The True Cowboy of Sunset Ridge (Gold Valley #14)(32)

Yeah. Fate. Your favorite.

“It’s fine,” he said.

“I mean, you were naked in the barn. You realize that’s ridiculous, right? Are you literally bathing in a trough? What is happening?”

“It is a hot tub, inglorious though it is. I bought it off a guy at the rodeo to help with my muscles at the end of the day. That’s what I was doing. I don’t have a bath in the house that’s big enough for me.”

“Well. I can... You are... Large.” She waved her hand in a strange, circular motion.

“Large?” he asked, lifting a brow in spite of himself.

“Stop it,” she said. “I need... I need to spend time with me. Dealing with my issues. Not... Dealing with all of this.”

“What am I all of, honey? Because let me tell you, I didn’t exactly ask for you to come crashing into my life. I didn’t ask for any of this either.”

“You said you didn’t care.”

“News flash. I lied. That’s why I don’t do relationships. I’d be bad at them, which I knew, but apparently, I would be a little bit of a liar. I don’t like talking about feelings. I like dealing with them even less. But I am not ready to be dealing with you either. I don’t want anything to do with women right now. I don’t want anything to do with anything.”

“That sounds... Well, sounds like you’re pretty much out of luck, because there’s nowhere you can go where there’s nothing.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Imagine how irritating I find that.”

“Well, you can’t just... Do nothing.”

“Sure I can. That’s what I’m trying to do. Fade into obscurity. Work on a ranch.”

“You’re a bull rider,” she said.

“Who have you been talking to?”

“Iris. We talked about you a little bit,” Mallory admitted.

“Did you tell her that you slept with me?”

“No, I did not. Oddly, not a conversation I wanted to have. I don’t really want to have it with you either.”

“I feel like there’s not really any avoiding it.”

“What is there to say?” Mallory asked. “We discussed this already. We reintroduced ourselves. But then, you reintroduced me to your... Your penis. So, here we are. Talking about sex again.”

The color had risen in her cheeks, and there was no way that he could remain in a neutral position when she was talking about his...his dick. It was just impossible. And she was right—the whole thing was a mess. He took a step toward her, and he was damn tempted to drop the towel.

But, he wasn’t suicidal.

“I’m sorry, is it hard for you? Did somebody crash the new life you were trying to create for yourself? Breeze into town and screw up what little you’d managed to cobble together?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact. Except, there’s a big inconvenience right where I moved. This is all supposed to be about me. Not another man.”

He snorted. “I am not just another man.”

“Well, I met you just a few days ago, and everything has become about you since then, so I would say you’re not doing a very good job of distinguishing yourself from the rest of the species.”

“You know, that would hurt my feelings if my ego wasn’t so healthy.”

They stared at each other for a long moment, and he felt attraction pouring through him. He knew why they were fighting. They were fighting because if they stopped for even a second, they were going to end up sleeping together again. And he knew it was a bad idea. Somewhere in the back of his mind. He knew that it was a bad idea.

He just couldn’t think of why right at that moment.

Because there was no thinking. He was basically naked, and she was wearing a cute little dress that would be easily dealt with...

“No,” she said, taking a step back from him.

“What?” He raised his hands, and the towel slipped. He put them back on the towel. “I’m not doing anything.”

“No. You’re not. I’m just saying that we can’t. I realized today that I’m a terrible person. A selfish person. And I need to figure that out.”

“Wait a second. Why do you think you’re selfish?”

“I can’t talk to you when you’re naked. And you know, come to that, I probably just can’t talk to you. So, we just need to not talk.”

“Fine with me.”

“I’m sorry I crashed your...bath.”

“What was it you were after?”

“The appliances and things that you said were here. I need the coffee maker.”

“Go on in and help yourself. Oddly, I’m not all that relaxed right now anyway.”

He turned and left her there, heading into the house, ignoring the way that his blood was pouring through his veins. Everything underneath the skin felt hot.

That woman.

The thing was, she didn’t even make him mad. Not really. She made him interested, and that made him mad. Because what he wanted to do was drag her inside and kiss her. And after he made love with her again, what he wanted to do was find out why she thought she was a selfish person. But he didn’t need to know that. The girl had project written all over her, and that was what he was avoiding. He couldn’t do it. Not again. Not ever. It just wasn’t... No. It just wasn’t. He wanted to do too many things with her that he just...