Kirby’s name.”
“And your own.” When Dallas turned around, her gaze fell to his rodeo belt where his badge should have been. “I’m sorry.”
“Couldn’t be helped.” He said it offhanded enough, but she saw the hurt in his eyes.
Dallas took the dish from the microwave, put in on the counter between them and grabbed some forks. “I say let’s skip the plates.”
As hungry as she was, Joelle thought that was a great idea, but when he passed her one of the forks, his hand brushed against hers. With everything else going on, the last thing that should cross her mind was his touch.
But it did anyway.
Dallas didn’t ease back, either. He stood there, his index finger covering hers. “I’m thinking this is a bad idea,” he drawled.
“A terrible one,” she confirmed.
Of course, that didn’t stop her from leaning forward. Dallas leaned in, too. His mouth brushed against hers. It barely qualified as a kiss, but because it was Dallas’s mouth, it slammed through her. Not all pleasant, either, since the brush-kiss only made her ache for him.
“We always were good at this,” he mumbled, and the movement caused more touching of his lips against hers.
“Too good. You taught me how to kiss,” Joelle reminded him.
“Must be why you’re so good at it,” he joked.
Dallas chuckled. More movement. More touching. More barely qualifying kisses that were still making her burn. Despite the burn, despite everything, it felt good to be with him like this. And even better than good, it felt right.
It wasn’t.
But Joelle was suddenly having a hard time remembering why it was wrong.
He slid his hand around her neck, and while keeping it in place, Dallas came around the breakfast counter and eased her off the seat.
Right into his arms.
He didn’t kiss her though. With his forehead bunched up, he just looked down at her as if trying to decide what to do.
“You’re not going to say no, are you?” His forehead bunching up even more.
“No to what?” she asked.
“Anything that happens between us in the next few minutes,” he clarified.
Oh.
That.
Joelle shook her head. “There won’t be any nos from me in the next few minutes.”
Maybe not ever when it came to Dallas. And she wasn’t exactly proud that Dallas was her hormonal Achilles’ heel. It wasn’t hard to understand why. He stood there, all cowboy, in his jeans and boots. He’d left his Stetson in the entry, but that only allowed her to see his rumpled, bedroom hair.
Bedroom eyes, too.
Ironic, since they’d never actually had sex in a bedroom. Every time they’d been together at the ranch, they’d had to sneak away so that Webb or someone else wouldn’t see them.
Dallas cursed, squeezed his eyes shut, and she thought he might indeed back away. But he didn’t. His eyes opened, he dragged her to him and kissed her the way her body was begging for him to kiss her.
It was like stepping back in time. But better, too. They weren’t the same people they’d been back then, and Dallas somehow brought all of that and their shared past right into that kiss. Joelle heard herself make a helpless sound of surrender, and she was lost. Willingly.
Dallas brought her closer to him until they were wrapped in each other’s arms. Until everything was hot and spinning out of control. The spinning got worse when he kissed her neck.
And lower.
He pushed aside the gold heart necklace and kissed her throat.
Then lower.
To the tops of her breasts, which he kissed through her clothes.
She’d known that nothing could stay simple with them. A kiss couldn’t just be a kiss. And when he deepened it and slid his hand between them to touch her breasts, Joelle figured they were only minutes away from hauling each other off to bed.
She fought to remember why that wasn’t a good idea, but the buzzing sound cut through her thoughts. Through the heat.
Dallas cursed, pulled back and yanked the phone from his pocket. “What now?” he snarled.
Joelle glanced at the screen, expecting to see a message from one of his brothers or maybe his boss. There was a lot going on with the investigation, and there’d hopefully be updates. Good ones. She’d had her fill of bad news for a lifetime.
But the message was from Owen.
They groaned in unison. “What does he want now?” Joelle asked.
Dallas held up the screen for her to have a better look. “Here’s something you should know,” the message said.
Joelle felt her heart thud against her chest, and it wasn’t a residual effect