Page 112 of Cautious Love

“Why are you showing me all this?”

He looks out over the land, and my heart twinges in my chest. Things are getting more serious than I thought they were.

“I wanted to. Is that okay?” he asks.

I nod. Though it feels like he’s holding something back.

“Yeah. I guess it is.”

“Alright, let’s get back to the house,” he says.

“Hey,” I mumble.

He turns his large body to face mine, and I have to crane my neck to look up at him. I grab the collar of his shirt and tug him down to me, planting my mouth on his.

He groans absently, tapping a knuckle to the brim of his hat to give us more space, before sliding his hands around my back and lifting me up around the thighs.

I lean back and he looks up at me, still pensive.

I smile taking his hat off his head and dropping it onto my own. His eyes flare, and I grin mischievously at him.

“Don’t test me, criminal. You have another thing coming if you don’t think I won’t lay you out right here, my family none the wiser.”

I snort and he slides me down his body so we’re face to face. “I’d like to see you try,” I whisper across his lips.

He sets me on my feet, and I take off.

It doesn’t take him long to catch up to me, and he dips his shoulder, picking me up and throwing me over it. I shriek with laughter and he slaps my ass.

“I think you just love the chase,” he says, turning back to the main house.

I pinch his butt, and his steps falter. “Ow!”

“What if I do?” I ask him.

“Good thing I’ve been working on my cardio,” he says.

My heart aches, and I hold on to him as we approach the house. What I wouldn’t give to have him, to have this kind of family. But we’re temporary, so his family is too.

He climbs the stairs on the porch, placing me on my feet and grabbing my face within his enormous hands, and plants one on me. I love this mouth. I love the way he’s so gentle with me, but I can feel his control slipping.

“What was that for?” I ask him, still a little dazed.

“Because I wanted to,” he rasps and opens the front door for me.

I stash my gun from young hands and follow Ledger into the living room.

Everyone is chatting, and the girls are hanging out in the kitchen. While the guys are in the living room with a game on.

Pushing the last bit of nervousness out of my body and feeling oddly confident from that kiss. I leave Ledger in the living room and find the girls in the kitchen.

“Hey Shiloh, do you want something to drink? I brewed a fresh pot of coffee,” Mrs. Hayes asks.

“That would be great, whatever y’all are having. Thanks, Mrs. Hayes.”

She smiles and shakes her head. “You can call me Dixie,” she says.

“Oh, okay.”