Chapter 3
“Then what do you want?”
Was there ever a more loaded question? Cody wasn’t even sure he knew the answer.
Up until he saw Shelby, standing naked and fresh from the shower, he knew exactly what he wanted. To come back here, to his family’s ranch, and fire every son of a bitch who’d stood by while his dad wailed on his kid brother. Then somehow finish out his sentence so he could return to his life in Austin.
But now, after seeing Shelby, here in this house, standing in the middle of his childhood, everything changed.
He wanted to make sure she was okay, see if she’d finished nursing school, know if Preston had broken her heart the way she’d destroyed his. He wanted to run his hands down her body and see if her lips still tasted as sweet as he remembered. He wanted to go back and force himself to be the kind of man that she deserved.
Oh, Cody wanted. Too bad they were things a man like him didn’t have the right to want, let alone possess.
“I want to know what the hell you’re doing in my mom’s kitchen.”
Hurt swelled in her eyes and he wanted to feel good for putting it there, but it only served as a reminder of how he’d lost her to begin with.
“I live here.”
Had he heard her right? “Run that by me again. I thought you said you lived here.”
“That’s right.”
Now it was his turn to pale. “How long?”
“A couple of years ago, your dad,” she stumbled, “I mean, Silas got ill. He needed a nurse. I needed a job. So I applied.”
“You lived here! With my dad!” The thought of Shelby here, with Silas, in this house, didn’t sit right. Hell, it gave him new fuel for nightmares. It was just one more betrayal to add to the list. “What were you thinking?”
“Just what I said, your dad needed a nurse and the job came with a place to stay.”
Running a hand through his hair, he tortured himself with every horrible situation that he could possibly think of involving a fragile, genuine woman like Shelby and his beast of a father. In less than two seconds he’d come up with enough to make him sick.
Done with the conversation, Cody headed for the back door. He needed space to decompress before he snapped and air that didn’t remind him of his failures.
“Cody—” Shelby panicked.
He was leaving. Just like before, only this time she would be forced to actually watch him walk out the door. Her hard-laid plans would all be for nothing. And that was not acceptable. Too much was at stake.
“Oh, no you don’t.” Stubborn determination threw her into motion. Storming across the tile floor, she yanked him to a stop, forcing him to face the problem head-on. “Don’t you dare walk out on me. We aren’t even close to being done here.”
Every muscle in his arm tightened under her grasp. Cody spun around in a defensive motion. He was amped and ready to strike. Anyone else in her situation would fear for her life, but not Shelby. And that said something about him.
Cody might be a massive wall of raging testosterone, but he was also the gentlest man she’d ever known. In their time together, she’d never felt anything but utterly adored and protected. Even loved. Right up until he walked out.
“Let go,” he ordered.
“Not until we talk.”
“I mean it, Shelby Lynn. Let. Me. Go.”
That was the problem, she couldn’t.
“And what if I say no?” Bold words for a woman who needed his cooperation.
Without taking his gaze from hers, he issued a single command: “Don’t push me, Shelby Lynn.”
Shelby let go, but sent him a threatening glare. “Oh, I haven’t even begun to start pushing.”
To her dismay, there was no change in his expression. He crossed his arms, looking relaxed in his Armani button-up, totally unaffected by her threat. Here she was, ready to burst into tears and he was disciplined as always, which put a burr in Shelby’s temper.
“Is that right?” Nope, not even a smile.
“You don’t scare me, Cody Tucker.”
Whoa. That got his attention. Cody stood staring at her, his face so full of disbelief and pain that she staggered back a few feet. Did he actually think she was afraid of him? Maybe she didn’t want to know.
With a curse, Cody stalked toward her too fast for her to react, eating up the distance between them in two forceful steps, fury radiating off his every inch. Shelby couldn’t have moved even if she’d wanted to, which she wasn’t entirely sure she did.
Cody clasped her face between his hands, and leaned down toward her, filling up more and more of the room until all she could see were his eyes, his lips stopping only a scant inch from her mouth, electricity filling the minuscule space.
“Damn you, woman. Why can’t you ever just let things be?” His words danced against her lips. Their bodies brushed, their breath mixed, and then they were kissing. Hot, hard kisses that were somehow heart-shatteringly soft.
And just like that, her world shifted on its axis. She could have pushed him back and screamed her outrage. But he felt too good. Too right. One touch and the sky was down, the floors flopped, and she was falling into the past.
He brushed her mouth with his, nibbling and savoring, his lips caressing as he briefly slid his tongue against hers. He tasted of belonging, of a time when her life was overflowing with happiness and love.
Shelby told her hands to let go of his shirt, so she wouldn’t wrinkle it; she tried to remind herself that this was Cody and he couldn’t be trusted. Because if he kept kissing her, she would forget the hurt he had caused.
Cody dropped one of his hands from her face, only to mold his fingers around her hips with a controlled gentleness that stole away every last hesitation and started a warm tingling sensation that settled between her legs. His thumb stroked the spot right behind her earlobe that always drove her crazy. And God it felt good.
Slowly, his hand ascended, rib by rib, until it stopped, a breath shy of where she wanted it most—and she heard herself whimper. How could this be happening? And what had happened to that in-control woman she had become?
His thumbs teased higher, making her heart slam erratically against her chest. She said nothing, just moved closer, pushing her swollen mounds into his palms. His mouth curled up into the start of his oh-yeah smile, making her stomach flip just like it used to, as if the past had ceased to exist.
Cody sobered, his hands stilled. “I’m not doing this again. Not with you.”
“I agree, it’s too complicated.” But it was also too late. Something had happened. Something exciting and terrifying
