Page 61 of Cowboy's Last Stand
“Mom,” Marcus said.
“What?”
“You’re spacing out.”
“Aren’t you supposed to space out?”
He didn’t answer, so she tickled him until he collapsed with laughter.
“I love you,” she said, kissing his head.
He said it back easily.He was too young to be embarrassed about her displays of affection, even in public.One day he would probably squirm out of her embrace instead of running toward it.The thought made her want to hug him harder.Her emotions were all over the place today.
When it was almost time for her shift at the bar, Natalie returned to the upstairs apartment.Jason was running the floor sander, his dust mask on.At her knock, he turned off the machine and pulled the mask down.She tried not to think about the state she’d left him in earlier or how he’d dealt with it.
“Going to work?”he asked.
“Yes.London will come over in a few minutes.”
“Are you sure you want to pay a babysitter when I’m here?”
She nodded.She didn’t expect Jason to look after Marcus on top of everything else.“I’m going to have her stay until ten if you don’t mind.”
“Do you want me to check in on her?Make sure she’s not smoking joints with Marcus?”
Natalie chuckled at the question, which was tongue in cheek.She could trust London not to get her five-year-old son high.The babysitter wasn’t that bad.“You don’t have to do anything.But that reminds me, we’ve never exchanged numbers.”
He crossed the room to the wall outlet, where a device was plugged in.
“Is that a flip phone?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you find it in my grandpa’s things?”
His teeth flash white at her joke.“What’s your number?”
She gave him her information and removed her phone from her pocket to enter his.Then she realized something.“I don’t know your last name.”
“It’s Reed.With two e’s.”
“Jason Reed,” she said, adding him as a contact.The name sounded familiar, as common names often did.She plugged in his number and put her phone away.He was staring at her, his expression inscrutable.She flushed at the memory of how he’d stared at her in the bathroom when she’d brazenly stood before him in a wet T-shirt.
“Should I wait up?”he asked softly.
“You should rest,” she said, flustered.“In fact, I think you should take a day off.You can’t work all weekend.”
“You’re the boss,” he said in a sardonic tone.
Natalie said goodbye and left, her pulse rioting.She could only avoid contact with him for so long.If they continued to be near each other, giving hot looks left and right, they were going to sleep together.It was inevitable.He was too exciting, too irresistible, too…
Dangerous?
There was still something about him that made her uneasy.Something he kept hidden, like a fatal flaw.Maybe he had a penchant for violence.He’d been suspiciously eager to enter a fistfight on her behalf.He’d threatened to hunt Billy down if he bothered her again, and he’d sounded serious.That was before he even knew her.It was strange for a man to be so aggressive in defense of a stranger, and he’d seemed to relish the task.
She told herself she was being too cautious.Jason hadn’t shown any aggression since the night they’d met.He’d remained calm during the firecracker incident.He hadn’t flown off the handle at the VFW.He’d been extraordinarily patient and gentle with her son.After she’d revved him up in the bathroom and left him wanting, he’d respected her boundaries.She hadn’t even needed to say no.He’d read her responses and given her space.
She didn’t feel physically unsafe with Jason; she felt emotionally unsafe.He was dangerous to her heart.
