Against Her Odds: when dedication meets desire (6 page)

Cason looked out across his field and
sighed. Blondie was proving harder to forget about than he’d hoped. Of course,
he’d meant everything he’d said to her that night. It hurt to think that she’d
meant what she’d said too. He shook her out of his mind for the fifteenth time
that day and then did it a little harder, because he would have sworn he saw
her at the edge of his fence. The second shake was no better than the first.

She raised her hand in a wave, and he
returned it. He had to swallow hard as he started toward her. It seemed like
his heart was climbing steadily higher and higher into his throat. On his way
to meet her, every possible scenario ran through his head. She’d left something
here and come to collect it. She’d thought of more things that she’d left
unsaid. She’d already met someone else and she was headed to Vegas to get
married by some Elvis impersonator. Well, probably not that last one.

“Hello,” she said, rubbing her arms with a
shiver.

“Always forgetting your jacket,” he said as
he shrugged his over shirt off and draped it around her.

She tugged it close and took a deep breath.
It didn’t help. In fact it made the situation worse because the wind was chilly
and dry. Val coughed. Cason pulled a bottle of water from his back pocket and
handed it to her when the coughing didn’t stop.

“Thank you,” she gasped before taking a
long sip of the slightly lukewarm water.

His nerves got tighter and tighter as she
drank and then spun the cap back onto the bottle. He couldn’t stand not knowing
any longer. He needed her to speak her mind before he gave in and tossed her
over shoulder and carried her (probably kicking and screaming) into his house.

“What do you want?” he asked bluntly as he
shoved the bottle back into his back pocket.

“I...I think I...” she took another breath,
slower this time so she didn’t cause history to repeat itself. “I made a
mistake,” she said finally.

“Say what?” Cason asked, positive that his
mind was playing tricks on him. Hell, at this point he was afraid he was
imagining the whole thing.

“I made a mistake when I never told you
that I loved you,” she repeated, shoving her hands into the pockets of her
jeans. “I made a mistake when I walked out of that restaurant. I made a mistake
when I--”

That was as far as she got. Cason reached
out and pulled her close. She expected him to kiss her, but he didn’t. All he
did was tug her into the best bear hug she’d ever received. She felt his rough
palm on the back of her head as she snuggled in against his strong chest. She
could hear his heart racing to match hers.

“I’m still not ready to be engaged or
anything like that,” she said in a muffled voice. “We really haven’t known each
other very lo--” His sudden chuckle cut off her words.

“Hell darlin’,” he said and she could hear
the smile in his words, even though his voice was a little rough with emotion.
“We can shack up for the next ten years as long as I can say you’re mine.”

“You can,” she said, tilting her chin and
looking into the face of the man she loved. “I’m yours, Cason McDaniel.”

“Good,” he said, “because you’ve had me
wrapped around your little finger since that first smile, Blondie.”

This time he kissed her and it was a kiss
filled with the promise of all the happiness Valerie Turner had never dared to
hope for.

--
Natalie Love