“Well, I love Felicia’s cooking so much. To tell you the truth, I don’t really know. I should do more cooking.”
“Have you reconsidered enrolling in culinary school?”
Marj tilted her head. “That’s my dream. But I’m expected to stay here and help with the ranch. I mean, it is one quarter mine.”
I nodded. I understood. Why should she walk away from this empire she lived on? I sure as heck wouldn’t. Here I was, saddled with loans from college and law school, and currently living off Marjorie and her daddy’s money.
I hoped I could find a job as an attorney. Until recently, I’d been planning to join the legal team at Colin’s father’s Denver satellite office. Those plans had blown up on my nonexistent wedding day.
But this wasn’t about me. It was about Marjorie.
“If that’s really your dream, why not talk to your brothers about it? Surely they’d understand.”
“Yeah, I should. It’s just easier staying here. I don’t have to worry about anything.”
Easy. Yeah, Marj did have it easy. I bit back a surge of envy. I certainly didn’t begrudge her the good fortune, but man, my life would have been a lot easier if I’d had a little money. My dad did the best he could, and I never got a penny from my mother. Her much-younger second husband had seen to that.
I finished my coffee and stood. “I’m going to shower. What time do you need me in here to start our cooking extravaganza?”
“I’d say probably around five. No, make that four. The potatoes need to bake and then bake again. Plus we’ll need to start the dessert so it can chill.”
I nodded, put my coffee cup in the sink, and walked back to my room.
And on my bed sat Talon Steel.
Chapter Eighteen
Talon
“Uh…hi,” Jade said.
“My brothers don’t want me to leave,” I said.
She shook her head. “Hi to you too. What are you doing here?”
“Are you still leaving?”
She walked to her chest of drawers, opened the top one, and pulled out a pair of underwear. I tried not to imagine the plain white cotton panties clinging to her shapely ass. What was it about plain white panties on women? God, so hot.
“No, not yet, anyway.”
“What changed your mind?” I dared to hope I had played a part in her decision.
“Nothing in particular. I mean, I took the Colorado bar, so I’ll be living somewhere in the state anyway. And I promised Marj I would try to make it work here in Snow Creek.”
Of course. For Marjorie. Not for me. Which was fine anyway, because I couldn’t love her. I couldn’t give her what she deserved. But her not being here… I’d be ripped in two.
I stared at her—at those blue-gray eyes that seemed to cut through my many tiers, at those red lips still swollen from her earlier kisses, at the lush golden-brown hair hanging in wavy layers around her creamy shoulders, at her perfectly shaped face, at her amazing and beautiful large breasts, at those brown-pink nipples poking through that damned white cotton tank. The woman could be wearing a lacy negligee from Victoria’s Secret and she couldn’t look any sexier than she did in a white tank and plaid boxers.
I wanted her again. My cock grew inside my jeans, and my balls tightened. How was this happening to me? I still hardly knew the woman. Was this simple physical chemistry? If it was only chemistry…why were my emotions involved?
Emotion… I had turned off myriad emotions long ago just so I could get through the craziness that was my life. Now feeling was creeping back into me, and as much as I wanted to stop it, I was powerless against it.
If Jade left, maybe I could get back to normal.
But if Jade left…she’d take a piece of me with her.
I had to get her out of my system once and for all. I could fuck her again. That would sate my physical hunger, but not for long, given the state of my cock at the moment. I had just had her an hour ago, and now I wanted her again. Truth of it was, I had wanted her as soon as we were done.