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Her eyes dropped to his mouth as his lips formed that last word. The desire from before hit her with a vengeance. She had to be honest with herself. She hadwantedhim to kiss her—more than she wanted to leave this place. More than she had wanted anything.
Sarah squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. Backing up a few more steps, she pressed up against the cool wood of the stalls behind her. “You’re right,” she rasped. “Of course you’re right.” Her eyes remained shut, but she couldn’t seem to get her mouth to obey the same rules. “I shouldn’t be thinking about what it might be like for you to pull me into your arms.” Never had she been so brash with her words, but they kept coming. “I shouldn’t even entertain the idea of being with a guy like you. But I do.” She opened her eyes to find his face inches from hers.
Dax’s hand rested over her shoulder against a wooden pole. She hadn’t heard his steps as he maintained the same distance while she spoke. Her heart fluttered angrily in her chest, demanding to be satiated.
He expelled a long slow breath. “Why did you have to do that?”
She blinked and whispered, “Do what?”
“Make things so complicated.” He shook his head, then let it hang as he continued. “I can’t explain it to you other than to say that I had no intention of developing an interest in you. When you got here, you were supposed to keep your distance. I figured that you’d keep your head down and do your work and I wouldn’t have to get to know you.”
Her stomach knotted. They’d been thrown together as if against their wills. She had been content to do exactly what he’d described. But then the incident with the runaway horse had happened, and that set off a domino effect of what had resulted in the last few weeks. As much as she tried to keep her attention on her chores, she had entertained an alternate reality where Dax was someone who would sweep her off her feet.
Dax lifted his head, his gaze more serious than she expected. “It’s not a good idea, Sarah.”
She swallowed at the stubborn lump in her throat, but it wouldn’t go anywhere. “Don’t you think I know that?” She bit down on her lower lip. “But I don’t care anymore.”
He gave her a sideways look with a boyish grin on his face. “Why do you have to be so deliciously stubborn one second and infuriatingly desirable the next?”
Her breath hitched. No one had ever said that sort of thing to her before. Her pulse roared in her ears like an angry river racing down the side of a mountain in the spring.
This was crazy. They both knew it. But one kiss didn’t a relationship make. It wasn’t like he was proposing to her. They could find out that their chemistry was imagined. There wasn’t any real harm in one kiss, was there?
Dax let out a chuckle, sending a fresh wave of chills rocketing through her. “I can’t make you any promises.”
“Same.”
His smile widened and he chuckled again. His warm breath fanned against her face, and he reached out to grasp her chin with his thumb and finger. “You don’t know how much I want to kiss you right now.”
“I think I can guess,” the words escaped her lips breathily. Her legs trembled and she itched to grab his face with both hands to just get the kiss done and over with. It would be so simple, so easy. What was he waiting for?
“But I can’t.” He pulled back, his hands dropping to his sides.
It was as if he’d punched her in the gut. The air whooshed out of her chest, leaving her lightheaded and dazed. “What?”
“I’m not going to kiss you.”
“Why?”
“Because you deserve better than a stolen kiss in the Callahan’s stable.”
“I do?” She took a step toward him, confused and hating how hurt she was beginning to feel.
Dax nodded. “I’ll kiss you, Sarah. Make no mistake. But I’ll do it right.”
“But—”
“Go on a date with me.” His mischievous grin was something she was very familiar with. It was the same kind of smile he gave her the first time she was attacked by the stupid chickens. It was the same one he gave her when he teased her. She’d grown to hate that smile.
Until now.
Now, that crooked grin made her stomach loop around as if competing for a world championship in gymnastics.
“You want to take me on adate?”
He folded his arms. “Is that a yes?”
“Are you—do you know how crazy you sound right now?”
