The Cowboy's Way(31)

“And just so you know, last night when you told me you didn’t want me around, you misunderstood my silence as agreeing that I would do what you wanted,” he said, nibbling kisses from her neck to the hollow beneath her ear. “That wasn’t the case, sweetheart. I’m not going anywhere. I want to help you out. I want to make things easier for you and Seth.”

“I don’t think you being around will do anything but make things more difficult and complicated for us,” she said honestly.

He cupped her cheek with his palm and held her gaze with his. “There’s something going on between you and me, Heather. Whatever is drawing us together—I know it makes you as frightened for yourself as you are afraid of Seth being hurt. And to tell you the truth, I’m unsettled by this pull between us, too. But I gave it a lot of thought last night and I decided we can’t ignore it. It exists, whether we like it or not. But I give you my word that I’ll walk through hell before I hurt you or Seth.”

“We should try to ignore it,” she insisted, unable to sound as convincing as she would have liked, even to herself. She didn’t try to deny that there was a definite chemistry between them. They’d both know she was lying.

“I’m not willing to do that,” he said firmly as he lowered his head.

The moment his lips settled over hers, Heather gave up trying to fight with herself and closed her eyes. She might not be the least bit comfortable with it, but she wanted T.J.’s kiss. She wanted him to make her feel that she was more than just a single mom, struggling to make ends meet on a ranch that was quickly slipping through her grasp. She wanted him to make her feel like a woman again.

When he coaxed her mouth to open for him, he slipped his tongue inside to tease her into playing a game of advance and retreat. Heat flowed from the top of her head all the way to the soles of her feet. She felt a strong sense of feminine power course through her when he encouraged her to take control and explore him the way he had explored her.

She brought her hand up so she could tangle her fingers in the soft curls at the nape of his neck. His arms tightened around her. When her nails lightly chafed his skin, a groan rumbled up from deep in his chest. That’s when she became aware of his rapidly growing arousal pressing against her hip. Her own body responded with a delicious warmth that gathered in the most feminine part of her, and she couldn’t stop herself from melting against him.

“Hossy!” she heard Seth squeal as he ran into the kitchen.

The warmth flowing through her veins quickly cooled. Pulling back, she looked at T.J. to see if he was angered that the kiss had been called to such an abrupt halt. His understanding smile surprised her. A lot of men would have resented someone else’s child interrupting a passionate embrace. But T.J. seemed to be taking it in stride.

“We’ll continue this later,” he promised Heather, kissing the tip of her nose. Turning his attention to Seth, T.J. grinned as he reached down with one arm to pick up her son. “Hey there, little partner. Did you have a nice nap?”

“Yesh,” Seth said, throwing his arms around T.J.’s neck to hug him. “Wide hossy.”

“You’ll have to ask your mom,” T.J. said, laughing.

“Pease, Mom-mom?”

Her son looked so hopeful she couldn’t say no.

“Just one and then we’ll have to let T.J. get back to helping his men,” she said as she got up from T.J.’s lap.

“Otay.” Seth’s little grin melted her heart.

Her little boy meant everything to her, but T.J. was right. Whatever this was between the two of them couldn’t be ignored. She just hoped she wasn’t setting up Seth—or herself—for an emotional fall.

But as she watched T.J. get down on his hands and knees to give Seth a ride around the kitchen, she realized that whatever force of nature was drawing her and T.J. together, it included her son, too. Seth wasn’t a child who easily warmed up to strangers, but he had immediately gravitated toward T.J. And T.J. didn’t seem to mind in the least. In fact, watching the two together was like watching a father playing with his son.

Her breath caught in her throat and she had to force herself not to panic. She had always heard that it took a special man to accept another man’s child as his own. Was T.J. really that kind of man?

Thus far, he had been extraordinary. He hadn’t hesitated one bit to help her with Seth and if he saw that she needed something, whether she wanted him to or not, he did his best to take care of it for her. He was the kind of man she would want to be a father to her son.

She shook her head to dispel the thought that he could be a father to Seth and reminded herself to take things one day at a time. Nothing had been said about a relationship and T.J. had promised that he wouldn’t cause Seth any kind of harm, not even emotionally. But could she take it on faith that T.J. wasn’t just telling her what she wanted to hear? She’d had so many disappointments in the past couple of years, it was hard for her to trust that everything would work out.