Chapter 17
aria
“You given my proposal any thought?” he murmurs, his mouth leaving hot kisses on my cheek.
I stiffen. He feels it.
I push him away and walk down a gravel path, arms crossed, trying to breathe through the heat in my chest, when I hear boots crunching behind me. I don’t have to turn to know who it is.
“Maverick, don’t,” I say sharply, but my voice cracks. Dammit.
“What the fuck was that?” he demands.
I whirl on him. “You kissed me and then immediately started talking about Longhorn. I don’t know how much more textbook manipulation you think I can take.”
That stops him. His hands hang loose at his sides, jaw tight. His eyes are stormy and serious.
“My kissin’ you has nothin’ to do with your ranch.”
I laugh bitterly. “No? Because it sure feels like you want Longhorn more than you want anything else.”
He takes a step forward. “You’re wrong, darlin’. My wanting to help you has got nothing to do with Longhorn and everythin’ to do with you.”
He looks so earnest.
I believe him, and that scares me more than the insurmountable problems at the ranch.
I shake my head. “This isn’t some fantasy, Maverick. I have real debt, a broken-down herd, fencing that’s falling apart, and equipment that should have been replaced years ago. I don’t need your pity.”
He closes the space between us, gently grabs my arm, and his voice drops. “I don’t pity you. Aria, I admire the hell out of you.”
I freeze.
“You’re out there working cattle. Fixing things. Hauling gear, branding, dosing, fixing feed schedules like it’s muscle memory. You’ve got more grit in your pinky than most men I know.”
That burns through my defenses more than the heat between us could.
“You were awful to me, and now you’re…what?”
“I told you. I’m attracted to you. I was fighting this. But not anymore.”
I feel the fire between us. It’s tempting. It’s dangerous. “We’ve only known each a couple of weeks, Maverick.”
“It feels like forever since I had my mouth on yours, my tongue inside you,” he murmurs and claims my lips.
This time it’s slow.
Fierce.
Familiar and, yet, completely new.
He wraps his arms around me like he’s trying to hold on to something that already slipped through once.
My hands tangle in his jacket, the rough wool scratching against my palms.
I press closer, hungry, aching.
He kisses me like I’m not a means to an end.
And that might be the biggest lie of all.
When we finally break apart, I’m breathless.
He rests his forehead against mine. “Let me in. Let me help you, Aria.”
I nod slowly.
“Okay,” I breathe. “Please don’t make me regret this.”
I can’t help the plea that falls out of my mouth.
This man has taken over my senses like no one ever has, and it distresses me.
But what terrifies me is that I trust him, even though all my alarm bells are ringing loudly.
When I get home, Celine is waiting for me in the living room, looking like a woman in a country ballad—sweet, tragic, and just a little too perfect to be real.
“Heard that you made a deal with Mav.”
There’s something proprietary about the way she says his name. I don’t like it.
I want to snap at her and say, “Yeah, I made a deal, and we sealed it with a kiss and made out like teenagers outside the Spur.”
But that would be revealing too much, and I’m still on shaky ground when it comes to Maverick Kincaid.
“Goodnight, Celine.”
“Wait,” she cries out.
“What?” I snap. I’m tired, a little tipsy, emotionally bruised, and in desperate need of sleep.
“Look. I’m okay with you selling to Mav. Honestly, thirty acres isn’t the end of the world. It’s smart to get some liquidity.” She pauses and preens, irritating the hell out of me. “I appreciate what you’re doing…for the family.”
Right! And look, a cow is flying in the air!
“I told Mac I’d be okay with this.”
Suspicion rears its ugly head. How did Maverick convince her? The way he did me by heating my blood?
“Great. I’ll check in with Mac and get the contracts for your signature and mine.” I walk toward the stairs.
“Aria, I’m trying,” she whispers.
I turn to look at her, and for a moment, I believe her, but it’s only for a nanosecond. I have a lot of history with Celine. I know who she is. This is a game she’s playing. My guess, she’s thinking let Aria try and fail, and then we’ll sell the ranch anyway. Everyone’s happy…except the loser Aria.
Bree asked me if I was tempted to sell, to have millions in the bank. I told her truthfully that not even a cell in my body was interested in the money, not unless it came from running a ranch. In the long run, we’d make a whole lot more money from the ranch than any investment could give us.
“Goodnight, Celine,” I repeat because I have nothing else to say to her.
I climb up the stairs, feeling uneasy. Something’s off. She’s too agreeable and supportive.
I chew over the conversation like gristle as I get ready for bed.
I should be relieved—hell, I want to be. But my gut is tight with anxiety. Because the thing is, when your instincts whisper, ‘Be careful,’ and you ignore them for the sake of peace or hope that someone’s changed, that’s when you end up blindsided.
It happened with Hudson.
It’s never going to happen to me again.