United State of Love (29 page)

Authors: Sue Fortin

‘He may have been with me in body this evening, but his mind, heart and soul have been with you, honey.’ Looking over her shoulder, Carrie smiled and waved at Tex, before linking arms with Mikey and leaving.

In just a few strides Tex was across the bar, standing in front of Anna.

It was now or never. Inhaling deeply, Anna spoke, sounding almost businesslike. ‘Can we talk?’

Tex nodded. Resting his hand lightly on her arm, he guided her out of the bar. ‘You need a revolving door.’ Just the touch of his hand seemed to burn right through her skin.

Despite the heat, she was aware that she was shaking slightly from nerves as she turned to face him. Oh how she wanted him to take her into his arms, tell her he loved her and that everything would be all right. Wasn't that supposed to happen now?

Tex was just standing there, obviously waiting for her to speak. His aftershave, that familiar citrus smell wafted in the air around them. She looked at his beautiful brown eyes, his thick lashes, his sexy mouth that she had kissed so many times, his face that she had caressed and felt against her own. She loved him so much. Whatever happened now, she wanted to remember him as he looked tonight. Beautiful. Handsome. Sexy.

‘That woman, in the bar. Is she…? I mean, are you and her … ?’ The words stuck in her throat.

Tex shook his head gently, his eyes never leaving hers. ‘I was attempting pain relief.’

‘Was it effective?’

‘Not one bit. I think I need open-heart surgery to stop the pain.’

Anna studied his face, working out what he was actually saying. A rush of excitement swept through her. There was still hope.

‘I saw Zoe. She said you had been to see her.’

Tex nodded. He touched her wrist. ‘She gave you your watch back then? Did she give you anything else?’

She cast her eyes down for a second. ‘Mark said he’d send the photos out to everyone if I didn’t go along with him. He was going to cause trouble for your restaurant. I had no idea he had tried to blackmail you too.’ She looked up at him now. She wanted him to believe what she was about to say. ‘I should have told you. I should have trusted you but…’

He put his finger to her lips and shook his head. ‘You don’t have to explain. I know exactly what happened.’

‘The message saying I didn’t want to see you. It wasn’t from me. Luke sent it.’

Tex raised his eyebrows,
that
he hadn’t figured out. He could hear the words catching in her throat but he let her speak.

‘He changed your number in my contact list. I didn’t know. I did try to contact you, I promise.’

He looked down at her hands as she nervously twiddled her fingers. There was no sign of the wedding and engagement ring she usually wore on her right hand. He lifted her hand and gently rubbed his thumb over the bare skin. So, she’d finally ditched the last remnant of her marriage. He let her hand fall away. He knew he wasn’t making it easy for her but he had to be sure this was what she wanted.

She spoke again. ‘Luke's gone back to California with Mark, and I've got a little flat in Chichester now.’

Another protracted pause as he looked intently at her before speaking. ‘So you came all this way just to tell me that?’

‘Yes. No, I mean.’ He could see tears begin to gather in her eyes. ‘Me and Mark are divorcing. I couldn't divorce him before. Mark said if I did he'd ruin your business. It wasn't that I didn't want to divorce him. I did. But I wanted to protect you. I'm so sorry. I should have told you.’ The words were tumbling out now. ‘I just wanted to tell you. To tell you that I'm sorry, I never meant to hurt you. I've missed you so much, so very much.’ The tears were falling.

He held back from taking her in his arms and comforting her. She still hadn’t given him enough.

She looked up at him, swallowed hard. ‘I love you. More than anything.’

Then he was holding her to him, his arms wrapping tightly around her, pulling her close to his body. She’d said what he’d wanted to hear. She sobbed into his chest as he stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head.

‘It's okay,’ he whispered into her hair between kisses, squeezing her, holding her, caressing her. ‘I love you more than you will ever know. I don't ever wanna let you go.’ He pulled away and tipping her chin up with his hand, cupped her face and wiped away the tears with his thumbs. Then he kissed her. Kissed her with a passion. God, that felt so good. So right. It seemed to go on forever.

Finally, Tex pulled away and looked directly into her eyes. ‘Tell me again.’

Anna laughed through her tears. ‘I love you.’

‘You don't know how many times I wanted to hear you say that.’ He kissed her again. Longer. More urgently. More meaningfully. ‘Come back to the ranch.’

‘I'm booked in at the motel up the road.’ She was teasing him now.

‘Well, we’ll just have to unbook you then.’ He released her from his hold. ‘Wait right there. Don’t move.’

He jogged back into Finnigan’s and came back out almost immediately, jangling some keys in his hand. He wrapped her in his arms again, taking time to breathe in the familiar vanilla scent, feel the curves of her body against his. She had come for him, and he knew finally he could give himself to someone. He squeezed her tighter and lifted her off her feet.

‘I love you.’

‘It’s a mutual thing.’ She kissed him.

Tex let out a groan and rested her down on the ground again. He nuzzled her neck. ‘Let’s stop by the motel.’

She pulled back to look at him. ‘Would be a shame to waste it now I’ve paid for it.’

When Tex swept her up into his arms and carried her towards the pick-up truck, she was grinning like the proverbial Cheshire Cat.

‘
Officer and a Gentleman
?’ She laughed. ‘Pah! Richard Gere, eat your heart out!’

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