“You couldn’t throw on a bra and put your inhaler in your coat, could you?” he muttered.

He winced when she shifted against him. She had to feel how fucking hard he was for her with his cock wedged up against her ass like that. Every rock of the saddle was a new level of hell for him.

“No one told you to put your damn hand up my shirt,” she reminded him. She sounded better, brighter, perkier.

“I don’t hear you asking me to remove it,” he shot back.

“I didn’t ask you to remove your hard-on from my ass either. I’m too polite.”

“Jesus, Remi.”

But when he made a move to drag his hand away, she held it in place. “Don’t,” she whispered.

“Why not?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“It makes me feel safe. Okay?”

They were literally the only words that could have kept his hand where it lay, and she goddamn knew it.

She gave his hand a little squeeze through her shirt before dropping it.

On an icy breath, he tested them both. Brick slipped his palm a little higher until his thumb and index finger cupped the underside of her breast.

When he began to rub tiny, gentle strokes into that soft, warm flesh, she melted against him and let out a little sigh.

“This doesn’t change anything,” she said suddenly.

“No. It doesn’t,” he agreed. But it did mean he was going to savor these minutes, these touches. Because this was as far as it would ever go.

24

The nerve of the man she hadn’t called to come bail her out of a mess. Remi tried to ignore him. And his big, warm hand. And the feel of his hard thighs beneath her. No easy feat as the sway of the horse reminded her with every step.

She was hot and cold. Overwhelmed. Confused. Irritated. Irrationally turned on. And recovering from an attack. It was a festering stew of a mess.

He steered his hulking horse onto Lake View Drive, and Remi refused to dwell on how romantic this would be if they were anyone else but the two of them.

She’d given him his chance. Millions of them. And he’d turned his back on every single one of them. Just because it felt damn good to have that big, rough palm under her shirt was not a reason to thaw. He’d made his choice, and getting himself worked up worrying about her wasn’t going to sway her.

Ugh. It still felt really good. Really, really good.

She shifted against him, unable to help it. And when she did, the hard-on pressed against her ass responded with a jerk.

The school appeared on their left. A small, cozy brick building where she’d spent her formative years. Learning that people were different. That not everyone thought the letter L was orange.

All these years later, she didn’t feel that much different from the energetic little girl who dreamed of bigger things.