Bucked (The Invincibles 6)

“Hell, no.”

“What if it’s important?”

“There isn’t anything more important than what is happening right here, between you and me.”

“Come on, Buck, I’m serious.”

“They’ll leave a message.”

I waited for the ranch gates to open, pulled through, and waited for them to close behind us. Stella was quiet the rest of the drive, but I could feel the heat of her arousal through the thin, knit pants she wore.

She waited for me to come around to the passenger side when I pulled up to the cabin, parked, and climbed out. I reached for her and slid her sweet body down the front of mine. Stella groaned.

“Let’s go inside,” I said, taking her hand in mine. I unlocked the front door and, after we were inside, double-checked the damn thing to make sure the deadbolt was thrown.

I walked over to where Stella stood by the fireplace. “I want to share your bed tonight, darlin’. Would you like that?”

“Very much,” she answered, barely above a whisper.

“I’d also like to take a shower.”

Stella made a face.

“I guess that means you don’t want to join me.”

“I’d rather take a bath.”

While I wasn’t much of a bath guy, taking one with her sounded damn good. “Can I join you?”

“Um…sure. I’ll go get it started.”

When she tried to walk away, I grabbed her hand and pulled her back. “We need to get something straight before we share anything—a bath or a bed.”

“Okay,” she murmured.

“I want you so much it hurts, Stella. I’ve felt that way a lot longer than I bet you even realize.”

“You have?”

“Back before we knew Cope was still alive, when I was still on Ali’s detail and you and I used to talk, I think I knew then.”

“No, you didn’t.” She tried to wriggle out of my arms, but I held her tight.

“I did. Don’t you realize that’s when I started texting you before we both fell asleep?”

Her eyes scrunched like she was trying to figure out if that was true. It was. I was sure of it. I was also sure that my attraction to her began before then. It started the first day I met her.

Sure, I’d been as wrapped up in Ali as Stella was in Cope, but there was a big part of me that wished things were different. Mainly, that Stella wasn’t in love with him. The more she and I talked, the more I wanted to be the man she thought about first. I wanted to be the man she wanted. My reaction to her having a relationship with Jinx made a lot more sense to me now that I’d thought about it from that perspective. He became another man who I believed she thought about—wanted—more than me. Now, I was done being second in line.

“Every single night that we talked until we couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer, I’d pull the damn pillow into my arms and pretend it was you.”

“I did the same thing.” She tried to bury her head in the nook of my shoulder, but I pulled back.

“I’m not going to let you hide from me, Stella. If we’re going to talk about sex, it’s going to be face to face. Tell me you understand.”

“Buck, I…”

“Whatever it is, just say it.”