Chapter 19
The sun reflected off her hair, ribbons of gold popping through—and it was all he could do not to reach over and bring her backside flush with him. He knew what those beautiful hips felt like. He could only imagine them pressed up against…
Yep, not going to do that.
He needed a cold shower and some food. He gently rolled out of bed and made his way to the master bathroom. He turned the knob and closed the door quietly so it didn’t click, then turned on the shower. He kept it cold and forced himself to stay there a while. When he was ready, he turned the handle and stepped out onto the mat.
Shit. He did it again. Why did he always forget to hang a new towel? As he was making a plan, looking around for something to dry off with, the door cracked open, and the woman who’d been sound asleep in his bed stepped inside.
“Woah, sugar…” Justin turned toward the wall, covering himself with his large palms. She would see his ass, but that was better than scaring her off with everything he had up front.
“Oh, gosh! Justin, I'm so sorry!” Her hands waved in the air, and she spun around, found the door, jumped out, and slammed it shut.
What happened to the woman from last night, who tucked her fingers in his waistband? The bathroom was inside the bedroom. He wondered how she hadn’t heard the water?
“I’m so sorry!” Her voice came through the closed door loud and clear. “I was still waking up and needed to go pee.”
“Well, I’m not sorry, but would you grab me a towel out of the linen closet in the hall?” He waited a minute before the door cracked open one more time. Her arm stuck through, the rest of her body hiding behind it.
“Thanks, sugar. I’ll be out in a minute.” He chuckled and wrapped the towel around his waist. That was close, but she was going to see a man’s dick at some point—might as well be his. He combed his fingers through his hair and walked out of the bathroom, hair damp, his body still not completely dry.
“ All you had to do was ask, you know?” He stopped in front of her, knowing his very defined V-taper was nearly eye level as she sat on the edge of his bed.
Her eyes widened, and she blinked. “How did I not hear the shower going? I swear I didn’t mean to?—”
"Blythe, I already told you last night—this body is yours the moment you ask for it. Just say the word. I’ll drop this towel right now…” Justin reached for the corner that was tucked by his hip, pretending he was actually going to do it. He wouldn't, but it was fun to let her think he would.
“Stop!” Her hands flew to her face, and a cheeky grin quickly plastered itself all over his.
“You know you want me to…” Justin swaggered to his closet, went inside, and closed the door behind him. He heard her feet on the hardwood leaving the room.
Someday, he told himself.
Someday soon he’d have her—all of her. But there were still pieces missing from what he knew about her life in Chicago and the douche bag she ran from. If he was going to get any closer to Blythe, he needed to know what he was dealing with.
BLYTHE
She could hear him walking around upstairs as she opened the cupboards, looking for a mixing bowl. She quickly found all the things she needed to mix up some pancakes, and was using a whisk to stir the batter when Justin waltzed lazily into the kitchen.
“Can I help?” His smile was infectious, and she couldn’t help but flash one back.
“Of course! Want to pour or flip?”
Was he just going to sweep their eventful morning under the rug and say nothing?
“I’ll flip. I can’t pour a perfect circle to save my life.” His laughter mirrored hers as she began pouring pancake batter. Justin picked up a spatula and swatted one bum cheek as he moved around her.
“Seriously?” She couldn’t help but laugh. His impulse was comical. “Does my ass call your name or something? I don’t understand where your obsession comes from.”
Justin stood behind her, lowering his lips to her ear. “In fact, it does. I’m a man with an extreme amount of restraint, sugar. You have no idea. If I have to microdose myself by touching your sweet little behind every now and then—it’s what I’ll do…until you finally let me get high off these delicious curves. Got it?”
He stepped to the side and flipped the three circles she’d poured onto the skillet.
She got it, alright. She wanted to believe if Justin made a move she’d push back; she would stand her ground. But, truthfully, she didn’t know. She wondered if she’d have the strength to do it? The only thing keeping them apart was Justin’s respect for her, and she appreciated it more than he knew.
When they finished their food and were full, Justin threw a ball out of left field. “Tell me about the other guy.”
Ugh. She didn’t feel like talking about Max right now, or ever. But she and Justin were only getting closer, and of all the people, he deserved to know.
“We didn’t want the same things. I thought we did. Turns out, he wanted the complete opposite.”
“How so?” He was sitting across from her at the table, and his hand touched hers patiently.
Blythe huffed a sigh and tried to fight back the hurt and the anger she still felt. “There were red flags from the beginning, I just didn’t see them…or maybe I ignored them.” She paused, gathering her thoughts before spilling it all. “I had an appointment with my doctor, just to make sure I was all clear before getting married. I told Max about it, and that I decided not to get on birth control. He went ballistic and told me he never wanted children. He told me I was going to be his wife, that he had an image to uphold, and that he wasn’t going to have any of it.”
She looked up from her hands. She’d been staring at them while she talked. His eyes were soft, and she felt him squeeze the hand he was still holding. “He took me home, and I avoided him for a couple days… That’s when I snuck into his real estate office and left a note and the ring—before getting back in my car and coming straight here.”
Justin shifted in his seat. “Does he know this is where you’re at?”
She could tell he was on edge after what she’d just shared.
“I’m not sure. He’s, uh, sent a few text messages. It’s manipulation, that’s all. I’m sure he won’t actually do anything.”
The look on his face told her he wasn’t so sure. “What did the texts say? Can I see them?”
Blythe opened her phone, handed it to him, and waited while he read the text thread.
“Have you told Chris about this? You know he can help if this asshole tries anything, right?”
“No, Chris doesn’t even know as much as you do. You’re the first person I’ve told.”
Justin paused, eying her carefully. “I don’t like it. I think bringing him in the loop would be a good idea. If I see or hear of anyone creeping around, he’s a dead man.” He stood and kissed her gently on the forehead before grabbing their plates and dropping them in the sink.
Justin insisted on following her back to the ranch. The most recent text had been sent just yesterday, and he was adamant that he wasn’t comfortable sending her home without protection.
She didn’t argue. She always felt safer with him near, anyway.
She hadn’t seen Justin in two days, and their text exchanges weren’t cutting it. She constantly felt like she was missing something, but could never figure out what. Such an odd feeling to have. It was confusing, and melancholy, and just weird. Except, this time, when she had it, she actually was missing something. She remembered the hair ties she’d grabbed on her way out of Jensen’s Mercantile earlier that day. She’d opened the package and used one to pull her hair up on her drive home, but left them in the cup holder of the center console. She’d picked them up for the girls. They were always taking out their ponytails and leaving the ties in random places to get lost.
It was getting dark, so she slipped on her boots, sitting by the kitchen door, and trotted down the porch steps. As she approached her car, she noticed a single pink rose on the hood. It looked fresh, like it’d just been cut…but there was no one around. Maybe Justin was passing by and left it?
No, Justin wouldn’t do that.
She picked it up and touched the petals. Why did the hair on the back of her neck suddenly lift? Because it felt like him. It felt like something he would do. She made a mental note of where the girls were and accepted that they were safe up stairs in their room. Blythe opened the door to her Cutlass and snatched the hair ties with a quick grab, then slammed the door quickly before racing up the steps and locking the kitchen door behind her. Chris was already home, and they usually locked the doors by that hour, anyway.
She broke the flower in half and shoved it down in the trash can. Gathering every other piece of throwaway in the kitchen she could find, she smashed it on top so the rose was buried and she could forget that she’d ever seen it in the first place. Logically, it didn’t make sense that he would be in Montana, much less at Silo Springs. He didn’t know where she was, and Jenny would never tell. There was no one else on earth who knew she’d even gone the thousand miles home.
Surely, it was just her intrusive thoughts and a coincidence. Maybe it wasn’t even real. Maybe she hadn’t seen anything at all.
Chris sauntered into the kitchen, and she barely noticed him get a snack out of the cupboard and start to tear the plastic. He popped open the microwave and turned to speak to her.
“Everything okay, Lythie girl? We’re going to do a movie and popcorn, if you’re not planning to do something else?”
Blythe took her boots off and sat them back where they’d been before she went to get the hair ties.
“Sounds great, what are we watching?”