Page 117 of Lost Trust

“Good,” he says.

I blink. “Good?”

His hand flexes against my backside. He tugs me more tightly against him and lowers his mouth to my hair.

“I’m a selfish man, Rina.” His voice is quiet against my ear. “I don’t like sharing.”

My heart stutters.

Before I can decide what to do with that, he releases me.

He adjusts his hat and gives me that maddeningly confident look. “And there was nothing casual about that weekend. I was wrecked when I woke up in that hotel alone. I’d thought it was the beginning.”

“The beginning of what?”

“Us.”

He walks away, leaving me standing in the middle of the dance floor, staring after him, my pulse still hammering.

Because the worst part is, I know he’s right.

I took off that morning out of pure fear.

I had gone into that night telling myself it didn’t mean anything. That Royce Trust was just a man who happened to be there when I needed something—anything—to take my mind off the wreckage of my relationship with Blaze.

One reckless decision.

One night that turned into two.

Nothing more.

Except by Monday morning, I knew better.

Somewhere between the way Royce had held me and the way he’d looked at me, something had shifted. Something I hadn’t been prepared for.

I knew then and there that I could fall for him.

Hard.

Fast.

And that terrified the hell out of me.

So I made another rash decision, and I ran straight back to Blaze.

He talked me into giving us another chance, and I let him. Not because I thought we could fix what was broken, but because going back was familiar. Comfortable. Easier than admitting that a man I barely knew had gotten under my skin in a way Blaze never had.

I told myself I was making the right choice. Fighting for the relationship I’d already invested so much of myself in.

The truth was, I was choosing the life that didn’t scare me.

Because the last thing I needed was another reckless cowboy in my life—especially one I suspected wasn’t looking for anything more.

Royce

I leave Marina on the dance floor because if I don’t, I’m liable to do something stupid.

It takes everything I have to walk away.