Page 12 of Ride 'em Cowboy

She felt the heat staining her cheeks even as she peered around to make sure no one was watching.They weren’t.The world around continued on its mundane existence, oblivious to the fact that her life was spiraling out of control.

“I have to get back to the office.”Well that sounded lame!

He smiled gently, and she had to wonder if he knew just how much his mere presence upset the careful balance she’d established after her disastrous marriage.Mac might have mentioned her past, but the reverend had no idea how bad things had been.He’d just accepted the fact that a woman would relocate to the far side of the continent for a fresh start after divorcing her husband.

Wyatt cocked his head to the side, which somehow made him resemble a mischievous puppy.“Mac can be a slave driver for sure, but I bet he wouldn’t be too upset if you told him you were having lunch with a friend.”

She raised a brow.“A friend?Is that what we are?”

He grinned as if he knew she was wavering.“Friends with benefits.I’ll settle for that for now while I work on the next stage.”

“The next stage?”

Wyatt leaned forward, his lips brushing against her ear.“Lovers.So much better than friends with benefits.”

Fiona let out a high-pitched squeak as she ducked under his arm and hurried around to climb in the driver’s side of the truck.Wyatt’s warm chuckle followed her.Settling into the driver’s seat, she found herself thigh to thigh with Wyatt, who’d swung up into the passenger seat, putting the posters up to perch precariously on the dashboard.

“What are you doing?”

He gave her an innocent look.“I was hoping for a ride back to the rectory.Mac told me you were here picking up posters for the carnival next month.”

She harrumphed.“You don’t need a ride from me.You must have had wheels to get here.Where are they now?”

He sighed theatrically.“On my bike, but it needs a new tire.I managed to pick up a nail in it and they don’t have the size I need in stock.They have to get it shipped in from the next town so it won’t be here until tomorrow.”

Was he telling the truth or trying to con her?“I didn’t know we had a motorcycle shop in town.”

Wyatt nodded and pointed out the front windshield.Sure enough, a big sign on a cement building kitty-corner to their parking space proclaimed: “Jackson Bros.Motorcycles -- sales, repairs, accessories.”

“Oh.”She’d never noticed it before, but then again she’d never had any interest in motorcycles.

“You can phone Mac and get him to verify my story.Would that help?”He looked so sincere, and the resemblance to a hopeful puppy reappeared, though she was pretty sure he was playing her.It was her turn to sigh theatrically.

“You know he’s going to say okay so why bother?He’s your old army buddy after all.”A scary thought occurred to her.“What have you told him about us?”

“You mean like how you were all over me in the parking lot, and how your clothes practically melted off you in the motel?”

Fiona rolled her eyes.She was pretty sure if he’d gone that far, Mac would have mentioned it.Or just fired her for conduct unbecoming a church receptionist.“They did not melt off.”

He grinned, settling into the seat and reaching for the seatbelt.“I didn’t tell him anything.I’m a gentleman.I don’t kiss and tell.”

“I thought you were a cowboy or a biker.Or something like that.”

“A gentleman cowboy.”

Fiona buckled her own seatbelt and started the truck.“You weren’t much of a gentleman the other night.”She muttered the comment under her breath.

Wyatt turned to face her, his eyes shaded under the brim of the ever-present cowboy hat.“You weren’t looking for a gentleman the other night.You were looking for something else entirely, and that’s exactly what I gave you.”

Okay.He had a point, and he had definitely given her what she wanted.She really should just shut up now, but her personal life had never intruded so far into her public life, and she was definitely outside her comfort zone.

The silence stretched out between them as she navigated her way through the traffic and headed home.Surprisingly, it was a comfortable silence.They were less than ten minutes away when Wyatt finally spoke.

“I like you.”He held up his hand as she opened her mouth.“No, hear me out.I like you and I’d like to have a relationship with you.A real one, not a one-night stand, or a few brief and hurried encounters when no one’s looking.That’s just sex, and as much as I enjoy it, I want more.I know the way we met probably isn’t the best foundation for a real relationship, so I have a proposal.”

“What kind of proposal?”Fiona pulled off to the side of the road and put the truck in park.This was not a conversation she wanted to have while navigating traffic.

Wyatt turned to face her, his expression earnest.“We go back to square one.Hands off.I court you like you deserve, take you out to dinner, the theater, whatever it is you like to do.We get to know each other before we jump back into the sex.Hands off until you say you’re ready to commit to something deeper.What do you say?”

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