Page 43 of Surly Sheriff
Beau pulled his new truck up beside the green Pontiac. What an unexpected turn his life had taken since a woman called Raegan-with-an-ae walked, er,droveinto his life a few days ago. He had sworn off anything permanent with the opposite sex after Moira, and over the intervening years, he had not swayed from that decision. Starting something with a woman he met mere days ago went against every ounce of self-preservation. Especially knowing she would most likely climb back in her sweet ride and head south in a few weeks’ time despite what she had said earlier today in the park.
I want to stay, too.
Beau believed she meant those words when she uttered them.
But what about tomorrow, next week?
Or in a month’s time when her rental agreement ended?
When his mother had abandoned her family to pursue her “dreams,” it had hurt, but his father buckled down, and the threeof them muddled through without her just fine, thank you very much, and the wound scarred over. News of his mother’s death several years later had closed the chapter on her betrayal.
But when his marriage to Moira had crashed and burned spectacularly, that wound had opened and festered, and bitterness crept into his soul.
In a moment of drunken reflection, he had decided that women were fickle, and relationships were not for him.
From then on, it had been casual all the way. While not a complete hound dog, he’d bedded his fair share of woman over the years since his divorce.
They all knew the score up front. Temporary. No commitment.
But then he stumbled across an injured dog, and a pretty woman with golden brown eyes had given him a ride.
And his world turned ass over teakettle.
His heart stuttered thinking about the moment his lips first met hers.
It had been a kiss to top all kisses, forever branding him.
Now he wanted to kiss her again and again and again.
And he wanted more. So very much more.
Themorefilled him with anticipation and an odd feeling of warmth.
He wanted her smile and her laughter. Her friendship. Her hugs and caresses.
He wanted to taste every inch of her body.
He wanted to make love with her. Notfuckher butmake loveto her.
And, he admitted with a beleaguered sigh, he wanted to go to sleep with her in his arms and wake up beside her.
But it went deeper than that.
Deeper than smiles and friendship and kisses and waking up beside her.
He wanted to keep her safe. Be her shield. Fight her demons.
He could not bear to think of her vulnerable and afraid.
Because as much as Rae inflamed his body with her kisses and caresses, she also made his blood run cold with dread.
The palpable fear that had poured off Rae in the basement on Saturday evening had woken his protective instincts.
One moment she’d been laughing, as eager as him to continue their amorous activity started in the kitchen, but in the next …
“Fuck,” he grunted, his hand striking the steering wheel. She had fled from him with fear in her eyes.
After escorting a shaken Rae up to her bedroom, he had gone back down to the basement and sat awhile, running her behavior through his head. The scenarios he came up with when combiningallher phobias sacredhimshitless.
