Reckless Love (Cowboys & Angels 7)

I vowed to myself I wasn’t going to sleep with her again, but I saw her out running near her house. And there was no way I could stop the attraction I had toward Scarlett. I’d tried to push her away, but she always pulled me back. I felt things for her I’d never felt with another woman, and I had told her that, more than once.

Parking in front of her house, I got out and made my way up the porch. All I wanted to do was talk to her. She’d been so upset with me the night after she admitted her feelings, and I basically told her there could never be anything between us. I couldn’t tell her that I was scared to death. If I gave her my heart, I’d be giving her the power to destroy me.

I hadn’t been able to sleep the whole night. All I saw was the hurt in her eyes when I told her I could never settle down. That I wasn’t a one-woman kind of guy. She nodded and walked to her front door. When she turned back to me, I saw it in her eyes. She was giving up on us.

“It’s over, Trevor. I’m not doing this anymore. I need you to leave and not come back.”

Scarlett’s words were haunting, keeping me from sleeping.

That day I saw her out running, I waited until she went inside her house, then knocked. When Scarlett answered, I pulled her into my arms and kissed the living fuck out of her. Soon we were in her house, clothes being ripped off on the way to her bedroom. We didn’t fuck that day. We made love. I went slow, and it had never felt so good in my entire life to be with a woman. It was too late before I realized why it felt so damn amazing. We’d gotten so caught up in each other we had made love without a condom.

When I realized what I’d done, I jumped out of the bed. I never even looked back at her after I got dressed and rushed out of her house. The only thing I heard was a sob coming from her as she called out my name.

Asshole.

I was a fucking asshole.

I shook the memory away and slapped Wade on the back. “Dude, Scarlett is done with me, and I’m done with her.”

“You’re done with her?” he asked, anger filling his eyes. “Was she a used piece of furniture or something?”

Anger hit my chest and nearly knocked me on my ass. “You know what? Fuck you, dude. You don’t know anything.”

Wade’s hands slipped into his pockets as he looked at the girl to my side. “I know if you leave here with her, you’re going to regret it.”

Forcing myself to smile, I lied. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”

As the blonde and I walked toward my truck, Wade’s words hit me again.

“You’re going to regret it.”

The stripper was all over me. Her hand landed on my deflated cock that wasn’t the least bit interested as she pushed me against the truck and licked my neck.

“I can’t wait to have your strong arms holding me up while you pound into me,” she said against my lips.

What in the hell am I doing?

I didn’t want this. No, I did want it. I wanted to fuck her brains out; I wanted to fuck someone’s memory out of my own head, but a part of me wanted to push her away. I was so fucking confused, but once I came to my senses, I knew what I needed to do.

I needed this woman to get the hell away from me right now.

Pulling my mouth from hers, I saw her out of the corner of my eye.

Scarlett.

I pushed the stripper away and shouted, “Enough.” When I turned to look at Scarlett, she was leaving. A guy was walking with her, his hand on her lower back, guiding her away from me. He whispered something to her as they kept moving.

“Scarlett? Scarlett! Wait!” I shouted as I made my way toward her. “Please, wait! I wasn’t going to do anything with her.”

The guilt hit me right in the gut. I had let this woman touch and kiss all over me not two seconds ago.

When the guy glanced over his shoulder, I stopped in my tracks.

Eric.

The guy from Maebh’s restaurant. He shot me a dirty look, ushered Scarlett into her car, and climbed into the driver’s seat. My eyes darted over to her. She was crying. My legs felt like they were going to give out when I saw exactly how hard she was crying.

“Scarlett!” I screamed, causing her to look up and then say something to Eric. The bastard pulled out and did a U-turn on Main. I stood there and watched her car until I could no longer see the red taillights anymore.