Free The Outlaw Stakes His Claim by Jenika Snow Page B

forward thing she had ever done,
and although she had been an introvert her entire life and let others dictate
what was right and wrong with her, she couldn’t lie and say it didn’t feel damn
good saying those words to Dallas. She did want him, was even scared of how she
felt, but she had promised herself when she decided to move to Steel Corner
that she would have a fresh start and a new life. For a few moments he didn’t
say anything, but even after only spending a small amount of time with him Hope
knew that Dallas kept more to himself then he let out.
    “You know nothing about me, Hope.” He spoke softly,
but there was no bitterness in his words. If anything she sensed there was
actually a small amount of acceptance.
    “And you know nothing about me, Dallas.” Her hands
had since stopped shaking, and she placed them back on the table and slowly
moved them toward Dallas again. His irises were no longer swallowed up by the
darkness of his pupils, and the light that slashed through the front window had
the green color looking like cut emeralds. “But isn’t that how people get to
know each other? Don’t they have to spend time with one another in order to see
if something more could happen?” This was certainly one of the most unusual
conversations she had ever had, but not because she was expressing how she
felt. “I’d like to be your friend, Dallas, and I’d like to know who you really
are.” She smiled, hoping that he saw that she was being truthful. “I think you
and I have a lot in common in reference to our feelings and the pain that we
hold inside.” This lunch hadn’t meant to be anything more than repaying his
kindness, but no matter how many times she had told herself that, she always
came back to the reasoning that she wanted to just see him. Hope wanted to
explore what this attraction was between them and why it seemed to take over
her entire body and mind.
    He looked down, and to see this big, strong man
silent in front of her, clearly thinking about what she had just said was very
powerful in its own right. Did she think that a relationship would bloom
instantly? No, because a physical attraction wasn’t what made a solid
foundation. But this just wasn’t about getting wet and aroused whenever she was
around him. He looked back up at her, and to her surprise he reached out and
took her hands in both of his. He stared at their entwined hands for several
seconds, and Hope found herself staring back into his face, and trying to gauge
what he was thinking. The cut and bruising on his face made him seem even more
deadly, but underneath that hard exterior that he wore like a suit of armor she
saw this brokenness that reached out and wrapped itself tightly around her
heart. Maybe it was because both of them had a part inside that was ruined, and
that was why they had connected the way they did?
    “What I feel around you,” he smoothed his thumb back
and forth over the back of her hand, “I’ve never felt anything like it before.”
He continued to stare down, and she wondered if he was avoiding looking at her
face. “That scares the shit out of me, Hope.” He slowly lifted his head and
finally looked into her face.
    The air was sucked from her lungs at the
vulnerability she saw reflected back at her. Yes, this man had been hurt in the
past. She didn’t know what had caused him to be like this, didn’t know if that
was something he would ever share, but she did know that she wanted to help him
heal. Hope hadn’t been able to allow anyone in her life when she had been at
her lowest point, at least not anyone that had genuinely cared about her.
    “It scares me, too.” She curled her fingers around
his and held him just as tightly as he held her. Was this what she envisioned
when she saw herself in Steel Corner? Not even remotely close. Sometimes the
best things in life didn’t make a whole lot of sense, happened so fast a person’s head spun, and made all logic and reason nonexistent.