Rodeo Christmas at Evergreen Ranch (Gold Valley #13)(50)

Kissing Dan should feel just as good.

But no matter how much she told herself that, she couldn’t bring herself to take another step forward. Maybe it was because she had a husband.

And no matter that it was fake, everything in her resisted the idea of kissing a man when she was married to another.

Maybe it’s just Jake...

No, it couldn’t be Jake. Because he was just like everyone else. Telling her what to do. And there was no point wanting him, because he’d said himself they wouldn’t be able to be friends after.

Oh, she hated Jake right now. She really did.

“What the hell is this?”

She turned slowly, and think of the very devil.

And good grief, he looked like something devilish, too. His eyes were a storm, his jaw set hard like granite, his mouth a firm line.

She was...in trouble. And something in her was anticipating it.

“How did you know where I was?” she asked.

“You mentioned the Thirsty Mule when we were driving out here. And there are, like, two places open in town at this hour. Didn’t take rocket science to figure it out.”

“Excuse me,” Dan said. “Who are you?”

Jake practically growled.

“Her husband, you weedy bastard,” Jake said, taking a step forward.

Jake really was much larger than Dan. Taller, broader. And everything.

And she felt...

Like she’d been invaded by some creature she hadn’t known existed. Because her whole body went soft when he stepped forward, all rage and possessiveness and a hundred things she would never have said appealed to her. A hundred things she would never have said her friend had ever exhibited on her behalf.

“Husband?” He looked at her. “You trying to get me skinned?”

“No,” Callie said, scowling. “He’s being dramatic. Anyway. He wasn’t in the mood.”

Jake wasn’t looking at Dan at all, and Callie wished he would. He was looking at her. All laser focus and rage. “I’m in the mood for a hell of a lot now, Callie Carson, and you better pray you survive it.”

The sensual threat in his voice was not lost on even her, and it made her whole insides go giddy. Spiked with her anger, it was a strange and intoxicating combination.

Only an hour or so ago she’d been shouting at him about how she was a woman. Even though she wanted to ride, even though she liked jeans and didn’t get all fussed about makeup and frills.

And she had to wonder if this swirling, dark need inside of her was another of her contradictions.

And if she had to be made of contradictions, why not this one, too?

“I—”

“We’re leaving,” Jake said. He looked at Dan. “Buy the lady’s drink, would you?”

“Sure,” he said, holding his hands up. “She didn’t say she was married.”

“She is,” Jake practically snarled. “To me.”

They had drawn a few stares from around the bar and Jake, to her horror, turned to address them all. “This is my wife,” he said. “If she comes back, just want to make sure you all know that.”

Then he took her hand, and dragged her out of the bar.

“Jake, what the hell?”

And she found herself being pulled up against his hard, broad chest, his lips crashing down on hers. And he was kissing her. More than kissing her. He was devouring her. Doing exactly what she had begged him to do earlier. But he was... Oh, he was mad. Madder than he’d been the other night. Madder than she’d ever seen him. Ever.

Mad because she...

Was it because she had almost kissed someone else?

But then she couldn’t think, because his big rough hand came up to cup her cheek, and she felt reborn. Remade into something completely different than she had ever imagined she could be. Because she knew how to punish herself. And she had a feeling that this was Jake’s punishment. But it was something so much more than she’d imagined it could be.

“Jake,” she whispered.

And he kissed her deeper, biting her bottom lip as he did. Sensation shot through her, an arrow right between her thighs.

“Don’t you ever do something like this again,” he growled against her mouth.

And in that moment her friend was gone.

Replaced by someone more feral, more primal, than she’d known existed inside that body. Inside that skin.

You’ve seen him like this before.

She remembered. The day she’d fallen off the horse. The day she’d broken her arm. The sound he made.

It had been from this part of him. This wild, frightening part of him.

But it didn’t repel her. It shook her up inside. Woke something up in her. But it didn’t scare her. It was scary, but that was different than being afraid of it.

Instead, she clung to him, and she kissed him back.

And something felt uncaged inside of her just then.

Because this was for her. She didn’t have to stop. This wasn’t for anyone’s approval, it wasn’t for show. It wasn’t for anything but pure want. And everybody was going to be so disappointed when they found out this marriage was fake. And they’d be even more disappointed if they found out she’d slept with him knowing it was going to end.

And she just didn’t care. Her entire family could take a long walk off a short pier as far as she was concerned. Because she just wanted. She was hungry. For Jake. For this. And why couldn’t she have him? So she kissed him back, and dimly, she was aware that tears were falling down her cheeks again. That she was hanging on to fistfuls of his hair, but she didn’t care. Not only had she never been kissed like this, she wasn’t sure anyone had. With so much fury and passion and everything in between.