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The music kicks up into a faster rhythm, yet we stay locked together, melded like two halves of a whole. I don’t realize how little self-control I have then when I’m in front of Delilah. As we dance, my hands run over her hips, following her curves, the dip of her spine. Can’t get enough of her. I pull her against me, on me, all over me. She’s a flash of gold, of pouty pink lips, wild and molten and beautiful.

“Cole, everyone’s staring,” she murmurs.

“Let ’em.” I slowly slide a hand around her tiny waist.

She tips her head at the booth of women. Makes a disgruntled face. “Especially them.”

My chest heaves with a determined breath. “They won’t talk about you again.”

She bats her lashes, her lips curving into a curious smile. “What’d you do? Threaten them with death?”

I grunt. Wouldn’t be the first time.

I give her a small twirl, then bring her back to me. “Boot in their ass. It’s the only way.”

Giggling, Delilah presses against me, soft and warm. She bats her lashes, says in a breathless, beautiful whisper, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re afraid of me, Cole Weston.”

“Yeah, darlin’.” My hands grip her hips. “I am.” She’s called it straight and true.

“Why?”

“Because it’d be too easy.”

“Too easy to what?”

“To keep you,” I say, and her eyes widen.

The words are careless, reckless even, but they fall easily from my lips. I’ve known her for less than a month, but I’ve shared more with her than anyone. My patience has run out. Whatever’s between us, I won’t take back. It’s not the kind of man I am.

Hands sliding up her cheeks, I kiss her, soft and slow and uncaring of who sees. Delilah whimpers, then her arms of velvet wind around my neck.

Damn this girl’s secrets. But I don’t care anymore. I care about her. I care that she’s on my ranch, that talking to her is like an unraveling, that her light pushes at every crack in my defenses.

I’ve never felt so alive.

I need to get a grip on myself, and yet, at the same time, I want more.

Delilah sways when we pull back, panting and dazed. “Well…” Her hand lifts to her swollen lips, and she gives me a sexy little smile. “You sure know how to make a girl happy, cowboy.”

I step closer, erasing any inch of space that’s ever existed between her gorgeous body and mine. I can’t take my eyes off her, let alone let her go. “I’m not done with you.”

There’s flirtation in her eyes, and she nods her agreement.

But before I can say anything further, there’s the clatter of glassware. The mood shatters the instant I look to the source of the noise.

Tyler Hale and River are squared up. Tyler says something to River, which causes him to storm in the direction of the Sawyers’ table.

Smirking, Ty follows, Deputy Craddock at his side like a bulldog.

I pause our dance. “Shit.”

Delilah’s in my arms, so close I can feel the hammer of her heart. “Cole? What’s wrong?”

“Cops,” I say, and she flinches. I don’t miss the way she backs up into me, into the shadows of the dance floor.

Before I can say anything, there’s the sound of shattering glass. I whip my head to the left in time to see River slam a hand on the Sawyers’ table. I let Delilah out of my arms and move her to the side of the dance floor. “Stay here.” The last thing I want her involved in is a bar fight.

I head for River.