Stripped Down

“Yeah. And you have plenty of reasons to be proud. You’re strong—I get that. Hell, I don’t want to change that, and I couldn’t, even if did. But I still want to fix some things for you, if I can. Is it so damned hard to take something from me, Rose? Let me give this to you. We don’t have to be square. All you have to do is say yes.”

“This isn’t about being square. I’m not coming to the table empty-handed, Angel.” He curses, but I’m holding out for it all. I want the words. The house, cash—those are the easy things. Hell, I’ve already got a hundred thousand of his dollars, although he doesn’t know it.

“You’re not coming empty-handed.” He exhales roughly, cupping my head. “You want to know why? Because I love you, Rose Jordan. You’re everything I want.”

I pretend to think it over. I can feel his mouth against my cheek, a smile tugging at his lips. “Put me out of my damned misery?” he asks.

“I should make you wait,” I whisper back.

“I have waited,” he points out roughly. “Too long, Rose. Seems like I’ve been waiting a lifetime for you.”

His thumb rubs along my jaw, tracing my bottom lip. This feels so right. This is where I belong, this is what I’ve been looking for all along. Angel is my home.

I twist in his arms so I can look up at him as I pull his familiar face down toward me. “I love you, too, Angel. I love you more than words can say.”

“Kisses,” he growls. “I’ll take your kisses, then, Rose. I’ve been told that actions speaker louder than words anyhow.”

“Kisses it is.”

I push his Stetson back, threading my fingers through his dark hair, my mouth reaching up to meet his halfway. I open up for him as his lips parted mine, my tongue licking along his in a delicious tangle. No fleeting sensation, this. My cowboy packs a punch, the sensual heat and taste of him filling me full with the promise that I’ve come home.