Saving Cole Turner by Anne Carrole

and tried to pull his gaze from all that shapely flesh she was showing but it was a losing battle.
    “Like what you see?”
    That jerked his head up for a glimpse of the provocative smile on her lips.
    “You know I do.”
    “Show me.”
    He’d like to. But he couldn’t. Kate deserved better than a tumble on dry pine needles like some floozy from the Red Bull. She deserved better than him. And she knew it. It was why she had felt she needed to sneak out to see him. And knowing he wasn’t good enough was the only thing keeping him from answering her invitation.
    Instead, he steeled himself and walked the short distance, blanket stretched between his hands.
    When he reached her, he wrapped it and his arms around her. He needed to hold her. One last time. He kissed her damp hair and willed himself to keep breathing. Unfortunately his own body was shivering, though not from the cold, but from the sheer force of will he was exerting.
    “Let’s sit a spell and dry off,” he finally said when he thought his voice wouldn’t fail him.
    At least with the faded blanket wrapped around her, he wouldn’t be as tempted. It would, however, be a while before the ache between his legs left. A while before either of them would be dry enough to go their separate ways.
    They settled on the blanket where they had eaten. She sat across from him sitting cross-legged, his blanket wrapped around her, covering those breasts, but still revealing the shape of her beautiful legs under those pantalets. Warm blue eyes stared back at him, watching him as if she expected some sign.
    “Do you want to be a bounty hunter?” she asked, breaking the awkward silence that had settled between them.
    “What I want doesn’t matter.” He kept his voice even, intending to be honest with her. Now was not the time to let her see the turmoil his emotions were in. “But someday soon I’d like to see about raising horses, maybe out in Montana or Idaho Territory where they’re running wild.”
    Her eyes widened.
    “Too far for you, Kate.” He reached for her hand. This was, after all, the final time he’d be seeing her. He didn’t want his last memory to be filled with angry words. “I’m trying to do an honorable thing for once in my sorry life.”
    “You don’t think you’re honorable?” Her face was crinkled in a frown.
    “No, it’s you who doesn’t think I’m honorable.” If she looked like he’d just slapped her, well, the truth hurt sometimes. And he needed her to recognize the truth. “If you did, you’d have invited me to the house to court you proper instead of sneaking out to meet me in the woods like I’m some kind of criminal. Like you’re ashamed of me.”
    “ To the house ? Would you have come?”
    “Of course I would have come.” He scoffed. “I’m not afraid of Will Flanders. I’m not afraid of anyone, Kate.” Except her and the feelings she stirred in him.
    “I’m not ashamed of you, Cole. Really I’m not. I never thought…well I’m sorry if I made you feel I was.” Her eyes held sincerity as she pulled the blanket tighter as if needing comfort.
    “But you’re not proud of me either.” He ran his hand through his hair, trying to bide time to find some way to say what he had to say. “And I don’t blame you.”
    “I am,” she pleaded in a voice asking him to believe her. “You’ve survived what would have broken others. Instead, it’s made you stronger. And I do love you, Cole.”
    “Love me? Or pity me?” A lump formed in his throat at the importance of her answer.
    “Love you.”
    “But not enough to walk down the street at my side. Not enough to leave with me even if I have to be a bounty hunter a while longer. Not enough to leave your father.”
    The words hung in the air. Cole waited, but he knew the answers to those questions. And so did she.
    “Just as I thought.” Cole pushed down the sorrow rising through him, through his heart. He had no right to feel regretful that she was doing what