The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [85]
Misty sucked in her breath, shocked at the words, at the harsh vehemence of his tone, but unable to deny them. Part of her new determination in dealing with men was to be brutally honest—with herself and them. Sugarcoating things, faking things, had caused at least half of her present problems. Being too timid, too naive, had caused the other half. In order to get on with her life, she had to start facing things head-on.
A rough warning growl rumbled from deep in his throat. “Malone—”
“You’re right,” she hurried to assure him, unwilling to let him shock her with more of his brutal honesty. “And I’m sorry. You took me by surprise.”
“Bull.” He propped his hands on his hips and glared at her. “I’ve known from the day I met you how it’d be. Why the hell do you think I avoid you?”
Oh. That certainly explained a few things, she supposed. “I see. Well, I must not be as clever as you, because I thought you were a totally obnoxious, thoroughly unlikable jerk and I was thankful that you ignored me. I had no idea this—” she waved a hand, trying to come up with a word suitable to the loss of control and depth of sensation he’d sparked “—chemistry was between us. I wasn’t even aware something like this existed.”
He cursed again, but she didn’t let him interrupt her. “Now that I do know, trust me, I won’t let it happen ever again.”
Morgan seemed to measure her words. And then she saw his eyes narrow, his expression darken. He looked at her breasts, and she knew her nipples were still painfully hard. Without a word, he reached out a hand and gently brushed the backs of his knuckles across one sensitive tip, gliding easily over the satiny material of the dress. Misty drew in a sharp breath and felt a small explosion of erotic stimulation throughout her body.
Morgan whispered, “Oh, it’ll happen again, sweetheart, if you hang around. That’s why you need to finish your little visit and hightail it out of town just as fast as you possibly can. My control only goes so far, and it seems you have no control at all.”
The words were like a cold slap, reminding her of all her troubles, of how gullible she’d been, how utterly stupid.
She jerked away and bit her lip hard to keep herself from tearing up. No way would she let the big jerk see her cry. Much as she had hoped to regroup in Buckhorn, she could see that was now impossible. What she would do, she hadn’t a clue. But he was right, leaving was imperative. She had absolutely no desire to get involved with a man again, for any reason. Especially not a domineering, bullheaded behemoth like Morgan Hudson, a man who didn’t even like her, and in fact, seemed to disdain her.
Keeping her back to him, she drew a long, steadying breath. Then she reached for the door. “I’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning.” Despite her resolve, her voice quavered tenuously.
There was a slight pause. “Misty…”
He sounded uncertain, but she had no intention of discussing things with him. There was no one she could trust except Honey, and she wouldn’t ruin her sister’s current happiness for anything. After she got her life straightened out and made some plans that would hopefully carry her through the coming months, she could begin making confessions to her sibling.
The open door offered no relief from the heat; there wasn’t a single breeze stirring. Misty stepped onto the dewwet grass, then felt Morgan’s hand settle on her shoulder. “Wait a minute.”
She flinched at his tone but didn’t bother trying to move away from him. Just that simple touch, his hand on her shoulder, made her acutely aware of him as a man. She almost hated herself. “What now?”
She turned to face him, trying to look irritated when she was actually breathless. The moonlight was brighter. She could see his every feature—the strong, lean jawline, the harshly cut cheekbones. He was by far the most impressive male she’d ever seen, but then, his brothers were nothing to sneeze at. There must have been a mighty impressive gene pool somewhere to create all that