One Night with her Bachelor(42)
Hell, he wasn’t even a talker.
This was why he shouldn’t have gotten mixed up with her in the first place.
They pulled into Bozeman, and he turned the truck down a side street and into a parking lot. As soon as he turned the ignition off, he unhooked his seat belt and turned to face her. “Give me your hands.”
She blinked, as though she were startled, but she tentatively reached out. He took her hands in his. They were warm and soft. Neither of those qualities should’ve created electricity, but it pulsed up his arm to his heart as he met her gaze. “I haven’t been with anyone since the accident. My hesitation has nothing to do with you, other than the fact that I want to make things good for you, and I don’t want to hurt you.”
Her jaw worked from side to side as if she chewed on the insides of her cheeks.
“I wanted to take you out tonight and do the things we didn’t get to do last time. I want you to have a night that’s all about you and the things you like—not the things Josh thinks you like.”
“What if the night I want to have is about us, not just me?”
His breath caught in his throat. He slowly released it. “I like the sound of that.”
“And I like you, Gabriel. I feel good when we’re talking. I feel bad when we aren’t.”
He clamped his jaw shut and nodded. “Talking’s not always easy for me, sweetheart. Never has been, and it’s only gotten worse since I started living on my own.”
She squeezed his hands. “Good thing I’m a patient person. All I ask is that you be honest with me. If the truth is you don’t find me attractive or—”
“Oh, Jesus.” He tugged her forward, slid his hands into her hair and kissed her.
All the hormones he’d been trying to control jumped to life as soon as his lips touched hers. So soft. So, so damn soft. Warm and sweet and comforting and sexy as hell. She was all those things and more. He couldn’t get enough of her. He groaned as she pressed closer, her beautiful breasts hot against his chest as he swept his hands down her back. He needed so much more.
When she pulled back to catch her breath, her pupils had dilated and she looked high. He’d mussed up her hair, and her lipstick had smeared.
She gave him a smile that was drunk on passion and swiped at his lower lip with her thumb. “I think you’re wearing more of my lipstick than I am.”
“Do you think it’s my color?” he joked, and his spirit lightened when she laughed and nodded. He gently kissed the tip of her nose. “I have some napkins in the glove compartment there. Could you grab them for me?”
She did and he wiped the lipstick off. Jerking his head toward the restaurant they’d parked in front of, he said, “I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.”
She looked out the window and gasped. “A Thai restaurant?”
“Yep.”
She shocked the hell out of him by throwing her arms around his neck and giving him a huge hug. “How did you get so perfect?”
A little of his enthusiasm died, but no way would he kill hers by admitting all the ways he wasn’t perfect. “Do me a favor and say that in front of my mom and sister sometime. They’d get a real kick out of it.”
She was momentarily quiet, and he realized he’d just implied that he would introduce her to his family. “I’d like that, Gabriel. Now let’s go get some spring rolls.”
They ate and laughed and talked about a million things except the one thing Gabriel grew more and more conflicted about. The longer he kept silent, the harder it became to start the conversation. After dinner, they held hands and crossed the street to Moose’s Country, a bar and honky tonk that boasted Wednesday night as Wild West Night, with live bands and line-dancing lessons. When they walked in, the dance floor already was packed, the music was thumping and the instructor was up on stage calling out instructions as a couple of dancers in western gear demonstrated the moves.
Molly pulled him straight to the center of the dance floor, and his heart kicked up speed as he saw the exuberance on her face. Years fell away from her. The sweet kindergarten teacher who hid her curves under long skirts and shirts decorated with kids’ handprints morphed into a sexy, sensual woman. She never dropped his hand as they followed the instructions. Soon he forgot all about his limitations and was filled with the most incredible gratitude simply that he was here. He was here and alive and healthy and enjoying a night out in a bar full of people and music and noise—all because he was with a woman who’d shown him not to be afraid of life’s challenges. Not to be defined by them as he struggled to overcome them.
I could fall so hard for you.
Almost as if she heard his thoughts, she twirled to face him and slung her arms around his neck. Her whole body pressed against his, and he had a moment of fear that she would feel his leg when she rubbed against him. But her face was too full of joy and excitement as they swayed against each other. Her mind clearly wasn’t on his body but on him. He could tell with just one look that she was falling as hard as he was, and the thought filled him with terror and hope in equal measure.
A new band came on the stage, and the tempo of the music changed. Everyone around them started two-stepping, clapping and spinning, but he couldn’t bear to let her go, not even for a second. She seemed to feel the same. She pressed closer, and they swayed together to their own rhythm. Lowering his head, he whispered in her ear. “The answer is yes.”