Stranded with a Grumpy Cowboy (Marooned for a Night, #2)

by Hope Ford

“Fuck. I should have known when the guys were all laughing, daring me to ask you to dance there was something up. Look, I don’t want to die tonight.” I pull out of his arms. “What are you talking about?” Before he can answer, I feel hands at my waist. “Everything okay here, Maddie?”

“He will not mess with you, Maddie. As long as there is breath in me, Wes will not touch you.”

How this man thinks I could do better than him is beyond me. There’s no other man better than him.

Every fiber of my being wants to call out to him and beg him to stay, but I don’t have it in me. Rejection from Rhett is too much for me right now.

“I can’t push you away, not anymore. One night, Maddy. You give me one night, and then we forget this happened. We both know nothing can come of us.” I wait for her to argue with me, and I’m a little disappointed that she doesn’t. Instead, she repeats my words back to me. “One night.”

I know I’m lying as I mutter the two words to him. The truth is, at this point, I’ll tell him whatever he wants to hear if it means he won’t run away from me again.

“But I don’t want to fight it. For one night, I want to know what it’s like to have you in my arms. I want to lay in that small bed with you snuggled into my side and wake up with you lying next to me. Whatever happens between those times is a bonus, Maddie. But make no mistake, I want this. Whatever you’re offering me tonight, I want it.”

“What? What do you want, Rhett?” I don’t want this to be over. I want to hold you and not let you go. I want to hold your hand, touch you, taste you. I want to do everything with you. But of course I don’t say any of that out loud.

I want to beg her to be mine. I want to tell her I know I’m not the man she needs but I promise I can work on it.