Free Bad News Cowboy by Maisey Yates

the time. If Connor or Eli had been here, they would’ve done the same thing.”
    â€œYou aren’t Connor and Eli,” she bit out.
    â€œNo,” he said. “But I’m something. And I’m not going to apologize for being mad about a guy talking to you that way.”
    â€œMaybe I wanted him to talk to me that way.” She hadn’t.
    â€œThen raise your standards.”
    â€œAs high as yours?” she asked.
    â€œAt least I know what I’m doing. You’re like a...lamb being led to the slaughter.”
    She laughed, an outright guffaw, in spite of the fact that she found very little about this funny. She was attracted to Jack, she had just caused a major scene in Ace’s, and now this. “Does anything about me look adorable and woolly? I didn’t think so. I’m like a...a bobcat. I’m not a lamb.”
    â€œI thought you were a badger.”
    â€œThat is beside the point. Maybe I’m a badger-cat. Anyway, the point is I don’t need you to take care of me.”
    â€œMaybe not. But I’m not going to stand there while he says things like that to you.”
    â€œWhy not? Why do you care?”
    Her words hung in the silence, resting on the mist. And she wished they would just go away, because they felt exposing. And he was looking at her, making her heart beat faster, making her stomach seize up. Now that she knew, it didn’t seem so irritating. It seemed like something else entirely.
    Her shower the other day, the way her skin had felt so sensitive, the way Jack had flashed through her mind, rose up to the top of her thoughts. She nearly choked on her embarrassment then and there.
    But she didn’t say anything. She didn’t back down.
    â€œBecause I could tell he was asking for things you weren’t ready for,” he said, his voice muted now.
    â€œYou don’t know what I’m ready for.” She forced the words out, her throat scratchy and dry.
    He took a deep breath, lifting his head, his expression concealed by shadow. “I guess not. But I’m going to go ahead and assume based on knowing you and the way you were flirting that you don’t have a whole lot of experience.”
    Heat flooded her face. “I don’t really want to talk about this with you.”
    â€œWhy not? As we have established,” he said, his voice lowering slightly, “I am not your brother.”
    A shiver ran down her spine and settled in her stomach, leaving it feeling jittery and uncomfortable. “Right. That’s been well established.”
    He looked pained. “I mean, look, you could maybe...talk to Sadie about this? Or Liss?”
    â€œI’m not looking for advice,” she said. “Anyway, Liss feels like crap, Sadie’s busy, and they would both rat me out to my brothers, who would... It doesn’t bear thinking about.”
    â€œRight.”
    â€œAnd I’m good at flirting, Jack.”
    â€œYou’re not.”
    â€œYes, I am. I could have closed the deal with him. All I had to do was shove my boobs in his face and he was good to go. It’s not like it’s hard. I mean, I didn’t really expect for him to say...all that. But it’s not like I repelled him.”
    â€œThat’s not how you flirt. That is how you get...not a date. You get something else. And really, what you did had less to do with it than...just the guy you were talking to. You have to understand some guys are just after one thing. You have no idea what you’re doing.”
    The air felt thick between them, and she couldn’t blame it on the fog. It was just like earlier, when he dropped her at the bar. When she reached out and grabbed his chin, his stubble rough beneath her skin, so undeniably masculine, so undeniably
something
she’d never felt before.
    Damn him, he was right about her experience. Or lack of it.
    She’d never even been kissed. Which put Chad’s offer firmly in