Page 46 of Hard Rain Coming
“So you said. It’s nice.”
“Yes.”
“And yet you’re back here in Montana.” A slow burn started in his gut when she turned to him, because the look in her eyes was anything but nice.
“For the moment.” Her eyes narrowed a bit. “And what is it that kept you here, Dal? What’s your life like? I remember a time when all you dreamed about was leaving. Of going to Houston or out to Kentucky. You were going to be some big-time horse breeder.”
“Things change. I had to grow up real fast.”
“So did I.”
“My father is in jail.”
“What?” She was shocked. “I didn’t know. What happened?”
“He screwed the wrong woman and got into it with her husband at some bar in Bozeman. It got physical, and he knocked the guy down.” It was hard to hide the disgust he felt for his father, so he didn’t try. “The man never got up, so my father went to prison on aggravated assault charges. I’m sure you remember he’d been in trouble before, so this time his sentence was twenty years.” Even now, the anger he felt over his father was big. “I stayed because my mom and sister needed me and because I…”
Christ, what the hell was he doing?
“Because you…?” Vivian prodded, watching him closely.
“I guess I thought you’d come back.” He bent toward her, inhaling that scent that would drive him over the edge if he let it. “But you didn’t.”
“I couldn’t,” she whispered.
“Until now.”
“Until now.”
He focused on that pulse at her neck, because her big blue eyes would destroy him. Dallas Henhawk was the kind of man most folks steered clear of because he wasn’t easy or nice. He had no problem being an asshole, and yet this woman had him by the balls and didn’t know it.
Yet.
“Do you think Benton is coming back down?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
“I have no idea.”
“Is it rude if I leave?”
“Do you care what your brother thinks?”
She moistened her lips, the jezebel, and his body went hot and then cold, suddenly filled with the kind of thirst only she could quench.
“No,” Vivian replied. “Do you?”
“In this case, I’d have to say I don’t give a flying crap what your brother thinks.”
“Are you walking me home?” Her eyes had darkened, and when she slid her tongue across her lower lip, his body answered with a sudden surge of desire. Already, his mind was two paces ahead, images of Vivian naked, beneath him, taunted Dallas. He took a step back, because he didn’t trust himself not to take what she was offering right here in the Bridgestone kitchen.
“After you,” he replied.
Vivian held his gaze for a heartbeat and then sailed past him while he took a moment to calm the hell down, and then, like a good boy, headed to the foyer. They got into their boots and winter gear, and while he would have taken his truck, she headed off into the darkness, giving him no choice but to follow along.
There was no talking. No words to pass the time as they walked through drifts of snow that were nearly to his knees. By the time they reached the foreman’s cabin, he’d worked up a sweat, but it was nothing like the fever raging inside his body.
Vivian let them in, and he shrugged out of his coat, then tossed his boots and hung up his coat. The dog stood a few feet from him, growling softly. He’d forgotten about the damn thing. “Beat it,” he muttered darkly, then glanced over his shoulder. His blood ran hot at the sight of Vivian bent over in nothing but her underwear and bra, trying to rip off her socks.
“Let me,” he murmured, grabbing her calf and holding her still so he could tug it off. Once her feet were bare, his hands traveled up her hips, and he hooked his hands underneath her panties, then slowly pulled them down so that she could step out of them. While he was busy doing that, she’d already undone her bra.