pulling at his cock with her lips and delighting in the raspy sounds it drew from his chest.
“Christ, I’m going to come.” The words barely reached her ears before she felt the first spurt of hot, thick juice inside her mouth. She moaned, her clit exploding in a tormented cry for a release of her own that she couldn’t yet find. The second spurt slid straight down her throat as she angled her head to suck his length down again, drinking from him until his seed coated her throat and his cock started to soften between her lips.
A curse that sounded wrenched from his balls made her smile in victorious satisfaction. His hand fell away from her hair, and she sat back on her heels, tipping her head back to look at him. He stood with his head bowed, eyes closed and chest rising and falling with each quickened breath. The grim set to his lips gave her pause. That was not the look she expected from a recently wellsated man.
Suddenly unsure about everything beyond how badly her body burned to be touched, to be skin to skin with him, she dared to put her hand on his thigh. She sucked in a startled breath when his eyes flew open at the contact. The breath stayed lodged in her throat as he stared down at her through eyes gone dark with what she could only deem to be anger.
“Get up.” The order came as barely more than a whisper but held every ounce of authority she’d come to expect from him.
Angel pushed herself to her feet on legs that quivered. She licked her lips, allowing her eyes to close briefly as the lingering taste of his ejaculation treated her taste buds. He stared at her for so long she wondered if he was waiting for her to say something. She started to, not knowing exactly the words that would come out, but a lightning bolt of pain shot through his expression, silencing her on the spot.
“Damn you,” he whispered.
Angel blinked in shock. Damn her? What had she done?
“I knew you would do it,” he said, his movements jerky as he zipped his cock back in his pants. “I knew if I didn’t stay away from you I would lose it. Dammit, Angel.” He raked an obviously frustrated hand through his hair then grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her toward Jacob. “Fuck her.”
Stunned and completely perplexed, Angel watched through blurry eyes as he stepped around her and walked straight out of the barn.
“What just happened?” Angel turned a tear-filled gaze on Jacob that tore at his soul.
He reached for her, needing to hold her, wanting to do anything he could to erase the sadness from her beautiful face. “Give him some time. He’s struggling with his own demons right now.”
“He’s running from me.” It wasn’t a question. Jacob never doubted for an instant that Angel was smart, yet her ability to read Mitch and himself continued to surprise him.
Jacob nodded. “He is. You scare him.” More than any woman ever came close to scaring Mitch Dalton in all the years he and Jacob had been friends. Jacob couldn’t help but think it would do his friend good to be frightened of something for a change, maybe take him down a notch from the always-in-control, always-supremely-confident mindset he possessed.
“Hell, you scare me, too.” He could admit that without shame or regret. The woman terrified him clean to his toes. The way he’d fallen for her, Stetson over cowboy boots, almost the moment he laid eyes on her worried him more than anything he had ever faced in his life.
“Funny, I thought I should be the one scared of you guys.”
“Are you?” He had to ask, needed to know.
She shook her head. “No.”
“Good. That was never our intention.”
“Is that why he’s running? He’s afraid of frightening me?”
Again, she hit the proverbial nail on the head. “He’s running from himself, too.”
“But you aren’t anymore.” Her gaze danced over his face, and she choked back a half sob before she asked, “Why?”
“It wasn’t doing me any good. I knew the moment I found you on