Page 28 of Back in the Saddle

I couldn’t deal with his proximity right then.

I also couldn’t deal with the subtle hints of rosemary and cedarwood wafting my way, a fragrance that had already become an aromatic touchstone to me.

I had other shit to deal with.

“First, they all have keys. Second, I can’t have them tramping around Phoenix trying to find Jeff and scaring him off or undoing the work I’ve been doing for the last six months to get people who might see him to trust me.”

“Talk to them. Tell them that.”

“Did you just experience what I experienced?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think they’re gonna listen?”

He bit his lip in thought.

I thought about how awesome it would be to bite his lip.

Then he answered, “No.”

Once again, my body moved without my mind’s permission, and this time it did it to plant my forehead on his chest.

He wrapped his hand around the back of my neck.

That was warm and reassuring too.

Gah!

“They did find fourteen women, Jessie,” he said gently. “If you’re not down with letting me and the men help, maybe they can.”

“It’s clean,” I said quietly.

“Pardon?”

I lifted my head to look at him, but he didn’t take his hand away.

“The black and white. It’s clean. It’s not like I don’t like color. I do. But I need clean around me. Uncluttered. Uncomplicated.”

“Controlled,” he murmured.

I nodded.

He got it.

“Wild stab,” he began. “They don’t know about your family situation.”

I shook my head.

“Do you wanna tell me why?”

“You’ve laid it all out for me today, and I don’t want to be a bitch and not reciprocate that, but honestly, I’m not really sure why.”

“Could it be that you seem totally with it, and you actually are, but if you let it out how fucked up growing up was for you, it might be a hit to your cred as a together woman who has it going on?”

He thought I was a together woman who had it going on?

Shit, I was feeling gooey again.

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