His by Christmas by Teresa Southwick

Author:Teresa Southwick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-11-23T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Justine was horrified and humiliated by what she’d said. She had to get away. Now. “I’m sorry. That was—”

A sob choked off her words and she stood, blindly turning away with tears stinging her eyes. Then she felt Cal’s big hand curve around hers before he gently tugged her into his lap.

“Justine—what am I going to do with you?”

She blinked furiously, trying not to cry and make this worse than it already was. “You could start by not pitying me.”

“Is that what you think?”

“Among other things.” Their faces were inches apart but she couldn’t look at him. She wouldn’t be able to stand it if she broke down. That would take this horrifying, humiliating scene to a whole new level of awful.

Cal cupped her face in his hands and forced her to meet his gaze before tenderly touching his mouth to hers. His lips were soft and warm, gentle and sweet. It both shocked and charmed her. If this moment never ended that would be all right with her. As soon as that thought flashed through her mind, he stopped kissing her, but instead of pulling away, he rested his forehead against hers.

“I don’t pity you. In fact, I’m a little annoyed that you didn’t recognize me being noble.”

“What I got was you being a gigantic jerk.” She stared at him and decided it didn’t really matter what she said. After this she was probably getting booted out of here anyway. “You were distant and kind of jackass-y.”

Amazingly, he grinned. “Don’t hold back. Tell me how you really feel.”

His smile seeped inside and warmed her in places that had begun to freeze and shrivel. “I feel as if Cal Hart disappeared right after I showed off the scars on my leg and told you about losing my family. There was no explanation from you. Just radio silence.”

“Jackass-y?” he asked.

“Exactly. Obviously you were repulsed by how my leg looks. How is that noble?”

“You’ve got it all wrong.” He slid both arms around her waist and snuggled her a little closer. “I think you’re beautiful—inside and out. And I wanted you. When you showed me the scars and told me how you got them, I still wanted you. That was a problem. Because seeing the signs of trauma to your leg made what happened to you real for me. It seemed wrong to make a move, and I didn’t want you to feel awkward what with working together or anything else.”

“So you disappeared?”

“I was protecting you,” he protested.

“From yourself,” she clarified.

“Yes. If I hadn’t pulled back, there’s no way I could resist touching you, and that would make it impossible not to have you.” Sincerity and longing darkened his eyes.

“You wanted me?” She couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing even though she’d suspected. Now she was almost afraid to believe it was true.

He kissed her and whispered against her lips, “I’ve wanted you from the moment I first saw you.”

“That’s hard to believe. I’ve read about your dalliances. Every last woman was beautiful and perfect.

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