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“You really are crazy.”
He nodded as she continued to laugh. He looked down and reached toward her. She followed his gaze, her eyes widening when she realized her shirt was gaping open from where he’d started to unbutton it.
She reached to close it but he beat her to it, except he didn’t hook the buttons back. He slid the material apart further, exposing the top curve of her breasts.
Her heart was pounding as he brushed the back of his fingers across her skin. “What are you doing, Jesse?”
He inhaled a deep breath and traced a finger up her throat. “Touching you.”
His head lifted enough she could see his eyes. There wasn’t any laughter there or teasing mockery. His intense heated gaze was filled with what she thought was lust. Her throat tightened, her pulse leaped and when his fingers started tracing a path back down her chest, her breath caught in her throat.
Eighteen
She was holding her breath. Jesse pulled his hand away. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her. “So,” he said, lowering his hand. “Were you really going to marry Hugh Jacobs?”
She took a breath, the tension on her face falling away, and she wasted no time saying, “No.”
The relief he felt hearing that simple little word was profound. “Why?”
She glanced away and shrugged. “Hugh is a nice guy but nice isn’t enough for me.”
“And what is enough?”
“I want what my pa had with my ma.” She toyed with a string pulling loose from one of the buttons on his shirt. “I want a man who would do anything to have me. One who would fight for me with his last breath. A man who wouldn’t let anything or anyone stand in his way to protect me.” She looked back up at him. “I want a man who loves me for who I am, not for who he thinks I am.”
“That’s a pretty tall order, Avery. Good luck finding a man like that.” He grinned at the expression on her face. “Don’t look so shocked. Name one man in his right mind who would put up with you for more than a week? The first time you didn’t get your way, you’d be jumping on his back, giving him a beat down while screaming like a wild thing.”
She smacked him on the chest. “You’re not funny.”
He laughed. “I’m not trying to be. I’m just letting you know your options are pretty limited, especially now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you already have a husband.” The words, “and I’m not letting you go,” were on the tip of his tongue but he didn’t voice them aloud.
Their hasty marriage may have been a fools idea to get her to go home but getting her to the altar had been on his mind for years and from the moment she promised to love, honor and cherish him, he was determined to see she did just that. He just had to find a way to get her to see she didn’t hate him as much as she claimed she did.
“This marriage isn’t real, Jesse.”
“So you keep saying.”
She lifted up on her elbow and glared at him. “It’s just names on a piece of paper. It’s not legal until it’s consummated.”
“Is that an invitation?” He hoped like hell it was. Her shirt was still gaping open, the lovely curve of her breast right in front of him and it was taking everything in him not to reach for her again.
“You wish.”
He leaned up, mimicking her posture by propping his weight on his elbow. “Afraid?”
“Of you?” She snorted a laugh. “Never.”
“Prove it, then. Kiss me.”
She blinked and hesitated for a moment before lifting her arrogant chin, then leaned forward, her warm mouth meeting his. It was a quick little peck on the lips but she looked pleased with herself when she leaned back.
He laughed. “What was that?”
“A kiss.”
