“Honestly?” He ground his teeth together and hoped for the best. “It’s like wrestling a wildfire, trying to stop myself from doing all the things I want to do with you, to you.”
“Oh?” She bit her lip and looked surprised. He cursed his bluntness, but—thankfully—did so inside his head. “Care to elaborate?”
“I’m burning up all over the place.” He took a deep breath and deliberately removed his hands from her warm, delectable body. “But I’m telling myself that waiting is the best thing. Give us both a little time to get our heads around what’s happening.”
Her smile was sweetly grateful, a reminder of what a jackass he would have to be to act on the brain-numbing desire he still felt for her.
“If you need more time to be comfortable with where this is going, I understand.” She twined her fingers through the fringe of that throw blanket and stood. “Maybe it would help if I wrote what was going to happen next.”
“Sorry?” Damien knew he wasn’t thinking clearly, since most of the blood flow had vacated his brain the moment he sat down on the steps with her in the first place. But still...he had no clue what she meant. The flames crackled in the hearth, a log shifting and sending up sparks.
That wasn’t the only thing on fire.
“It might help me to write about...” She pointed back and forth between them. “What happens next with the characters in my book. It’ll give me time to think about it and look forward to it, so I’m not nervous and weird.”
“You’re going to write about us being together...before we’re together?” If she could only see the video footage running nonstop in his brain, she’d have a full color feature film to work from for inspiration.
He looked up at her from his place on the stairs, since a move toward her—if only to stand up—wouldn’t be wise right now. Any momentum in her direction would lead to him touching her. He was dying for another taste of her lips.
“You think I’m crazy, don’t you?”
“Are you kidding? I can’t wait to read what you come up with.” He tugged on the loose end of the blanket that hung around her knees. He hadn’t meant to reach toward her, but at least he’d stopped himself before he dragged her to him for another kiss.
She shifted from one foot to the other. “I don’t know if I can let you read it.”
“As long as I get to live it, Miranda, I’m going to be happy as hell.” Hearing the uncertainty in her voice made him more convinced than ever that waiting was the right thing to do. It also made him more than a little protective of her.
“Oh.” She hugged her arms around herself, drawing the blanket so tight he could see the outline of all her lean curves. “In that case I’d better get started.” A wicked glint came into her eyes. “The sooner I get it written, the sooner it will happen.”
“Is that how it works?” He enjoyed seeing her like this. Happy. Excited. Her cheeks flushed pink, confidence radiating from her in spite of her concerns about being awkward.
“I’m new to this, but yes. I think it is.” She waited there for a moment, staring at him. “No good-night kiss for inspiration?”
Was she purposely trying to kill him?
“I’m hoping you’ve got all the inspiration you can handle.” Damn it, he’d be cold showering straight through to dawn at this rate. “Because I’m still wrestling that wildfire over here, remember?”
“Right.” She nodded. “Sorry.” Turning on her heel, she hurried up the steps away from him. “I’ll write fast. And if you see a flash drive lying around anywhere, will you let me know? I had one in the laptop when I left L.A. and I can’t find it now. I definitely wouldn’t want anyone else seeing my story.”
“I’ll tell the cleaning crew to keep an eye out for it when they come in.”
“Thanks.” She sauntered off in a billow of blanket.
He stared into the fire from his spot on the steps long after she’d closed her bedroom door with a soft click. He had no idea how he’d survive until she was ready to be with him—not after a kiss that had just about blown his mind. But he would hold back if it killed him, because he wasn’t a scumbag like her sister’s ex.
And on that note...cool reason returned. Damien planned to find out whatever he could about this guy, because no way in hell was that creep getting anywhere near Miranda again.
* * *
I HADN’T GOTTEN my good-night kiss then, but I had a whole lot more to think about the next night as I slid between the sheets in one of Damien’s empty guest rooms. He had left the farm earlier in the day to check out a mare he was thinking of purchasing, so I had seen him only briefly. Just long enough to exchange some secretive smiles between his chores and the little jobs I’d opted to do to help out—like delivering homemade bread and tea to the Whitemans so they’d have it when they returned from touring a local winery. Violet had left me a note about wanting to get together afterward, but I’d jotted a reply that I had some errands, and maybe Monday would work for me.