Blame it on Texas by Amie Louellen

Like that would look less intimate.
    Shelby shook her head and started for the living room.
    Play it cool, she told herself.
    She stepped into the entryway and gave a rainbow wave. “Hi, Kyle.” So much for playing it cool.
    “Shelby.” Kyle’s boyish face split into a grin as big as the West Texas sky. “Come over here and see me.”
    She tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear and resisted the urge to chew on her lip as she crossed the living room.
    “How have you been?” She leaned down and gave him a peck on the cheek.
    He nodded. “Good,” he said, but his voice sounded a bit distracted. Then his eyes widened as he put two and two together and came up with what had been going on before he had interrupted.
    Of course it didn’t help that Ritt’s hair was standing on end, his Levis unbuttoned at the waist and his T-shirt was on wrong side out.
    “Ritt didn’t tell me that you were here.”
    “Oh.” She looked over to her husband, not sure what she expected to see. He raised his beer bottle in salute and shot her a grimacing smile.
    “I came back for—”
    Behind Kyle, his brother started shaking his head.
    “I came back for—”
    “The wedding. She came back for the wedding,” Ritt interjected.
    “Oh.” Kyle nodded.
    “I came back for the wedding,” Shelby said with a quick nod.
    “Yeah…” Kyle said slowly.
    “Ritt, can I talk to you please?”
    “Right.” Ritt pushed himself to his feet and hurried to her side. It was obvious that he was no more comfortable facing off with his brother than she was. “Be right back, Kyle.”
    They walked into the kitchen, the elephant in the living room following close behind.
    She turned to face her husband and took another step back when she realized how close he was to her. Close enough that if she leaned in a little she could trace the line of his throat with her finger. Or her tongue. She closed her eyes and took another step back.
    “Ritt,” she said, opening her eyes and staring him full in the face. Now was not the time to be timid where her husband was concerned.
    “Why didn’t you tell him why I’m really here?”
    “Does it matter?”
    It did, but she couldn’t tell him why. Every time he told someone his version of the truth it made her wonder if perhaps he didn’t want the divorce. Was that why he wouldn’t sign the papers?
    She let out a pent-up breath then waved a hand as if to clear the words between them. “Do whatever you want.” She started to push past him, but he hooked her arm and pulled her against him.
    How perfectly she fit to him from every angle. Her back was pressed against his front, his warm breath stirring her hair and sending goose pimples cascading down her arms.
    “Do whatever I want? Is that an invitation?”
    She shook her head while she searched for her voice. “You and I both know what happened tonight was a mistake.”
    “Uh-huh…” He lifted her hair off the nape of her neck and pressed a whisper of a kiss against the sensitive skin there.
    She couldn’t stop her shudder, or her sigh. Instead she closed her eyes and prayed for strength. “A mistake,” she said stepping away from him. “One that cannot be repeated.”
     
    Shelby pushed herself out of his arms and out of the kitchen. This time Ritt let her go. He’d proved his point. One kiss and he could make her squirm. Make her wet and ready. But it had the same effect on him.
    He grabbed a fresh beer, adjusted the crotch of his Levis and eased his way back into the living room.
    Only his brother remained.
    “Where’s Shelby?”
    Kyle shrugged. “She said she was going into the other room to watch television.”
    Ritt flopped back onto the sofa and eyed his baby brother. “You didn’t have to come home, you know.”
    “I had laundry to do anyway,” Kyle said with a shrug. “At least now I know why Mom called. How long has she been here?”
    “Six days.”
    “Six days?”
    Ritt nodded.
    “Six days? She’s gone for six years and