Winona could see how much this bothered him. “Do you think they left because of what happened to your parents? After my mother died, I couldn’t walk out the front door, not even with Chaska holding my hand. I had to go out the back way. I was so glad when our grandparents took us away from that house.”
“I’m sure that was part of it. More than that, I think they just wanted easier lives.” He sounded disappointed.
“Is that so wrong? After centuries of suffering and trauma, isn’t it a good thing when one of us finds happiness?”
“If everyone with a college education or special training leaves the reservations, where does that leave the Nations? How will anything get better for our people? What happens to our cultures, our languages?”
“We carry them with us.” Winona tried not to take what Jason was saying personally, though she couldn’t help but feel judged. “We speak for those back at home. We are the voice of our people to the outside world.”
Jason didn’t look convinced.
Winona didn’t want to lose her temper, but she needed him to see her point of view. “Naomi has a gift shop that sells jewelry made by Native people from reservations all over the country. If not for her and her shop here in Scarlet, they wouldn’t have that income. Don’t forget Camp Mato Sapa. I’ve seen it change kids’ lives.”
“And Chaska? Couldn’t his engineering skills be put to better use at home?”
Winona leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms over her chest, irked now. So much for her silly hopes for a romantic evening. “Sure—when the Oglala Lakota start launching rockets. And, yes, I probably could have started a wildlife sanctuary on the reservation. It would have taken years to get the funding and all the permits. But I don’t want to live far from my brother. Once my grandfather makes the journey, he and Naomi will be all the close family I have.”
“I get that. Family is important. But do you think little Shota will grow up to have the same sense of what it means to be Lakota that you and your brother have?”
Winona hoped so. “Chaska plans to speak only Lakota to him, and he will spend time on Pine Ridge visiting relatives, even if he doesn’t grow up there.”
Jason’s gaze dropped to the table for a moment. “Sorry. I don’t mean to question your choices.”
“Yes, you do.” Winona let go of her frustration. “But I understand why.”
She understood something else, too. No matter how attractive or courageous Jason was, she couldn’t afford to let herself develop feelings for him. He would never leave Sells, and her home was in Scarlet Springs.
Jason watched the news while Winona packed for their stay at the ranch, brushed her teeth, and got ready for bed. He did his best to ignore the sight of her as she moved back and forth from her bedroom to the bathroom, but it wasn’t easy. He wasn’t sure what he found sexier—her sleeveless white sleepshirt with pink sheep on it that showed off her smooth, slender legs or the blue bathrobe she’d left open.
She’d been wearing that same bathrobe this morning, except it had been tied, and she’d been soaking wet and naked beneath it. Yes, he’d noticed. How could he not?
He dragged his gaze away from the hallway and back to the TV, where CNN had aerial footage of a fire at an apartment complex in Miami. But Jason was too restless to take in the news, their dinner conversation on loop in his head. He shouldn’t have pushed Winona the way he had.
No matter how strongly he felt about the issues, he was a guest in her house. How she lived her life wasn’t his business. She and her family were doing a lot of good in this world, which is why he was here in Scarlet in the first place.
Sometimes it pays to keep your mouth shut.
Yeah, well, that was a lesson he was still learning.
He turned off the TV and walked toward his room, colliding with Winona in the hallway when she stepped out of the bathroom. He caught her around the waist, her body soft against his, her hair like silk beneath his palm. “We keep bumping into each other.”
She looked up at him through wide eyes, the minty scent of her toothpaste making him want to kiss her. “I … uh…”
For a moment, neither of them moved, his gaze locked with hers.
He could tell by the way her pupils dilated and her body tensed that she felt it, too, this attraction between them.
You’re playing with fire.
“Do you … uh … need anything?” There was a slight quaver in her voice.
It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her that he needed her tonight, but he let her go, stepped back. “No. Thank you. I’m turning in.”
“Goodnight then.”
“Goodnight.”
She walked to her room and closed the door behind her.
Well, he had passed that test.
Damn.
He walked to his room, grabbed his toothbrush, and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth, his gaze fixing on his reflection.
Idiot.
He could have kissed her, and she would have melted in his arms. It would have been sweet. But then morning would come, and things would be awkward between them. There was no chance that they could be together, so there was no point in crossing the line and getting physical. Strange that he could feel so drawn to a woman who wasn’t right for him.
Remember Elena?
Yeah. Maybe it wasn’t strange. Maybe it was a pattern. Jason had felt drawn to Elena, and she’d turned out to be the enemy.
Moral of the story? Don’t let your cock make decisions for you.
He finished brushing his teeth, walked back to his room, and stripped down to his boxers. Then he turned out the light and crawled beneath the covers.
He willed himself to relax, to let the sexual tension ebb away—or tried to, anyway. Images of the day passed through his mind. Winona, wet and naked in her bathrobe. Winona, listening as he interpreted the sign, dark hair caught in the breeze. Winona, excitement on her face when Jack invited them to stay at the ranch.
He had no idea how long he’d been sleeping when something woke him. He sat up, listened. Was Winona crying?
He got out of bed, slipped into his jeans and a T-shirt, opened his door, and stepped into the hallway.
A stifled sob.
He walked to Winona’s door, knocked. “Winona, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
Ah, hell.
He stood there for a moment, trying to decide whether to let her lie stand. “I know that’s not true.”
Footsteps.
The door opened.
Winona stood there in her sleepshirt with the pink sheep, her face wet with tears, misery mixed with embarrassment on her pretty face. “I woke you, didn’t I?”
“That’s okay. What’s wrong?”
She leaned against the doorjamb, her dark hair tangled around her shoulders. “Just a bad dream. I have nightmares about it sometimes.”
“About the time the bastard attacked you in your clinic?”
She nodded, sniffed. “The dreams always seem so real.”
Jason understood a thing or two about that. “Why don’t I make you a cup of tea or warm some milk, and we can talk?”
“I should be making you the tea. You’re my guest.”
“Hey, you told me to make myself at home, remember? Follow me to my kitchen.”