Chapter Eight
S he wasn’t sure she believed him. “Was that the only reason? Our age difference?”
“It was the main one.”
And it had been a good one. Looking back, there was no way a seventeen-year-old girl should or could have been with a twenty-five-year-old man. She didn’t think it was even legal. Still.
“I’ve been grown for several years now. You’ve never acted interested.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t think you’d be interested in me.”
Did the man have no clue how hot he was? Apparently not. She bet it was that bitch Caroline’s fault. And then Cici—who Liam had brought to town—fell in love with Logan, which couldn’t have helped. Still, she didn’t imagine he’d been celibate since Caroline jilted him. Even if she hadn’t heard anything about him and another woman until Cici came to the ranch. Had he and Cici slept together? Did she want to know?
Probably not.
Wait a minute. Was he saying he could have had feelings for her? She wanted to ask him but what if he said no? Or worse, said yes and didn’t mean it? Because he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Shit.
“I never had a serious relationship before Caroline. I couldn’t find—wasn’t even looking for—anything permanent. Then I met Caroline and I thought she was the one for me. Obviously, I was wrong.”
“Caroline was a fool.”
“It turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to me. I think she’d known for a good while that we weren’t suited. She didn’t want to live on a ranch for one thing.”
“Did you know that when you asked her to marry you?”
“I knew she was apprehensive about living there but I thought she’d get over it. I thought she knew I was a rancher and wasn’t ever going to be anything else.”
“If she’d known you at all she’d have realized that.”
“I guess we didn’t know each other as well as we thought we did.”
“But you loved her.”
He looked like he was trying to decide how to answer but then he shrugged. “Yes.”
She put her hand over his. “I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve what she did to you.”
He grimaced. “Can we not talk about that? This is exactly why I didn’t want to date anyone from around here.”
“We’re not dating. We’re married.”
“Doesn’t matter. The last thing I want is your pity.”
“Pity you? Are you kidding? You dodged a hand grenade. You’d have been miserable with her.”
He grinned. “Yeah, you’re right.” He turned over his hand to link his fingers with hers. “I think that’s enough about the past. At least for now.”
“Sounds good to me. I have a question about what happens when we get back. What are we going to tell our parents?” He stroked her palm with his thumb. Rubbed circles on it as they talked. It was strangely seductive. Damn, she needed to get a grip.
“It needs to be something believable. And something that won’t make them realize you’re pregnant. I really don’t want your dad to kill me.”
“Well, he probably wouldn’t since we’re married.” She shook her head. “He wouldn’t be happy to think we slept together before we got married. And I’m sure he’d shit an absolute brick if he knew I got pregnant from a one-night stand with someone other than you.” She tried to tug her hand away, but he wouldn’t let go so she left it.
“I can say I’ve been thinking about you and me for a long time,” he said. “Ever since I realized you were all grown up. We spent some time together before Logan’s wedding and that’s when we started to figure out we both felt the same. The wedding made us realize we wanted to be together, and we didn’t want to wait.”
“Okay. But why didn’t we tell our parents?”
“We were afraid they’d want us to wait. What with Logan just getting married and you knew your mom would want you to have a wedding and invite all your relatives—”
“Oh, that’s genius, Liam! There must be fifty people on Mom’s side of the family she’d want to invite. And several of us can’t stand each other. Which she knows. Usually she just ignores that and invites everyone anyway. With the expected results.”
“Good. We tell my mother the same thing. She might give me grief because of Cici but I’ll explain that I didn’t think I had a shot with you.” He looked thoughtful. “Maybe you were one of the reasons Cici and I didn’t work out.”
“Not because she fell in love with Logan?”
“She didn’t tell me that until later. Maybe she realized I was in love with someone else.”
“Hmm. That might work. But the only problem with all this is we don’t act like two people in love with each other.”
“We’ll work on that.”
“In the two days we have until we go back?”
He rose and pulled her up beside him. “Crash course. The first thing we need to do is be more comfortable with each other physically.”
“You mean—” She broke off when he put one arm around her back and used the other hand to cup her cheek before sliding it into her hair.
*
She looked surprised. If they were going to make anyone believe their marriage was for real, they had to act like a couple in love. Which meant kissing. And other things. But his real reason was because he’d wanted to kiss her for years. Since he realized she was grown. And what they’d done so far had only made him want more.
So he kissed her. He’d only kissed her a few times, and only a few of those had been what he considered real kisses. He took his time, coaxing open her mouth, slipping his tongue in to touch and retreat and then tangle with hers as she responded. Deepening the kiss, he pulled her closer until her breasts were pressed up against his chest. She felt right in his arms. Right in a way no one else ever had, including his former fiancée.
He raised his head and looked at her. She seemed a little dazed. That was okay because he felt dazed too. If this was what he felt like kissing her, really kissing her, what was he going to feel when they made love?
He didn’t let her go. He knew he should, but he didn’t want to. Before he could force himself to let go she kissed him . Which was even better than when he’d initiated the kiss. She wrapped her arms around him, holding him as tight as he held her. She tasted hot, sweet, and addicting. He thrust his tongue inside her mouth to dance with hers, an erotic give and take.
This wasn’t the time or place. He let her go and said, “Do you want to hike some more?”
“Hike?” She stared at him for a long moment. “I guess so.”
“If you’re tired, we can go back to the cabin.”
“I’m not tired. I live on a ranch. I raise horses. You know the type of work I do every day. This hike is nothing.”
He started to mention her pregnancy but one look at her face had him rethinking that. “Okay.” He turned and started back up the trail. About a half hour later they stopped again, both of them pulling water bottles out of their packs.
“What?” he said, noticing Val staring at him.
“You’ve never been around any pregnant women, have you?”
“No. I told you, I know animals and pregnancy, not women.”
“But the animals do pretty much the same thing they’ve been doing for their entire pregnancy, don’t they?”
“Yes, but we’ve already discussed the fact that you’re not a horse or a dog.”
“No, but I’m young, strong, and I’m having a perfectly normal pregnancy. If I’m tired or don’t want to do something, I’ll tell you. I need you to stop treating me like an invalid.”
“Asking if you’re tired is treating you like an invalid?”
“Yes. So don’t.”
“Got it.” Oh, he got it all right. But he sure as hell didn’t understand it.