Book 2: The Telfords of Montana
Cole felt her heart slam against his forearm and then pound quickly like hummingbird wings. Her legs trembled, nearly giving out. Her breath fractured. He’d surprised many targets during his career, and never once mentally calculated the words to lecture them about their lack of awareness afterwards.
Or apologize for startling them.
Fear and concern and fury hit at the same time, but he leaned into experience and training and shut it all down. She was terrified, and terrified women weren’t safe.
“Fight me,” he whispered in her ear.
“Wwwwwha…?” She could barely eke out that syllable, and that wouldn’t cut it.
“Fight me. I taught you.”
“Cccccole?” she squeaked, tried to turn around. He held her firmly but not enough pressure to hurt, though another jerk wouldn’t be so gentle. They both knew that.
“Fight back.”
“I don’t want to…hurt you.”
His dark laugh was unexpected.
“Try,” he invited, relieved to feel her heart rate begin to settle, and her diaphragm expand with a full breath.
“We practiced this,” he reminded her. “What do you do first?”
“You show up after almost six years with no warning and no texts for four months and expect me to remember how to fight you? Careful. I just might remember how.”
Her voice had a snap of flame. Good.
He drew deeply on patience, trying to ignore her scent that teased him, the way her hair was fragrant silk against his lips. “You have options.”
“Lucky me.”
He bit back the smile and gave in to the indulgence to breathe deeply in the fresh citrus scent of her stunning hair. “You’re wearing boots.” For a moment the long ago image of her pink cowboy boots studded with embroidered daisies and rhinestones and the short button-up denim skirt flashed in his memory, and Cole struggled to focus.
“Surprise, surprise on the boots,” Riley drawled, and he nearly gave up and just spun her around to kiss her and see her stunning eyes darken—safety lesson be damned.
“You could kick my instep hard. Heel or toe. Fast. Then spin, fast uppercut to my groin with your knee, then go for my eyes.”
He had countermoves that a drunk in a bar or a handsy cowboy in a dance hall wouldn’t have a clue about.
“Eeeeew. Eyes? I can’t do that.”
“That’s why I taught you. Why we practiced.”
She spun around and took a step backwards but only ended up stumbling on his large foot and would have crashed into the metal gate if he hadn’t caught her arm. He schooled his expression. Riley Telford. No longer nineteen and a budding country artist turning into a pop star, but more beautiful than he’d remembered. Rarely had he been able to FaceTime so the snippets of texts over WhatsApp had been all he’d had to cling to over these past long years.
“Try to take me now.” He forced the words when he really just wanted to look his fill.
“Cole.” She dropped her voice to a whisper. She looked left, then right, her expression tinged with guilt and caution. “What are you doing here?”
Lot of answers to that question. He went with the top.
“Came to see you,” he admitted, watching her expression for minute changes.
Her dark blue eyes purpled, long dark lashes curled, giving her a youthful innocence that should have put him in full protector mode, but no, lust crawled through his body like a drug he hadn’t wanted to take. Her face was exquisite—smooth golden skin stretched over delicate features, high cheekbones, narrow, straight nose, pointed chin, and her lips—dark pink naturally and pillow plump and inviting. She’d lost weight—more lithe but still had the athletic look and feel of a cowgirl.
Damn. How had he walked away? She was his.
In name only.
“Wwwwhy…” She moistened her top lip and then her bottom one. “Why come back?”
So many answers. What did she want to hear? He had no hold on her heart. He knew that. He’d been first a polite obligation. Then a protector. But he intended to be more. He reached out and cupped her strong jaw with petal-soft skin, and emotions he hadn’t counted on surged through him. And so did desire. He’d felt numb for so long, shut down, operating on automatic because it was his job and his duty. But damn, it was glorious to feel alive again.
“It’s time.”