Wild and Wrangled (Rebel Blue Ranch, #4)

by Lyla Sage

I was so close to pressing my mouth against his for the first time in fifteen years. Would it feel familiar or new? But when Dusty leaned toward me and his eyelids fluttered closed, the heartbeat in my ears turned into alarm bells. A flashing caution sign. Danger zone. Don’t cross. You won’t come back from it this time. I pulled away. I dropped my hands to my lap. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t…I want to, but I…” I didn’t really know what to say. It was like me pulling back allowed the oxygen to reach me again. I blinked slowly—trying to process what had just happened, how close I’d come to upsetting the precarious balance that Dusty and I had found for something as fleeting as a kiss. “I can’t…” I started, but I couldn’t finish, so I stood up quickly. “I’m sorry,” I said. “You’re right. I don’t know what that was.” Dusty rubbed a hand at the back of his neck. “Old habits die hard?” he said. He was trying to smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. I recognized it—the pain. Would I ever stop hurting him? “Let’s go look at your heater.”