Hang Tough(49)
“My mouth is yours anytime you want it.”
“That’s a dangerous promise to make to a woman who’s grown addicted to your kisses.” Jade followed his scar with the tip of her finger. “What happened here?”
“A fishhook caught me. Bled like a bitch. Hurt like a bitch too. I forgot about it.”
“I noticed it right away.” She brushed her top lip over the mark. Once. Twice. “I think it’s sexy.” After softly pressing her lips to his, she eased back to find him watching her with a slumberous gaze.
“You’re beautiful.” When she opened her mouth to retort, he placed his fingers over her lips. “Not drunk talk, Jade. The truth.”
She slid his hand to her cheek and kissed the inside of his wrist.
Tobin closed his eyes and sighed.
“You’re about to crash, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“Sorry I can’t drag you up the stairs, cowboy, so you’ll have to sleep out here tonight.” She stood. “I’ll get you a blanket.”
“I’d rather you kept me warm.”
“Another time. Boots on or off?”
“Off.”
She picked up his right foot and pulled on his heel. She repeated the process for his left boot. Then she set both boots at the end of the chaise and went inside to grab a blanket.
When Jade returned a minute later, Tobin had crashed. The blanket didn’t cover him entirely and she debated for a few moments about curling up next to him, using her body heat to keep him warm.
But she ended up going to bed alone.
After the discussion with Tobin after he’d come home from the bar last night, Jade decided to take the bull by the horns tonight.
Geez. She hadn’t been in Wyoming two weeks and she’d already reverted to Western colloquialisms.
As the day wore on, she worried maybe Tobin wouldn’t return to GG’s after work because she suspected he’d be . . . embarrassed about his state last night since that wasn’t the norm for him. They’d exchanged cell numbers, but she’d never needed to contact him because they usually interacted in person.
And she planned to get very up close and personal with him tonight.
She snapped a selfie and added the text:
I have a surprise for you—make sure you’re home before bedtime so we can break some rules
She forced herself to leave her phone in her room for an hour before she checked it for messages. Tobin’s response had come in not five minutes after she’d sent the original text.
No problem. As long as there’s no booze involved. But you probably already knew that . . .
She grinned like an idiot. His sense of humor was just another thing she liked about him.
Tobin didn’t show up at GG’s until almost ten o’clock. He looked tired but he still made time to chat with her grandmother—which just proved his genuine affection for her.
Jade caught him in the upstairs hallway before he took a shower.
He stopped and eyed her warily. “Hey.”
“Hey is for horses,” she quipped. “I’m disappointed you didn’t say, ‘Hello, darlin” and sneak a kiss.”
He smiled. “I’ve been workin’ outside most of the day, so I probably smell pretty ripe. But I’ll give you a hello kiss and then some after I knock the dirt off.”
They’d gotten used to speaking in whispers when they weren’t alone in the house, even when GG probably couldn’t hear them from the bottom floor. But there was something more intimate and urgent when they were forced to use that quieter, more intense tone with each other. “I don’t care. I need a kiss from you now, Tobin, so I know we’re okay.”
His gorgeous eyes softened when he gave her a sweet smile. He reached out to smooth his hand down her hair. “We’re fine. I’m the dumb-ass for crawling into a bottle last night.”
Circling her fingers around his thick wrist, she brought his palm to her mouth for a kiss. “I wish you would’ve told me you planned to get your drink on.”
Tobin feathered his thumb across her bottom lip; his hungry eyes followed the movement. “You would’ve tried to talk me outta tying one on?”
“No. I would’ve been your DD, not Riss.”
He smirked. “Darlin’, that sounds a little like jealousy.”
“No, it is jealousy, a lot of jealousy.” She nipped the fleshy skin at the base of his thumb. “But since you are here with me, burning me alive with that hot, sexy stare, I’ll let it slide. Just this once.”
Then Tobin was nose to nose with her, his hands curled around her face. “Do you have any idea how fucking hot it makes me that you got jealous over Riss driving me home?”