* * *
Jason wasn’t surprised to discover he had been placed beside Bella at the dinner table. The women in the family tended to be matchmakers when they set their minds to it, which he could overlook considering three of them were all happily married themselves. The other two, Megan and Bailey, were in it for the ride.
He dipped his head, lower than he’d planned, to ask Bella if she was enjoying herself, and when she turned her head to look at him their lips nearly touched. He came close to ignoring everyone sitting at the table and giving in to the temptation to kiss her.
She must have read his mind and a light blush spread into her cheeks. He swallowed, pulled his lips back. “Are you having a good time?”
“Yes. And I appreciate your family for inviting me.”
“And I’m sure they enjoy having you here,” he said. Had she expected him to invite her? He shrugged off the thought as wrong. There had been no reason for him to invite her to meet his family. Come to think of it, he had never invited a woman home for dinner. Not even Emma Phillips and they’d dated close to a year before she tried giving him an ultimatum.
The meal went off without a hitch with various conversations swirling around the table. Megan informed everyone that the private investigator she had hired to dig deeper into their great-grandfather Raphel’s past was Rico Claiborne, who just happened to be the brother of Jessica and Savannah, who were married to their cousins Chase and Durango. Rico, whom Megan hadn’t yet met, was flying into Denver at some point in time to go over the information he’d collected on what was supposed to be Raphel’s third wife.
By the time dinner was over and conversations wound down it was close to ten o’clock. Someone suggested given the lateness of the hour that Bella be escorted back home. Several of his cousins spoke up to do the honor and Jason figured he needed to end the nonsense once and for all and said in a voice that brooked no argument, “I’ll make sure Bella gets home.”
He noticed that all conversation automatically ceased and no one questioned his announcement. “Ready to go?” he asked Bella softly.
“Yes.”
She thanked everyone and openly gave his cousins and brothers hugs. It wasn’t hard to tell that they all liked her and had enjoyed her visit. After telling everyone good-night he followed her out the door.
* * *
Bella glanced out her rearview mirror and saw Jason was following her at a safe distance. She laughed, thinking when it came to Jason there wasn’t a safe zone. Just knowing he was anywhere within her area was enough to rattle her. Even sitting beside him at dinner had been a challenge for her, but thanks to the rest of his family who kept lively conversation going on, she was able to endure his presence and the sexual tension she’d felt. Each time he talked to her and she looked into his face and focused on his mouth, she would remember that same mouth mating with hers.
A sigh of relief escaped her lips when they pulled into her yard. Figuring it would be dark when she returned she had left lights burning outside and her yard was practically glowing. She parked her car and was opening the door to get out when she saw Jason already standing there beside it. Her breathing quickened and panic set in. “You don’t need to walk me to the door, Jason,” she said quickly.
“I want to,” he said simply.
Annoyance flashed in her eyes when she recalled how he’d gone out of his way most of the evening to avoid her. “Why would you?”
He gave her a look. “Why wouldn’t I?” Instead of waiting for her to respond he took her hand in his and headed toward her front door.
Fine! she thought, fuming inside and dismissing the temptation to pull her hand away from his. Because her foreman lived on the ranch, she knew the last thing she needed to do was make a scene with Jason outside under the bright lights. He stood back while she unlocked the door and she had a feeling he intended to make sure she was safely inside before leaving. She was right when he followed her inside.
When he closed the door behind them she placed her hands on her hips and opened her mouth to say what was on her mind, but he beat her to the punch. “Was I out of line when I kissed you that day, Bella?”
The softly spoken question gave her pause and she dropped her hands to her sides. No, he hadn’t been out of line mainly because she’d wanted the kiss. She had wanted to feel his mouth on hers, his tongue tangling with her own. And if she was downright truthful about it, she would admit to wanting his hands on her, all over her, touching her in ways no man had touched her before.
He was waiting for her response.
“No, you weren’t out of line.”
“Then why the coldness today?”
She tilted her chin. “I can be asking you the same thing, Jason. You weren’t Mr. Congeniality yourself tonight.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment but she could tell her comment had hit a mark with him. “No, I wasn’t,” he admitted.
Although she had made the accusation she was stunned by the admission. It had caught her off guard. “Why?” She knew the reason for her distance but was curious to know the reason for his.
“Ladies first.”
“Fine,” she said, placing her purse on the table. “We might as well get this little talk over with. Would you like something to drink?”
“Yes,” he said, rubbing his hand down his face in frustration. “A cup of tea would be nice.”
She glanced up at him, surprised by his choice. There was no need to mention since that first day when he’d shown up she had picked up a couple bottles of beer and wine at the store to give him more of a choice. Since tea was also her choice she said, “All right, I’ll be back in a moment.” She then swept from the room.
* * *
Jason watched her leave and felt more frustrated than ever. She was right, they needed to talk. He shook his head. When had things between them gotten so complicated? Had it all started with that kiss? A kiss that was destined to happen sooner or later given the intense attraction between them?
He sighed deeply, wondering how he would explain his coldness to her tonight. How could he tell her his behavior had been put in place as a safety mechanism stemming from the fact that he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted any other woman? And how could he explain that the thought of any woman getting under his skin to the extent she had scared the hell out of him?
Chances were if he hadn’t run into her at the appliance store he would have sought out her company anyway. More than likely he would have dropped by later for tea, although he had tried limiting his visits for fear of wearing out his welcome.
Her phone rang and he wondered who would be calling her at this late hour but knew it was none of his business when she picked it up on the second rang. He’d never gotten around to asking if she had a boyfriend or not and assumed she didn’t.
Moments later Jason glanced toward the kitchen door when he heard a loud noise, the sound of something crashing on her floor. He quickly moved toward the kitchen to see what had happened and to make sure she was all right.
He frowned when he entered the kitchen and saw Bella stooping to pick up the tray she’d dropped along with two broken cups.
He quickly moved forward. “Are you okay, Bella?” he asked.
She didn’t look at him as she continued to pick up broken pieces of the teacups. “I’m fine. I accidentally dropped it.”
He bent down toward her. “That’s fine. At least you didn’t have tea in the cups. You could have burned yourself. I can help you get that up.”
She turned to look up at him. “I can do this, Jason. I don’t need your help.”
He met her gaze and would have taken her stinging words to