Deceptive Truth: Cowboy Justice Association (Serials and Stalkers Book 4) by Olivia Jaymes (reading women .txt) 📕

Italian food and this was one of her favorites. They'd have leftovers for sure. If Michelle got hungry in the middle of the night, she could have some or they could eat it for lunch the next day.

Determined to ignore Knox, she retrieved the cheeses she needed from the refrigerator and set them on the counter. She grabbed a large spoon from the drawer and then opened the cabinet next to the stove for a bowl. The size she needed was on the top shelf and she stretched her arm up, going up on her tiptoes but she was still a few inches too short. She'd need a step stool. Before she could move, another arm came over hers, his big body pressed up against her back.

"Let me get that for you."

His voice was close to her ear, his breath tickling her cheek. She accepted the bowl that he held out, their hands brushing together. Her skin tingled where they had touched, her heart pounding against her ribs. She was surprised that he couldn't hear its deafening noise.

She'd turned around to face him, her gaze level with his shoulders before wandering up to his face. He was looking down at her, watching intently, scanning her for...what? She didn't know what he was looking for. She didn't even know what she was looking for.

That was a lie. She did know.

She was looking for him to look at her. That way. She had a terrible feeling that she was looking that exact same way at him. Like she wanted him. And she wanted him to want her.

Their gazes locked, his blue eyes almost black from the pupils blown wide. Jenna could almost feel herself being pulled into his orbit, a force far too great for her to be able to fight. Not that she was planning to.

What happened next was inevitable. They'd been dancing around it for days. His face came closer to her own, their lips mere millimeters apart. She could feel his warm breath, smell his heady scent. At that moment, she couldn't have said what day it was or where she was standing. Her world had narrowed down to the two of them and she could happily be like this, blocking out the universe. Reality was overrated.

She didn't know which one of them made the first move. Did it matter? Not much. Their lips touched briefly, a soft brush like the wings of a butterfly. Then more, her lips parting to allow his own to plunder and conquer. Her limbs were heavy and she had to hold onto his broad shoulders to keep her knees from turning to water and falling into a heap on the floor.

This man knew how to kiss.

She'd been in his arms before, of course. This wasn't their first embrace, but it shook her far more than the previous ones had. Maybe because she knew Knox so much better now. It meant more because they were more. Except that...they weren't.

He'd made his position clear more than once. He didn't want to be a couple. He didn't want to be in a relationship with her because he said he couldn't trust her anymore. She'd apologized but it wasn't enough. Now they were kissing. Not a friendly peck on the lips, either. This was a three-alarm inferno they had going here but had he changed his mind? Did he want her after all? Only hours ago he'd been adamant that they were only friends.

Of their own accord, her palms flattened against his chest, pushing him backwards. It certainly wasn't her heart initiating that action, so it could only be her brain. Or maybe it was some primitive self-survival instinct that had kicked in when under stress. Whatever it was, he immediately stepped back, his arms falling to his sides. His shoulders fell and rose rapidly with his breath and his color was high. He was as aroused as she was. If he was going to deny it, he was a lying liar who lied. She could easily see that their kiss had affected him. Now she needed to know what it meant.

"You can't do this."

Her voice came out hoarse and ragged, like broken glass on gravel. She had to suck oxygen into her lungs to be able to speak. With one kiss, he'd taken her breath away.

"You can't do this," she repeated, taking her own step away, putting more space between them. "You can't say that you only want to be friends and then kiss me when we're making dinner. It's not fair to me."

"I was only–"

She held up her hands and angrily shook her head. Now that her mind was clearing, she was beginning to get a little pissed off. Who the hell did he think he was?

"Have you changed your mind?"

Her tone was aggressive but she wasn't going to play games with him. She was far from in the mood.

He didn't reply right away; instead his head dropped so he was looking at the floor. She had her answer then. He didn't need to say anything.

"You haven't changed your mind," she said, wanting to reach out and give him a shove, or maybe kick his shin. Something to make him feel a quarter of the pain she was feeling at the moment. Her heart was breaking into tiny little shards that was currently slicing her guts into a million painful pieces. "But you kissed me anyway. That's bullshit, Knox. You don't get to use me that way–"

"I wasn't using you," he replied, straightening his shoulders. "I got carried away. I admit that. But I wasn't using you. I