“Something like that.”

“And it’s bad to be caught?”

He grinned and his demeanor shifted. Gone was the raw, vulnerable Colt and in his place the confident playboy. “Sometimes I like being caught. Especially when it involves a sexy brunette and a wall.”

She smiled and took another bite of her food. Which was really good. “Did you put hot sauce in the eggs?”

He nodded. “I figured you’d like thing

s a little spicy.”

“You guessed right.”

“So.” He put his fork down and his full attention on Jenna. “Tell me about this program you’re going for. Why is it important to you?”

She was taken aback for a moment by his bluntness, but liked that he took an interest, and started with the spiel she typically gave whenever this topic was broached.

“This after-school program will benefit the kids of Diamond by providing experienced teachers willing to—”

“No, no, no,” Colt cut her off. “I don’t want what you tell everyone or your sales pitch.”

Jenna’s mouth dropped. “Excuse me? This isn’t a pitch. This is important.”

“I agree, which is what I asked. I want to know why this is important to you. The real reasons behind the obvious.”

She opened her mouth to tell him he was rude or even to shut up, but only closed it again. Because right then, she realized she’d never said the real reasons out loud before. Mostly because they were more personal than she’d care to admit. But with Colt’s intense blue eyes beaming at her with what looked like genuine care, she couldn’t help but want to open up a little bit.

“I know how it feels to go home to nothing, sometimes worse than nothing.” Like a slap in the face or verbal abuse, she thought, but kept that part to herself. “If I can provide a safe place, help even one kid, then maybe…” She shrugged, instantly feeling like an idiot for even starting down this path.

“Maybe what?” Colt whispered.

“Maybe then what I went through will somehow matter.” Her eyes went wide when she realized she’d said that aloud. “That’s sounds awful, doesn’t it? I’m not doing this for me, I just want to help these kids.”

Colt rose from his seat and walked around the table to kneel in front of her. He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, then pressed his finger beneath her chin, coaxing her gaze to meet his.

“That doesn’t sound awful at all. What you went through was shitty, Jenna. And when bad things happen, it’s in our blood to try to make sense of it. Find a reason or an answer to the ‘why me’ question.” His fingers lightly skimmed along her jaw, and the heat he left was so powerful it made her blood pressure spike. “You’re strong. And because you went through what you did, it made you the best person for these kids and this program.”

She gave a shaky smile. “You really think so?”

“Fuck yeah I do,” he said with a big grin that made Jenna laugh a little. Somehow, she actually believed him. She’d wanted this job, but there was a part of her that truly believed that because of who she was and where she came from, she didn’t deserve it. But looking at Colt and finding nothing but support in his eyes, her perception changed. Maybe it wasn’t in spite of who she was or the reputation of her mother she was trying to outrun that held her back. Maybe it was because of who she was that would allow her to excel at this.

It was a risky notion, but the idea was nice. Still, she had to be careful. Wanting this job, even being the best candidate for it, and actually landing it were very different things.

Colt’s words were sweet, but the way he said them, like he truly meant it, made Jenna want to hug him close. But that was a bad idea. Distance was what she should be thinking when it came to the media proclaimed “Rodeo Romeo.”

“Thank you, Colt.”

He went back to his seat again and dug into his eggs. She couldn’t help but look at his bruise again and wince a little. It looked painful. But what he had said stuck in her mind. Colt didn’t do still. He also didn’t seem to like talking about his feelings on the matter. The man was a potent combination of strength and gentleness. He had tried last night to take things slow for Jenna’s sake, and just now he listened to her and somehow saw a piece of her she hadn’t shared with anyone else. Then there was the hard, casual, testosterone-infused side of him that dripped with sexy swagger and muscles and my God his skin tasted like spice and man and—

“You keep staring at me like that, sugar, and I’m liable to come back over there and take you for another ride.”

Jenna’s eyes snapped up and she realized she had been staring down his impressive chest while chewing her bottom lip.

“Sorry”—she all but moaned the word—“but no more rides for you. Not until you feel better.”

Colt pretended to pout, but then smiled wide. “Until I feel better, huh? So does that mean you’ve taken me off the ‘never gonna happen list’ and moved me to ‘a shot in hell’?”

Jenna smiled. “I still think we should keep our distance in public.”

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