Wrangling the Redhead - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,24
wasn’t bad enough that she’d annoyed the daylights out of him—now he’d arranged it that she was going to plague him all the livelong night. A man who’d been celibate for as long as he had had no business kissing any female he didn’t intend to take straight to bed.
As the night wore on, Wade’s regrets grew. The taste of her was still with him. So was the heat, the restless yearning. He paced from one end of his three-room house to the other, then moved to the porch. When rocking proved no more relaxing, he headed for the main house, determined to catch a glimpse of her. Maybe a five-minute confrontation, the exchange of a few heated words would remind him of just why he’d had no business kissing Lauren in the first place. Since they rarely exchanged more than five civil words in a row, he figured the odds of a good verbal tussle were in his favor.
He found Lauren sitting on the front steps, wearing jeans and a tank top which should have been outlawed for a body like hers. How was a man supposed to think around a woman dressed like that? How was he supposed to start a halfway decent fight, when the urge to drag her right back into his arms was so powerful it took everything in him to resist it?
“Grady’s inside,” she said when she saw him.
“I didn’t come to see Grady.”
“Oh?”
Wade shoved his hands in his pockets and stood a careful distance away. “About this morning…”
The moonlight caught her face just right, and he was pretty sure he saw the beginning of a smile tugging at her lips. “Yes?”
“I had no right to do what I did.”
“You mean kissing me?”
“Of course I mean kissing you,” he snapped. Did he have to spell everything out for her? “What else would I be apologizing for?”
There was no mistaking her grin now. “Is that what you were doing? Apologizing?”
“Yes, dammit.”
“Must be a new experience,” she said, laughter threading through her voice.
“Why is that?”
“Because you’re not very good at it.”
When he would have whirled around and stalked away, she added, “That’s okay. No apology necessary. Just don’t make a habit of it.”
“Believe me, I won’t,” he said fervently. If today was any example of the aftermath, he was going to give her such a wide berth that they’d never even cross paths again. He’d leave notes telling her what he expected of her as far as the horses were concerned, then hightail it to some other part of the ranch. He could carve out some decent distance to keep between them if he put his mind to it.
“Want some iced tea?” she asked, cutting into his thoughts.
He stared at her. “What?”
This time she did laugh out loud. “It wasn’t a trick question. It’s a hot night. I asked if you wanted some iced tea—I brought a pitcher out with me. I can run in and get an extra glass.”
Wade considered the friendly gesture. What could be the harm, especially now that he’d laid all his cards on the table? She knew there weren’t going to be any more kisses. They both knew it. And he had a plan to stay out of her path from here on out. In the meantime, there was no reason not to stay for a few minutes of polite sociability.
“Sure,” he said finally. “But I’ll get the glass. I know where they are.” Besides, the walk inside would give him a few minutes to cool off and shake the temptation to kiss her again. He figured it would set a very bad precedent if he kissed her not five minutes after swearing that he would never do it again.
She shrugged. “Whatever.” She turned her gaze to the night sky as if what he did were of no consequence at all.
For some reason that annoyed Wade just as much as everything else Lauren did. He stalked past her, went into the kitchen and retrieved a glass. He was on his way back to the porch when Grady caught him in the front hall.
“You need something, Wade?”
“Just getting a glass,” he said, relieved that the overhead light was off so his boss wouldn’t see the color that was no doubt flaming in his cheeks.
“None down at your place?” Grady inquired, laughter threading through his voice.
Wade found himself clenching his teeth. “Actually, Lauren asked me to join her for a glass of iced tea.”
“You two getting along better, then?”
“It’s a constant test of