused to be distracted. His head dropped as he muttered, “I knew I was going to be bad at this. You only want to be friends?”

“No!” she was quick to answer. “I want us to date, but…”

His eyes locked on her. “But what?”

She looked up at the night sky, feeling humiliated. If she still wished on stars, she would have begged to get out of this situation.

Jesse finally took a step toward her. “Talk to me.”

“Why don’t you want to kiss me?” When he looked at her with a completely stunned expression, her face flamed. She wanted nothing more than to go inside and cry. She muttered, “Forget it.”

She turned to enter her house. She didn’t make it two steps before Jesse grabbed her and swung her around to face him.

Before she could ask what he was doing, he cupped her cheeks and kissed her hard. She stiffened in shock for half a second before she relaxed into the kiss. Jesse loosened the pressure so he could angle his head. She gasped for air but was cut off as he kissed her again, his tongue dipping into her mouth. Hers danced with his in a sensuous rhythm. Jesse’s hands drifted to the twist in her hair and began pulling out the bobby pins.

He pulled back enough to say, “I love your hair. I have dreams about it.”

The locks tumbled wildly around her shoulders. Carly was sure it looked like she’d been electrocuted considering how much hairspray she’d put into it before she left the house, but she didn’t care as she wrapped her arms around him and pulled his mouth back to hers with a moan.

His hands wrapped around her, his palms lowering until they were on her curvy bottom. He pulled her even closer, and she arched against him, desire pooling between her thighs.

He pulled away with a shuddering breath before leaning his forehead against hers. “I’ve wanted to kiss you from the first second I saw you. I definitely want to date you. I’m just a little out of practice… and I was trying to be a gentleman.”

Carly licked at her lips, drawing his eyes in the faint light of her porch.

“Don’t be a gentleman,” she murmured.

With a groan, he pulled her back into his arms.

Chapter Thirteen

Carly drove down the road a few days later, humming to herself. Three nights ago, she and Jesse had made out on her front porch like a couple of teenagers, and then when their mouths were finally both too sore to kiss anymore, Jesse pulled back and said he needed to get going.

But before he left, he reached inside his pocket and pulled something out. He handed it to her with a wink and said Good night, Carly in a tone that made her shiver.

After he left and she went inside, she glanced down to see what he’d handed her. It had been the bobby pins he’d pulled from her hair. The sight of them made heat coil inside her all over again, and she’d gone in the bathroom to take a cool shower.

They’d spent the next day texting with silly little tidbits about what they were doing. Carly had to repair some stalls in her barn, while Jesse had to work on his future home. She’d sent him a picture of Nieve, and he’d responded that he could feel the horse’s judgment through the pixels.

Carly was falling fast and hard, even as she tried to put a brake on her emotions. Just because Jesse was an incredible kisser and he’d confirmed he wanted to date, it didn’t mean he wanted—or was ready to offer—forever with her. She needed to proceed with caution like she did with every other relationship in her life.

She was pulled from her thoughts when she saw a familiar teen walking down the road. What on earth was Oscar doing? He had his backpack on, and he was coming from the direction of the high school, but…he couldn’t have walked the whole distance. The school was miles away.

She pulled up next to him and hit the button on the passenger side window. “Hey, Oscar,” she called out as to not scare him. Lord knows she would not react well if a car pulled up next to her and she didn’t know who the person was.

He stopped walking, but he didn’t look at her. “Hi, Carly.”

“Where you coming from?”

“School.”

Carly’s mouth dropped as he confirmed what she’d suspected. “That’s pretty far away. Did you miss the bus?”

He sniffed. “Felt like walking.”