Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 60481 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60481 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
“Uh huh. Ernie said you were a player. I guess you have got plenty of experience with that when you were in the rodeo circuit.”
My wolf was ridiculously pleased that she’d been talking to Ernie about me, even if the old man had done me dirty.
I shrugged. “I’ve had some fun. But I’m ready to settle down now.”
“Sure you are. Sorry, but no deal.”
She turned and grabbed her toolbox and the broken shaft. That, she shoved right into my chest and headed back across the field.
“Why not? You said I’m only a player.” I hugged the dirty part to my chest. “That means I have moves. I’m the best person to get those orgasms with. No strings, unlike Dave the Dork has with his mother if him being dropped off by her was any indication.”
She groaned in frustration as she started to walk faster. “She had to drop him off to pick up the car. Why are you so insistent?”
“Because I want you as much as you want me,” I admitted. That wasn’t the truth because I wanted her so fucking bad I couldn’t see straight. “You want to get laid? I’m the guy.”
She turned around again and kept right on walking. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
I remained where I was in the middle of the field.
Then she called back, not slowing, “Will you, for the love of all things holy and the safety of women’s panties everywhere, put on a damn shirt?”
A laugh stormed out of my throat. Uh huh. Confirmation. She wanted me. “If it’s your panties we’re talking about, I’m good,” I called back.
She shook her head without turning back for another look.
“Pretty sure they’re already soaked.”
“Oh my God!” Now she turned back. There were spots of color on her cheeks I’d been trying to earn since she got here. “You are pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?”
I shrugged. “Maybe you’d better test the goods to find out.”
She shook her head once more as if in exasperation and started walking again. A normal human wouldn’t have heard her mutter under her breath, “Maybe I should.”
9
CLIO
* * *
“–and she took off with this guy to Bozeman, and that’s how I ended up in the middle of a huge custody battle.” David absently swiveled the stem of his glass of Chardonnay, clearly oblivious to the rule that you didn’t talk about your divorce on a first date.
I realized over the past ten minutes of him reliving his marriage why I hadn’t bothered dating since JT came along.
It wasn’t worth it.
All this effort at getting to know someone when there was no spark was time I could have been with JT.
Or getting laid with someone I did feel a spark with.
I ignored that little nudge from my ovaries. They were still cooling off from the encounter with the hot, shirtless cowboy this afternoon at Wolf Ranch.
Maybe I just needed a boy toy…
I mentally shook my head as David kept right on talking.
No boy toy. Absolutely not. I couldn’t have that kind of complication in my life.
I took a healthy swig of my Merlot as I absently nodded.
David had picked me up and taken me to Orlando’s, the only fancy restaurant in town. It featured Italian food, with an Italian-American chef who had relocated from Chicago, according to David.
We hadn’t even received our meals, and he’d already mansplained just about everything here to me. Well, maybe not mansplained. I suspected he was one of those guys who talked too much when he was nervous. But it had been a pretty one-sided conversation so far.
“I mean, she thinks she’s going to take our kid out of high school in the town where all her friends are to live with her and this guy she’s known for nine months?” He scoffed. “I don’t think so.”
I glanced past him to the bar and did a double take.
Oh my God.
Sam sat at the bar, a beer in his hand. For once, the cowboy hat was off. His blond hair looked damp and tousled like he’d come from a shower. He wore a plaid collared button-down shirt with navy and turquoise stripes that made his blue eyes pop. The female bartender was trying to tell him something, but his gaze was firmly fixed on me.
What was he doing here? And now?
He came to ruin my date! The nerve!
He knew all about the date because he’d been there when David had asked. Except how had he known about coming to this restaurant unless he overheard at the shop. But how?
He grinned and tipped the beer in my direction.
What. The actual. Fuck?
“Will you excuse me for a minute?” I stood and put my napkin on my chair.
“Oh. Yes, of course.” David beamed up at me like I’d hung a double rainbow in the sky.
Yikes. This guy reminded me too much of an overeager golden retriever. Funny how I didn’t mind Sam’s over-the-top flirtations, but this was too much interest from my date.