“No. Honest. I’m fine. Just feeling a bit beat up.”
“You hungry?” he asked.
“Maybe.” She paused to assess her stomach, unable to determine if the churning was hunger or impending nausea. “I’m not sure.”
“Mama brought vegetable soup. Wanna try some?”
“In a bit. I really need to get up first. Nature is calling.” She pulled the blankets away and threw her legs over the side, suddenly realizing they were bare. She looked down to discover she wore nothing but a USMC T-shirt. “Who undressed me?” she asked.
“Who do you think?” His brows rose at her accusatory scowl. “I’ve seen it all before, remember?”
“But that was different. I was conscious then.”
“You think I had my wicked way with you?”
“Of course not! It’s just—” The fact that she was unconscious made her feel all too vulnerable.
“Trust, Haley. You need to learn it. Your clothes were torn and dirty. I pilfered some of Krista’s for later, but thought this would be more comfortable for you to sleep in. C’mon. I’ll help you to the john.”
A wave of dizziness swept over her the moment her bare feet hit the floor. His arm came instantly around her waist. “You okay?”
“I will be. I just need a minute or two.” She clutched his arm until the moment passed. “I haven’t thanked you.”
His jaw clenched. “It was a dumbass move to take you down there. I shouldn’t have done it. It wasn’t safe.”
“You’re not my keeper, Reid. I was doing my job, remember? It’s not like you have any say in that.”
“As your guide, safety is my job.”
“I didn’t hire you as my guide. I was doing an investigation. But there’s no point arguing it any further,” she said. “I freely admit I was wrong. I should have listened to you.”
Her confession seemed to take him aback. But rather than the smug reply she half-expected, he acknowledged it with a grunt.
“I’m steady enough now,” she said. “Can you just help me get across the room? I should be okay after that.” He helped her to the bathroom, but then remained in the doorway. “I don’t need an audience, Reid. I have a shy bladder.”
“I’m not leaving you. What if you pass out?”
“I won’t. I’m fine. Now please go.”
He turned with reluctance, leaving the door cracked. Haley closed it sharply behind him. His sudden mother hen act was annoying as hell, but also mildly endearing.
After relieving herself, she clutched the sink and stared into the mirror, getting her first look at herself. Ugh! What a mess. Her hair was tangled in knots and scratches from the fall covered her face. She found a hairbrush and a toothbrush and set out to repair some of the damage. Although she’d washed her face, her body was still covered with dirt from rolling on the ground. She felt grimy and smelled like bear.
Thank God he’d taken it down before it’d gotten its claws into her. Grizzly claws were extremely lethal weapons. The memory of those fateful seconds struck her anew.
What if Reid hadn’t been there? Or what if he’d gone along with her wishes and left the gun behind? She didn’t want to think about it anymore. One confession of fault was her quota for the day. She couldn’t bring herself to make another. They’d begun a reconciliation of sorts, but a lot of things were still up in the air.
Haley was suddenly aware that Reid was waiting on the other side of that door, and she found herself stalling. They were alone together in his cabin. He’d even undressed her. Now what?
She glanced longingly at the bathtub. Although she didn’t feel stable enough to stand long enough for a shower, a bath would be soothing to her bruised body. She turned on the tap. Then knowing he’d probably bust down the door if she didn’t come out soon, she opened it.
“Reid?”
“What, sweetheart?”
“I’m going to take a bath.”
His broad shoulders suddenly filled the doorway. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea yet. I’m not about to leave you alone for that long.”
“Then come in here with me.”
His body stiffened and pupils flared. “In the tub?”
“No,” she flushed. “I mean in the bathroom. You can sit beside me while I bathe.”
“You’re really pushing my self-control. You know that?”
“I’ll pull the curtain.”
“Won’t make any difference. I’ll still know you’re naked in that tub.”
“Yeah, Reid,” she snorted. “I’m a truly irresistible sex goddess right now.”
He came to her then, cupping her chin and tilting her face. “I think you underestimate your appeal.” His big, warm hands dropped to her shoulders. “The thought of you wet and naked just switched off the thinking side of my brain.” Even if he hadn’t said it, the desire in his eyes was unmistakable.
He still wants me.
She swallowed hard, not knowing whether to respond to his remark or to the flicker he’d stirred to life inside her. The longer his gaze lingered on her, the stronger it became.
“I’m done thinking now too, Reid. Only hours ago I had my life flash before my eyes. I want to feel now.” She wet her lips and laced her arms around his neck. “I want to feel you.”
* * *
He exhaled an exasperated sigh. “As tempting as that offer is, I think we need to cool it for a while.”
“Why?”
“Because an intense desire for sex is a common response to trauma. The shrinks even coined a term for it—‘terror sex.’”
“Do I look afraid?”
His gazed tracked involuntarily south, lingering on her nipples. They tightened into peaks before his eyes, evoking a similar hardening in his prick.
“You might feel differently about this later,” he said. “I told you I’d give you some space. I intend to keep that promise. I’m not about to jump back into anything until I know exactly where I stand. I’m not taking that chance again.”
“Where do you want to stand?” She flashed a slow and sexy grin as she slipped out of her panties, sending a surge of blood from his head to lower parts. His mind was rapidly losing focus, finding it harder to answer her questions. “Then again,” she continued, snaking her arms around his neck, “we don’t have to stand at all. It’s much more comfortable sitting or lying down.”
“Quit it, Haley.” He reached up to encircle her wrists, bringing them behind her back, a position that pitched her breasts forward against his chest. Not helpful. At all. He abruptly released her. “One of us has to exercise a little common sense.”
“Fine then.” She jerked away, yanking the T-shirt over her head and throwing it at him. “Have it your way. You can just sit there and scrub my back, Mr. I-need-to-be-in-total-control-at-all-times.”
He dropped onto the toilet lid. He’d resolved not to take her up on her offer, but damned if he’d deny himself the pleasure of watching. She bent to shut off the tap, intentionally taunting him with a prime view of her delectable ass. He sucked in a sharp breath.
Her coy smile said she knew damned well what she was doing to him. “It was your choice, Reid.”
She reached a hand to his shoulder to steady herself as she dipped her toes into the water. Enough was enough.
He yanked her onto his lap. “Don’t play with me, sweetheart. I promise you’ll get far more than you bargained for.”
“But that’s exactly what I was counting on.”
“I’m not screwing around here.” In all truth, his resolve was weakening, his threats growing emptier by the second. It took all he had to turn her down, but he vowed he wasn’t going to break this time. “I want to know exactly what I’m dealing with before we take this any further. I need your unconditional trust.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean t
hat you have to stop jumping to conclusions and assuming the worst of me. You need to give me the benefit of the doubt when we disagree. That’s what I’m asking for. What I expect. Those are my terms, Haley. I can’t compromise on that. I’m an all-or-nothing deal.”
He rose, deposited her in the bathtub, jerked the curtain closed, and walked out, leaving the door half open behind him. He leaned against the wall, his chest heaving, while he tried to will away a raging hard-on. He shut his eyes on a mumbled curse. Why did he always seem to get punished for doing the right thing?
Watching that grizzly attack had flipped a switch. The thought of losing her had nearly eviscerated him. He still had so much more to say to her, but she still wasn’t near ready to hear it. Maybe she never would be, but until then, he swore he’d keep his dick zipped if it killed him.
* * *
Haley found a set of pink sweats sitting beside the sink when she got out of the tub. Apparently he didn’t want to see her in his T-shirt anymore. His earlier rejection had stung, but she was too tired to think about it anymore. Although the bath had soothed her sore body, it had also made her incredibly sleepy.
She dressed and toweled her hair dry. When she emerged from the bathroom, the smell of homemade bread and a steaming bowl of vegetable soup greeted her. Her stomach reacted vociferously.
“So you’re hungry after all.” He spoke casually, as if nothing had happened. She wasn’t sure what to make of that.
“Yeah. I am,” she replied.
“Did the bath help?” His tone was a little too polite, his manner too reserved.
“It did. Immensely.”
He might be able to ignore what happened—or better said, what didn’t—but she couldn’t deal with awkwardness. “I’m sorry,” she blurted. “I shouldn’t have pushed myself on you like that. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
His mouth curved into a dry smile. “I was uncomfortable all right. Just not the way you imply.” He laid his hands on her shoulders, his gaze holding hers. “Let me make one thing perfectly clear, Haley. It wasn’t because I don’t want you.”
She chewed on that. “Then I guess I should thank you for not taking advantage of me.”
“Let’s forget it. Come and sit down before it gets cold.”
Reid took a seat across from her, slouching back in his chair.
“Aren’t you going to eat, too?” she asked, feeling self-conscious.
“I ate earlier while you were sleeping.”
She sipped broth from her spoon, testing the temperature before diving into the bowl. The soup was wonderful, definitely not the Campbell’s variety. “Your mom brought this over?”
“Yeah. I’m a lousy cook. I mostly eat at the house.”
“But you don’t live over there.”
“No. The cabin’s not much, but I need my own space. Eventually, I’d like to buy my own spread, but there’s no reason to.” His gaze met hers. “Not yet anyway.”
“What kind of place do you want?” she asked.
“Probably a ranch like this one, but smaller.”
“You want to stay in the same kind of business?”
He shrugged. “It’s what I know. What I’m good at. ’Sides that, we’ve always made a decent living at it, which is more than many ranchers can say these days. What about you? Do you ever think about what you want a few years down the road?”
“I’ve started to,” she said. “I think it began when Yolanda married last year. She already has a baby boy.” She couldn’t help the note of wistfulness.
His brows rose. “You want kids, Haley?”
“I do. I’ve always wanted a big family, maybe because it was always just me and my grandparents.”
“That was partly your own choice, wasn’t it?”
Her gaze narrowed. “They told you about my mother?”
“Yeah. Why didn’t you want to live with her?”
“Because she never wanted me.”
“She obviously had regrets later. She came for you, after all. Maybe you should make peace with her.”
“I can never forgive her, and I don’t want to talk about it. Why are you always trying to reason with me anyway?”
“Dunno.” He shrugged. “It’s just how I tick. I’ve always tried to look at both sides of every situation, even if it doesn’t change my own opinion.”
“I have a right to my feelings even if they don’t make sense to you,” she snapped.
“Absolutely,” he agreed. “There’s pie. Want some?”
“Pie is an unfair weapon, Reid.” And he’d skillfully wielded it to diffuse her flare of temper. “Apple?” she asked hopefully.
“Yup. The best kind.”
“It’s my favorite, too. Yolanda makes a killer apple-jalapeño pie.”
“Jalapeño peppers in pie?” He grimaced.
“Yup. Don’t knock it ’til you try it. But it’s best eaten with lots of ice cream.”
She finished her soup while he cut two slices of pie. She suddenly realized just how comfortable she’d become sitting here with him. They’d been going on the last few minutes as if they were longtime friends. It struck her even harder that they hadn’t even disagreed about anything besides her mother, but she’d even argued with her grandparents and Yolanda over that.
“You’re joining me this time?” she remarked.
“Yup.” He flashed a guilty grin. “Though I already had two pieces of it earlier.”
“You’re not afraid of getting fat?”
“Nope. I seem to burn it off.” He looked almost boyish as he dug his fork into the pie.
Another flare of desire came out of nowhere. She could think of lots of ways to help him work off those calories. They ate stealing occasional glances at one another. The silence seemed companionable on the surface, but held an undercurrent of growing sexual tension.
When they finished, she watched him clear the table. He moved around the kitchen the same way he did everything—with confident ease. Fatigue once more overtaking her, Haley yawned and stretched.
“You wanna go back to bed?” he asked.
“Maybe. What time is it?”
“Probably getting close to sunup by now.”
“You’re kidding!”
“Nope. You slept a long time.”
“So you’ve been up all night watching me?”
“It’s the norm for me. Told you I don’t sleep. Not much anyway. My body’s conditioned to do without it.”
“That’s not normal, Reid. Not healthy.”
“It’s the way it is.” He shrugged. “I crash for short periods when I need it.”
“Come to bed with me.”
He shook his head. “Told you, it’s not gonna happen.”
“No, Reid. I don’t mean it like that. I just feel guilty about keeping you up all night. Just come and lie down with me. We’ll stay dressed. I’ll sleep better if you do.” Haley climbed into the bed but stayed on top of the covers. She patted the space beside her. “Please, Reid.”
He hesitated, then kicked off his boots. A moment later, the mattress sank beside her. Gravity alone rolled her up against him, not that she minded or tried to fight it.
“C’mere, Runt.” He pulled her up close to his side.
“Runt?” she snorted. “I suppose that’s better than some of the other names I’ve been called.”
“You got picked on for your size?”
“Yup. And for the geeky glasses I wore until I was old enough for contacts.”
“But now you’re back to the geeky glasses.”
“Now they serve a higher purpose,” she argued.
“Do people really treat you differently because you wear them? Or it is because of the attitude you adopt when you wear them?”
“Attitude? What do you mean by that?”
&n
bsp; “You know, that snotty Ivy-League elitism.”
She pulled back with a frown. “You really think I act like that?”
“Intellectually superior? Sometimes you do, but it seems to be lessening. Then again,” he teased, “maybe I’m just getting used to it.”
“Yolanda says the same thing,” she grudgingly confessed. “You’re not perfect either, you know.”
“Never said I was. But is there a particular imperfection that eats you?”
“Yes. There is. Why are you so damned unflappable? Doesn’t anything ever get you worked up?”
“Besides you?” He flashed a crooked grin that made her heart flutter.
“I’m serious, Reid.”
“So am I. I find you damned irritating, but I’ve learned to pick my battles. I’ve also learned that there just aren’t that many things worth getting truly riled up about.”
“What kind of things?” she asked. “What really and truly pisses you off?”
“You really want to know?”
“Yeah, I really do.”
“Dishonesty, mainly. Liars, cheaters, and manipulators. People who take advantage of others’ vulnerabilities and misfortunes. I’ve got no use for ’em.”
“There are a lot of people like that in the world,” Haley remarked.
“You got that right. And they better not ever mess with me or mine.”
She chuckled. “You sound just like John Wayne when you talk like that. I can picture you in the saloon, in the corner, eyeing the bad guy with your six-shooter.”
He shrugged. “I mean what I say, Haley.” He pulled her closer. “I protect what’s mine.”
She lay snuggled under his arm with her head resting on his chest, listening to the low and rhythmic beat of his heart. She murmured softly. “Times may change, but I guess cowboys don’t.”
* * *
The sun was blazing through the windows when Reid woke up. “What the hell?” He snatched up his phone from the bedside nightstand. “Eight o’clock?” Had he really slept for four hours straight? That was the first time in years. He flung his legs over the bed and scrubbed the sleep from his eyes.
Haley didn’t stir. For several minutes he just watched her. The sight of her filled his chest. She was snoring softly. He chuckled. He’d have to torment her about that. She’d hate knowing she snored. Then again, he’d probably have to record it before she’d ever believe him. He stood and stretched. Eager to get out of the clothes he’d slept in, he headed for the shower.
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