want to do. He wouldn’t manipulate her. He’d give it to her straight.
He cupped her face and tilted her head back so they were looking at each other again. “I’m not playing. This isn’t some hookup or pity thing. This is me and you and what we make it. I’m all in, Liz.” He brushed his thumb across her cheek. “Now that I know we’re doing this, I can’t tell you how hard it was to leave you last night.”
“You guys should get a room.” Declan smacked Tate on the back, pushing him into Liz.
Trinity punched Declan in the gut, making him bend forward and expel his breath in a whoosh. “Leave them alone.” Trinity turned to Liz and Tate. “I’m glad you two are so happy, but what are you going to do about Clint?”
Tate held her hips and gave her a little tug closer. “Let’s hope he finally got the message and stays away.”
Liz wished she shared Tate’s optimism.
While they cleaned up the booth and loaded the trucks, she had a hard time convincing herself that Clint had left. She felt him lurking. The creepy feeling tingling at the back of her neck kept her internal alarm blaring and her anxiety jacked up to high. Whether her imagination or reality, it didn’t matter because he’d gotten to her.
Infected her.
He’d become a thing between her and Tate.
She vowed to herself that she’d stop questioning Tate’s motives for wanting a relationship with her and just go with it and explore the new feelings they were both just starting to accept.
She’d wanted to be with Tate forever. She wouldn’t let anything stand in the way or destroy it now that she had a real shot at happiness with the only man she’d ever truly loved.
Chapter Ten
Liz didn’t know it, but Clint watched her all day. He sat at a café a block away, a view of her every move. Unaware of him, she’d served customers and chatted with Tate’s sister. They smiled and laughed with each other through the morning and afternoon. Tate hadn’t made an appearance after they set up and Clint thought maybe Liz had come to her senses and realized that was a lost cause. He’d only hurt her again.
He’d tried to remind her of that, but she refused to listen.
Then Tate returned.
She’d pined away for a man who didn’t really want her. A man who didn’t deserve her.
Didn’t she see that if Tate loved her at all, he’d never have let her be with someone else?
Clint loved her like that.
She was just too blind to see it because Tate kept stringing her along.
Well, he’d make her see that she belonged to him.
They’d only scratched the surface of what they could have together. It had been going so well. He’d taken things at her pace. Slow and steady. In the past he’d pushed too hard, too fast for what he wanted. Those women didn’t see how hard he’d tried to love them.
Liz made him lose his temper. He never meant to grab her that hard, but he’d wanted her to listen. Was that so much to ask after all the time and effort he’d put into showing her how much he cared?
It hit him the first time he saw her. Something about her shone. She’d smiled at him and he’d known instantly that she was the one.
If Tate were out of the picture, she’d see him as the one and only man who could love her the way she deserved.
And she did want him.
When they made love, it had rocked him.
She had to have felt it, too.
Every kiss they shared set him on fire. The taste of her, her sweet seductive scent, the way she smiled and looked at him, everything made him want her even more.
Tate thought he could distract her with empty promises and lies.
Clint offered her everything. She’d be happier with him, not that dumbass cowboy who had the perfect woman standing right in front of him and had been too stupid to take her.
No other woman compared to Liz.
No one else would ever have her.
She belonged to him.
Tate might think he could move in and try to take her away from him, but Clint would show him that no one got in his way.
And he’d show Liz who she really loved.
His subtle reprimand hadn’t worked to bring her around.
She needed a heavier hand and a push to see past Tate’s disingenuous interest and that they could be happy together again.