Her Hidden Falls Bodyguard Billionaire Cowboy - Taylor Hart Page 0,37
had your computer up there. And you were always on it.”
Zoey offered him a little smirk. “Right.”
“Oh my gosh.” He couldn’t believe it, but it made total sense. Unable to stop himself, he asked, “So would you have let me up there if I’d known?” The question he was really asking wasn’t the one he’d said out loud.
Judging by the smirk on her face, she knew that. “No way. Boundaries, Hardman.” She punched his shoulder. “Just because I had a secret identity doesn’t mean I was that kind of girl.”
Sean could have kicked himself. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that.”
They walked for a bit longer. When they got to the beach house, she put her hand on his shoulder. “Sean.” Her hand moved to his cheek. “If I was going to let any guy upstairs, it would have been you.”
Desire pulsed through him. “I shouldn’t kiss you.”
“No, you shouldn’t.”
They stood there for what felt like an eternity.
“Well, I do a lot of things I shouldn’t.” He leaned in, brushing his lips against hers.
Like they were drawn by gravity, they drifted together and kissed like they had after nearly wrecking the car. He pulled her against him and pushed his hands into her oh-so-soft hair. Her hands were on his chest, then at his waist and moving over his bare skin. At every turn, he’d tried to convince himself that this woman wasn’t who he thought she was, that their lives were not meant to be together … But it felt like they fit more and more together. Like a puzzle.
He pulled back, putting his hands on her wrists and peeling them off of him. “Like a moth to flame,” he muttered.
She froze, then dropped her hands and squeezed her eyes shut. “Ah, right. We can’t do that.”
“No, we can’t.”
“I’m going to have a new life, and you’re in your new life, and our lives …”
“It won’t work.”
“No.” She retreated back into the house. “It won’t.”
Chapter 19
Zoey got ready for their next big excursion on Saturday. Her mind buzzed with everything that had happened between her and Sean. Not just the kissing and the pretending, but all the other things. The truth.
She put on lip gloss and stared at her image in the mirror. The contented woman looking back at her was different, too. She felt this calm inside of her that she had never felt around anyone before. She brushed out the last part of her hair, wondering if Sean noticed the difference in her too.
Again, her mind flashed back to last night, to the whole day. It’d been so easy to go parasailing and laugh and pretend they were the Baxters. It’d been so easy to talk to another couple, to touch Sean, kiss his cheek, lean into him.
Dang, the man was built, and he smelled good. She loved him. There it was. No matter how many times over the years she’d denied her feelings for him, and for so many good, good reasons, the truth was that she loved him.
She finished with her makeup and picked up a towel and her swimsuit. Today, they’d decided to take full advantage of their billionaire status and go out on that yacht she’d teased him about.
The couple that they’d gotten to know yesterday, Jim and Sara, had a yacht, and Zoey and Sean had been invited to go out for the day, have lunch, and go to the little island cove to snorkel.
Once again, Zoey stopped and looked at herself in the mirror. Who would she be after Monday? Where would WITSEC take her? She was wearing sunglasses and a long yellow sundress with chunky heels, and she felt every part the billionaire’s wife. She sucked in a long breath and forced back her anxiety. She would be okay. As she’d told Sean, she had skills now. The kind of skills she would use if she needed to run again.
Sean’s words filled her mind. And you can pray to God. Yes, she could. She’d given up thinking that God had any interest in her life when her brother had been shot. But she’d been led to Hidden Falls. She’d met Charlotte, who had taken her in and made her feel like family. Star and all the Hardmans had accepted her too, plus the whole town of Hidden Falls. She was humbled, sad that it would be over with them, but overwhelmingly grateful.
She rushed to her room and fell to her knees beside the bed. Propping up her elbows, she closed her