Seducing Texas (So not Prince Charming #2)(34)

Willa fakes a smile. “Let’s see how far we can ride,” she says, kicking the horse and pushing it into a gallop.

Lynch keeps up with her, but we don’t. The camera crew has to drive ahead of them and ask them to slow down.

The other cameramen and I follow them for an hour when Lynch finally climbs down for their romantic picnic. I tamp down the most primal urges to punch the tool beside her and carry her off.

As Lynch helps her off the horse, her shorts ride up even higher. I don’t like that he’s touching her, but I need to corral this insane obsession and possessiveness I feel. I like her. Hell my damn cock can’t stop talking about her, and I shouldn’t be thinking that way. She’s off limits.

They walk over to the blanket laid out for them. His hand gradually seeks lower ground around her soft, pliant arse. I want to go over and ring his scrawny neck, but she pulls his hand away as she should. I haven’t tried that. Nerves have kept me from doing so because I like her.

Willa waits for him to sit before taking a seat a good meter away. Through the lens of my camera, I zoom in on her smile and laughter.

She should be on this date with me, not the douche. He feeds her strawberries and other fruits, and she gives him a half smile. Her fingers work worry knots into the blanket’s frayed edges.

“You need to spice this up,” the director says. “We got great footage of Fay yesterday with Tanner. How about a little kissing?”

Willa rolls her eyes but then glances my way. It’s almost like her upset expression wants me to help her. Dammit.

Lynch leans in to kiss her, and all I see is red. Swallowing down my rage, I continue videoing, taking in his sloppy kisses on my girl.

Lynch lays more kisses on her neck while her body stiffens. “When are you going to invite me to the Fantasy Suite?”

“Never,” she mouths.

As if he hasn’t heard a word, his hands move onto her hips. She shudders, glancing over at me with a help-me look. He swiftly pushes her down, and his hands roam up her shirt.

Fuck this. I leave my camera, rush over, and pick him up by his shirt. It rips, and his fist lights into me. The blow shoots stars around my eyes, and pain rips into my jaw.

“What the f*ck are you doing?” Lynch snaps.

Willa is up on her feet in no time. Lynch throws another punch, and I block it. I throw an uppercut and send him reeling backward. I’ve participated in my share of bar brawls in Ireland and did a bit of boxing in college. With both fists up, I jab at him, and his nose crunches.

“Are you getting this?” the director asks another cameraman.

Lynch comes at me but never lands another solid hit.

The director steps between us. “Enough.” When we stop grappling each other, he says, “You’re fired.”

“Me? For stopping this arse from feeling up a young girl? She’s only eighteen.”

“No. For you taking her to dinner. You know the rules.”

How the hell does he know about that? The other cameramen haven’t stopped filming.

“Please don’t fire him,” Willa says. “It won’t happen again.”

“Really?” I ask. I’d rather lose my job than give up seeing Willa.

“Yes,” she says, pleading with her smoldering dark eyes.

“We could end your contract,” the director says to her, “but your ratings are up. The show is doing well. I can’t have one of my cameramen distracting you, Miss Diaz.”

I pack up my gear.

Willa takes a Kleenex to Lynch’s nose, which he obligingly accepts. He grins and rests his hand on her back.

“You need to take this a lot slower,” she says, not once looking my way while removing his hand.

It’s like she dropped a cinder block on my head. I give her one last look, walk back to my truck, and set my gear into the extra cab. She doesn’t once look at me. I don’t understand. She was receptive to me the other night.

I shouldn’t have screwed this up. I need the money to help Caitlin. Now, I’ll have to look for another job. Damn.

I saved her from that wanker, so what the hell did I do wrong? Willa needed me, and I want her to need me.

Fuck. Today went arseways on me.





Chapter Cyn


Before Shane and I get into his truck to meet Juarez, he gives me one of those panty-melting kisses that leaves me breathless and wanting more.

“I don’t think you should meet with Juarez,” he says. His deep hypnotic voice almost draws me under his spell.

I cannot live without this man and would follow him to the ends of the earth or in his case back to the wilds of Alaska. “I have to for Willa. Uncle Manny is crazy, and after what he did to Mom, I need to figure out a permanent way to stop him from coming after us.” And that means killing him. If I went to prison to protect her, it would be worth it, but giving up Shane would be pure hell. Can I get conjugal visits in prison?

He pats his gun under his sport coat. “How come this feels more like a shootout at the O.K. corral that we’re going to?”

“It could be.” I double-check the gun in my purse, even though this won’t even up the odds. Juarez and his gang will be packing, and he’ll have an entire posse.

Shane drives us across town. “We have company,” he says, glancing in his rearview mirror.