Page 9

“And become a grumpy mountain man,” I teased. “Here in the flat lands.”

One corner of his mouth quirked, but his expression was serious. “I’ve always been...shy. Introverted. My family has never fully understood how much I like the quiet. How much I prefer to be alone. I think they think it’s depression or something but honestly, it’s just how I’m built. I like solitude.”

I felt a flash of remorse at my insistence that I stay at his house.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry. I can stay with your parents instead, that would be totally fine. I didn’t mean to intrude.”

God I was such an idiot. I thought he actually wanted me here, and instead here I was, cramping his style. I felt a twinge of sadness at the thought that once again, I was unwanted. A bother. It was a feeling I’d become intimately familiar with during my childhood in foster care.

“Just let me get my stuff and I’ll go back to the main house.”

I started to rise from the couch, but Peter’s hand shot out, capturing my wrist and stalling my progress. Just like the last time he touched me, I felt little zings traveling up my arm.

“I do like to be alone, Abby. But right now, I want to be alone with you.”

Peter

I felt terrible that I’d made Abby uncomfortable.

“I’m not very good with words sometimes,” I told her, still holding her wrist. “I didn’t mean that you should leave.”

Absently, I rubbed my thumb against the inside of her wrist, and felt her pulse pick up.

She studied me for a long time.

“I know I’ve already fallen on you, kneed you in the balls, accused you of animal cruelty, insulted you by telling you that your mother makes me uncomfortable, and intruded on your privacy, so I might as well go for broke.”

She paused to take a breath. I loved the way the words tumbled out of her mouth when she was nervous. It was adorable.

“So, I’m just going to ask you, do you, um, do you feel this too?” She waved her hand between us. “Because the truth is I’m really attracted to you, and if you’re not, that’s okay, I know I sometimes misread signals. But I don’t normally feel this way around, well anyone, so if you are, attracted to me I mean, you should know it’s...mutual.”

I slid closer to her on the couch and lifted my other hand to cup her cheek. She leaned against my palm, her expression almost vulnerable.

“I feel it too, Abby.”

Slowly, giving her time to pull away or knee me in the balls again, I moved forward and pressed my lips against hers. We were both completely still for about ten seconds before her arms flew around me, pulling me closer. I licked along the seam of her lips, swooping in with a satisfied groan when she opened her mouth to let me in.

Our tongues slid against each other and at that moment, I knew things would never be the same for me again.

I tilted my head, deepening the kiss, and gave myself over to the sensation of holding her in my arms and kissing her. Abby made an adorable little moaning noise in the back of her throat, her hands running up and down my back as if she thought I’d disappear.

My cock hardened, pressing against the fly of my jeans. I grabbed Abby’s waist and lifted her to my lap. Straddling my thighs, she rolled her hips against my growing bulge as the kiss went on and on.

When we finally pulled apart, we were both breathing heavily. Abby looked shell-shocked. I knew the feeling.

“That was...wow.”

I nodded. Pressing my forehead against hers, I stared into her eyes.

“I want nothing more than to lay you out and kiss every inch of your body,” I told her. “But we should probably take a break before we do something we regret.”

“You think we’ll regret this?” she asked, her fingers moving to play with my hair.

I shook my head. “Not at all, but I want you to be sure, one hundred percent sure before we do this, Abby, because once I have you, there’s no way I’m going to be able to let you go. I want forever.”

She scooted back on my lap to study me more carefully. “We just met today,” she reminded me. “It’s a little soon to talk about forever.”

She was right. I knew she was. But I couldn’t help the almost primal urge to claim her before she got away, before she figured out that an intelligent and beautiful doctor could do much better than the grumpy, introverted guy who spent his days with cows and rarely left his property.