Page 15 of Still A Cowboy
Across the street, the couple slipped back into view, closer to the window now. The woman’s mask glinted in the lamplight as she leaned into the man, her hands pressed flat against his chest.
The man slid his hand up her thigh, slow and deliberate, fingers disappearing beneath the hem of her skirt. Willa’s breath caught, her body tightening with a spark she hadn’t expected.
“They’re filming it,” Willa said, her voice coming out lower than she meant. A camera on a tripod stood in the corner of the room, its red light blinking steady.
Cal let out a quiet sound that might have been a laugh. “Looks like it.”
Neither of them turned away.
The heat in Willa’s chest wasn’t just from what she was seeing. Her skin tingled, her pulse picking up as her thoughts started to drift in a direction she couldn’t quite pull back from. She wondered what it would feel like to have Cal’s hand sliding up her thigh like that, warm and rough and sure.
She shifted in her seat, trying to clear the rush from her head. And other places. Then, she made the mistake of glancing at him.
His gaze was already on her.
There was heat, clear and steady, and it wasn’t from what they were watching. It was forher.
Her breath snagged.
And she kept on wondering what it would feel like to kiss him. Not a soft, polite kiss but the kind that burned. The kind that left a person a little unsteady.
Willa turned her eyes back to the window, but her skin was still humming, every nerve paying a little too much attention to the man sitting beside her.
She told herself she was just caught up in the moment. That it didn’t mean anything. But she wasn’t sure she believed that. Not at all.
Willa cleared her throat, trying to sound casual, but her voice still came out a little rough. “Maybe I should go over there and tell them to shut the curtain.”
She didn’t move.
The man’s hand stayed under the woman’s skirt, his grip firm on her thigh. The woman arched against him, her masked face tilted toward the ceiling. Even without seeing her expression, the way her body trembled and the sharp toss of her head said enough.
Willa’s breath snagged again, heat rolling through her in waves that refused to settle.
She glanced at Cal.
His eyes were still locked on her.
The heat between them tightened, sharp and magnetic, pulling her in before she could think of a reason to stop.
She leaned in, just a fraction, her pulse thumping hard as if her body had already made the choice. The space between them felt too small, too charged, and for one reckless second, she needed to kiss him.
The second didn’t last.
Because the image of Eden flashed in her mind. Brent’s betrayal. Eden’s part in it. The mess she barely survived.
Willa snapped back as if she’d been scalded.
“I should go,” she said quickly, pushing up from the chair before she could change her mind. “I need to get back downstairs.”
Cal straightened, his brow pulling tight. “Willa—”
“I’ll see you later.” She forced herself toward the door and stepped into the hall without looking back.
Her pulse was still racing, her body still buzzing from the pull of him.
But no matter how fast she walked away, the heat didn’t fade. It clung to her, stubborn and unshakable.
Chapter Five
