Not to him.
Not to anyone.
“I’m not leaving until we have a talk Kari.” Lance’s voice was a low rumble between them. He was so close. Closer than she wanted to let him get.
Close enough the familiar scent of him eased across the few inches left between them, reminding her of the way he made her feel the last time he was here.
But it wasn’t real.
She was just another one of the countless women who couldn’t help but fall all over themselves over poor Lance. Poor undeniably desirable Lance.
Kari was a fool to think he wanted more from her.
Not that it would matter if he did. More was the only thing she could ever give a man. Her more.
Not her all.
“I don’t want to talk to you Lance.” Kari tipped her head back to look him in the eye. “I don’t have anything to say.”
“I think you have a lot to say to me.” His lips quirked. “I’ll start you off.” He crept a little closer. “How about, ‘I’m so glad you’re back in town Lance’?”
Kari lifted an eyebrow at him. “You want me to lie to you?”
Instead of looking insulted, Lance looked amused. “I would love to listen to you lie to me.”
“In that case,” Kari tilted her head, “I couldn’t wait for you to come back.”
“Really.” Lance eased in closer. “Tell me more.”
Kari took a step back, putting a safe distance back between them. “I thought about you every night while you were gone.”
“Hmm. That’s interesting.” Lance closed the gap she gained. “Keep it coming.”
Kari scooted her cowgirl boots a few inches away from the man making her pulse race and her skin heat in spite of her best intentions. This was a dangerous game she was playing but it felt good to bruise his ego. The thing needed to be knocked down a couple pegs.
She decided to land a blow that might do just that. “I wished you’d fucked me before you left.”
Lance’s blue eyes went dark and before Kari knew what hit her his body was pressed against hers, pushing her back until she was pinned against the wall. His hands flattened against the wall on either side of her head, caging her in. “Don’t toy with me Kari.”
This was not what she wanted to happen. Not anymore. Maybe last time he was here, but then he just up and left without a see ya later, sorry you loved me a little.
No. Love was a strong word.
She respected him. The kind of father he was. The kind of man she thought he was.
But then it turned out he was the kind of man who got off on women worshiping him and Kari would be damned if she’d feed his ego anymore. That thing would explode soon.
And she’d already had to clean his mess off the bar once.
“Leave me alone Lance.” Kari shoved at his chest. Why did it have to feel like that? Lean, lithe muscles that made her fingers want to linger on his body. She yanked her hands away and tried to duck under his arm. He dropped it down, keeping her in place. “You frustrate the hell out of me do you know that?”
Lance dropped his gaze to her mouth before dragging it back to her eyes. “Then we’re even.”
She had to get out of here. This was very, very bad and it was only getting worse.
Moving quickly, Kari ducked under his other arm and away from a situation that was way more tempting than she would ever admit to anyone.
Including herself.
And it looked like she got out of there just in time. The door to the bar swung open and the group that went to the mountains walked in, with Hagen and Jerrik leading the way. The minute her brothers’ eyes adjusted to the dim light of the bar was clear.
“What in the hell is going on here?”
Kari looked back at Lance giving him a smirk before looking back to her brothers. She smiled and walked around to take her place behind the bar before telling them what she intended to be the complete and utter truth from this moment on.
“Not a damn thing.”
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Did you love Magni? Then you should read Lance by Janice M. Whiteaker!
Kari is the shoulder everyone in town loves to cry on and Lance was no exception. The last time Mister tall blonde and handsome was in town the single dad got sloppy drunk and confessed all his sins concerning the opposite sex.
Then he puked on her floor.
Now he's back in town and back in her bar, but this time Lance isn't spilling his secrets…
He's trying to uncover hers.
Secrets Kari will do anything to protect. Secrets her family can't afford to have exposed.
Unfortunately Lance is a hard man to say no to.
****
Lance only came back to Greenlea to learn the truth.
And the truth he's seeking lies in the cool blue eyes of the only woman who ever listened to his problems without judgment.
But Kari seems different now, questioning his motives and pushing him in ways no one ever has.
For the first time in his life a woman isn't looking at him with lust in her eyes.
Only suspicion.
Suspicion he deserves.
Because Lance has a secret too.
Magni Page 27