Wyatt was going to kiss her.

Noelle's heart started to hammer when she saw the expression on Wyatt's face, and her stomach trembled. She hadn't had a first kiss in years, and she hadn't wanted one.

Until now. Until Wyatt. Until he'd touched her cheek with his fingers, and made her feel alive again.

He waited, and she knew he was giving her a chance to stop him.

She didn't.

After a moment, understanding dawned in his eyes, a realization that she wasn't going to make him stop. A small smile of satisfaction curved the corners of his insanely sexy mouth, and his fingers tightened on her jaw. "My breath of sunshine," he whispered, as he bent his head and leaned toward her.

Noelle's heart leapt the moment she felt his lips touch hers. His kiss was a tender, sweet, decadent caress that flooded her with emotions. Need. Longing. Desire. And a sense of being treasured, as if she were the most precious soul he could ever hold in his arms. He was strong and rugged, a powerhouse that didn't need anything from her...and yet he still wanted her. His fingers stroked along her jaw as he kissed her, his lips evoking swirls of pleasure as she surrendered to him.

With a low groan, he slid his free arm around her waist, drawing her against him. Her belly pressed against his belt buckle, the heat from his body pouring into her. His hold on her was solid and strong, a wall of support that made her feel safe, not threatened, despite his strength.

He angled his head, deepening the kiss, asking for more. With a low sigh of pleasure, she couldn't contain, she kissed him back, allowing herself to melt into his embrace.

It felt so amazing to be kissed by him. To be kissing him back. To feel her body against his solid, muscular frame. To have the raw fire of his being igniting her through his kiss, his touch, and his body.

"God, you taste incredible," he whispered against her lips, just before taking her mouth again, in a kiss that was more about raw need than sweet tenderness.

Heat roared through her, and she slid her arms behind his neck, drawing him closer, needing more from him, from his kiss, from the unapologetic vitality coursing through him. His hands settled on her hips, and then slid down, over her butt. Need hummed through her, a need so strong that her entire body vibrated with it. She wanted him. Needed him. Not just a kiss. She needed everything.

"Noelle." The way he said her name was pure seduction, and, not breaking the kiss, he backed her up with his body, until her back hit the wall of the barn. He pressed his body against her, deepening the kiss until she couldn't think, until she was consumed by the essence of him. Were they going to make love in the barn? Right there? Still in muddy, wet clothes?

Her fingers went to his belt, and she knew the answer was yes. Yes. YES.

The lights suddenly went on, a blinding light that made her flinch. Wyatt swore, lifting his head to look behind him...and then he went rigid, his hands tightening on her hips. "Son of a bitch," he muttered.

He whipped around with lightning speed, shoving Noelle behind him, shielding her with his body.

Noelle froze, her heart hammering in sudden fear. Her hands clenched in his shirt, and she leaned to her right to peer around his shoulder.

Standing in the doorway to the barn, wearing jeans, a white cowboy hat, and a leather jacket, was a woman who had a body meant for sinning, and a wardrobe meant for luxury. She was looking right at Wyatt, and from the look of pure venom on her face, Noelle knew exactly who she was. She didn't need to hear Wyatt say it.

But he did anyway. One word that made chills shudder through her. "Octavia."

* * *

The moment Wyatt saw the expression on Octavia's face, he knew he'd made a major mistake. He'd underestimated her a thousand-fold. She was beyond pissed at him. Pissed enough to try to murder him? Shit. She looked like it...which scared the living hell out of him for one reason, and one reason only: the woman standing behind him.

His entire body went into high alert, and his left hand tightened on Noelle's hip, keeping her behind him. His right hand hung loosely beside his body, ready to fight, ready to defend, ready to protect her. Before this moment, before Noelle, he'd wanted to know one thing: who the hell had tripped his ride, and why. He would have grilled Octavia relentlessly until he had answers.

But with Noelle behind him, he could think of only one thing: defusing the situation and getting Octavia the hell away from Noelle. "What's up, Tav?" He kept his voice as neutral as possible, trying to keep the hostility out of his voice, wanting to give her nothing to play off of.

"You told Jesse Knight I tried to kill you?" Octavia's gaze kept flicking behind him, clearly trying to get a good look at Noelle. "You get me fired from my job, wreck my career, and now try to get a murder rap pinned on me?" Her voice was hard. Ice cold. Ruthless.

Wyatt swore under his breath. "Jesse asked me who hated me. I said you did. Was I wrong?" He couldn't believe he'd fallen for Tav. His entire body recoiled at the sight of her now. Even her body, which pretty much every male who'd ever met her coveted, made his gut turn over. Noelle was so much more beautiful, with her deeply emotional eyes, the beauty of her heart, the way her body filled out her jeans, and her complete honesty about who she was.

Noelle. She was the one he wanted. And she was in danger because of him.

Fuck.

Emotion flashed in Octavia's eyes. "No. You weren't wrong. I do hate you. I trusted you, and you turned me in."

He blinked. "You trusted me? You tried to get me to give up the championship so your boyfriend could win, and you could take home cash." Just saying the words made that same, deep sense of betrayal settle in his gut. It was more than that she'd been sleeping around on him. It was that he thought she believed he was a good guy, and in truth, she'd seen him as nothing more than the son of a famous cheater, just like every other bastard who'd refused to believe in him.

Noelle put her hand on his lower back, jerking his attention from the moment and back to her. Heat poured through him, a crazy, intense kind of warmth that enveloped him, somehow penetrating the icy coldness that gripped him so tightly. Suddenly, Tav's betrayal didn't hold so much strength, because he knew Noelle believed in him.

This woman he barely knew somehow was willing to see the truth in him that no one else could see. From one simple touch, Noelle had pulled him back from the edge, from the places he'd gone his whole life when someone had seen him as the cheater he'd never been, the cheater whose blood ran in his veins.

The tension inside him settled, and he looked at Octavia, suddenly feeling pity for her, instead of contempt and anger. "You chose your own path, Tav. I had nothing to do with it."

Anger flickered in her eyes. "You walked away from me, instead of helping. We could have been so much."

"No. There was nothing we could have been together." Wyatt didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to go there. Not anymore. "Walk away, Tav. Let it go."

"Let it go?" Anger flashed in her eyes. "You're the one who sent Jesse Knight to my office, asking questions that don't look so good to my bosses. They put me on leave, Wyatt. Suspended, pending investigation. For murder. What the hell? You really think I'm capable of murder?"

There was something in her voice, a desperation, a pain that broke through his walls. He suddenly saw the same shadows she lived under, being judged for who she was and what she had done. He knew in that second that she hadn't tried to kill him. "You didn't do it, did you?"

All the fury went out of her. "No," she whispered. "I didn't. I would never have tried to kill you, Wyatt, I swear."

He knew she was telling the truth, but there was something else in her eyes, something that made him tense. "Who did?"

Her gaze flicked away from him for a split second, but it was long enough to reveal the truth. He tensed again. "You know, don't you?" he pressed. "You know who did it?"

"I..." She glanced toward the door, and suddenly Wyatt knew they weren't alone. And from the look on Octavia's face, he knew that he was in trouble. Big trouble. Big fucking trouble.

But he wasn't prepared for who walked in.