Million Dollar Cowboy (Cupid, Texas #5)(74)

He pulled back, hurt.

She flinched, retreated, leaned away from him.

They stared at each other for a long, hard bite of time.

"I'm only telling you this because I care about you," she said. "I also know that giving up on the belief that you have to keep chasing that brass ring feels like failure to you."

"That's because it is failure."

"Oh Ridge." She said it so sadly, as if he'd disappointed her in some monumental level.



       
         
       
        

He hardened his face, hardened the quicksand in his heart. "You're just like every other woman I've ever met. You want to change me. Mold me in a role of your own making."

Kaia's mouth dropped, and she raised a protective palm to her cheek as if he'd struck her.

Immediately, he felt like a shitheel. "That came out wrong."

"No," she said. "It's how you feel. But you're wrong. I don't want you to change to suit me. I want you to find out who you really are. I only want you to be happy. What do you truly want, Ridge? In your heart of hearts?"

He had no answer for her. None. Things had taken a dark turn, and this was supposed to be a fun afternoon.

"I want that drumstick." He laughed.

Beautiful woman that she was, she let him get away with it.

"Easy enough," she said, opening the picnic basket and producing the one remaining piece of fried chicken, and extending it to him wrapped with a paper napkin.

Except now that he had the drumstick, he didn't want that either. He shook his head. "Lost my appetite."

She looked crushed, and he realized belatedly that she thought she'd offended him somehow.

"Not your fault," he croaked, pushing the words past dry lips. "Not your fault at all. I didn't mean to take everything out on you."

"You didn't." She put the chicken back in the basket, raised her eyes to his. "How can I help?"

He didn't answer her unselfish question. Instead, he yanked her into his arms so forcefully that she gasped a surprised little "oh!" and then erupted into a smile as he pulled her closer and dipped his head.

She turned her eager mouth to greet his.

He kissed her. Fiercely claiming her. Ah! This was what he'd been hungering for. This was what he wanted. This was what made him happy.

Kaia and her amazing lips.

She slipped her lithe arms around him, hugging his neck tight, pulling his head down, and lapping at his mouth with heat, moisture, and rampant zeal.

They kissed for minutes, hours, days, eons.

He lost track of all time and space.

They floated in a bubble of joy. Just the two of them. Surfing each other's lips. Surrendering to the moment. To the water and the sun and the sand and the sensuous feel of skin touching skin.

He breathed her name. "Kaia. Kaia. Kaia."

A mantra. A prayer. A song of his soul. Such a beautiful, powerful name to describe a beautiful, powerful woman. Kaia.

"Thank you," she murmured, pulling her mouth from his, but still clinging to his neck. "Thank you so much."

"For what?" he asked, slightly confused. 

He should be the one thanking her for caring enough to put the screws to him and force him to look at himself in a new way.

For shining a light in the dark places he didn't want to go and urging him to see what he'd been so reluctant to face.

To understand the lonely, shallow man he'd become. A man who pursued success at all costs without even having an endgame, a man who viewed prestige as the ultimate goal, even when it turned to dust in his hand. A man with no real home, no place where he truly belonged, no one to make success worth having in the first place.

Her smile was a life raft filled with hope and encouragement. A smile that said, grab on, I'll save you. Did he dare trust that smile?

He tucked her into the crook of his arm, squeezed her tight. He wasn't sure what to say. All he knew was that he was overjoyed to be with her. Kaia. A sweet ray of sunshine in his stormy world.

She stared into his eyes, a look of wonderment on her face, the same stunning wonderment coursing through his veins.

"Thank you," he said in a voice as rough as the desert terrain.

"For what?" she asked.

"For being you."



They got past their argument and spent the rest of the day hiking Balmorhea State Park. They skipped stones in the lake, watched birds, and had several "remember when" discussions about their childhood, but kept things on the lighter side.

Being with Ridge like this was as comfortable as a favorite pair of old jeans, but it was exciting too, as they carved out a new way of being with each other. The best of both, familiarity mixed with the thrill of the unknown, because there was so much to discover about each other.