Still Go Crazy

2. Boone

Chapter Two

Boone

Grace Lakes stood before me, her mesmerizing silver eyes flashing and her chin lifting with a stubborn tilt. My entire body felt like an antenna tuned to one frequency—Grace.

I wanted a reckoning with her, but I hadn’t counted on it being like this.

“You rented the other half of the duplex?” she asked, each word enunciated clearly in that soft, crisp tone of hers.

Most people who had a Southern accent had words with round edges, where everything kind of sloughed off slowly, moving like honey. With Grace, she had the twang, but her enunciation was so precise and clear. It was strangely endearing to me—just like the first time I fell for her—and now, knowing just how easily I’d fallen under the spell of this woman once before.

As I stared at her, I realized I hadn’t actually heard her voice since I’d moved back to Stolen Hearts Valley last year. I’d seen her plenty of times—every single time was a yank on the string attached to my heart.

I nodded slowly, waiting for her to flee. After all, that’s what she always did when we were anywhere in the same vicinity for the last year.

During the moments I took her in, Grace tucked her arms around her waist again, her shoulders curling inward. She bit the corner of her lip. I wanted to lift my thumb, to smooth the furrow on her brow and cup her cheek.

I didn’t realize I had actually done what I was thinking until I was standing right in front of her, my thumb resting over the rapid flutter of her pulse along the side of her neck.

Her breath drew in sharply. I stared into her smoky, gorgeous eyes. I didn’t realize I’d been holding my breath until she spoke.

“Boone.”

The sound of my name coming from her lips was a fiery jolt to my heart

“Yeah, sugar?”

The endearment slipped out. I could feel the tension vibrating from Grace, a subtle tremor running through her.

We stood like that, frozen in place with our eyes locked together. Grace’s eyes were like one of those afternoons when the sky couldn’t decide if it planned to riot with a storm or let the clouds blow by.

Her smoky gaze flashed in shades of silver. All the while, I held my breath.

Just as I had reached up to cup her cheek without thinking, so did I dip my head and brush my lips across hers. Sensation shot through me, so electric was the feel of her lips under mine.

Grace gasped, literally jumping away from me. “I can’t!”

Angling my head to the side, I eyed her carefully. “I don’t see why not, Grace. I’ve missed you. So damn much.”

She stared at me, her lips parted slightly and her shoulders rising and falling with her rapid breaths.

“How can you say that?” she countered as a look of pure devastation passed over her face. It took all I had not to walk over and pull her into my arms and explain the whole f*****g mess. I wanted to make her listen, to make her understand.

Yet, I knew Grace. I knew her so well. She hated to be pushed and only strengthened her defenses when anybody put pressure on her.

Closing my eyes, I took a breath and nodded as I opened them. “Just let me explain what happened.”

“Please just go.” Her words were raw and frayed around the edges. Her eyes were bright, and I knew I saw the glitter of unshed tears. “Just go,” she repeated, this time her voice more forceful.

Wayne took that moment to meow loudly. Mentally wrestling, I debated whether to stay. Just then, my cell phone rang with the distinct warning tone for Stolen Hearts Valley Emergency Response Team. I was on call, and that meant I needed to get going. “I’ll go, but I want to try to talk soon. Please.”

Grace lifted her chin, the muscles in her jaw tightening. “I don’t know what the hell there is to talk about.”

I closed the distance between us, cupping her chin lightly. “You know damn well there is. If there wasn’t, you wouldn’t have managed to avoid getting anywhere near me for most of the year since I came back. I know I f****d up and didn’t handle things well, but you never even gave me a chance to explain. I won’t take a chance now, but it’s coming.”

At that, I bent low once more and brushed my lips across hers again, almost craving the hot jolt it gave my system. I recognized the answering flare of desire in Grace’s eyes when I lifted my head. Without a word, I walked past her and jogged down the stairs as my phone blared again.