sighed. “I got a similar lecture from Gus, telling me how it would break his heart if he found out we were together.” Alex looked miserable and Daniel could relate. Neither of them liked disappointing their grandparents.
“Gus is trying to set me up with guys who are taking part in the bachelor auction.”
“That damned auction,” Daniel growled, the thought of being sold like a steer raising his blood pressure. Then, to add insult to injury, he would have to pay for the date with the woman who’d paid to spend time with him. Why couldn’t he just write a check to cover the costs of the date? Hell, he’d double, even triple, the amount if he could get out of going on a stupid date with someone not of his choosing.
“That damned auction is going to raise an awesome amount of money for the Pancreatic Cancer Foundation.” Daniel saw the blue fire in Alex’s eyes and reminded himself that the charity auction was her pet project. Her beloved grandmother Sarah had died from the disease, and as it was a cause that was near and dear to her heart, Lex had committed herself to raising funds to find a cure.
“I’ll be glad when it’s over,” Alex said. “A few more sleeps and counting. Roll on Saturday and then Gus can stop throwing me into the arms of any man with a pulse.”
The thought of Alexis being in another man’s arms was enough to have him grinding his teeth together. Daniel reminded himself that he had no right to feel jealous, but the enamel still flew off his teeth. Reaching across him to pick up her cup of coffee, her hair brushed his face and he inhaled her lavender-and-wildflower scent. He immediately felt himself grow hard, and as much as it pained him, he told himself to stand down.
“If I don’t leave soon, Lex, I’m going to be late. What’s on your mind?”
Alex sipped, sighed and sipped again, before finally getting to the point. “I...um...think we should put this on hold, at least for a while.”
“This meaning us?”
Alex nodded. “I’ve got a lot on my mind, so much to do, and while this has been fun, it’s taking time and energy I don’t currently have.”
Daniel felt the prick—hell, stab!—of dismay and pushed the pain away. Sure, he hadn’t expected this to last forever, but damn, he and Lex were good together. They enjoyed each other, knew exactly how to make each other writhe and squirm and scream. It would be a good long while, Daniel admitted, before he could even think about sleeping with someone else.
Because Alexis—warm and wonderful—was truly one of a kind.
Alex looked like she was waiting for an answer, so he shrugged and uttered the only word he could wrap his tongue around. “Okay.”
Disappointment flashed in her eyes. At his one-syllable answer or because he wasn’t arguing for them to carry on?
“I’d also like to tell our grandparents that we are wise to them trying to set us up with other people, that they can’t interfere in our love lives,” Alex stated, her voice determined.
“You want to tackle them together? In the same room?” Daniel heard the skepticism in his voice. “Would Royal survive the fallout?”
“I think it would have more impact,” Alex stubbornly replied.
“They’ve avoided each other for five decades, Lex. You’re not going to get them in the same room, at the same time.” This feud was exhausting but it wasn’t theirs to fight. Gus and Rose had decades of tumultuous history to work through, and Daniel wasn’t fool enough to get sucked up in that craziness.
Besides, he had bigger things to deal with, like Alex cutting him off. He didn’t want this to end... “You sure this is what you want to do, Lex?”
Alex lifted her shoulders, dropped them and released a long-suffering sigh. “I’m tired of the lectures, the disapproving looks from Gus. I’m tired of sneaking around. I need more sleep and I have a couple of personal decisions I need to make. You’re a...complication.”
A complication, huh? “It’s just sex, Alex.”
Was that reminder directed at her or himself?
Annoyance glimmered in Lexi’s gorgeous blue eyes. “Of course it is, but since it’s sapping my time and energy, it needs to stop.” She looked away from him, shrugged before dragging her eyes back to his. “Maybe once the auction is over, after the holidays, if I’m around, we could maybe pick things up again.”
So many maybes, Daniel thought, pulling on his boot. Wait, what did she say? “You said, if you’re around? Are you thinking of leaving?”
Another thought to cool his head. He definitely wasn’t getting enough sleep!
“I’ve had a job offer that might take me back to Houston,” Alex said. “I’ve stayed in Royal longer than I thought I would. My plan was always to return there.”
“What’s the offer?” Daniel asked, standing up and tucking his shirt into his jeans.
“Managing partner in a social media strategy firm. It’s a good offer. I’ve always wanted to be my own boss.”
He quirked a brow. “Isn’t that what you are here on the ranch?”
“Gus is still the boss, Dan,” she reminded him. “And while I can run the finances, I’m not a rancher. In Royal, everything has a memory associated with it. My parents, Sarah...”
He heard her unsaid you and could almost taste the emotion in her voice. They’d both had hard childhoods, had been knocked around by life, but he knew that losing her parents as a little girl had rocked her world. And then to lose Sarah, on top of all that, had truly devastated her. “I am sorry, Lex. Sorry for you, for Gus.”
Alex managed a wobbly smile. “Thanks, I appreciate it.” Standing up, she placed her hand on his chest, and Daniel felt his heart rate kick up, his throat tightening. Alex just had to touch him and the thoughts of stripping their clothes off and taking her again were front and center. He forcibly held himself still as Alex stood up on her pretty painted toes to kiss the side of his mouth. “Thanks for this, Dan. It was fun. And maybe it exorcised some ghosts.”
Yeah, but maybe it also, Daniel couldn’t help thinking, created a whole bunch more.
* * *
She’d said goodbye to him as a teenager but watching him walk away as an adult was surprisingly a great deal harder than she’d imagined it would be. She’d been madly in love with him then, but she wasn’t in love with him now, so... Why on earth was she so upset?
You have to let him go. There is no other option. This is not a situation where you can have the cowboy and ride him, as well.
But she still couldn’t keep her eyes off him as he strode toward his dirt bike. Sighing appreciatively, she watched as he threw a long, muscular leg over the saddle and gripped the handlebars, dark curls shining in the early-morning light. Man, he was gorgeous, a perfect combination of Anglo and Hispanic. Olive skin, black hair, those smoldering brown eyes and that lean, powerful physique.
Alex leaned her forearms on the railing of the deck and watched her lover—no, her ex-lover—ride away, ignoring
