The Cowboy and the Cougar (The Cougar Chronicles #1)(15)

Safe? Safe in a computer chatroom talking to faceless women? Heck, she didn’t even know if they were women. They could be perverted old men who got off on talking about young studs.

Somehow she knew this chatroom was legitimate. She felt it, and she felt safe. And she did need to talk to someone.

She started to type, but the soft thump of footsteps behind her interrupted her thoughts. Quickly she clicked on the logout link.

"Sugar?"

She turned to face Jack, who looked tousled and sexy and way too good for the middle of the night.

Her heart sped up at the sight.

"What’re you doin’ up? You okay?"

She stood to face him. "I’m sorry if I woke you."

"You didn’t. I just rolled over and you weren’t there. Brought back memories of that morning after till I remembered I was at your place. Pretty hard for you to run out on me."

Holly smiled and pushed back a lock of dark hair that had fallen over his eye.

It hit her again, like an arrow between her eyes. She was in love with this young cowboy and it was time to let him go.

She’d do that in the morning. For the rest of the night, she could lie in his arms and make love to him. For just a few more hours, she could play Pollyanna like Megan and pretend everything would work out.

Tomorrow would be soon enough to end it.





Chapter Eight


"What?"

The forkful of scrambled eggs on its way to Holly’s mouth dropped back onto her plate.

Jack smiled at her from across the kitchen table. "I said I want you to spend the weekend with me."

"You’re kidding."

"Nope. I want to see more of you and I want you to meet Sam."

"I don’t think I’m ready to—"

"No excuses, Holly. Don’t tell me you didn’t feel something special last night. We made love four times. Four, sugar. I’m twenty-nine, not seventeen. I haven’t been able to make love four times in a row for nearly a decade."

"Maybe you just haven’t had any in a while?" Holly’s voice hedged.

"You’re right about that. Not since that night with you."

Her fork crashed onto her plate next to the discarded serving of eggs. He hadn’t had sex since her? Well, she hadn’t either, but he was a guy—an incredibly sexy and desirable guy. Surely women fell all over him, especially with all that nude modeling.

How was she supposed to end this? To love him enough to let him go, like Charlene said, seemed impossible.

"Look, Jack—"

"Sorry—" He stood and placed his empty plate in her sink. "—not taking no for an answer this time. We have something special here, Holly. I want to get to know you and I want you to get to know me and my son." He hesitated for a moment and a troubled line creased his forehead. "You do like kids, don’t you?" he said, as if the thought had just occurred to him.

"Yes, of course I like kids, but—"

He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers. "Good. I’ll pick you up at your office tomorrow at five. Have your bag packed."

"Jack, really—"

"Gotta run, sugar." He thumbed her cheek and kissed her again. "I’m pickin’ up Sam this morning at my mom’s, then I have some stuff to do around the ranch today. I’ll see you tomorrow evening."

In a flash, he was gone, leaving Holly with her mouth hanging open.





Her bag was packed. She’d told herself she wasn’t going, that she couldn’t put Jack through this, but in the end, her hands had gathered her sundries and clothing and packed them in her burgundy overnight bag. It now sat by the door to her office.

He was late. It was nearing five-thirty and all her office mates and Cindy had left early for the long Labor Day weekend. Jack hadn’t said anything about the long weekend, but Holly had packed for three nights just in case.

She frowned. If he stood her up....

A soft sigh left her throat. If he stood her up, it would be for the best. Though her heart cried at the thought, at least it would spare her having to end it after the weekend.

After she’d fallen that much deeper in love with him.

Five-thirty went by, then five-forty-five. Holly stood from her desk, ready to take her packed bag home, when Jack rushed in.

"Thank God you’re still here," he said, panting.

"What happened?"

"Just ran up here from where I parked a block away. I was afraid you’d have left already."

"I was just about to."

He grinned. "I’m glad I got here in time. Sorry to be runnin’ so late.

"Is everything okay?"

"Fine. Just had to run a quick errand and Friday night traffic was bad."

"Oh."

"Sam’s anxious to meet you."

"He is?"

"Sure is. Believe it or not, I don’t bring lots of ladies home and he loves company. He says he wants to show you his horse. Sound good?"

Holly absently rubbed her bottom. "I’ve never been on a horse in my life."

Jack let out a laugh. "We’ll remedy that this weekend." He walked behind her desk and embraced her. "Damn, I’ve missed you."