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“When I decided to live here in Gravenhurst permanently, I knew the cottage wouldn’t do as a year-round home. It’s isolated in the winter and, well, I wanted to be in town for the kids.” She shrugged. “I can only handle so much and running two homes was becoming harder to do. Besides, we’re close to the water here and the kids will still get to enjoy the lake.”
“You love that cottage.”
She nodded. “Yes. I do. But that’s life, I guess. We don’t always get what we want.”
“Sometimes we’ve got to work for it,” Teague murmured, and they both knew he was talking about something entirely different. The game changed in an instant. Her eyes flew to his and that spark of electricity lit up like a rocket. Suddenly hot, he yanked on his tie harder and set his coffee down on the counter.
Keep your shit together.
She watched him for a few moments, so quiet and still that he was starting to get worried. Had he read everything wrong?
“Why did you go to Paris?” she asked throwing him off balance.
Well played.
“There was a little girl named Amber and she needed my help.”
“Oh,” she said, slowly. She bit her bottom lip and looked as if she was struggling with something. “Is she okay? I mean, did you help her?”
“Yeah,” he said eventually. “It took some time but we were able to get her help and end a nightmare that no child should live through.”
Her eyes fell away from his and she played with the handle of her cup of coffee. “Okay,” she said, still looking down. “That’s good. I mean, I’m glad that you were there for her.”
Long moments ticked by. Long moments where Teague couldn’t drag his eyes from Sabrina. Long moments where she seemed fascinated with her coffee cup.
“When you said that last night…” She began hesitantly.
Teague p
ushed off from the counter, but didn’t move forward. He needed all of his moves to be the right ones. And no way was he rushing things.
“When you said that you loved me,” Sabrina continued, her voice shaking a little. “Have you ever been in love before?” Those big blue eyes of hers were fixed on him and they shimmered beneath the lights overhead.
“No.” There was no hesitation. He answered her directly and took a step forward. “Never.”
“Not even once,” she replied, eyes widening.
“No. Not even once.”
“I have.” The words were whispered. “How did you know?” she asked.
“How did I know what?” Teague frowned slightly, taking a step closer to Sabrina.
“You’ve never been in love before. How do you know what you feel for me is real? We had what, four or five weeks together in the summer? And then you left. You just left and…and I know you had reasons. Dallas and that little girl. I get that. But I can’t help but wonder how you know that what you feel is love? How do you know it’s not something else?”
She wasn’t making this easy.
“What else could it be?” he asked, searching for the right thing to say. Where the hell was Tucker when he needed him? The guy had all the right words.
She made a strangled sound. “Teague, this thing you feel could be anything. It could be lust or the thrill of the chase. It could be infatuation. It could be…” Breathless she stood there looking at him, that precious face of hers open and honest and confused as hell.
Teague took those last steps. He moved fast and took her unaware. He sank his hands into that silky hair that he’d been dying to touch all evening, and he swept his mouth across hers. She stilled, held her body stiff. At first his touch was gentle, nothing more than a whisper across her lips. But when he felt her relax, he took command and pressed into her, his tongue seeking and stroking and claiming what was his.
She melted against him and he took advantage, his free hand roamed hungrily across her body and down her back until he cupped her ass and pulled her in so that there was no doubt as to how worked up he was.
Teague kissed her until he felt that thread inside him—the one keeping him together—begin to unravel. When he finally pulled away, they were both breathing heavily. He stared down into her eyes and felt that unmistakable pull inside him. The one that had been gnawing at him for months.
With one more kiss to her forehead, he stepped away. He walked back to where he’d left his coffee mug and poured the remnants into the sink. Then he loaded it into the dishwasher, trying like hell to put out the fire in his gut. Especially the one that had his cock bulging out of his damn pants. He wanted her so badly that it was painful, but he knew that this went way beyond the physical. This was so much more and there was no way in hell he was going to screw it up.
