AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Knox lifted a hand and ran his thumb along her jaw. “I’m where I want to be. With you. We have things to talk about.”
Jana bit her lip. “I don’t know if I have any answers about us, if that’s what you’re referring to.”
He nodded, then moved his hand behind her neck and into her hair. “I don’t want answers. I just want a chance, sweetheart.”
Jana’s hazel eyes welled with tears.
“Don’t cry,” he whispered, because his own throat was tight. “I have a lot of plans, and one of them will stick.”
“Knox…”
“I’m serious,” he said. “Can you hear me out?”
She exhaled and ran her hands up his chest. Touching was good. Touching was promising and meant she wasn’t about to tell him to leave. When her hands reached his shoulders, she said, “Okay.”
“Okay?”
She nodded, biting that lip again. He inched closer, and when she ran her fingers into his hair, he pressed his mouth lightly against hers.
The kiss was slow, but it wasn’t a goodbye, it was something new. Like a seed planted in the spring, eager to grow into something stronger and more beautiful. Knox pulled her close again. Every part of his soul felt connected to Jana, and it was a heady sensation.
Jana sighed against him, then drew away. Tilting her head, she said, “Are you sure about all of this, Knox? I mean, I’m just a small-town girl, and you’ve got fans all over the nation. What if you get bored?”
“All that stuff out there isn’t real,” he said. “The bull-riding is real, sure, but not the relationships. Those people don’t know who I am inside. You do.”
The smallest smile appeared. “I do.”
“And I’m hoping you believe me when I say all that stuff I went through is behind me,” he said. “Way behind me. I wish I’d never gone through any of it, but since it led me back to you, I’m grateful.”
Jana’s fingers slid along his neck, then down his chest, sending a path of goose bumps across his skin. “Come on inside,” she said.
She moved to grab her bag, but Knox said, “I’ve got it.”
Her smile went straight to his heart. “Why, thank you, Mr. Bull-Rider.”
He winked. “Anytime, sweetheart.”
Hand in hand, they walked into her house. They headed into the kitchen, where Jana poured two glasses of water, then sat at the table.
Knox pulled his chair out and sat across from her; even though he’d rather be closer, this distance was good for what they had to talk about. “I need your parents’ address,” he said. “I aim to visit your dad and see if we can’t get some of this stuff put behind us.”
Jana’s brows shot up. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Knox. I mean, he’s canceling the grant request, but…”
When she didn’t continue, he filled in, “He still has a problem with me?”
“Yeah.” Jana looked down at her glass of water. “I think it will soften in time, but right now…” She met his gaze. “I think a little more time is needed.”
Knox rubbed a hand over his jaw. “If you don’t want me to discuss our current relationship, then that’s fine. But I need to get the past out in the open. It’s the only way to clean the festering wound.”
Jana looked away. “I don’t know. He was livid this morning, and I think the only way I made it through that meeting was because Natalie was there. She made him toe the line, and since she’s a lawyer, she can do that. I’m… dependent on them for my livelihood. I hate to admit it, since I’m a grown woman, but this is my job.”
“I get it, I really do, but this goes back to before you were working for their jam company,” Knox said. “I need to apologize to him in person; there’s no other way for me to do this.”
Jana closed her eyes. When she opened them, she said, “I just don’t want to make it worse, you know.”
“Enough time has passed since we were in high school,” Knox said. “Whether or not your dad wants to face the reality of his daughter making her own choices is his issue, not yours. You decide what your choice is, and then that’s what he will have to live with.”
Jana exhaled and rested her hands on the table. “You sound like my sister.”
