Page 32 of The Rogue (Four Corners Ranch #11)

“Maybe,” she said softly. “But... we need to be able to come back here. We need to be able to come back to King’s Crest, to come back to our lives.

To come back to each other. Because...

I have lost everything in the last few weeks.

I cannot lose you. The lead-up to the wedding was hard, because I would look at you and it felt like I was losing something.

But I think I wanted you then. And it just felt like a terrible loss, a terrible waste that I never kissed you.

That we had all of these things, but we never had that.

You know how angry it made me that there were women out there that knew what you look like naked and I didn’t? ”

Her words, though they were not carefully practiced seduction speeches, were the damned hottest thing he’d ever heard in his

life. There was no doubt about it.

“I was just happy,” he said.

“You were?”

“Yes. Because you were safe from me. Because you made it. Yeah, I was really happy that you were gonna make it.” He let that

sit between them.

“Do you not want this?”

“I want you. If that wasn’t damned clear, I don’t know what is. And I know it’s hard for you to believe that for me this isn’t

meaningless.”

“It’s not. I’m sorry.”

“It means more. I want you to know that. Because I don’t have sex with women I know.

I don’t want to know their names, I don’t want to know where they live, I don’t want to know what they want to do with their lives.

I don’t want to know what issues their daddy gave them, and I don’t want to be responsible for easing any of it.

I don’t want to be involved. But I can’t say no to this.

To you. That’s how much it matters. It is everything that I don’t want, with one thing I desperately do.

So when I tell you it means something, you best pay attention. ”

“Okay.”

His heart was pounding hard; his hand still hadn’t stopped shaking. “You should go into the house.”

“You want to come with me?”

“I’m going to drive a loop. I’ll be in later.”

“You don’t trust yourself.”

He shook his head. “I do not trust myself. No.”

“You would never...”

“Oh, I know I wouldn’t do anything you didn’t want. But the trouble is, I’d have you wanting it in seconds.”

She laughed. “That isn’t how it works for me.”

“Were you not just in the barn with me?” Her cheeks turned pink. “Yeah, I thought so.”

She got out of the truck, and he watched as she walked into the house. He sat there in the truck, then he drove back out toward

the main road, and just parked his car in the middle of it. He took his phone out, and dialed Denver. “Hey.”

“It’s late?”

“Yeah, I know.”

“You need me to pick you up?”

He laughed. “No. I just wanted to tell you... I’m going to go away for a week. In a couple of days. Sorry that is short

notice. I hope you guys are covered.”

“Yeah. That’s fine. Where are you going?”

“Rue still has her honeymoon booked.”

“What?”

“Yeah. She doesn’t want to go by herself.”

“You’re going on your best friend’s honeymoon with her?”

“Yep.”

“Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“Yep,” he said.

“Well... Good luck, I guess.”

“Not that kind of luck.”

“Don’t close yourself off to it,” Denver said.

“What would you know about it?”

“I know that if you can have something like that, you ought to.”

“Let me guess. I can, but you don’t think you can,” Justice said.

“This isn’t about me.”

“Right. But you’re going to tell me what to do even though you’re not actually going to ever do it.”

“She’s your best friend. You could do worse,” Denver said.

“I also don’t need it to be anything other than what it is.” He needed that to be true. For both of them. “It’s just...

I’m just helping out a friend.”

“Oh yeah, helping out your friend and getting laid in the process. Aren’t you a regular superhero.”

“I didn’t ask your opinion. And please don’t say anything to anybody else.”

Denver snorted. “Yeah. I won’t.”

“I’m serious. I need this to stay between us.”

“Are you going to tell anybody else that you’re going away with her? Because you know people are going to wonder.”

“I’m okay with them wondering. I don’t want them to know.”

There was a short pause. “All right. Be safe.”

Justice rolled his eyes. “Yeah.”

He went back to the house, went straight to his room and locked the door. Then he got into the shower and turned it on cold,

bracing his hands against the wall. And he started planning. Because if he was going to do something so damned dangerous,

then he was going to do it so good that it made it all worth it. He started thinking about all the things he would do to her.

All the ways he would make her scream. And the cold water didn’t do a damn thing to keep his hard on at bay.

But he didn’t touch himself. Didn’t let himself have any satisfaction. Hell no. He wasn’t giving himself that. No. He was

going to wait. Wait until the honeymoon. And then, he was letting himself off leash.

Just for the honeymoon.

Then it was back to the way things had always been.

The way they had to be.