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She shook her head. “Never mind.”
He leaned forward, taking her hand once again in his. Potent lust and need radiated from their connection. “Say what you were going to say.”
Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she said, “If it’s important to you, then that’s all that should matter. Why care what anyone else thinks? You really want to be a chef, that’s what you should do.”
He stared at her in the moonlight. The air was thick and humid with tension. His need coiled tight, threatening to snap. The grey clouds overhead moved, painting them in darkness once again. The wind picked up, the energy in the air shifting. The old house creaked as a rush of icy wind blew over them. A warning. A storm was coming.
The push-pull of his emotions clashed inside him. Her touch was intoxicating. A raw hunger unlike anything he’d ever felt roared in his veins. If he were a stronger man, he’d go upstairs, pack his things, and leave before this got too mixed up—admit his defeat and go back to New York.
He leaned forward. Her hand trembled in his. Jasmine’s soft gasp made him freeze. Every muscle in his body was taut with unhinged need for this woman before him. A woman he had no business wanting.
“I-I’d better go to bed.” She shot up from her seat, pulling her hand from his and disappearing into the house. His chest heaved as he gulped in fresh oxygen. His body vibrated. What the fuck was that? He eyed the bottle of moonshine and shook his head. What was he doing? He scrubbed his hand over his face and sighed. He was here to do a job. Every time he was around that woman, everything else left his thoughts. She consumed him. And it was only getting worse.
She needed the money, his money. She could start over, and make an easier life for her and her daughter. She needed a loan and, from what he’d overheard, a new car. He could offer her a solution. Offering her money would help relieve most of her stress. But why did that feel so wrong? Could he really trade everything he’d worked so hard for, all that he’d sacrificed, for Jasmine? She’d find another inn. Something smaller and in her budget.
But that isn’t what she wants. No, this land meant something to her.
So where did that leave him?
