Page 82 of Last Chance Cowboy
Either way, they weren’t going to question being let off the hook at cleaning time.
As soon as they left, she closed and locked the door behind them, which ensured that no one else could just wander in.
“Thank you for the flower.”
“Yeah. You were busy when I came by.”
“I was?”
“Talking to Jackson Carey.”
“Oh.” Her face felt hot. She felt like she’d been caughtdoing something she wasn’t supposed to do, which was ridiculous.
“Still interested in him?”
“I wouldn’t say that I’m interested in him. But he has offered to take me to dinner.”
“You’re obviously free to do that if you want.”
She could tell by the tone of his voice that he did not want her to be free to do that.
“Okay? Why are you telling me that?”
“Just making it clear. What’s going on between the two of us is between the two of us, and not between you and anybody else.”
“Is this because you want to sleep with other people while we’re sleeping together?”
“No. I don’t. But if you do, it’s none of my business.”
“I don’t want to. Just so we’re clear. But I’m not sure why you’re pretending that you don’t care when you clearly do.”
The sound that he made was somewhere between a grunt and a growl.
“You get very…beastlywhen you’re horny or mad.”
“Beastly?”
“You’re in Big Bad Wolf mode, and I would like for you to go back to being the somewhat sensitive man you were last night. Have a conversation with me. Tell me what your deal is.”
“I don’t have a right to be possessive of you,” he said.
“But do you feel possessive of me?”
His nostrils flared, and he looked away.
“I don’t have to go out with Jackson. Honestly, my main thing was I didn’t want to shut him down out in public in my bakery. But also, I was thinking about… Succession planning.”
“Already replacing me in your bed?”
Indignation zipped down her spine and made her face hot. She was the one who’d been a virgin last night, and he wasabsolutely not a virgin, so his worry about that seemed both unfounded and unfair.
“I was actually thinking aboutdating. Because I thought dating might be a nice thing to do. You know that I haven’t been with anybody else. Well, I’ve kissed two guys, and they were terrible kisses. Both were at bad school dances, and they don’t even count. Those are also the only two dates that I’ve ever been on. That’s sad. I have to figure my life out, Zane, and this is great. But it’s not that. It isn’t a step toward me… Making a future for myself, I don’t know. And you know that. You said it yourself.”
“Which is why I also said it’s fine if you go out with him.”
“Well, you know what, I assumed that it was. I didn’t think you’d care at all if I went out with some other guy in public because you want us to be a secret. But you do care, and now it’s weird.”
“I only know how to make things weird. You know social isn’t my default setting.”
