Page 21 of Still A Cowboy
It was instant.
It was undeniable.
And neither of them was going to stop it.
Willa stepped closer. Cal’s hand found her waist. Their mouths crashed together, fast and hungry, like they’d both been holding their breath for days. She clutched his shirt in her fists, pulling him tighter, and his fingers slid into her damp hair as the kiss deepened.
It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t careful.
It was all fire and pull and desperation. The kind of kiss that pushed everything else straight out of his head and right down to that brainless part of him. No way in hell was that part going to make a wise decision about this.
But Willa apparently went with thewise. She pulled away, her breath gusting against his mouth, her cheeks flushed with arousal. Her chest rose and fell in sharp, uneven beats, and Cal could still feel the pressure of her hands gripping his shirt.
She opened her mouth, and he braced for it.He figured she was about to call it a mistake, say they had crossed a line, that they should forget it happened.
Instead, her voice came out low and a little unsteady. “Have you seen Eden yet?”
The question hit him harder than he expected.
His grip on her waist loosened, but he didn’t step back. He searched her face, seeing all the worry layered under the heat they’d just shared.
He thought about what Fia had told him, about the betrayal Willa had been carrying. About the wall she was still holding up.
“No,” he said quietly. “I haven’t seen her. And I… I heard about what she and your fiancé did. I’m sorry, Willa. I mean that. I’m sorry that happened to you.”
Her mouth trembled, as if maybe she’d been holding her breath too long.
Cal kept his voice steady. “I didn’t come here to Wild Rose Point for that. I didn’t come here to stir that all up again.”
She searched his face like she was trying to decide if she could believe him. Or maybe trying to decide if she wanted to.
He waited, giving her the time. She deserved that much.
Willa eventually gave a small nod and stepped back, putting just enough distance between them to make the space feel colder. She rubbed her hands down the sides of her joggerslike she needed something to do, like she was trying to wipe the moment away.
“Good luck,” she said, her voice steady but not soft. “Working out whatever you need to work out with Eden.”
Cal heard it for exactly what it was. A polite goodbye wrapped in a sharp edge. A don’t let the door hit you in the ass.
He didn’t want to leave. He didn’t want to walk away from her, not now, not when she was still flushed and breathless and close enough to pull back into his arms.
But she was right.
He had to finish things with Eden. Willa deserved that much from him. So he gave her a slow nod, even though every part of him wanted to stay.
Then he turned and walked out.
Chapter Six
The Seaglass Saloon was buzzing with Halloween chaos, packed shoulder to shoulder with costumed customers laughing, drinking, and weaving through fake cobwebs dangling from the ceiling.
Willa worked the bar, moving fast, pouring pints and sliding them across the polished wood while dodging foam-tipped devil horns and a man in a full astronaut suit who kept forgetting how wide his helmet was.
Her tail snagged on the barstool again, dragging behind her with every turn. The cranky cat costume had seemed like a harmless, funny choice earlier. Black hoodie with pinned-on ears, whiskers drawn across her cheeks, and a stuffed tail that now seemed determined to trip her at every step.
Gus sat at the bar, perched on his usual stool, telling anyone who would listen about the first time he met his soulmate fifty-eight years ago.
“She spilled a whole pitcher of beer on me,” Gus said, grinning like it had happened yesterday. “I looked like a drowned raccoon, but I tell you, thesecond I saw her, I knew. My pants were soaked, but my heart was all in.”
