Gone Country (Rough Riders #14)(132)

“Not fair? You think this has been easy for me? Especially the last four months? When we’ve been together all the damn time because I couldn’t stay the hell away from you? And I had to act like it’s not f*cking killing me when you look at me like your world would be perfect if I just kissed you.”


She slapped her hands on his chest and shoved him. “The only thing you can kiss, Boone West, is my ass.” She spun around and considered kicking over his stupid bike as she skirted the back end of her car. Jerk. Asshole. Jerkoff. Asshat. He wanted to leave her? Fine. He could leave her. She’d be better off.


Such a f*cking liar you are, Sierra.


“So that’s it?” Boone shouted. “That’s how you’re gonna say goodbye to me?”


Sierra whipped a U-turn and marched back up to him. “How did you expect I’d say goodbye? Strip my clothes off and let you take my virginity in a field of wildflowers under a full moon? Screw that. I’m saving my virginity for someone who deserves it. And. That. Is. Not. You.” She punctuated each word with a poke on his hard chest.


Boone said, “You do that,” in a throaty rasp she’d never heard from him. “In the meantime, I’m taking this.” He wrapped one hand around the back of her neck and clamped the other on her butt, pulling her in for a kiss.


She should’ve shoved him away. But his kiss was like a drug. Intense, determined, amazingly seductive—as if he was trying to convince her that his passion for her was real. That he’d been imagining this kiss for as long as she had. That he’d wanted it as much. Mouths and tongues clashed and she slipped her arms around his waist, her hands clutching his shirt.


The kiss was beyond anything she’d ever experienced. Rough and sexy, bringing alive things inside her she’d heard about but had never felt.


Then Boone slowed it down. The kiss became soft. An unhurried tease, as if they had all the time in the world to explore. To learn each other.


But they didn’t. By this time tomorrow, he’d be gone.


Sierra kept kissing him even as her tears fell.


Then Boone’s hands were on her face, trying to wipe away the moisture but her tears ran over his fingers.


He moved his mouth back; she felt his lips against hers and his breath in her mouth as he whispered, “Sierra. Baby, please don’t cry.” He planted tender smooches on her lips. His mouth wandered down her neck and her entire body erupted in goose flesh. He nuzzled the sweep of her shoulder and stopped, breathing against her skin.


She had to bite her lip to keep from sobbing when he strung soft kisses along her collarbone, right where the injury had hurt the most. But that pain was nothing compared to the pain she felt now.


Boone’s fingers entwined in her hair and he tipped her head back. His beautiful eyes were dark with remorse and something else, something that made her pulse quicken. “I knew it’d be like this between us.”


“But it’s still not enough.”


He didn’t answer. He just consumed her mouth again.


While kissing him was better than she’d dreamed, she still felt like someone was stabbing her in the gut with a rusty knife as Boone took the kiss deeper until she feared she’d never get out.


She broke away, resting her forehead to his.


“Sierra—”


“Don’t say anything.”


They stayed like that for a long time. Not looking at each other, clinging to each other, so close but so far apart.


She whispered, “I have to go.”


“Not like this.”


“There’s no other way. This was your choice.”


He placed one last soft kiss on her lips.


Sierra pulled away from him. “Goodbye, Boone.”


“See you around, McKay.” His hands fell away.


Sierra didn’t look at him. Not even in her rearview mirror as she bumped over the cattle guard and drove away.


Chapter Thirty-Eight


Ben and Quinn had enlisted Gavin’s help moving cow/calf pairs from one pasture to another. Helping wasn’t entirely accurate—he’d been designated the gate opener. But it’d been a great morning. Cruising around on four wheelers and watching his brothers work cattle. Listening to Charlie tell stories.


He climbed out of his Lexus, in desperate need to ditch his dirty clothes and hit the shower, when Rielle yelled at him from the closest garden. He met her halfway down the road and stole a kiss. “Hey, sexy lady. What’s up?”


“Have you talked to Sierra today? She swore she wanted to help me and I haven’t seen her.”


“No. But it’s summer vacation. She mentioned it was her right to sleep in until noon, at least the first week.” He couldn’t believe how early the school year ended in Wyoming. In Arizona, Sierra would be in school at least another month. “I’ll check on her.”


After brushing off the ever-present dust, he scaled the stairs and knocked on Sierra’s door. “Sweetheart? Are you up?” He heard a thump. But no answer. Then another thump. He turned the handle and opened the door.


Boxes were stacked beside her bed. Everything had been stripped off the walls. She stood by the closet, dumping winter clothes into a box.