Page 21 of Cowboy Stole My Heart
“Oh, shit, sorry, just give me a sec.”
He stopped. Sam stood in the middle of the small room, saddles and bridles covering every inch of wall space, and Mia pressed into one corner, her tears impossible to hide.
“Hey,” Sam murmured, striding over to her. Hell, he hadn’t expected her to be crying. He’d thought she might need a hand carrying some gear out, but… he didn’t know what to do.
“I’m fine, please,” she said, holding one hand up to her face, the other stretched out in front of her as if trying to push him away before he was even close.
“You’re not okay,” he said, knowing how gruff he sounded but unable to help it. “Come here.”
She shook her head. “Please, I’m fine,” she managed, voice cracking.
“Your mom, huh?” he asked, knowing that there was no way in hell he’d managed to say anything to upset her this much. She was still grieving, he could see that from a mile off.
She nodded, dropping one hand, the other still covering her face. “Yeah,” she whispered. “It’s just I haven’t talked about her for a long time. She’s been gone twelve years so I shouldn’t be reacting like this.”
“Come here,” Sam said, not taking no for an answer this time as he opened his arms and pulled her in.
He held her, tight, letting her cry. She sobbed once, loudly, a noise that made his heart lurch for her, feeling her pain, before she went silent and relaxed in his arms. It had been almost a year since he’d held a woman like this; comforted a woman and held her and felt something for her. He stiffened. Only that woman had played him, ripped his heart out when he’d have done anything for her.Anything.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’d tell you it’ll get easier, but I doubt it will.”
He didn’t sugarcoat things, even this type of thing, but he did feel for her. She’d tried to talk about her mom all nonchalant to him, laughing about her beautiful stables, when in reality it had torn her in half and left her crying all on her own. She’d lost her mom and her best friend as well; no wonder she’d been prickly when he’d tried to muscle in and take over with the one thing she did have—her horses.
Mia pushed back and he wished she hadn’t. He’d liked the warmth of her against him, the tickle of her long hair catching in his stubble as he’d inhaled her shampoo or whatever it was on her that smelled so damn delicious.
“Sorry,” she murmured, her hands to his chest as she stepped back. “I don’t ever let anyone see me cry.”
He believed it. She didn’t strike him as the type to let anyone see her vulnerabilities.
Sam glanced down at her, at her hands against his chest, at the way she was looking up at him, her eyes wide. Her mouth parted, tear-stained cheeks making her look so vulnerable that it tugged at something inside of him he’d thought was long buried.
“You’ve got nothing to apologize for,” he muttered, slowly raising a hand and brushing his thumb gently across her cheeks to blur the tears away.
Mia stayed still, her palms still planted against him, head tilted. He looked at her mouth, fought the urge to rub his thumb across her soft pink lips. Instead he dropped his hand, skimming past her long blonde hair on the way past.
Sam bent a little, eyes on her mouth, imagining what her lips would taste like. He wanted to kiss her so damn bad, wanted to push her up against the wall behind her and kiss the hell out of her. But he didn’t.
He’d sworn off women for a reason, and sexy or not, he wasn’t about to take advantage of hisbossup against a wall. Even crying she was beautiful, but he wasn’t going there. Hecouldn’tgo there.
Dammit!
Her eyes were dancing, her lips were parted, her hands were slowly dropping away from his chest. But instead of closing the distance between them, instead of hungrily tasting her lips against his, he took her hands, stepping back and squeezing them.
“You take all the time you need,” he said instead, hearing the husky note of his own voice. “I’ll be out here.”
He walked out, ducking back through the door and out into the bright sunlight again.Goddamn it!What the hell had he just done? He’d always prided himself on being able to keep his shit together, and he’d let himself get way too close to Mia.
He stalked off, pleased to be alone while she pulled herself together. When he’d found Kelly in bed with another guy, he’d vowed never, ever to let himself get close to a woman again. He’d loved her, damn, had he loved her,and she’d gone behind his back and fucked another guy in their bed when he’d been out at work. Add to that the fact he’d had to pay her big time because they’d been living together for over three years and their home was considered relationship property, and it had been enough for him to never let any woman get close again.
Now he only did one-night stands or casual flings. He met women when he was away traveling, when he could make it clear that he was only in town for a night or two. There were no strings attached, there were no expectations. He wasn’t an asshole, he didn’t use women, but he made it clear that it was only ever going to be a fun night between the sheets.
But Mia was different. Mia was girlfriend material. Mia was from Texas, she was beautiful and she was…the kind of girl he didn’t need to get close to or lead on.
Sam went for a walk to cool off. He’d screwed up, but he wasn’t going to let it happen again. Mia was off limits. Mia was his boss. He just needed to keep telling himself that.
His dog appeared out of nowhere and Sam realized he’d forgotten all about him.
“Hey, Bluey,” he said, giving him a big pat when he loped over. “Come with me, bud.”
