When Roses Collide

Chapter Fifty-Eight

He took a deep breath, his hands on his narrow hips as he looked around the outside arena before meeting her gaze. "I need," he stopped and cleared his throat, "we need to talk. Is there somewhere we can go?"

"Now you want to talk?" she scoffed, steeling herself against the quiver caused by his words. "I think the time for talking has long passed, and as you can see, I'm busy." She grabbed at her reins, intending to leave, but his hands where faster and he nabbed them before she got the chance to make her grand exit.

"Please, Harley, hear me out."

She was no longer looking at a cocky cowboy full to brimming with his usual arrogance, but a man who was hurting, and wasn't afraid to show it. She had seen Travis light up the day with a smile, heard him laugh, seen him seething in rage, witnessed his face contort with desire, but she had never seen him the way he was now. Vulnerable.

Harley pressed her hand to her stomach, feeling it do a little tilt-a-whirl. She had expected a lot of things, but she had to admit, seeing his hurt and pain painted clearly on his handsome face was not one of them. Her heart melted, and before she could think twice about it and change her mind, she eased her foot out of the stirrup. Leaning out of the way, she offered him room to throw a leg up.

"I was about to head to the barn and brush Odin down," she said, not trusting herself to say anything more.

It took him about two seconds to make up his mind on whether or not to take up her offer, before he lifted a boot into the stirrup and gracefully mounted behind her. Feeling his arms wrap around her middle and tug her back, she closed her eyes at the feel of the familiar warmth of his chest. Woo-boy, how she had missed him. Allowing her fingertips to touch his arm, she felt the heat of his skin through his shirt. A slight moan eased out of her mouth when she felt the feather touch of his lips slide down the curve of her neck, and nip lightly on her skin exposed by her braid.

"I fucking missed you like crazy," he growled against her throat.

As he continued to tease her with his lips, Harley had to acknowledge her weakness when it came to this Adonis of a man who continuously turned her world upside down. "That makes two of us, cowboy," she admitted softly.

Gathering up the reins, she turned Odin towards the temporary barn further away from the house. They had been using it until the repairs to the other one could be completed, and it took them past a pasture holding a group of colts still needing to be delivered to Ryder in South Dakota. At the sight of Odin, a herd of them reared up and started galloping, bucking, kicking and whinnying along the fence line. Their glimmering coats shone in the afternoon sun as they tossed their head to the wind, their tails flagging out behind them. Harley chuckled at their antics, and soothed a hand down Odin's sleek neck in a calming gesture as she felt his muscles twitch with anxious energy to join them in a good romp.

Easing him away from the rambunctious group of yearlings, she headed into the barn. Once there, she once again took her foot out of the stirrup and leaned away in order to give Travis room to dismount. A slight pang of loss zinged through her as she felt him unwind his arms from around her waist, and ease himself to the ground.

Resituating herself in the saddle so she could dismount too, she was caught by surprise when he reached up and plucked her off the back of Odin as if she was nothing but a small child. Before she could utter a protest, he whipped the hat off her head, and tossed it to the ground. Gripping the back of her head with his hand, he dragged her roughly towards his descending mouth.

Harley already knew the man could kiss like it was nobody's business, and he never failed to do it any other way but very well, but this time his kiss was like nothing she'd ever experienced. It was a kiss that literally took her breath away as his tongue swept through her mouth like a storm, leaving nothing but the taste of him behind. His hold was firm and unyielding, but she knew if she stepped back, he would instantly release her. Not that she was about to do that. It would have been so easy to push away, to stop this, but she had been dying for the feel of his arms around her. Swaying into him, she crept her hands up the hard wall of his chest, twisting them around his neck as she leaned closer to his hot erection pressed against her belly. Returning his greedy kisses with ones of her own, the need to have him overshadowed any lingering anger or hurt feelings she might have had.