hot when he got all fired up. Jake rummaged in his backpack, grateful he’d put his phone in a waterproof bag. Although his book did end up soaked through.
“Would you now? And how can you be so sure?”
Blue eyes blazing, Shea stood in front of him, and Jake fought off the shiver of lust rolling through him. He pretended a nonchalance he didn’t feel, with a shrug of his shoulder.
“I’m sure it would’ve been fine.” Jake turned away, intending to walk to the ranch. Grimacing over his bare feet, he carefully picked his way over the pebbles and branches to where he’d left his sneakers by the edge of the lake. A heavy hand landed on his shoulder and held him fast.
“Don’t just walk away from me. You don’t seem to realize how serious this is. Nature’s not a joke to brush off.”
Shea’s mouth had hardened to an unforgiving line, and it only made Jake’s back go up. “I said I was sorry. I didn’t see the sign. Maybe you should make it bigger. There’s nothing more I can say.”
“You think it’s funny, don’t you?”
They stood nose to nose, and Jake’s brain went on hiatus while his body, cold for so long, caught fire and his breath came in short pants.
“No, I don’t think it’s funny at all.” He glared at Shea and watched his blue eyes darken. Desire tugged low in his belly.
“Fuckin’ hell,” Shea muttered. He swept his thumb down the slant of Jake’s cheekbone and rested it alongside the corner of his mouth, teasing the slight opening. “Tell me you’re not married no more. I don’t go with married men.”
Jake swallowed. Hard. “I-I’m not married anymore. I’m divorced.”
“Yeah?” Shea passed the pad of that thumb over Jake’s lower lip, and Jake sighed. “And you’re into guys?”
Jake took a step closer, licking his tongue at Shea’s finger. “Well, usually they get in me, but yeah. I was married to a man, so you could say so.”
Shea yanked him near. “Asshole.” And Jake closed his eyes right before Shea’s lips hit his. Everything Jake thought he knew about kissing faded to black as his bones dissolved and he melted into Shea. In contrast to the hard muscles of Shea’s chest, Shea’s lips moved soft and sweet over his. Jake’s head spun as if drunk, but this time it wasn’t from whiskey, but a much more dangerous cocktail.
Shea Montgomery.
Jake wrapped his arms around Shea and coaxed his lips apart. He slipped his tongue inside Shea’s mouth to play a game of hide-and-seek. Touching, licking, sucking. Jake groaned and slid his fingers in the thick swirls of Shea’s damp hair and held him closer. He tasted coffee and a hint of mint, but most of all pure want as Shea sucked his tongue. Jake whimpered, wishing they were inside. In a bed.
He wanted Shea inside him.
Pleasure bloomed, thawing the cold within him, and he shifted closer to Shea when the cowboy cupped his ass. Shea was equally hard, and Jake reveled in that long-forgotten sensation of touch. They rocked in tandem until Shea broke free, and Jake, dazed by the desire pumping through him, became confused at the glazed, somewhat fearful expression in Shea’s eyes. He’d never been kissed like that, never imagined kissing could be so…so raw and wild. Primal.
His mouth throbbed, gloriously bruised. “That was amazing.”
Shea dropped his head. “I shouldn’ta done that. I got carried away.”
As if he’d again been plunged into cold water, Jake’s heart jumped, and he struggled to take in a breath. “So you’re sorry you kissed me, is what you’re saying? Because it didn’t feel like that when your tongue was down my throat a second ago.”
“I’m saying I let my emotions get the best of me, and I regret it. I don’t fool around with guests.”
Jake pushed his still-wet hair out of his eyes and squared his shoulders. “It wasn’t a big deal. Don’t make it anything more than what it was.”
Liar.
He’d had years of practice learning to hide his hurt after Brian walked out on him and Stacey. This was nothing compared to losing his husband and the partner he’d had a child with.
“I don’t want you upset.”
Jake hefted his backpack on his shoulder and shoved his feet into the sneakers. “As I already said, it was only a kiss.” Without waiting for an answer, he strode away and left Shea behind.
He had to get through today and tonight, and then tomorrow he’d be back home with his daughter. Shea Montgomery would