Page 17 of Hot For You

Cody raised his beer bottle. “Are you still friends with your ex?”

“He’s a good guy,” she said as Cody took a drink of his beer. “We’ll always be friends.”

Carilyn started to ask him if he had any girlfriends, but Leigh’s cheery voice drew Carilyn’s and Cody’s attention.

“I’ve got an early flight so I need to head home and get to bed,” Leigh said.

Carilyn slid off her barstool. “I’m ready.”

Cody got up from his stool and pulled a cell phone from a holster on his belt. “Why don’t you give me your number and I’ll text you directions in the morning?”

“Directions?” Leigh looked intrigued.

Carilyn knew she was in for a grilling once they got out of the bar. “Cody invited me to his ranch tomorrow. I’ve never been on a ranch.”

Leigh gave a wide smile. “That’s awesome.”

Carilyn wanted to elbow Leigh, who looked tremendously pleased, but instead Carilyn turned her attention back to Cody and rattled off her phone number, which he entered into his phone contacts.

He shoved the phone back into his holster. “See you tomorrow morning.”

“See you,” Carilyn said before she turned and walked out the door with Leigh.

As they headed into the cool night, Leigh put her hand on Carilyn’s arm and squeezed. “I knew you two would get together.”

Carilyn shook her head. “I’m just going to his ranch.” She wasn’t ready to tell her friend that she’d said she’d go to Sedona with him, too. Leigh would be unbearably excited about it.

“Well it’s a great start,” Leigh said with satisfaction.

A start to what? Carilyn wondered. Certainly not a relationship—that wasn’t going to happen.

Chapter 7

Leigh and Mike left for the airport before Carilyn woke Saturday morning, and now Carilyn found herself driving to Cody’s ranch. It was starting out to be a pretty day with a clear blue sky, not a cloud anywhere to be seen.

When the text came in that morning from Cody with his address and directions, Carilyn had felt an inexplicable burst of excitement to see a message from him. Well, maybe it was explainable—but she really did know better.

If she knew better, why was she driving to Cody’s ranch this very minute?

She shook her head. The fact was that she was undeniably attracted to him, and seeing him like this was a dangerous road to follow when she would only be here for a month.

It isn’t a problem, she told herself. She could handle this. Sure she could.

Fifteen minutes after leaving town, she arrived at a mailbox with C. McBRIDE stenciled on it. She’d seen two other mailboxes with the same last name, but this was the only one resting on a green pole like he’d mentioned in the directions.

She turned onto the drive that the mailbox marked and Leigh’s car jostled and vibrated as it crossed over a cattle guard and down the bumpy dirt road.

The closer Carilyn got to the ranch at the end of the road, the harder she clenched the steering wheel. Breathe, she told herself. Just relax. Easier said than done.

She crossed another cattle guard as she looked at the sprawling ranch house, the large barn, and what looked like a storage shed. Corrals were behind and to the side of the barn and three horses were inside one of the corrals. Reddish-brown cows with white faces were on the other side of the fence in a pasture covered with green grass.

When she pulled up to the house and parked, the front door of the house opened and Cody stepped through the doorway. Her heart pounded a little faster when she saw his sexy smile and she watched his easy stride toward the car. She turned off the car and brushed her sweaty palms on her jeans before pulling the keys out of the ignition. She’d just leave her purse in the car—she wasn’t going to need it now.

She pushed her long red braid over her shoulder and started to open the car door, but Cody was there before she could and he opened it for her. She climbed out and stuffed the car keys in the front pocket of her jeans as he shut the car door.

“Hi.” She smiled at him.

“Welcome to the old homestead,” he said with a return smile and a shy hug.

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