Page 21

"And the dad?"

"He's gone ahead to make sure that everything is safe. He's clearing out the land mines, so to speak." Her voice was soft. "Some men are good. My stepdad is a great man. I miss him. I don't actually call him my stepdad. He's my dad. But I wanted to be clear for you."

"Dad, it is." Jacob loved her storytelling about the coyotes. He felt their presence on his rides, their friendship, their protection…and Phoebe felt it too.

The tension usually gripped him so tightly he almost couldn't breathe. Relief always came when he saddled up Freedom and they took off in the night. But tonight, he couldn't leave Phoebe and her daughter unprotected, so he sat on his front steps, breathing the night air into his lungs while Phoebe laid on the grass, staring up at the moon.

As he sat on his steps, scanning the woods for any threats to the woman on his lawn, Jacob realized that he felt surprisingly relaxed. He knew it was because of the woman sharing the darkness with him.

The woman he hadn't wanted to bring home.

"You know what's weird?" he asked, his voice echoing in the dark outdoors that surrounded them.

"Many things are weird." Phoebe had her hands clasped under her head as a pillow. "What are you thinking of?"

"I want to kiss you."

The night fell silent again with his words, and he instantly regretted saying it. He was their protector, and his job didn't involve kissing her.

Then, she rolled over on the grass to face him again. "Why is that weird? I'm pretty amazing."

Relief rushed through him at the realization she wasn't mad. He relaxed slightly. "It's weird because I'm annoyed by most women. People, in general, as you know."

She flipped him a sassy grin. "If you stick around me long enough, you'll be annoyed. But you'll still want to kiss me. You can feel both ways."

He chuckled, loving her sass. "How would you feel if I kissed you right now?"

Her smile faded. "Oh, that's a super loaded question."

"Keep it simple."

For a long moment, she said nothing.

He waited.

Finally, she answered. "I think that if you got up, walked over here, and laid a hot, melty one on me, I'd probably be pretty pleased about it."

Desire coiled hard and fast in his gut.She wanted him to kiss her.

That was great news, because he couldn't stop thinking about it.

But he didn't move.

She didn't move either.

The words just sat in the air.

Because kissing her would be a mistake on a whole lot of levels.

"It's a bad idea," he said, testing the idea out loud."We've got Annie around, a bad guy hunting you, and I'm about as messed up as a guy can be."

She nodded. "Plus, I haven't kissed a guy in a long time. My ex made me realize that life is better without a man in it."

"And I don't like physical contact with most people," he added.

"And yet, here we sit." She looked over at him, her blue eyes intense. "Together."

"Here we sit," he agreed.