her closer.
His body was all hard muscle and he smelled of wood smoke and delicious male. She licked at his tongue and he deepened the kiss until her head spun.
She’d been kissed in many places in her lifetime. In the high school gym, outside a restaurant, at the lake, in front of a bonfire in college. But never in a bare, unrenovated bathroom.
As far as kisses went, this one was definitely top three on her all-time list of hot-damn, hair-raising, toe-curling kisses. Jason put everything into this kiss, smoothing his hands down her sides, rolling over her lower back and resting them just above her butt. She appreciated that he was respectful enough not to grab a handful of her ass, but oh, she wanted him to. So she reached behind her and lowered his hands.
He groaned, pulled his mouth from hers. “You’re killing me.”
She licked her lips. “Not my intention.”
He also didn’t remove his hands, and the way he touched her, drawing her against his erection, made her body weep with need.
“How about we go to your bedroom?” she asked.
“The one that’s just concrete floor?”
“Okay, fine. The place where you have a bed.”
“It’s a mess.”
“I don’t care. I want to get naked with you.”
“I think you need some time, Erin.”
His slight hesitation was like a cold splash of water. “Time for what?”
“To get over Owen. To think about what you really want.”
He laid his forehead against hers, and this was where she knew for sure she was about to get rejected.
Again.
She laid her palms against his chest, then . . .
Pushed. Hard.
“How dare you presume to know how I feel?”
His look of shock and concern didn’t fool her. “Erin. I didn’t mean—”
“What? You didn’t mean to hurt me? You’re only thinking of what’s best for me? How about letting me decide what’s best? How about treating me with a little dignity and respect and letting me choose what I want to do with my body?”
He took a step forward, reached for her.
She stepped back.
He laid his hand down at his side. “It’s not your body I’m worried about, Erin. It’s your heart.”
Said heart squeezed in pain. She shoved that pain deep inside, locked it up where it couldn’t hurt her. Where he couldn’t hurt her.
Now she was the one to step forward, so she could poke her finger at his chest. “My heart is just fine. And none of your business. And I get to choose what I want to do with my body. Clear?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.”
She started to walk out, then stopped and pivoted. “Why start this when you had no intention of finishing it?”
He cocked his head to the side. “What?”
“That kiss. Touching me. Only to put the brakes on and tell me you’re concerned about my heart? Don’t play games with me, Jason. I don’t like it.”
She turned and walked out of the room. She gathered up Agatha, grabbed her purse and keys and walked out the door.
Agatha curled up in the back seat and went back to sleep. Erin gripped the steering wheel to calm her shaky hands, alternating between righteous anger and hurting so much she had to constantly fight back tears.
Anger was better. It kept her from crying.
What was it with men who thought they knew what was best for her, anyway?
She knew what was best for her. She knew her own mind, her own body, and damn them all for getting in the way of that.
She was better off on her own.
CHAPTER
twelve
JASON DOVE INTO work over the next several days, burying himself in surgeries and ranch calls so he wouldn’t have to think about the colossal fuckup he’d made with Erin.
She was right about everything she’d said. He’d started something with her he hadn’t been prepared to finish. But she’d looked so beautiful there in the bathroom, and impulse made him want to kiss her. Then he’d made decisions for her that he’d had no right to make. His intentions might have been honorable, but he should have asked her how she felt instead of putting a stop to things thinking he knew what was best for her.
Because it was obvious he didn’t know shit. And all he’d done was driven their friendship—their relationship—several steps back.
He was no better than Owen.
He finished entering procedure notes into a patient’s file.
“Jason. I’ve got two emergencies coming in. Can you take one?”
He looked up at Carl Sunderland and nodded. “Yeah, I can take one.”
His vet tech set up the operating room for the emergency surgery, and he