Renegades and Pretty Women

Chapter Twenty

Jonah awoke from one of the worst nights of sleep he ever had and sat up in the bed, rubbing his face roughly with his hands.

He stood up and stepped over Bart and Reb who were sound asleep on the floor, grabbed his gun belt by the door and then walked out into the hallway closing the door silently behind him.

Standing in the narrow hall, Jonah slid his gun belt around his hips and thought back on the night before and what had gone on in Joe’s hotel room.

Jonah wasn’t sure what he felt. What he did recognize was guilt. Guilt that he had taken the woman’s innocence when he had no intention of ever making her an honest woman. But then he was mad as well that she had lied to him about being innocent and then told him to leave after the passion was over. Jonah had wanted to stay with her. He had wanted to help clean her off and then hold her body against his until they both lost themselves in sleep.

Jonah growled as he began to pace back and forth between the two room doors.

He was not willing to fall in love. Not willing to become another woman’s fool. Settling down wasn’t something he wanted. And yet……

What he felt for Joe was more than just simple friendship. Suddenly Jonah was sure that sharing a bed with Joe had been a mistake. He should have told her no the night before but he couldn’t have.

It wasn’t like it had been with Scarlett. With Scarlett he’d made love to her because he had figured it couldn’t hurt anything and she was pretty, experienced and, well, there.

Being with Joe had been different. Never before had Jonah made love to a woman and then not been able to sleep after because he had wanted to have her in his arms. Never before had he been this nervous to discover how a woman would feel about what they had shared. Not even with Penny…..

Jonah knew Joe but the woman was impossible to read when she chose to be and last night Jonah had not been able to read her.

He had seen straight into her soul when their bodies had been joined but as soon as he had separated them her walls had come up quickly.

Jonah decided that before he would say anything about what he was feeling he would wait until Joe said something to him. He wasn’t going to admit that he might like her as more than just a friend, only to have her throw his words back in his face.

Last night had been amazing. He had felt a passion like thunder in his veins and lightening in his chest. It was a feeling he wanted to feel again and he knew that only with Joe would he experience it. Whatever happened, he hoped and prayed she wouldn’t change her mind about their agreement to ease each others passions while they rode together.

Jonah approached her closed door and listened closely, feeling his heart race when he heard movement on the other side. She was awake.

Unsure of what he was going to say or do, Jonah knocked quietly.

“Who is it?” he heard her voice asked.

“Jonah.”

A long silence followed and then he heard her sigh. “Come on in then, Jonah.”

Jonah opened the door and felt a bit of disappointment to find her fully dressed as if she’d been preparing to head out herself. He hadn’t known what he’d been hoping to see.

Her waiting buck naked would have been nice. Or perhaps her face lined from sleep and the white sheet wrapped temptingly around her feminine body.

“Whatdya want, Jonah?” she snapped.