Too Close For Comfort (Sweetrock Cowboy Romance Book 2) by Leighann Dobbs

from the bar home.”
    Nick snorted. “I’ll bet.”
    Sam shot Nick a warning glare and he looked confused. So did Tessa. What was Sam up to?
    “He just dropped her off because she was too drunk to drive. Cash is a gentleman.” Sam gave Nacho’s nose one last pat and then headed toward the door, giving Tessa a pointed look as she passed her. “A gentleman that you can trust.”
    “Well, of course he is,” Nick said, following behind Sam and still looking confused. “See you later, Tessa.”
    “Later.”
    “Give me a call this afternoon,” Sam yelled over her shoulder as she bounced out of the barn.
    Tessa watched them leave, her earlier feelings of doubt taking root and spreading, trying to obliterate her happiness. She pushed the doubt away. Despite Nick’s insinuations, Sam had a point. Cash hadn’t taken the brunette home. In fact, she hadn’t seen Cash with anyone in a long time. Maybe seeing Nick and Sam so happy had given Cash the same thoughts about settling down.
    But was he ready to settle down with her or was she one last fling?
    And what were all these thoughts of settling down? Up until a few weeks ago, Tessa had been leery of any relationship. But that had been because she hadn’t been able to trust or feel since Derek.
    But last night with Cash, she’d felt . She’d felt plenty.
    The question was...could she trust enough not to screw things up.

    * * *
    C ash’s heart expanded in his chest as he thought of his morning with Tessa. Too bad she’d had to go to work. He wouldn’t have minded doing some more exploring of her body. Find out more about what she liked and how to satisfy her. Cash could spend a lifetime doing that and never get bored.
    Thinking about the night before in the barn and later in her bed had made it hard to focus on cleaning up the breakfast dishes. It had been even better than he’d fantasized about. His heart took a fragile little leap—Tessa might have ruined him for other women. But hopefully, he wouldn’t have to worry about any other women.
    Did he dare hope that Tessa could be his forever?
    Thoughts of his grandfather surfaced, but Cash pushed them away. Tessa was different than his grandmother. Grandpa had said that Grandma had always been restless. Sweetrock was too small-town for her. She’d wanted to travel the country, but a young marriage and child had tied her down.
    Tessa wasn’t like that. Tessa was a homebody and she loved Sweetrock. She’d already had a chance to move on to city life in college and had come back to her roots. Cash knew she loved it here and didn’t want to live anywhere else. Unlike Grandma, Tessa would not be running off with a rodeo rider to tour the country.
    Cash almost laughed out loud at the thought of it. It was absurd. Had that been what had held him back from showing Tessa his real feelings all this time?
    Had all his previous reservations about taking the relationship to the next level really just been his own insecurities? Had he been using Grandpa’s broken heart as an excuse not to put it on the line with the one woman he really wanted because he was afraid of getting hurt?
    He should’ve done this a long time ago. He’d felt a deep connection with Tessa and he knew it was more than just friendship and good sex. She wanted this as much as he did.
    But for how long?
    That little voice in the back of his head nagged at him, but he pushed it away. No sense in trying to sabotage things with self-doubt. He wasn’t going to do that anymore.
    In fact, he was going to do his best to make sure Tessa never had a reason to look any further. They only had two more nights together at the Riley ranch and after that, they’d both be able to move back into their own places. What would happen then? Would they continue seeing each other or would the fact that they were no longer forced together cause them to drift apart?
    One day at a time.
    No sense in worrying about that. He wanted to focus on what was happening now and right now