Page 36 of Taming the Billionaire Cowboy
A squeal catches in my throat when the spray hits me, and I jump back from the fence, my hands held up in surrender and surprise.
“I can help with that too, you know!” I say, grabbing for the hose.
He stands his ground, bracing for a water fight, and I lose myself in it. It’s so familiar and so foreign at the same time, playing like this with someone who isn’t Bradley, someone who I’m trying to tell myself isn’t perfect.
The hose twists and arcs as we wrestle for control, and water showers over us, warm and sudden and glorious. I know I should be cautious, should be guarded and smart, but I find myself laughing, and it feels so good, so right. I can hardly believe it’s me.
It’s a long time before I remember it’s my job to be careful. I finally let go of the hose, finally pull away from the water and the recklessness that this could lead to. The ranch is so big I thought I could get lost in it, but now I know the only thing I’m getting lost in is him. I take a breath, trying to compose myself, trying to act like I’ve got some kind of sense and self-control.
Oliver stands there, his shirt stuck to his chest and a boyish, charming grin on his face. The water drips from his hair and nose and hands, and I have to keep from launching myself at him, from taking him and the chance that I want so much I can’t stand it.
“Calling a truce already?” he asks, his voice all confidence and humor and easy strength.
He’s not out of breath, but I am. I tell myself not to be just any woman. Not to be that woman.
But that woman, that poor desperate woman, she knows how hot he is, how perfect this is, and how bad she wants it. She also knows what it would cost her, knows she shouldn’t risk it, shouldn’t be reckless with her son and her life and the ranch.
“You look pretty smug for someone who’s not gonna have a chance to relax much longer,” I say, aiming for a safe subject. “I’m re-starting the events next month. Are you sure you’re up for it?”
“Are you?” he asks. “Looks to me like you’re the one who can’t handle it.”
He’s not talking about the ranch, and I know it. He’s not talking about the workload, but I try to play it off, try to convince myself that’s all this is.
“Someone’s gotta stay focused,” I say.
He moves closer, standing so near I’m ready to burst from wanting him. Or from trying not to.
“You have so little faith in me,” he teases, watching me with a confidence that makes me feel both powerful and helpless.
His grin grows again, but this time it’s more subtle, more dangerous. It’s the kind of smile that makes me want to abandon everything I know I should do, the kind that promises I won’t regret a single moment.
Oliver seems to suddenly realize how close he’s gotten, because he abruptly steps back.
“I’d better leave you to it,” he says, gesturing towards the hose. Color coats his cheeks and he rubs the back of his neck, a sheepish grin spreading across his face.
“Right,” I respond, caught off guard by his sudden need for distance. But then again, it’s probably for the best. I can’t afford to let myself get too close.
I watch him walk away, raw and soaked and shaken by every breath he breathed into me.
But this… this is not what I’ve always hoped for. It’s more than that. It’s more than mere attraction or lust or even camaraderie. It’s more like I’m standing at the edge of a cliff and steeling myself to jump off.
Of course, it could end terribly. I could crash into sharp rocks below or drown in icy waves. But if I don’t, if I manage to soar with the wind under my wings… Well, it could be extraordinary. It could be exactly what my life has been missing.
It’s a crazy notion – entirely irrational and utterly terrifying.
Yet there it is.
With that realization looming over my head like a threatening storm, I finish rinsing the mats in a daze. The sound of water from the hose hitting rubber echoes in my ears until it’s the only thing I can hear, but even that fails to drown out my racing thoughts.
Oliver is nothing like Aaron. He isn’t running from responsibility, he’s diving into it. He doesn’t display an ounce of hesitation in shouldering what comes his way — the ranch, the challenges here that he’s entangled with, Bradley and his inquiries and innocent fascination. Maybe even me?
And just like that, I’m back at the edge of the cliff.
CHAPTER 16
OLIVER
The heat of the day melts into the kind of night I don’t think I’ll ever get used to, all cricket chorus and the occasional howls of coyotes. I step off the porch, past where the ranch house light spills yellow, and stand with my arms crossed against the ache in my muscles.
