Page 38 of New in Town

“Rodeosarefun. Thank you for being here with me. I wouldn’t have come with just anyone.”

“Not just anyone?” he asks, his gaze dropping to her lips.

“Especially not after you kissed me like you didn’t think you’d be coming down off that mountain.”

“You’ve got it wrong, sweetheart. I kissed you like a man who’d been dying to kiss you, and didn’t have it in him to wait anymore.”

“And now?” she breathes.

“You make the rules, Maddie.”

The fireworks begin overhead, bright reds, whites, and blues sparkling in the night sky. She can see them reflected in his eyes, but she doesn’t look up. She keeps her attention trained on him, her hand coming up to grasp the back of his neck.

“I want to revise them,” she says nervously. She’s not sure why she wants to revise them yet. Is it physical attraction or something more? How can she explain herself? “Kissing sells the chemistry,” she says, deciding on the safest answer she can think of in this moment. She is sure of one thing though; she needs his lips on hers again.

Her reason seems to be enough for him, because his reaction is to bury a hand in her hair and pull her in. He closes the gap between them despite the crowd and crushes his mouth onto hers. She meets him eagerly, letting her whole body give in to the sensation that is Grey. The booms of a sparkling show echo overhead, the spectacle akin to the bursts of emotions exploding in her chest.

18

GREY

Grey is silent as they exit the round-up. He wonders if she notices how tense his arm is around her. After all these years, he had still let Dane under his skin. Seeing the guy leering at her, it took only a matter of seconds for his blood to boil. He had felt the heat crawling across him, the rope he had been holding biting into his skin from his forceful grip.

Rubbing his thumb across his palm now, hand hidden in his pocket, he recalls the sensation. He doesn’t want to see anyone with Maddie, it is no use denying the truth. ButDane? He feels sick at the idea of Dane’s hands on her.

Reaching the truck, she comes to a stop before him. Placing a hand on his arm, her eyebrows pinch as she looks up at him. “Grey, you’ve been so quiet since I kissed you. If you don’t want to change things to include—”

“Maddie, no, no. That’s not it. I am very happy being able to do this,” he murmurs through a graze of his lips on hers. “I just… I was such a jerk earlier. I shouldn’t have let my hang ups get in the way.”

“Everyone has hang ups,” she says softly.

He looks at her, searching for what she might not be saying. He knew he’d been wrong earlier, coming at her with accusations and the chip on his shoulder—always that damn chip on his shoulder—that followed him anywhere that wasn’t the ranch.

“I’ll never fault you for having things that you struggle with, things that you feel. I’d just prefer you trust me and talk to me,” she continues, and he can see the patience in her big brown eyes.

He takes the tip of her chin between his index finger and thumb. “Okay, I was jealous because you are incredible, Maddie. And the longer you’re here, the more people will catch on to that. But I like when I get you to myself.”

“Grey, don’t you see that everywhere we’ve gone, people are eager to come seekyouout?”

He shakes his head. “That doesn’t matter to me.”

“Then we’re good, because I happen to like getting you all to myself, too.”

A low growl forms in his throat as he tugs her chin towards him, kissing her possessively. A tingle rushes through him as their lips meet. It’s the same feeling he’s had the last few times they kissed, like a spark of pleasure that reaches all parts of him.

Maddie nips his lip, her hands running down his chest until they settle on his belt. He feels chills where her fingers drag, and it takes all his effort to keep the kiss from turning into something more. He’s desperate to show her he can be tender and controlled after the way he acted so impulsively on his insecurities earlier. Taking her hands in his, he breaks the kiss and leans his forehead against hers.

“I didn’t know there was a rule breaking girl in me, until I met you,” she says with a sigh.

“I wouldn’t be much of a gentleman if I influenced you to be a rule breaker.” He wants to bring out that side of her. In fact, he wants to revise all the rules. He wants to do away with the whole agreement. He wants Maddie.

* * *

“Is it any less gentlemanly if I ask to see you tomorrow?” In her doorway, the porch light casts an enchanting glow around Maddie. She leans back on the door frame and tilts her head up to him, a smile dancing on her lips. Bracing a hand on the frame behind her, his body is angled over her, drawn to her as always.

“I think it makes you more gentlemanly. Instead of just assuming you’re coming in to hook up tonight.”

Tracing his thumb along her bottom lip, he smiles as her lips part in response to his touch. He knows that if he doesn’t leave right now, his honorable intentions will be overshadowed by the burning need he feels for her. With a last kiss, he straightens and takes a step back. “I would never assume I’d be so lucky, Maddie.”

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