Something changed in that cabin. I feel it in the air around us as Nixon and I ride back to the ranch. I feel it when he glances over at me and shakes his head, grinning. I feel it when I grin, too, remembering.

A storm did, indeed, rage outside last night, but it wasn’t a big one, thankfully. Not nearly as big as the one that was raging inside me. I was oblivious to one, but not so much to the other. But just like the physical atmosphere is sunny and bright and clear this morning, I’m feeling pretty shiny and calm, too.

We’re about half an hour from the ranch, and I know because I’ve asked at least every twenty minutes how much longer we have, when I blurt out, “Never have I ever run around without pants in front of a somewhat stranger.”

“What?”

I repeat myself, only more slowly. “Never have I ever run around without pants in front of a somewhat stranger.”

He laughs, a low, deep, throaty sound that vibrates its way right into my heart. “Never have I ever asked a woman to put clothes on before.”

“Never have I ever eaten an MRE until today.”

“Never have I ever wanted to eat food for breakfast less than I wanted to eat it today.”

“Never have I ever wanted to be breakfast before.”

I get a thrill when I hear him suck in a breath.

“Never have I ever ridden a horse with one of these before.” Nix points to his very visible erection. Pleasure and heat swirl through my veins.

“Never have I ever wanted to ride one of those more than I want to right now.” His ebony eyes burn into mine, and I hold them. I hold them tight and refuse to let go no matter how many rules I’m breaking by doing so. I know I’m playing with fire, but for some reason, today it doesn’t scare me like it has before.

Yes, something changed up in that cabin.

“You’re poking a very dangerous bear. You realize that, right?”

I nod at his crotch. “A very big bear, too, by the looks of it.”

A stunned expression falls down over his features. I’m about to laugh when he startles me by nudging his horse sharply toward mine. I squeal as he reaches for me, and I quickly set my own horse into a gallop before he can snatch me off it.

“You’d better run,” I hear from behind me. When I look back, Nixon is quickly closing the distance between us, his face wreathed in a smile that lights my soul on fire.

Something definitely changed up in that cabin. The question is…where do we go from here?

I’m breathless by the time we reach the ranch. It sounds like I’ve been running for miles, but it’s just my heart. It’s been beating a crazy rhythm all the way home.

I’m trotting my horse around to the front of the cottage, heading for the stables when my eyes fall on a man sitting by the door, in the shade, on the small stoop. My thundering heart skips a beat, stops, and then starts back up to pump a chaotic blend of anger, bitterness, dread, and betrayal through my veins.

I don’t even realize I’ve slowed my horse to barely a walk until Nixon blasts up behind me, teasing me about the bet we made a few miles back. Loser cooks dinner he’d said. “I hope you’ve got a recipe in mind, because you’re about to get smoked.”

I don’t respond. In fact, I don’t even look around. My gaze is riveted to the man rising to his feet and dusting off his jeans.

As I draw closer, he smiles, the very same smile that won my heart a lifetime ago. Won it and then stomped all over it after he ripped it out of my chest.

“Hey, Hay,” Jason purrs softly. That was always his cute way of greeting me—on the phone, when he picked me up, when he woke me up. That simple phrase brings back a barrage of imagery, replete with all the corresponding emotions. It’s like a kiss from a million years ago.

A kiss before dying.

“Jason?” It sounds like a question, although it’s not. I’d recognize him anywhere—the sandy hair a little too long and shaggy, the twinkling eyes the color of whiskey on the rocks, the crooked smile filled with perfectly straight teeth. He has a few lines around his eyes, but my ex-lover looks almost exactly like he did the last time I saw him.

Which is why my stomach twists into a sick knot.

“I heard you were back.” His smile is dying, and he’s fiddling with the cowboy hat he’s holding in his hands. He has every right to be nervous. After what happened, he’s lucky I don’t go in search of a gun to shoot him with.

“What are you doing here?” I’m stunned more than anything. I knew he was ballsy. He always was. There wasn’t anything he was afraid of. Not even my father. I admired that until I realized what someone with no fear is capable of, the kind of pain he can inflict and think nothing of.

“I wanted to see you.”

“Why?” I’m stopped now, a few feet away, staring at him. From the corner of my eye, I see a man and horse come up to my left and stop. For reasons I don’t want to examine too closely, it brings me a tremendous amount of comfort knowing Nixon is close. I might have even reached out for his hand if my fingers weren’t wound around my horse’s reins in a death grip.

He laughs. “Because I haven’t seen you in a coon’s age.”

“And why do you think that is, Jason?”

He sighs and tilts his head, looking up at me from under his lashes. It’s a James Dean kind of look that used to be able to convince me to do anything. Well, except one thing. There was one thing he couldn’t talk me into.

“Ah, come on, Hay. Don’t be like that.”

Like throwing a match onto a pond full of gasoline, my blood ignites. All that’s lacking is an audible whoosh. “Don’t tell me how to be. Or how to feel. Or how to anything.”

“You okay, Haley?” Nixon’s smooth voice has an edge to it. It holds a warning. And that warning isn’t for me. When I glance over my shoulder, I see him staring a bullet hole through Jason.

I’m not, but I lie. “I’m fine.”

“You sure, because if this guy is bothering you…”

Jason takes a step forward and addresses Nixon. “Look, friend, I don’t think this is any of your business. Haley and I have known each other for years. Maybe you should just give us a few minutes.”

“For one thing, you’re not my friend. And by the sounds of it, you’re not Haley’s either, so I’m not going anywhere unless she tells me to go.” He sidles up a little closer to me to make his point.

It’s Jason who breaks eye contact first, glancing at me with a plea. “Haley, please?”

I don’t reply right away. I’m torn between just walking away and giving him a large and profane piece of my mind. But in the end, I don’t. I’ve done a lot of growing and maturing since he last saw me. This is something I need to handle the right way. My way.

I send a smile over to Nixon. “It’s fine. Really. Would you mind taking my horse?”

His eyes search mine for a long time before he nods his agreement, albeit grudgingly, and reaches for my reins. I hand them over and dismount. I wait for him to be out of earshot before I walk over to Jason.

“What do you want?”

He tries his smile again. “God, it’s good to see you. I’d forgotten what a damn firecracker you were. My little redhead spitfire.” He comes closer, pulling me in for a light hug and a kiss to my cheek.

When he pulls away, I take a step back. “I’m not your anything anymore.”

“Jesus, Hay, retract the claws. Can’t we at least be civil?”

“Trust me, this is me being civil. You should consider yourself lucky that I don’t use these claws to scratch your eyes out.”

“What the hell?” He throws up his arms in disbelief.

“You didn’t seriously expect to show up here and get smiles and sweet hugs, did you? After everything that happened?”

“Haley, we broke up. People do that all the time.”

My mouth drops open. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“What? What’s the big deal? I made some mistakes. I’m sure you’ve made some over the last ten years, too.”

“You made a mistake? That’s what you’re calling it?”

“That’s what it was. Letting you go was the biggest mistake of my life.”

“You didn’t let me go. I left. I left because I couldn’t stand the sight of you. There’s a difference, Jason. A big one.”

“How many times do I have to say I’m sorry, Hay?”

“Not one more. Your apologies aren’t necessary. They’re not even wanted, actually. I just want you to say your piece and leave.”

He has the audacity to look surprised, genuinely astonished. “I can’t believe you’re acting this way. You’re twenty-nine years old. I thought maybe you’d have grown up since we were kids.”

“We weren’t kids, Jason. We were young adults who made choices that had consequences; in fact, some of us made choices for both of us, but only one of us had to live with those consequences. Or did you forget, oh I don’t know, everything you did to me?”

At least he hangs his head, the first sign of remorse I’ve seen in him since the day I drove off this ranch a decade ago. “No, I didn’t forget. I guess I just hoped that maybe after all this time, you were over it.”

I take a furious step forward, past the pain, past the betrayal, past the bitterness, and I jam my finger into the center of Jason’s chest. “I’ll never be over it. You may as well be dead, because you’re sure as hell dead to me.”

With that, I push past him and stalk to the front door of the cottage, flinging it open. Before I can get inside, I hear Jason’s parting question. “Don’t you even want to know what I have to say?”

I turn to look at him. As much as he disgusts me, I have to admit there seems to be some sincere regret on his face. After what he did, though, regret is just not enough. “Not even a little bit.”

I walk inside and slam the door shut behind me.