“Excuse me,” Dan said. “Who are you?”
Jake practically growled.
“Her husband, you weedy bastard,” Jake said, taking a step forward.
Jake really was much larger than Dan. Taller, broader. And everything.
And she felt...
Like she’d been invaded by some creature she hadn’t known existed. Because her whole body went soft when he stepped forward, all rage and possessiveness and a hundred things she would never have said appealed to her. A hundred things she would never have said her friend had ever exhibited on her behalf.
“Husband?” He looked at her. “You trying to get me skinned?”
“No,” Callie said, scowling. “He’s being dramatic. Anyway. He wasn’t in the mood.”
Jake wasn’t looking at Dan at all, and Callie wished he would. He was looking at her. All laser focus and rage. “I’m in the mood for a hell of a lot now, Callie Carson, and you better pray you survive it.”
The sensual threat in his voice was not lost on even her, and it made her whole insides go giddy. Spiked with her anger, it was a strange and intoxicating combination.
Only an hour or so ago she’d been shouting at him about how she was a woman. Even though she wanted to ride, even though she liked jeans and didn’t get all fussed about makeup and frills.
And she had to wonder if this swirling, dark need inside of her was another of her contradictions.
And if she had to be made of contradictions, why not this one, too?
“I—”
“We’re leaving,” Jake said. He looked at Dan. “Buy the lady’s drink, would you?”
“Sure,” he said, holding his hands up. “She didn’t say she was married.”
“She is,” Jake practically snarled. “To me.”
They had drawn a few stares from around the bar and Jake, to her horror, turned to address them all. “This is my wife,” he said. “If she comes back, just want to make sure you all know that.”
Then he took her hand, and dragged her out of the bar.
“Jake, what the hell?”
And she found herself being pulled up against his hard, broad chest, his lips crashing down on hers. And he was kissing her. More than kissing her. He was devouring her. Doing exactly what she had begged him to do earlier. But he was... Oh, he was mad. Madder than he’d been the other night. Madder than she’d ever seen him. Ever.
Mad because she...
Was it because she had almost kissed someone else?
But then she couldn’t think, because his big rough hand came up to cup her cheek, and she felt reborn. Remade into something completely different than she had ever imagined she could be. Because she knew how to punish herself. And she had a feeling that this was Jake’s punishment. But it was something so much more than she’d imagined it could be.
“Jake,” she whispered.
And he kissed her deeper, biting her bottom lip as he did. Sensation shot through her, an arrow right between her thighs.
“Don’t you ever do something like this again,” he growled against her mouth.
And in that moment her friend was gone.
Replaced by someone more feral, more primal, than she’d known existed inside that body. Inside that skin.
You’ve seen him like this before.
She remembered. The day she’d fallen off the horse. The day she’d broken her arm. The sound he made.
It had been from this part of him. This wild, frightening part of him.
But it didn’t repel her. It shook her up inside. Woke something up in her. But it didn’t scare her. It was scary, but that was different than being afraid of it.
Instead, she clung to him, and she kissed him back.
And something felt uncaged inside of her just then.
Because this was for her. She didn’t have to stop. This wasn’t for anyone’s approval, it wasn’t for show. It wasn’t for anything but pure want. And everybody was going to be so disappointed when they found out this marriage was fake. And they’d be even more disappointed if they found out she’d slept with him knowing it was going to end.
And she just didn’t care. Her entire family could take a long walk off a short pier as far as she was concerned. Because she just wanted. She was hungry. For Jake. For this. And why couldn’t she have him? So she kissed him back, and dimly, she was aware that tears were falling down her cheeks again. That she was hanging on to fistfuls of his hair, but she didn’t care. Not only had she never been kissed like this, she wasn’t sure anyone had. With so much fury and passion and everything in between.
And she would’ve said... Well, she would’ve just flat out said she didn’t understand it only a few months ago, but she understood now. That there was nothing to understand. It just was. This thing just existed between them. They hadn’t chosen it. They couldn’t rationalize it. Any more than she could force herself to kiss Dan back in the bar. She couldn’t make herself want to kiss him any more than she could make herself not want to kiss Jake.
Maybe they could do this.
Maybe she could. He’d said that the problem was she wouldn’t be able to go back to being friends if they did this. But she could. She knew that she could. It was just that he was wrong about her. He thought that because she didn’t have any experience it meant that she couldn’t handle it. But she could. Because for whatever reason this was what was happening. And she didn’t particularly believe in fate, or put much store in it, because if she did, then she would have to also acknowledge that fate could be a particular kind of bastard.
Giving her parents a girl after all those boys, then taking her away. Then giving Callie as a replacement who would never quite be able to replace anyone or anything. Callie, who could never be her brothers, but could never be her sister, either.
But this felt just about right. And maybe this was part of it. This growing. Because he’d asked her... Couldn’t she just do it for herself? And if she could... Oh, if she could, the possibilities that opened up. Because then maybe she could have this, too. Just for a little while. Just for fun. Why couldn’t she? Because the cowboys did it—they’d talked about that. And she wasn’t looking for love and marriage or any of that sort of thing. So why couldn’t she do things the way that he did? And what better person to test it out on than Jake? He was the one that she’d gone to. He was the one that she trusted. She still trusted him, even furious at him. That was the thing. No matter how irritating he was, he was Jake. And there was no one else like Jake. He’d taught her to ride a bucking bronco. Maybe he could teach her this, too. Maybe it could be part of it all.