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Her brain plucked the memory of his words from the back of her mind as if it had been recording the whole time while she fretted over what was the better route to take. She framed his face with both of her hands and offered him a smile fitting a girl who was ready to let herself give in to the temptations that surrounded her. “I know it doesn’t make much sense. And to be honest, all of this terrifies me.”
“Me, too,” he murmured.
“But I think we’d be cowards if we didn’t take a look at all the crazy coincidences and not see that fate is pushing us together.”
The corners of his mouth quirked upward. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
She tilted her head slightly. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” he whispered. His hands came around her waist and pulled her closer to him. She gasped, clinging to him to prevent herself from stumbling and inevitably falling to the floor at his feet. Caleb didn’t give her any warning this time. His eyes locked with her lips, and he dipped his face closer to hers. His eyebrows raised in question, and she nodded her head.
His kiss was searing. It was full of passion and like nothing she’d ever experienced before. Caleb tasted like honey and a warm sunny day. She would have never thought of it, but his kiss tasted like forever. There was no other way to describe it other than to feel like she’d been wrapped in a weighted blanket.
All sense of time and space eluded her as their kiss deepened. Emma’s back pressed against the wall. Normally she would have felt cornered, trapped like the bunny she’d felt like before. But this time was different. Caleb was rescuing her from a life that she wasn’t sure she wanted to lead. He could be the person who supported her no matter what she wanted to do with her life.
Caleb was her white knight.
Emma pushed her hands into his hair, then pulled back, lifting her face to the ceiling with a gasp. “We shouldn’t…” she said breathily.
“Oh, I think we should.”
This time she pulled away by taking a decided step to the side. She ran a shaky hand through her hair. “We both know this is going too fast. We need to ease into it a bit more. Get to know each other a little more.”
He reached for her. “I know all I need to?—”
Emma placed her palms against his chest. “Just… humor me, okay? Let’s… take it slow.” Her heart hammered and the disappointment practically drowned her. But this was the right thing to do, and she was relieved when he nodded and stepped back.
“I’ll give you all the time you need.” His words made the promise, but his eyes told another story. The cloudy passion that flickered there only added to the desire boiling over within her. She placed hot hands on her flushed cheeks. “I’m going to turn in early.” It was all she could do not to throw herself at him and break her own rules.
Caleb nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” she confirmed with a whisper.
16
Caleb
Caleb whistled as he headed toward the house. He hadn’t been home since he’d arrived at Mateo’s place. While everything looked the same, it didn’t feel that way. Change was a funny thing. Nothing was different about how the ranch was being run. Wade was still in charge. His older siblings still could be counted on to fill their roles.
Carter was still gone.
But Caleb had gone through a transformation of sorts. When he looked at the sky, it was bluer. When he breathed in deep, it was sweeter. If he’d known that this was what he’d been missing out on, he might not have sworn off women so readily.
He skipped up the steps to the house, only planning on stopping by to pick up a few things and drop off some of his laundry. Then he’d head right on back to Emily.
Emily was amazing. She had it all. The looks. The intelligence. The kind heart. Everything he could have possiblywanted in a girl, he’d found in her. He only wished he had seen it sooner.
There was only one cloud hanging over his head when it came to falling for Emily.
She was still a tourist.
They successfully avoided speaking about that. Neither one of them seemed too keen on discussing what would happen when her vacation ended. Nor did they talk about their plans after Mateo and his family returned home.
Those were subjects for another time. Emily wanted to focus on getting to know one another, so that was what they were going to do.
He pulled open the front door and headed inside. It was midday. Lunch would be on the table, but Caleb planned on eating with Emily. If he could avoid speaking with anyone, he’d do just that.
“Caleb? Is that you?”
