Free Renegade Hearts (The Kinnison Legacy Book 3) by Amanda McIntyre Page B

and opened it, letting the mountain’s night breeze cool his body. Tearing back the comforter, he dropped onto the sheets, staring at the moonlight streaked across his ceiling. Thoughts of her knotted his stomach. Why should it matter what she thought of him? Even now, with one simple phone call, he could enlist the help of any one of a down women who’d happily help him ease his frustration.
    Maybe Angelique was right. Maybe that night in the school lot had been a mistake. It wasn’t the first choice he’d made in his life that had gone awry. But if it was a mistake, then why had it taken him weeks, months to stop thinking of her every damn second of the day? He rubbed his hand over his chest, still cool and damp from his shower. A gentle breeze fluttered the curtains, causing the gooseflesh to rise on his body. He remembered how she’d touched him, her hands exploring, tentative, yet without fear. Remembered how she’d crawled onto his lap, taken him deep inside her, how their bodies rocked in tandem.…
    His body tightened. Relinquishing his control to the memory of her sweet sighs, self-made pleasure ripped through his body, but there was no satisfaction. He took a deep breath and gazed at the ceiling fan spinning above him. No less tense, he dropped his feet to the floor and stood in front of the window, hands braced on the frame as he let the chilly mountain air cool his fevered body. She wanted to be “friends.” As though nothing had happened to possibly change that.
    He should drop it. Give her what she wants. But her kiss tonight, the way she responded to him, stuck in his brain. He’d seen the fear on her face. Was it only the past, or something else? Regardless, if she just wanted to be friends, why the hell would she kiss him like her life depended on it? It left him more than curious. It left him wanting—more than just a roll in the hay. He was determined to find a way to get to the truth of whether that night meant anything at all to her. Maybe then, he could move on with his life.
    ***
    Angelique handed her aunt another Dutch apple pie to add to the several being boxed to take to the Kinnison barbecue that night. Emilee had pleaded to go with her grandpa to help him with chores before the guests began to arrive.
    “What time is Sally stopping by to pick you up?” Her aunt asked as she carefully arranged the pies so they wouldn’t overlap in the shallow cardboard tray.
    “Around four, unless you need her to come earlier?” Angelique sampled the potato salad, adding more pepper to it. This was her kind of heaven, cooking with her aunt in this old country kitchen. She knew where everything was kept, knew how the scorch mark on the kitchen Formica came to be during a trial run of baking her first cookies alone.
    “Emilee seems to enjoy helping out with the baby and helping with the horses,” her aunt remarked, tearing off another piece of foil to cover another pie.
    Angelique smiled as she spooned her salad into large tubs for ease in transporting. “You know how she loves horses.”
    “She mentioned that Dalton is teaching her how to ride. He seems to have taken a shine to her.”
    Angelique had been well aware of how much her daughter spoke about Dalton. While she appreciated his kindness, she couldn’t help but wonder about his sudden change of heart with children. A self-proclaimed bachelor and proud of it, children had always been more of something to be tolerated. Maybe being an uncle had changed his perspective. In the past few days since their discussion, she’d noticed via Emilee how much more present he seemed to be to her—taking time to teach her to ride, how to tie various knots in a rope, mucking stalls, showing her how to identify wildflowers from poisonous plants. Guilt more than anything else pushed the next words from her mouth. “Well, school will be starting in a few weeks. I’m not certain it’s best for her to be spending so much time in Dalton’s company.”
    Her