39. Bull

39

Bull

She stared at me in horror, as if thirty hours wouldn’t have been enough to explain everything she wanted to explain. But I knew I wasn’t going to last any longer than a half-minute before I grabbed her again. Damn, she looked good. Something was different, aside from the clothes. She’d done her make-up, or her hair, or her nails or any of those other hundred things women do that are too subtle for guys to notice straight off, but that just make them ooze femininity. Standing there in that barn, she looked like the perfect Texas cowgirl, all tied shirt and denim skirt, but her pale skin and black hair made her exquisitely exotic—voluptuous and sexy, yet vulnerable at the same time.

My eyes were locked onto her...but the weird thing was, I wasn’t staring at her boobs, the way I usually would with a girl. It was her eyes I couldn’t stop looking at, those gorgeous, liquid brown eyes. And her lips. I could still feel them against mine and, every time I glanced down at their softness, my hands bunched with the need to grab the knot of her shirt and tug her against me.

“ Look,” she said, still panting. ”I need to set some limits.”

I grinned. “Like a safeword?”

Her eyes bulged and her cheeks flared red. “ What?! No! Not like a safeword!” But I saw her give a little twist of her hips, as if the idea touched a nerve, deep inside. Well, now. Ain’t that a thing? I filed that little nugget away.

“I mean,” she said, “I have some secrets. I don’t like to talk about my past. If this is going to work, you’ll have to respect that.”

I went to take a step towards her, but held myself back at the last second. “Okay,” I said.

“And my business...I know you don’t like it, but I’m going to keep doing it.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Girl, I don’t want you getting hurt. I care about you too damn much.”

She bit her lip when she heard that, but stared back at me determinedly.

I sighed. “At least let me know what’s going on, so I can look out for you?”

She considered. “Okay,” she said at last.

Thirty seconds was long since up. I moved in to kiss her.

“One more thing. How’s your health?” she said, dodging.

I grabbed her upper arms to hold her still. “I got an old muscle tear in my shoulder from wrestling a steer.”

“I mean…” Her eyes looked in every damn direction except at me. “Is it safe for us to...without a…. ”

I suddenly got it. “Oh!”

She blushed, which looked so damn cute I had to will myself to hold back. “I just mean—You obviously...you know a lot of the local girls. Very well. And regularly. And you prefer to...you know. Go bareback. And—”

“My health is just fine. But what makes you think I do that with the other girls?”

That seemed to throw her completely. “Don’t you?”

I shook my head and just told her the truth. “Lily, when I saw you, I had to have you. Completely. That’s something that’s for you. You’re not like the other girls. That was just fucking.”

She closed the gap between us.

“Are we done talking?” I asked.

“Shut up,” she muttered, grabbed the front of my t-shirt and pulled me down to her. My lips met hers. I closed my eyes and just went for it, me all sweat and stubble, her all sweet, perfumed softness. I devoured her, eating her up like a goddamn candy bar, my hands stroking her cheeks and winding into her long, silky hair. I was so hungry for her, I couldn’t stay still. I started twisting her around as we kissed, moving in slow circles across the barn as if we were slow-dancing.

When we finally came up for air, I muttered without thinking, “Damn you, Lily, I think I’m falling for you.”

Which, it turned out, was the wrong thing to say. Because suddenly, she pushed me away and staggered back, her mouth open in shock.