Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68058 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68058 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“Goddammit, I care about you.”
There. I couldn’t take that back now, and trying to would be a lie. I meant what I’d said, but now there was no way I could keep pretending this was just sex with a man I hated everywhere but in bed. My confession was going to turn my world upside down, and when TJ left, it was going to break my heart.
TJ looked stunned by my response. A long moment passed before he spoke. “I care about you too.”
I allowed myself to exhale. “Do you trust X?”
“Yes.”
“Do you need to check in with him again?”
“No, he’ll call me when he knows something.”
“Then come on.” I took his hand and pulled him to his feet.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere private.”
He glanced toward the tack room.
“No. Better than that.”
When we exited the barn but didn’t head toward the house, TJ refused to move. “Where the hell are you taking me?”
“Do you trust me?”
“I just lost it in front of you, so what do you think?”
I stared at him.
“Yes, I fucking trust you. “
“Good answer. If you’d said no, we would have ridden horses there. Now you get to take an ATV.”
“You’re an asshole.”
He shrugged. “That hasn’t stopped you from wanting me.”
“No, it sure as hell hasn’t.”
We entered the shed where the ATVs were. I slung a leg over one and started it up. “Follow me.”
TJ did. I drove fast and wild, letting myself go. I’d admitted that I cared about him. I wanted to help him, and the world hadn’t come to an end because I had feelings. I hadn’t fallen over dead. Maybe there was a chance I could survive this because there was no chance I could change how I felt.
I wanted TJ, not just right now, not just in the way I’d had him, sneaking around and taking every opportunity we could to touch each other. I wanted him to be mine. I wanted him to stay at the ranch. That wasn’t likely to happen, though, so I would make the most of the time we had.
I came to a stop in front of a shed that had obviously seen better days. Rogue and I had found it when we were out riding the day he’d arrived at the ranch. We’d dismounted and explored it, finding nothing inside other than a few rusty tools. We’d decided to claim it for ourselves. Wherever we’d lived, we’d always had a place just for us, one where no one else was allowed, not even Grant.
We both had a tendency to need time alone, and sometimes we enjoyed being together away from everyone else. Rogue joked that we needed time to recharge our twin bond. I knew he wouldn’t like me bringing TJ here. I would have to tell him I’d done it and offer to find us a new place if he wanted me to, but right then, TJ and I needed absolute privacy, and this was the only place I could think of. Rogue had gone into town for supplies, so I knew he wouldn’t show up.
“What is this place?” TJ eyed the shed critically.
“A little hideout Rogue and I made.”
“Like a fort but better?”
“Definitely better. The roof doesn’t even leak. Well, it did, but we fixed it.”
He glanced around. “And it’s private?”
“Rogue and I are the only ones who know about it. Others may have seen it, but they think it’s just an abandoned shed. It’s our private place.”
“But you brought me here?”
I ignored the heaviness in his voice. He understood what it meant, but I didn’t want to talk about it. “There’s no real bed in here, but there is a couch and a twin mattress from the RV Rogue used to take out on the rodeo circuit.”
“So you did bring me out here to make use of me?”
“I brought you here because you need comfort.”
He smiled, and I knew I’d done the right thing bringing him there. “Are you being nice to me?”
“Maybe. But don’t come to expect it.”
“Is this a one-time offer?”
I shrugged. “I don’t like to be tied down. Let’s just see what happens.”
TJ’s phone buzzed, and he pulled it from his pocket. “It’s X.”
He sat down on the couch as he read the text and responded.
When he pocketed his phone, he scrubbed a hand over his face before speaking. “He thinks he knows where Franco is keeping Arturo, but it’s going to take time to put a plan together so we can make a move. I told him to hurry. Arturo can be a brat, but he doesn’t deserve to be mixed up in this.”
I pushed TJ’s knees apart and knelt between them.
As he looked down at me, he slid his hands into my hair and tilted my face up to him.
“Kiss me,” I demanded.
He did, but the kiss wasn’t like any other we’d shared. The passion and need were there, simmering below the surface, but the kiss was gentle like TJ was taking his time to learn everything he could about my lips. When his tongue teased me, I opened, letting him in. He pulled me closer as he slid his tongue along mine. I’d felt consumed by him before, utterly taken, but right then, I felt cherished, and that was a hundred times scarier than when he used me roughly.