A Real Cowboy Never Walks Away (Wyoming Rebels Book 4) by Stephanie Rowe Page A

you again."
    She laughed softly. "I think we should skip that tonight."
    He didn't like that answer. "Why?"
    Her smile faded. "Because you're leaving town in a few days. Because I can't afford to remember how good it feels to be held by a man. I need to keep my life the way it is, and even if this thing between us is temporary, which it would have to be, I can't do anything that will make it too hard for me to live my life after it's over."
    Her words made sense, but he didn't like them. He didn't like the deep weariness in her voice, the strangled courage in her eyes. "If your life isn't enough, you deserve more."
    "It's more than enough." She kept watching their entwined hands. "It's full of amazing blessings." Her gaze flicked to his. "Like this moment."
    "Like this moment," he agreed. He raised their entwined hands to his lips and kissed each knuckle. He didn't want to leave. He wanted to sit right there and never move. "How do we make this moment last forever when it's over?"
    "I don't know," she whispered. "I wish I did."
    "Me, too."
    "Maybe write a song about it?" she suggested.
    His sense of peace vanished immediately, and the familiar vise clamped around his chest. Panic started to build, creeping down his spine. He swore and pulled back, gripping the edge of the table as he fought off the rising stress.
    She frowned, watching him astutely. "You weren't exaggerating," she said softly.
    "I told you. I can't write anymore." God, he felt stupid. Weak. Pathetic. "Listen, I should go—"
    Her gaze suddenly flicked past him to the street, and her face paled.
    Warning bells exploded in his head, and he swung around immediately. Several cowboys were loitering outside her store, but one of them was peering through the glass, looking right at her.
    Travis narrowed his eyes. "You know them?"
    Lissa didn't answer, and Travis turned around to look at her. Her face was stricken, and she looked like she was going to pass out. All his muscles tensed, and wariness prickled down his spine. "Who is he?"
    "I—" She swallowed, and stood up. "I need to talk to him."
    Travis rose to his feet. "I don't think that's a good idea."
    "I know it's not, but he won't go away unless I talk to him." She put her hand on his arm, staying him, her dark brown eyes searching his. "Can I ask another favor?"
    "Anything. Name it. You got it."
    "Don't leave, okay? Please."
    Travis looked past her to the window, where the cowboy was waiting, watching them both with a dark scowl. "Yeah, I'll stay." Hell, yeah, he was staying.

Chapter 9
    " T hanks ." Lissa flashed Travis a distracted smile, even as she started walking toward the door to unlock it. She pulled her shoulders back, but her tension was obvious.
    Lissa, his weary, adorable, genuine Lissa, was afraid of the man at her door, which meant he'd hurt her in the past, or was there to hurt her now. Fucking piece of shit. Anger roiled through Travis, and his fists bunched as he narrowed his eyes.
    The bastard wasn't going to hurt her tonight. Not with him there.
    He was always aware of his role as Travis Turner, the celebrity who had to watch his reputation at all moments, but Lissa had awakened something in him, something primal and male, something that thundered through him, like a violent summer storm amassing on a hot summer night, swirling and angry, ready to destroy, possess, and consume.
    Right now, he didn't care about his reputation. He didn't give a shit if he broke rules. All he knew was the one woman on this entire earth who'd been real with him, was walking toward a man with the power to hurt her, and Travis was her only defense.
    No one had been around to defend him when he was little, and he had the scars to prove it. There was no chance in hell he was walking away from this situation, no matter how ugly it got.
    He was used to ugly. He was born into ugly, and it had haunted him his entire life, even after he left town. If this thing got ugly, it would be like coming home to the world he knew.