He chuckled all the way inside the same building Flynn had gone into.
Two hours later, everyone was still in the dining hall, sitting around and shooting the shit. I asked Buck if we should head out so their crew could clean up, but he said it wasn’t necessary.
A few minutes later, Holt walked in carrying a guitar. He wasn’t alone, either. Ben Rice was with him. I hadn’t noticed the two stools and mics set up near the back of the room until they walked over and set their guitar cases on the floor.
Buck introduced them to the crowd while people from the kitchen came out and moved tables and chairs away so there’d be room to dance. Flynn, though, was nowhere to be seen.
Three or four songs in, people began dancing even though there were very few women in attendance. I kept a nervous eye out for Flynn, hoping that if she did come out of the kitchen, I could get to her before Saint did.
“You okay?” asked Decker, coming to stand beside me.
“Why is Saint here?”
“Good question. A better question would be why neither of us was informed he would be.”
“Did Doc know he was coming?”
“Negative.”
“He came with Lynx and Dr. Charles.”
“Dr. Edgemon now.”
“Whatever.”
“Dr. Benjamin’s involvement in this is still a mystery. Perhaps one Saint can solve.”
I scoffed. “I’d like this mission to end before I’m ninety. If we’re looking for help from Saint, I might not live to see it.”
Several things happened simultaneously. The door to the dining hall opened, and Flynn walked inside. As if he were a bird of prey sweeping in to devour his dinner, Saint was by her side in mere seconds. I watched in near agony as he led her out to the dance floor.
“I’d cut in quick if I were you.”
“I don’t think Flynn would appreciate my doing so.”
Decker shrugged and walked away.
I had every intention of doing as he’d suggested, just not right away. Waiting, though, made it more difficult. When one song ended and another began, someone else cut in before I had a chance.
Most didn’t bother me. It was only Saint’s gaze, that never seemed to leave her, that made me angrier by the minute. Flynn was an innocent young woman who he would devastate if he came at her in the way he was known to do. At the very minimum, I had to warn her.
I stalked over and tapped her current dance partner, Razor, on the shoulder. When he took a gentlemanly step back, I pulled Flynn into my arms. Her cheeks were flushed, and she was smiling.
“You’re having a good time,” I said, shuffling my feet from side to side and wishing I was a better dancer.
“To be honest, my feet are starting to hurt,” she said, laughing. “I haven’t had a chance to break these boots in.”
I looked down at the cowboy boots I remembered her wearing the night we went to the Flying R. The first night I held her in my arms.
“You look very pretty, Flynn.”
She looked away. “Thank you.”
“I…um…wanted to warn you about one of the guys here tonight. He’s got a reputation as—”
“Oh my God.” Flynn wriggled from my arms and stalked away, but I stayed on her heels.
“Wait. Please.” Given I was taller, had a longer stride, and wasn’t wearing boots that hurt my feet, it was easy for me to get in front of her before she stormed out the door.
“Paxon, you better just get out of my way.”
“Only if you’ll let me finish.”
36
Flynn
“Why? Why should I let you finish? Don’t you realize…never mind. You couldn’t possibly understand.”
“Understand what?”
I stomped away, but Irish followed. I was almost to the front door of the main house when he grabbed my arm.
“Understand what?” he repeated.
I knew I’d soon be in tears, but what I was about to say needed to be said. “I thought maybe—just maybe—this would be the year I’d finally have a man interested in me. You said I was pretty. You danced with me, held me in your arms.” My eyes filled with tears, and my voice was too clogged with emotion to go on.
He turned my body so my back was up against the porch rail. “I am interested in you, Flynn. I told you that.”
I rolled my eyes and wiped my tears with my sleeve. “Right. So interested in me that when I kissed you, you couldn’t move away fast enough.”
He cupped my cheek with his hand. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I explained that too.”
“I just—” I started crying again, unable to go on.
“Just what?” He stroked my skin with his thumb and rested his forehead against mine.
“I just wanted to know how it felt to be kissed by a man. You wouldn’t do it, and now you’re warning me about other guys—”
When Paxon’s lips touched mine, my mind went blank. He held the side of my face and pressed his tongue against my mouth, and I opened to him.
His kiss was soft at first, then harder when he angled his head. His other arm went around my waist, and he pulled my body into his.
Paxon stared into my eyes. “I’ve wanted to do that since I met you. I should have. I’m sorry I waited.”
Before I could respond, he kissed me again, and it was heavenly. His lips were soft, but the tip of his tongue was hard as it went deeper into my mouth. I pressed my body against his, and the vibration of his moan traveled from his chest into mine. When I tried to back away, he held me tighter.
I got lost in the feel of his mouth on mine, so when he stopped abruptly, it threw me.
“What?” I asked, noticing he was looking over my shoulder. I turned my head and saw someone watching us. “Is that who you were warning me about?”
“Yes,” he said, shifting us over.
“I’d invite you inside, but my brothers…”
Paxon studied me.
“What?”
“I don’t want to
