Page 53 of Tame Our Wild

He can’t be.

He’s touching me like a lover would when seeking comfort. I can’t bring myself to move, let alone breathe.

When I pull my attention from where we’re connected back to his face, I know without a doubt he’s watching how I react to him. His hand leaves my thigh, his fingers lifting to glide over the end of my long, blonde braid that I tossed together for my flights.

“What I’m going to say might scare you, but I need you to know I mean every word, even if I don’t remember that I said it tomorrow.” I swallow at the uncomfortable wildfire blazing in my chest. He doesn’t let go of my hair as he watches himself play with the strands with an intense amount of focus, given how intoxicated he is. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. It’s infuriating.”

Is it possible for words to split your skin? Because I feel them penetrating that shield of armor that he made me build all those years ago at Ember Ridge’s small-town rodeo when I met him.

Noooo. This is so bad.

I’ve been told I’m beautiful—by my parents, past boyfriends, and random men trying to slither into my DMs.

But this …

The way he says it while peering into my damn soul makes the word transform into a completely new meaning.

It blooms into new colors.

Tastes sweeter on the tip of my tongue as I say the word to myself.

I struggle to speak. “I don’t think you know what you’re saying.”

He drops his hand from my hair and removes the arm that was secured around me, but I stay tucked into his side. I tremble at the loss of him. Somehow, it’s as if the room just dropped twenty degrees.

“Whatever you need to tell yourself. Happy New Year, Harlow.” With that, his lashes softly fan out across his soft cheekbones.

Colson’s breathing evens out until he falls asleep right before my eyes, leaving me alone with my thoughts to wonder what the hell just happened and why I’m grasping his words like they mean something.

They don’t.

They can’t.

But if my walls are crumbling, it’s only fitting that the man who made me build them all those years ago is the only one who can tear them down.

TWENTY-TWO | COLSON

“How can you ride that well after drinking so much last night?” Harlow questions, pressing a button on the control panel.

I attempt to catch my breath as the mechanical bull comes to a slow stop, but the respite doesn’t keep my heart from thundering behind my ribs.

Luckily, I don’t wake up hungover very often, and this morning was no different. I’m wide awake and painfully aware of each part of the conversation that transpired between Harlow and me last night on the couch. Right down to the part where I admitted how beautiful she is.

I meant every word. I just wish it hadn’t come out with the scent of alcohol blended with the admission.

She hasn’t brought it up. I don’t think she will. Knowing how stubborn she is, I bet she’s trying her hardest to forget it happened.

But I won’t. I can’t.

Last night felt all too easy as her warmth bled through my clothes, flesh, and to the marrow of my bones. I want to feel her again. I want to touch Harlow in all the ways I shouldn’t to see if she’d react the same as she did last night when she watched my fingers skim across her leg to that delicious dip where her thigh meets her pelvis.

I had enough whiskey to knock my ass out, but I can’t shake the feeling that something wants me to remember how she felt in my arms. The touch was innocent … enough. The longer I think about it, last night’s interaction wedged a crowbar between something so solid between us that has existed for the last several years. Somehow, it’s starting to fracture the animosity and indifference that built our rivalry.

It’s cracking our core, and where we go from here is as unpredictable as the seconds we chase.

I swing my leg over the mechanical bull, stand, and pull off my glove. “I’m old, remember? I can handle my liquor.” I hop off the soft platform and onto the dusty, old wooden floor of the barn. “I’m going to take that as a compliment, though.”

Her smile grows, but she wipes it away just as quickly. “It wasn’t.”