Excerpt of Love of a Cowboy by Jennifer Ryan

She stared into Declan’s eyes, hoping he saw that she wanted to stay and explore this strange but tempting connection between them but that she also had to go.

He suddenly stood beside the bed. “We’ll talk about the rest in the morning. Try to get some sleep.”

Impulse was a dangerous thing. Especially when she went with it.

She reached out and grabbed his hand. Her eyes traveled up his thick toned legs, over his really nice ass, up his lean back, and right to the intense gaze staring down at her from over his shoulder. Before she thought better of it, or maybe she simply didn’t want to miss this opportunity to spend just a little more time with him, she tugged him back down beside her. “Stay.”

Exhausted, she needed to sleep, but she was too scared to face the night alone. And Declan had this magic way of banishing all her dark thoughts.

Declan squeezed her hand. “You’re safe here.”

She relaxed into the pillow and stared up at him. “Will you stay? Just until I fall asleep.”

His lips pressed together and indecision filled his eyes.

“Please.”

He shifted on the bed, stared down at her, and placed their joined hands on his warm, bare thigh. The hair on his legs brushed the back of her hand. The heat from his skin seeped into her. And that wonderful zing of electricity that vibrated through her any time he touched her hummed to life and eased her heart.

“Close your eyes.”

She really liked looking at him. Maybe that’s what put that something extra in his gaze as he stared down at her. Whatever he was thinking or feeling he kept locked down. She wished she could read his thoughts. She didn’t have enough experience with men to guess, but hope bloomed in her heart that maybe he was as attracted to her as she was to him, and somewhere down the road, maybe, when things were different, she’d find her way back to him.

When he said she was safe here, she heard you’re safe with me.

She believed that.

Some men had a core of dominance they used to bend others to their will. Like Gabriel.

Others, like Declan, protected, encouraged, and took care of people, even if it meant putting themselves at risk.

“I need to leave,” she whispered.

His hand contracted around hers and just as she fell asleep, she heard the quiet response that made her lose her heart. “I want you to stay.”