Chasing Trouble (Chasing Love 1)

Colt shook his head. “I’ve just never seen it like that.”

“You mean all cowgirl style?” She grinned.

Thick curls that the braid couldn’t contain broke loose and framed her face. Dear God, the woman was perfection. Whether she was in skirts and sweaters or cutoffs and cowgirl boots, Jenna-Jayne Justice knew just how to tempt a man. What’s worse, she didn’t even have to try.

Ryder, Huck, and Lily started talking and JJ walked around the fire to Colt.

“You look good tonight, sugar,” he murmured when she was close enough that only she could hear him.

She glanced down the front of herself like she was insecure or something.

“I mean it,” he offered, trying to reassure her.

“Thank you.”

“You all right?”

She looked up at him and those big gray eyes were so expressive Colt could almost pick words right out of her head. Something had happened before she came here. Something upsetting.

“No, not really,” she said softly. She scooted toward him a bit more. “I’ve been thinking about you.”

“That so?” Not what he expected, but he’d take it.

She nodded.

“What have you been thinking about?” he asked and took a swallow from his longneck.

She leaned in and whispered, “About how you feel inside me.”

Colt choked on his beer. Now that was something he really didn’t expect. “You can’t be drunk already, JJ.”

“Not drunk. Just being honest.”

“Oh yeah?” He glanced around, happy they were still out of earshot of the others. “I thought you didn’t do honest.”

She frowned. “I’ve been truthful with you, haven’t I? Just because I don’t want everyone knowing my business doesn’t make me dishonest.”

Shit. Colt knew that. He was just thinking how he liked that he and JJ had their own hidden world, so why was he pushing her now?

“Well, be that as it may, Miss Justice, your change in mood is surprising.” Colt backpedaled when he saw her expression drop. “Don’t get me wrong, I always want to hear about your thoughts, especially when they involve me, but somehow I’m not convinced this is a conversation that’s going to end well.”

“I just…” She exhaled deeply. “I don’t know what to do. There’s so many things I want.” Her gaze lingered on his mouth. “But there’s so many things I don’t want to be.”

There. That look she gave told him everything. “So you want me?”

She nodded slowly, but that bleak expression didn’t dissipate.

“But you’re afraid of what that will make you? If we continue to hook up?”

Again she nodded, her eyes kind of glossy, and something in Colt’s gut hurt like someone just shanked him with a dull edge of a spear.

“So you have all these things you want and don’t want, but I think the question is, JJ, what makes you happy?”

Her eyes lock on his.

“You,” she admitted quietly. But when she bit the side of her bottom lip, Colt about lost it. “I keep trying to tackle all this with logic. Focus on the facts.”

That sounded just like her, and he admired the smart teacher problem-solver that she was.