Cowboy Cool: Book 5 (Cowboy Justice Association) by Olivia Jaymes Page B

with her or anything she’d done.
    “He sounds like a real asshole.”
    Kaylee giggled at Reed’s caustic tone. “He was. But I was young and in love. I didn’t see then that a man needs to love me for myself.”
    “So you dumped his ass,” Reed stated.
    If only she could say that.
    “Actually, no. Not right away.” She wrestled with how much to reveal but it couldn’t hurt her anymore if she didn’t let it. “It all sort of fell apart when I had trouble finding a job in journalism. I was waiting tables and pretty miserable about things. David was less than supportive. The only time I was happy was when I was writing.”
    She could feel Reed’s body tense. “This guy doesn’t sound like he has too many redeeming qualities. I can’t imagine how you got mixed up with him.”
    She’d had time to look back on that. “He wasn’t bad at the beginning. It was only when we moved in together that he changed. Believe me, I’ve been over and over this a million times. He started out a pretty nice guy. Anyway, I published my first book and the sales really tanked. I mean, I released it to crickets. David didn’t have much patience for the entire endeavor and basically told me I’d wasted my time. I released my second book a few months later and that’s when sales started to happen. But David resented that too. I really couldn’t do anything right. I found him in bed with a friend not long after. As I told you before, I later learned they’d been sleeping together for months. That’s when I dumped him.”
    “And you’ve never trusted a man since.”
    “I’m not sure I trusted them before. I think I was waiting for David to screw up. I always knew it was coming.”
    Reed sat up and looked down at her, his expression solemn. “Perhaps—and I’m just going out on a limb here—but maybe you’ve chosen men that you knew would let you down. Subconsciously you sought out males that would reaffirm your opinion.”
    He could see way too deeply inside her psyche. That same thought had been niggling at the back of her mind for a while now but she’d never given in to the actual words. Now they were out there and there was no taking them back.
    “It’s cold out here. We should go inside.”
    She moved to stand but Reed’s hand gently wrapped around her arm, staying her on the couch. “I’m sorry, Kaylee. It’s none of my business. Just forget I said anything. This David guy sounds like a jerk.”
    Reed’s mere touch set off fireworks in her stomach and electrified her nerves. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. I told you a story and you were simply remarking on it.”
    Their gazes locked and she looked into his eyes for a long time. There was no sound but the rustle of the leaves and the thud of her heart. It roared in her ears but she knew he couldn’t hear it. She didn’t dream that he was as affected by this moment as she was. It had been so long since she’d been close to someone—physically or emotionally. It was crazy but she wanted to be close to Reed. She wanted to feel the electricity between them, the heat that they created simply by being close.
    At some point she’d swayed closer to him, their lips close to one another. His pupils had dilated in the dim light and she reached and ran her hand up his chest and around his neck, his body hard and hot under her palm. She couldn’t be certain but she thought she heard him swear under his breath before his lips took hers, not rough or harsh but gently and reverently.
    The kiss wasn’t too soft or too hard. His mouth was firm and warm and she opened eagerly to his questing tongue, letting him explore as waves of pleasure shook her to the core. Her fingers sunk into his dark hair and she kissed him back eagerly, her toes curling at his expertise.
    When it was over he pulled away and shook his head, a wry smile on his lips. “That shouldn’t have happened, honey.”
    Probably not but she wouldn’t turn back the clock for