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She slid her hands up to his chest, pushing herself into a sitting position as she grinned down at him. “Buckle up, cowboy.”

* * *

Shane was about ninety-nine percent sure he’d died at some point, and gorgeous Cora collapsed on top of him, warm and soft and perfect was a reward for some good he’d done along the way. Had to be.

She sighed contentedly against his neck, her cheek pressed to his shoulder, breathing matching his as it slowly came back to a normal rate. He moved his hand up and down her spine, wishing they could stay here forever.

But he heard her stomach rumble, and he was getting hungry himself. Besides, if they lay here much longer he’d be liable to doze off and ruin the whole night. Reluctantly, he withdrew from her and rolled her onto her side. He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Better wash up,” he murmured.

He padded to the bathroom and got rid of the condom. When he walked back into her room, she was still lying naked on the bed. The prettiest damn thing he’d ever seen.

She yawned and stretched, her fingers grasping a fluffy, bright pink lump of fabric resting haphazardly across the headboard. “I’m starved. I can’t cook, but I can occasionally heat up a frozen pizza without burning it.” She slid off the bed, and he realized the fuzzy lump was a robe.

“Well, it just so happens I’m an expert at frozen pizzas,” he offered, picking his boxers up off the ground and pulling them on.

She grinned, tying the robe with an efficient knot. She pulled her hair from underneath the collar, letting it fall onto her back.

He couldn’t quite get over how he’d suddenly gotten so lucky. Aside from the ranch, good fortune wasn’t generally in his corner, but he had no doubt Cora Preston was his very much good fortune.

“I’m going to have to say thank you to Ben Donahue.”

She burst out laughing. “Why on earth?”

“If that bastard hadn’t conned my mother into marrying him, I’d have never met you. And I think you are even worth my mom’s marrying the wrong guy.”

She grimaced more than smiled, and he cupped her face, trying to read that odd reaction she had every time he complimented her. “How come you look like I’m about to land a punch every time I say something nice.”

She blanched. Near bone white.

“Hey, what’s wr—”

She stepped away, far out of his reach, and that bothered him almost as much as the way she’d paled.

“Cora.”

“It’s nothing.” She smiled at him, but it was fake. Her lips might curve, but her eyes were downright haunted. “Hungry?”

He could have let it go, and maybe he should, but what had transpired in this bedroom was important to him, and he’d learned a thing or two from being burned by love in the past. He’d learned a thing or two since Cora had driven into his life.

Sometimes, you had to face the things you didn’t want to verbalize for them to ever make any sense.

“Tell me,” he said gently, looking right at her, treating her a bit like a skittish horse—not that he’d ever tell her that’s what he was doing. He approached slowly, cautiously, hand out so she saw his intent before he did it. He smoothed his palm down her shoulder. “Tell me.”

She looked up at him, and there was something likefearin that helpless look. A loss in those dark blue eyes he couldn’t even guess at. But she closed them and shook her head. “It’s just . . . Well, I told you, not a great many good guys in my life. So, it’s always kind of jarring. A guy saying something nice. I don’t expect it. I don’t know quite how to . . . accept it.”

He pulled her closer, drawing her into his arms, so her cheek rested against his chest. “Every man in your life has been an idiot.”

“Haven’t they just?” She tilted her head back, looking up at him quizzically. “How come you’re single? Doesn’t seem natural after all the losers I’ve dated that someone as sweet and good as you is on the market.”

“I’m not exactly . . . I’m not an easy guy to get to know. I tend to keep my guard up, I guess.”

“It was easy enough for me to slip through.”

“It’s been a long time since I let someone.” He reached out and touched one of the waves of curl that stuck out haphazardly. “You made that letting in hard to resist.”

“Why was it a long time?”

Shane blew out a breath. Well, he really didn’t want to get into that, but he supposed if he was standing here asking her for more information, she had just as much of a right.