Page 26 of Waiting in Wyoming
Meyra just looked up at the man and waited.
Because beingthat close to her and not kissing her was something he hadn’t been able to handle for even a single minute longer. But telling her that would be one quick way to destroy his plans. He reminded himself he couldn’t come on too strong. That would be a surefire way to send her running. “Why do you think I kissed you?”
“I…don’t know, actually. Because it was an impulse, maybe? I am not that great at figuring outmen.Especially men like you.”
Brandt brushed his fingers over the soft skin of her arms. He wanted to touch her everywhere. He dreamed of touching her everywhere. He hadn’t touched another woman since he had first realized what he felt for her. He hadn’t touched a woman in far, far too long.
“Do you always kiss women on impulse?”
“No. Not usually.” Brandt couldn’t help himself. He’d sat there for practically four days and watched his brother Alex nextto the woman Alex wanted. He’d seen Gunnar almost breathing for Powell for just as long—that guy had it bad for Brandt’s sister. And Brandt liked Gunnar. He thought the other man could be good for Powell if she just wasn’t so reluctant.
And then there had been his eldest brother. Mac was thirty-six now and showed no signs of a serious relationship on the horizon with anyone. At heart, Brandt thought his brother was lonely. Mac wanted a family, too. Brandt was almost convinced of it. Mac had held Heather’s baby quite a bit and had played with her preschooler—when Heather wasn’t around to snarl at him.
Those tworeallydid not get along.
But Mac would be a great dad someday. Just like their father still was.
His brother was just so consumed with his work—Mac didn’t seem to have room for a woman and kids in his life now. Even though Mac would be good at it. Brandt was one hundred percent convinced of that. But Mac was a workaholic through and through.
Brandt wanted the exact opposite of that. More, he needed the exact opposite of that. Yes, he was going to build something his kids could be proud of. But not at the exclusion of having the time to have that family in the first place. And the only woman he wanted that with was right there, practically in his arms.
But they were right in the center of the damned inn’s lobby. Anyone could walk by them at any moment. “I want to kiss you again.”
Green eyes widened. Her mouth trembled. She moistened her lips quickly. Nervously. Brandt’s entire body tightened in instant lust. She didn’t know what she did to a man. She just didn’t. “Here?”
“I’d kiss you wherever I could get you to kiss me back, but…this isn’t exactly private.” Brandt lifted one hand to her cheek.He just had to touch her. “I’ve found I have very poor impulse control where you are concerned.”
“But why?”
She just didn’t get it. Brandt felt a mix of exasperation and fascination. “Because I want you, Meyra Talley. I have wanted you for years. Almost from the moment I met you—certainly from the moment I realized you were older than I had originally thought you were. And I have waited long enough. So, be forewarned. I am a man who always gets what he wants.Youare what I want. I have waited long enough. It is taking every bit of restraint I have to not just scoop you up, carry you off somewhere, andshowyou exactly what you do to me.”
Her mouth formed the most perfect O. He had to laugh. And he leaned down, pressed his mouth to hers for one brief moment.
Brandt turned—and walked away.
Maybe he had jumped the gun, but damn it. He was a Barratt. Barratt men weren’t used to waiting for what they wanted. He meant every word—Brandt had waited for her long enough.
21
He had actually saidhe wanted her, wanted to carry her off—and it had made her feel all hot inside in an instant. Like maybe she’dwantedhim to do just that, too?
Meyra did the only thing she really could. She retreated to her room. Right through the family kitchen.
“Well, you look a bit confused,” someone said when she just stood there in the kitchen for a minute, breathing heavily. “What happened to you?”
Meyra stared at her cousin. Dylan was there, head tilted to one side, studying Meyra. “Brandt Barratt kissed me. Again. In the lobby. And said he’d waited long enough. That he wanted to just carry me away and do things to me.”
“Okay, seriously hot, muscled, and sexy super-rich Texas dude kissed you and what—promised?—to carry you away for really fun things? And you are in here instead of trying to lure him upstairs to seduce him? Instead of jumping into his beautiful arms and being willfully carried away? Right now? Which…that man is so worth seducing, even without the money. I suspect money would really just complicate things even more. The next man I seduce is going to be dirt poor, I’ve decided.Well, mostly just to thwart my father. I’ve told him I’m going to marry a dirt farmer and have six kids and plant tomatoes for a living, and that’s it. Those are my life ambitions, whether he likes them or not. I don’t think he was amused. Now, what are you going to do about Mr. Brandt Barratt?”
Sometimes Dylan said things that just didn’t make much sense. But other people laughed at her a lot. Dylanwasreally funny—when Meyra understood what she meant by things. But Dylan was smart, and she understood people, and she always listened when Meyra talked. And helped her figure things out. “I’m not sure.”
“First, did you want him to kiss you? That’s kind of a big thing. Otherwise, I think we can have Sage arrest him.”
“It surprised me. But he didn’t hurt me or anything.” Want him to kiss her? Maybe she had? She had certainly been thinking about what would happen if he did—for days. Maybe she had been playing Avoid Brandt Barratt like his sister had been playing Avoid the Viking with Gunnar?
Oh.
Nowshe understood what Powell had meant. If Gunnar had Brandt’s sisterthisconfused...