Page 18 of Here With Me

“Oh my God!” Noah groans, smacking her forehead. “I forgot to text her after my shift. I can’t believe she contacted you to find me. I wasn’t even gone that long.”

“I ran into her earlier and reminded her she had my number. Didn’t expect the first time she’d use it would be to hunt you down, but I think she just wanted any excuse to text me.”

Resisting the urge to laugh, I stand behind Noah with my arms crossed and wait for him to get lost.

Ian’s gaze flashes to me briefly, sizing me up. With a flicker of his eyes, his attention goes back to Noah.

Noah glances at me before turning back to Ian. “As much as I appreciate ya lookin’ out for me, I’m fine.”

Ian matches my pose as his skinny arms cross his chest. “So should I tell her you were shackin’ up with a random guy in a food truck? How’d ya get in there anyway?”

“No, I’ll tell her myself,” Noah insists. “I trust you won’t rat me out for this littlemishap?”

“You mean the B&E or indecent exposure?”

I scoff, interrupting their ridiculous conversation. There was no indecent exposure, and he knows it.

“Let’s go, Noah.” I take her hand.

“You’re not free to leave,” he says, stepping in front of me. “I’m gonna need to see some identification first.”

Looking down, I have a good foot and fifty pounds on him. “Or what?”

“One of you broke into that truck, and the owner may wanna press charges,” he says with his full chest.

Amused, I laugh. “Go ahead.”

Instead of waiting for him to respond, I lead Noah around him and walk away. I’d like to see him try to stop me.

“Noah Hollis, I know where your camper is! I’ll stop by tomorrow to discuss this!” Ian yells, and my entire body goes rigid at the sound of her last name.

We hadn’t exchanged full names.

She’s aHollis.

And she’s already mentioned she’s a horse trainer, so it’s likely her family owns the same ranch I just took over for Mr. Ryan. I did my apprenticeship with him after I finished my certification. He retired after forty years and referred me to a chunk of his clients, one of them being the Hollises. There’s no world in which her parents would be okay with me sleeping with their much-too-young daughter.

“He’s never lettin’ me live that down,” Noah grumbles as we take the route to the camping area.

“Who is that guy anyway?”

“My family and I come every summer, and he’s worked security for the past five events. Magnolia and I got into some trouble a few years ago, and he’s chased her ever since. She’s not interested, though.”

“She seems way too good for him anyway,” I say earnestly.

Noah chuckles and nods. “She’s too busy being in a toxic relationship with her ex to give anyone else a chance. Well, except my brother. He’s too young and immature to have anything serious.” She looks up at me and exhales sharply. “God, sorry. I didn’t mean to blurt all that out. We never discussed anything beyond tonight, so you probably don’t care.”

Tightening my grip on her, I stop walking and pull her to my chest. She juts out her chin as I pinch it between my thumb and finger, hovering my mouth above hers. “I do when it involves you.”

Her breath hitches before I press my lips to hers, and our tongues tangle together in a battle of lust-filled desire. Threading my fingers through her hair, I deepen our kiss until she gasps.

I break away from her mouth and move down her neck, then whisper in her ear, “Stay the night with me.”

A moan escapes from her throat as her head falls back. “Okay.”

“And you can be as loud as ya want, sweetheart.” The corner of my lips curves up when she shivers against me.

“If that’s your idea of foreplay, it’s workin’.”