All right, either this woman was the best actress he’d ever met or she genuinely didn’t give a damn if he was there or not.
He should have walked away right then. Man he was, plans he had, he should have given her the silent treatment he did everyone else and forgot her existence. Forgot how her apple-bottomed ass had looked when she bent over to look in the fridge. He shoulda forgot how her clear, pale skin and moon eyes had looked at him so huge and innocent as she held out her hand to him.
But Mack was shit. Always had been and always would be. And if there was one truth about shit, it was that shit liked to stick. To dirty up clean things. To befoul them.
A thought which again, shoulda had him running the other direction.
One problem kept popping up in the way of sane, rational thought, though.
He wanted her.
He’d been feeling restless lately. He’d come out to this little patch of nowhere to kill time until… well, until he did what needed doing.
He thought he’d come out here and pass a few years under the radar. Wait it out.
It shoulda been enough just to live. To be a free man living in the world. When he first came to the ranch a couple years ago, just getting away from all the shit back in Jersey had been enough. He could go hang out with the horses when he got sick of people. The manual labor of the ranch was usually enough to clear his mind. He liked working with his hands.
It had been peaceful. Sort of. Until night came anyway. Then his hands were still and there was nothing to do except think.
Like tonight. He’d jolted awake with his fists clenched and his heart racing. Bone’s goddamned voice ringing in his head. When he looked at the clock, he saw he’d barely been asleep for half an hour.
Losing himself in a woman could be just what he needed. Right after he got out, he’d fucked any woman that gave him half a glance. You didn’t go without pussy for that long and not want to drown yourself cock-deep for a few weeks.
He’d needed to prove to himself he was normal, maybe. So there, he’d proved he could screw a chick no problem. Meant he hadn’t been fucked up by all the shit that went down inside, right? Not permanently anyway.
But easy pussy got tiresome real quick. Plus, what did any of it mean except confirming he could still stick his cock in a hole, shut off his brain, and fuck till he came?
Great, his dick wasn’t broken.
That had never been the problem though, had it? It was his head that had gotten fucked ten ways from Sunday in that place.
He moved out here and hadn’t gone chasing tail since. His right hand worked just fine. Plans he had, he didn’t need any woman getting caught up in his shit. Even if he was tempted, the town was so small and insular, well, he knew better than to shit where he ate.
Hadn’t been a problem.
At least until now.
The woman said she’d seen him around and he wondered where the fuck she meant because surely, he would have noticed her.
He washed out his cup, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. She had a square face and strong features for a woman. Sharp cheekbones and an angular jaw. Pale, pink lips. Her chin-length hair fell over one half of her face and she tucked it behind her ear before looking over at him.
“You’re staring,” she said bluntly.
Mack cracked a grin. She was interesting. Mack couldn’t remember the last time anything had interested him. “I am.” He continued staring.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “It’s rude to stare.” The microwave beeped and she reached to pull the plate out but Mack beat her to the punch.
“Let me get that for you. Don’t want you to burn yourself on the plate. They’re ceramic. They get hot.”
He tagged a kitchen towel from the oven beside the sink and popped the microwave door. He had to lean into her side to do it. An intentional move. His chest brushed up against her side as he pulled the steaming plate from the microwave. He didn’t miss her quick intake of breath. So she wasn’t completely unaffected by him.
She kept her head down while he set the plate on the counter in front of her. He didn’t move away, though. He stayed right where he was, intruding on her personal space. It was a dick move but if she told him to back off, he wouldn’t push it.
The devil in him was too curious to see how she’d react.
She finally turned her face his way. Her eyes were a golden hazel and they flashed at him in a way that had his cock stirring to life.