Temptation: Reckless Desires (Blue Moon Saloon Book 2) by Anna Lowe Read Free Book Online Page B

to her soft touch. To turn and hug her and let her be the one to whisper in his ear. But he couldn’t. Wouldn’t. Shouldn’t.
    “You gonna be okay?” she asked. Softly, like he might break.
    “Sure,” he said through tight lips. And he was. It was A.J. who wasn’t okay.
    “I mean…”
    “Fine,” he barked, scratching madly at his arm.
    Janna’s eyes followed the gesture, and her brow furrowed. “Are you hurt?”
    He shook his head. His arm didn’t really hurt. Scratching the itch had become a habit, that was all.
    “Cole…” She turned him around, locked her eyes on his, and for a second, he was submerged in the deep blue. But then she gasped slightly, and her eyes went wide. “What’s wrong?”
    Other than the fact that he’d ushered an innocent man to his death?
    “Did you get hurt in the fight? I mean, the fight in the saloon that night?”
    It took his mind a second to jump from bull riding to the night she and Jessica were held up by those thugs. The night he’d helped Janna out of a pickle and ended up thrown into a wall.
    “Been thrown worse than that.”
    “I mean, cut.”
    “No,” he said, rubbing his arm, then hiding the motion.
    Too late. Janna pulled his arm toward her and tugged his sleeve up.
    “It’s nothing, Janna.” He pulled back but stopped when she gasped at the pink swelling.
    “No…”
    Kind of overreacting over a tiny scratch, wasn’t she?
    Her gaze snapped back to his eyes, studying him as if for some sign.
    “It’s fine,” he insisted.
    “Did this happen that night?”
    “It’s fine. Been a little slow to heal, that’s all.”
    Even as he said it, it sounded like a lie.
    Not just a scratch,
a raspy inner voice warned.
Never going to heal…
    He yanked the truck door open.
    Need her. Need our mate,
the voice said, more insistently every time, until it wasn’t telling or asking but demanding and flooding him with dark images again. Of grabbing Janna and exposing her neck. Baring his jaws wide and biting right into her flesh…
    Mine! Mate!
    He shook the horrifying image away and closed the door between them, trying to keep her safe. That voice was evil. He had to keep Janna away from it. Which meant keeping her away from him, for her own sake.
    “Gotta go,” he mumbled, pushing the key into the ignition.
    “Wait, Cole!” Her voice was so sharp, so uncompromising, that he obeyed. She pulled the red bandana from her neck and tied it around his. “Here. Take this.”
    “But…” He didn’t promise, but he couldn’t bring himself to snatch it off, either.
    He shook his head, more at himself and the voice inside that was also yelling,
But! But!
There was no but. Another minute listening to that voice and he’d throw Janna into the back of the truck and make off with her. Take her somewhere quiet and do who knows what to her.
    “A little reminder of me.” Her worried smile was forced.
    “Gotta go,” he murmured and fired up the truck.
    He didn’t want to go, but he sure as hell couldn’t stay. So he drove. Somewhere. Anywhere. Staring straight ahead to avoid the image of a forlorn Janna in the side mirror, and his own reflection in the rearview. He took the first left he could to break the contact and only released his white-knuckled grip on the wheel to punch the dashboard. He drove too fast, then too slow, utterly without direction or a sense of time. He ducked his head to scan every part of the daytime sky for a hint of the moon. Although it was nowhere in sight, he could feel it lurking out there, ready to leap out and toy with him again. The very thought made his skin tickle, his nerves crawl.
    On instinct, he tugged Janna’s bandana up to his nose and inhaled. Her scent settled him, a teensy tiny bit. He sniffed it like a drug and drove a little more. A lot more, actually, on a loop of the whole damn county until he found himself pulling into his parking space at Rosalind’s place. He stalked toward the barn, ignoring the dog scrambling away and