“It’s been better,” he confessed. “But at least now I know better than to turn my back on trouble. Especially when trouble has a beak and claws.”
“Never turn your back on an angry rooster,” she agreed, resisting the urge to offer her first aid services to whatever tender parts were wounded. “I don’t care what the experts say. My mom has been telling me for years that if I’ll just turn and walk away, a rooster will leave me alone, but experience has proven otherwise. Your best bet is to pick them up and hold them immobilized until they acknowledge you as alpha. But I can never manage to get a good grip on one of the bastards without getting pecked to death, so…”
“So you’re not a very good alpha?” Noah asked, his deep voice vibrating across her skin and his dark eyes telegraphing a clear invitation to engage flirt mode.
Old Yasmin would say something naughty about preferring submission over domination. She would soften the overt sexiness of the comment with a dimpled grin and a bat of her long lashes and be well on her way to sexy fun times with a gorgeous new boyfriend by dinnertime tonight.
New Yasmin simply blushed and said, “No. I’m not.”
“Guess I’m not either,” Noah said, smiling. “Or maybe I just need more practice.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll be able to find someone to help you out with that, Noah O’Sullivan,” she said, backing away, down the hill from whence she came. “Have a great rest of your day and thanks again for the rescue.”
And then she turned and ran away because temptation is a completely different animal than an angry rooster. One you don’t turn your back on; the other you run like the devil…while secretly hoping the devil will catch up.
CHAPTER FOUR
Noah
Go after her.
Go. Now.
Go now! The third time the voice in his head shouted, Noah launched into motion, breaking into a jog as he tailed Yasmin down the hill.
He didn’t know what was wrong with him. She had gently, but firmly, shut down his attempts to take friendly banter to the next level. She probably had a boyfriend or a husband—though he hadn’t seen a ring—and even if she didn’t, she clearly wasn’t interested.
Then you’ll make her interested, his inner voice insisted with an intensity that surprised him.
Noah was the head of his company, a born groundbreaker, and confident taking the lead in any situation—in the bedroom or out of it—but he wasn’t an alpha-hole. He didn’t get pushy with people or make a habit of imposing his will on others. But he couldn’t deny there was a part of him that was ready to throw this woman over his shoulder and carry her back to the guesthouse, caveman style.
The moment Yasmin’s eyes had met his, something deep in his gut had uttered two words—yes and mine.
And it was still saying them three minutes later as he jogged close enough for her to hear his call of, “Yasmin, Wait up!”
As she turned, the wind caught her silky black hair and tossed it around her face. Her gaze crashed into his, the knowing expression on her flushed features making him think she felt it, too. That they were opposite ends of a magnet, raindrops soaking into moisture-starved earth, two trains locked onto the same track, destined to collide. It was a pull that tugged at primal things at the cellular level, this undeniable certainty that they were meant to be more than friends.
Visions of how her already plush lips would look swollen from his kisses flickered through Noah’s head as he closed the distance between them. Her lips curved, and awareness flickered behind her eyes, making him pretty sure his thoughts were showing on his face.
But that was fine. Unless she flat out told him to walk away and never look back, he intended to kiss this woman. Soon. As soon as fucking possible.
“I need to take you to dinner,” he said before he’d even had a chance to catch his breath. “Are you free tomorrow night?”
“Need?” she repeated, one thin brow arching.
“Yes, need.” He grinned. An ex-girlfriend had once told him he had an irresistible grin, and he meant to use that and every other weapon at his disposal to ensure he had the chance to get to know Yasmin North better. “My cousin Bruce and his wife are wonderful hosts, but their little boy is sick, so we haven’t been able to get out of the house much. I’m starting to go a little stir crazy. I’d really appreciate the chance to share a meal with a local girl, someone who can fill me in on all the town legends I’ve missed.”
Yasmin’s lips pressed together as she tucked her hair behind one ear. “So you’re just visiting?”
He nodded. “For now. But I’m hoping to make the move to Lonesome Point permanently sometime soon, so anything you can do to help me prepare would be appreciated. I don’t want to have to learn all of my lessons the hard way.”
She made a considering sound and glanced over her shoulder. In the distance, the rooster who’d pecked the hell out of his ass and clipped his left testicle was scratching at the grass in back of the thrift shop. The newly awakened alpha side of his personality was possessed by the urge to storm down the hill and challenge the bird to a rematch.
It was no less than the monster deserved for chasing a woman, his woman, across a field and pecking her until she bled.
Logically, Noah knew Yasmin wasn’t his woman. She was her own woman and if she told him “thanks, but no thanks,” he would go back to his cousin’s house and eventually forget that he and this beautiful girl with the right-kind-of-trouble sparkle in her eyes had ever fought a rooster together.
But he really, really didn’t want her to say “thanks, but no thanks.”
“We can keep it low key,” he said, sensing that was the best route to take with her. “Just grab something at the diner or get takeout BBQ and eat it on Bruce’s front porch. I’m easy.”
Yasmin glanced up at him, the trouble in her eyes flaring brighter than before. “For some reason, I doubt that.”
“That I’m easy?” Noah’s brow wrinkled. “Why?”
“Just call it a hunch,” she said, crossing her arms at her chest. “But yes, I will have dinner with you, Noah O’Sullivan, on one condition.”
“Name it.”
“That if you do end up moving to Lonesome Point, you and I forget we ever had dinner. If we run into each other around town or at the social functions of mutual acquaintances, we will always and forever be just friends.”
Noah’s eyes narrowed, studying her face as he asked, “And why would you make a condition like that? Can you already tell you’re not interested in being more than friends with me?”
“It doesn’t matter what I’m interested in. That part of my life is over.”
He shook his head, moving closer until the smell of her—lemons, herbs, and the salty smell of feminine sweat, a smell that made him want to taste her more than ever—rushed through his head. “Over? As in…”
“As in I never intend to seriously date anyone ever again. A night of fun here and there is all I’m up for, nothing more serious than that. So you can either take it or leave it.” She lifted her chin and rolled her shoulders back, clearly ready to defend her decision if he was stupid enough to mock her.