Page 27 of Westin

“Want to help?”

“Not really. I’m just enjoying the view.”

He glanced at her, catching his finger in a loop of the wire when he saw the appreciative look in her eye, and it led to him wondering what she’d look like in the throes of pleasure. He cursed, jerking off his glove to make sure he hadn’t just cut off the tip of his index finger.

“You okay?”

He cursed some more before sliding the glove back over his relatively unharmed finger and began tugging the wire back into place. He grunted as he pulled the wire tight, stepping back a few inches to make sure it was tight enough before he took his pliers from his back pocket and gave it one last twist before snipping the ends off.

“You need to stop distracting me,” he announced as he turned back to the horse, sliding the tools into the saddlebag. “One of us is going to get hurt.”

“Didn’t realize I was.”

“We still have several miles of fence line to check, so…”

“It wasn’t my idea to be out here. But it is nice that my mere presence is a distraction to you.”

“I’m glad you’re happy with that.”

He gestured for her to come to the horses, intending to help her back up into her saddle. Instead, she managed to move between him and the mare he’d chosen for her to ride, pressing her body as close to his as she could get without actually invading the length of his body. She smiled, those amber eyes threatening to steal his breath even as they danced with laughter.

“Why are we playing games, Westin?” she asked, brushing her gloved fingers against his jaw. “We both know why I’m such a distraction to you. Why don’t we do something about it so that it doesn’t continue?”

“What would you suggest we do?”

She licked her bottom lip in a very suggestive way, that little pink tip moving so slowly he could almost feel it on certain parts of his body. He grunted as his nether regions began to respond, coming to life with a jolt that was almost painful.

“This is not something I need right now.” His words were a warning, a determination he clearly didn’t feel, because he took ahold of her chin and pushed her back, shoving her against the massive side of the mare. “I can’t do this.” And then he kissed her.

Her lips were cold and her breath hot, the combination messing with his head a little. That first touch was almost electric, the feel of her shooting him into the stars in that instant, transforming a simple kiss into something bigger. Something he could never—nor would he ever want to—explain to himself or anyone else. It was sweet and exciting all in one package.

And it scared the hell out of him.

Westin pulled away, turning her with a quick hand on her hip and lifting her onto the horse. She grabbed the saddle horn, looking down at him with surprise and something else written all over her pretty face. She didn’t say anything, but he could read the questions in her eyes. He could guess she’d never met a man who resisted her quite the way he was doing. Must have been a shock to her.

He climbed onto his own horse and gave him a little nudge, forcing his mind back to the task at hand. The fence needed to be secure, a job that was constant and year-round. He’d been doing this since he started working for the Howards, knew the fence line like the back of his hand. He could spot a break at half a mile in good weather. Just slightly less in bad weather. But, somehow, he nearly missed a large gap that popped up just two hundred yards further up the pasture.

He cursed softly to himself, needing this woman to get out of his head. He pulled the horse’s reins harder than he needed to, causing her to rear up just slightly, which spooked Lea’s horse. The mare backed up, then reared itself, lifting its front legs high into the air. Lea cried out, but somehow managed to hang on. Westin jumped down from his gelding and grabbed the mare’s halter, jerking her around so that her wild eyes could see him, so that she could feel the pressure of his hold and know there was nothing to be frightened of. She fought him for a second, stomping her feet even as Westin spoke to her, whispering her name—Gray Lady—until she slowly calmed, still pawing at the ground, but still enough that he felt safe letting go of her.

“You okay?”

Lea had slipped from the saddle and was bent double a few yards away, catching her breath. “Fine.”

He touched her shoulder and she jerked away, pulling herself to her full height again, her gloved hands rubbing her already red cheeks. “Please, just leave me alone for a second.”

“You handled that well,” he complimented her. “I guess you weren’t lying when you said you’d been on a horse before.”

“Yeah, well, the horses I rode were old. They didn’t do shit like that!”

“Sorry. It was my fault. I startled Jack.”

“Jack.” She shook her head. “What kind of name is that for a cowboy’s horse?”

“I have no idea. Asa named him.”

Westin walked off, securing both horses to an unbroken section of fence before grabbing some tools from the saddlebag. He went over to take a look at the damage on the fence, his thoughts on a million things all at once. It only took him a second to discover that this was going to be an easy fix, but a troubling one. This part of the fence had clearly been damaged by a person, not the weather, or wear, or some animal that had pushed a little too hard against it. This had clear marks from some sort of tool, a crowbar or something that had pried the nails loose from the wood.

Why would someone do that? It wasn’t like the fence was eight feet tall and required a break to walk through it. The thing was four feet tall, easy to jump over. Why cut it?

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