Page 21 of Ride Me Cowboy

My throat does that weird constriction thing again. I really need to stop looking at him like that. Stop thinking of him like this. He’s my boss for the next three months, I’m living under his roof, and I want to keep it that way. This place is my safe haven. They don’t realize it, but Coyote Creek Ranch is where I’ve come to put myself back together again.

It would be stupider than anything to get involved with some cowboy, just because he’s so drop dead gorgeous my body can’t get the memo that I’m not interested.

I haven’t even been out here a week. It’s the novelty, that’s all. It caught me off guard. Seeing someone like Cole, his overpowering strength, and the fact he’s got something kind and gentle about him, too. In fact, I bet that’s what this all boils down to. I’ve spent the last few years fearing for my very survival, being terrified of the man I pledged my heart and life to, and now I’ve met someone who just makes me feel like he would keep me—and anyone—from harm’s way. Because it’s just who he is.

Like his father.

The thought makes my lips twist in a smile, and Cole quirks a brow.

Oh, crap. I’m still looking at him. And smiling. Thankfully,Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)has started playing and everyone but Cole and me has gotten up to dance, so no one sees me looking like some love-struck teenager. In fact, it feels like the whole bar has hit the floor, moving tables aside and shaking their asses. I look around, mesmerized by the heaving bodies, the happiness, the way the air seems to zap with carefree joy.

“Everyone left,” I say, which is the point at which I realize I’m really feeling those glasses of wine.

“They’re dancing,” he says, with a small twist of his lips.

“Everyone’s dancing.” Okay, time to go. I’m sounding like a fourth grader—if that.

“It’s that kinda song. That kinda night.”

“Right.” I swish my finger through my necklace then stop when his eyes drop to the gesture. “You’re not dancing.” And then, because of the stupid wine, I swear, I get up and move down to the seat Beau was occupying a few minutes ago. It’s still warm from his cowboy butt.

If Cole’s surprised, he doesn’t show it. He stays right where he is, that big frame taking up too much space, his elbow resting on the table, his eyes fixed on me.

“Not tonight.”

“But you do dance?”

“When I feel like it.”

“Why don’t you feel like it?”

His eyes probe mine and for a moment, I think he’s going to say something profound and deep, but instead, he leans forward, so our faces are just an inch apart. “I just don’t.”

It’s not really funny, but I smile anyway, my heart flickering. I wonder if carefree is contagious? The song switches to another upbeat country track but I only register it in the very back of my mind. All of me is focused on the man sitting so close. Who is myboss, sanity tries to barge in, but Chardonnay says ‘no’. Right now, he’s just a hot cowboy with eyes I could get lost in, and I’mfeeling something good in my belly, something I haven’t known in a really long time. Something a little bit like contentment. It’s these people, this music, this food. It’s Cole, and the way he is, but it’s his family and friends, too. I even like Mack. They’re just so different to the people I knew back home, and right now, anything different to home is where I want to be.

“Doyouwanna dance?” He’s not asking me to dance. At least, I don’t think he is. I think he’s asking if I would rather be out there in the teaming mass of bodies than sitting here, beside him.

I glance at the crowd, and catch Austin and Mack locked in a deep conversation, which causes Mack to roll her eyes and shake her head. Austin laughs. Beau is dancing with a curvaceous red head, a wide grin on his handsome face.

Caleb’s at the bar, hat tipped low on his brow as he talks to the guy serving drinks.

I glance back at Cole. Thank goodness I don’t blab exactly what I’m thinking: that I’m right where I want to be. I shake my head, lips pressed together, and only when I can trust myself not to be completely honest do I say, “Too fast for me. I’m still recovering from my run.”

He laughs then, the sound low and husky. “The hills gotcha.”

“Yeah, I guess.” The truth is, I’m looking forward to my next session. To getting back to running, period. I’ve got gear now; proper shoes and clothes and I’m planning on getting out and exploring the ranch at my own speed. But an ingrained habit of keeping things close to my chest, for fear of whatever I love being taken away by Christopher, keeps me quiet. Even when I think Cole isn’t like that—how can Ireallyknow?

When do you ever really know anyone?

My happiness dips a little. Is this all an illusion? Am I wrong to see him as a protector? After all, I fell hard and fast in love with Christopher and though I’ve wracked my brains over the years, there were no signs of what was to come when we were dating.

“I should go,” I say, and it’s abrupt even to my own ears. I scrape back the chair as I stand and look around for my bag, frowning a little. Swaying a little more as my eyes go blurry, before I see it hooked on the back of a chair and reach for it.

“Okay, sure,” Cole agrees, standing, hand in pocket. In that home-spun country manners way of his.

I turn to face him. “Thanks for inviting me. I…actually had fun.”

“You sound surprised.”

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