Page 40 of The Cowboy's Country Charm

“Something happened. You’re blushing.”

Kristy’s hand flew to her cheeks and felt the warmth. No sense keeping secrets from Ariel. “We kissed.”

“You kissed?” Ariel practically squealed the words. “Dish. It must have been good.”

It was better than good. “Let’s just say if I were standing, I would have been knocked off my feet.”

“So you weren’t standing?” Ariel winked. “Where were you?”

“We rode out…”

“On horses?”

Kristy nodded.

“How romantic,” Ariel whispered.

“I did love getting back on a horse. He said we could do it again. Soon.”

“Kissing?” Ariel teased.

“Riding.” Kristy couldn’t help the smirk. “And kissing. I hope.”

“So you were riding and…” Ariel waved her arm.

“And we came to the straw bales. I wanted to get a sense of how big so I’d know how many. We slid off the horses and sat down on one.” That must have been what did it. He was so close she couldn’t help but touch him. The situation had been too tempting. “And one minute we were talking about straw bales, and the next…” Kristy let her voice trail off as she thought about what had come next. The connection, the desperation for more. It had awakened a hunger, a thirst. Scary and exhilarating at the same time.

“Did he go for French kissing?”

This was the problem with telling Ariel anything. She wanted every detail. “Idid.”

Ariel’s smirk was so annoying. “And then what?”

“We kissed some more and then headed back on the horses.” Holding hands a few times as the horses came together. It was sweet and, as Ariel said, romantic.

“So he asked you out for tonight?”

“And invited me back to the house because his mother had baked a scrumptious peach cobbler. I couldn’t say no to either.” And by then she hadn’t wanted to.

“You met his mother? I mean, that’s not supposed to happen for, like, three months or more.”

Kristy chuckled as she slipped on a pair of rhinestone-studded black western boots. “Believe me, I was totally unprepared for it, but he has the nicest parents.”

“You met his father too?”

Kristy nodded as she fluffed up her hair. “Rusty is a younger, taller version of his dad.” And more handsome, at least in her eyes.

“This sounds serious.”

Kristy stared down at Ariel. “And that is exactly one thing it’s not going to be. I’ve told him this is just casual, and good news, he doesn’t want serious either. I’m not going to allow myself to get hurt again. No one is going to do to me what Dean did. No one.”

“He’s not anything like Dean, Kristy. Even I can see that.”

She wagged a finger at Ariel. “Cheaters come in all shapes and sizes. They are also great at fooling people.” She stepped to the mirror and picked up a tube of mascara. “I’m definitely not jumping into anything. My heart is just fine where it is. Who are you getting ready for? Stetson?”

“I wish. Mel called me up. Wants to go to a honky-tonk tonight. He said he loves dancing, and so do I, so we’re going.”

“Sounds like fun. Stetson’s never called you, has he?”

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