Haley's Mountain Man
Page 22
Cameron bristled. Did he even think Grace capable of love? “So you loved him?”
“No,” she replied swiftly. “I meant...I meant I have no intention of talking to you about him. Now, would you ignore everything I’ve said and leave me alone?”
Cameron wanted to laugh. “Ignore you? Yeah, right.”
Her gaze sharpened. “Ignoring me isn’t usually a problem for you. Except of course when you’re making fun or insulting me.”
“It goes both ways, Grace.”
She moved her feet and seemed to come a little closer. “I guess it does.” She dropped her arms. “It only happens with you.”
“Do you ever wonder why?”
She raised one perfectly arched brow. “Why would I bother?”
“It might explain one of the great mysteries of the world.”
She laughed humorlessly. He could sense her thinking of some kind of cutting retort and wasn’t disappointed. “I don’t want to rain on your monumental ego, but I really don’t have the time to waste wondering about things like that.”
“So you never think about it?”
She stilled. “About what?”
“You and me?”
“We were over a long time ago. It was a silly teenage summer romance. I hardly remember.”
Her response pushed his buttons. Because he didn’t quite believe her. The tension between them had never waned. Every time she returned to Crystal Point, every time they spoke, every time he caught her stare from across a room, the awareness between them was still there. He straightened his shoulders. Down deep, in that place he’d shut off because it stirred up a whole lot of hurt, Cameron remembered what it felt like to want her so much it haunted his dreams. “Maybe you need a reminder.”
She faced him with an indignant glare. “And what exactly do you propose?”
“Propose?” He smiled. “Is that what you’re after, Princess—a proposal? Couldn’t you get the suit to the altar?”
Her green eyes flashed. “I have no desire or plans in that regard. I’d think you’d know that better than anyone.”
He did. He wasn’t likely to forget. They’d started dating when she’d finished high school. She’d come home from boarding school that final time and he’d waited two weeks before asking her out. Three months into their relationship she’d bailed. She wanted a career and a different life...a life that didn’t include a small-town police officer. A life that didn’t include him or marriage or the possibility of children in the future. She’d made her intentions abundantly clear. Grace Preston wanted a career. And that’s all she wanted. She’d left Crystal Point for New York without looking back.
Except for now. This Grace was someone new. Someone who didn’t seem like she had her usual ice running through her veins. Grace never did vulnerable. And Cameron wanted to know more.
“The corporate life is still giving you everything you need, is it?” he asked, referring to her highly successful job as a finance broker.
“Of course.”
“So your little outburst earlier, what was that about?”
Her brows came up. “Are we back on that subject again? It was nothing. Forget it.”
“And let you off the hook?” He rocked on his heels. “No chance.”
“Haven’t you got anything better to do with that mouth of yours than run off with it at me about my life?”
He did. Absolutely. And her words were like a red cape to a bull.
“Did you have something in mind?”
“No, I don’t,” she said with a caustic smile. “And don’t get any ideas.”
He laughed at her prickles. Only Grace could make him do that. Only ever Grace. “I could kiss you,” he teased. “That would shut me up.”
She stepped back. “Don’t even think about it.”
It really was all the challenge he needed and Cameron moved closer. “Grace, you know me better than that.”
Her green eyes were alight with fire and defiance. “You’re right, I do know you. I know you’ve got a reputation for nailing anything in a skirt. The last thing I want to be is a notch on your bedpost, Jakowski...so back off.”
“You shouldn’t believe everything you hear.” Cameron placed his hands on her shoulders. She didn’t resist. Didn’t move. “Kiss me, Grace?”
She shook her head slightly. “No.”
The air shifted, creating a swift, uncommonly hot vacuum which somehow seemed to draw them closer. Their bodies brushed and it spiked his blood. He shouldn’t want this...shouldn’t do this. But everything about Grace Preston took him to another level of awareness. It was almost primitive in its intensity and it made him forget all his good intentions to stay as far away from her as possible.
“Then I’ll kiss you.”
“I won’t kiss you back,” she whispered, but he felt her slide a little closer.
Cameron’s libido did a wild leap as he moved his arms around her, bringing them together. “Sure you will.”
“I won’t,” she said boldly. “I hate you, remember?”
“You’ll get over it,” he said smoothly and moved one hand to her nape. For twenty years he’d wanted her like no other woman. For sixteen years he’d been angry at her for breaking his heart.
Grace stared up at him, her green eyes shining and wide in her face.
She looked more beautiful than he’d ever seen her. More desirable. More everything. Without thinking...with nothing but feeling and the need to suddenly possess her, Cameron claimed her lips with his own.
ISBN: 9781460316825
Copyright © 2013 by Tracy Leigh Ritts
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