Page 29 of Cowboy Stole My Heart
“I thought we’d take a longer route back. Just walk and trot to stretch them out,” she said, calling over her shoulder.
Sam cleared his throat, mounted up and nudged his horse forward. And this time he kept his mouth shut.
***
Mia glanced at her watch, surprised by how quickly the day had flown past. She hadn’t eaten anything, neither of them had, since before setting out late morning, and now it was already afternoon. Her stomach rumbled in response.
“There’s food in the tack shed,” she told Sam as shelanded with a thud on the ground. “I meant to have us back earlier.”
“It was worth it,” he said with a grunt as he landed on the concrete, too. “But right now I could eat a.…”
She laughed. “Horse? Quick, close your ears, Indi!”
He chuckled and she realized how comfortable she’d become in his company. He was a decent guy, kinder than she could have expected given their rocky start, but there was something nice about being around someone so calm and sweet with horses.
“Hey, I thought you might like to watch me with Tex this afternoon,” he said as he unsaddled his horse.
Mia couldn’t have been more surprised if a gust of wind had blown her over. “You’re serious? You’re actuallyaskingme to watch?”
He gave her a look that made her quit with the sarcasm. “An effort to curb my arrogance. I’m not liking your first impression of me.” He looked exasperated, and she kind of liked seeing him look uncomfortable, like he was so well out of his comfort zone. “You know what? It’s actually seriously fucking me off how badly we started out.”
“I can’t,” she said, wishing she’d never agreed to going out tonight with Kat but knowing she couldn’t cancel at the last minute. Hearing him drop the f-bomb had been kind of cute, because he did look seriously annoyed. “Tomorrow?” she asked.
“I was going to give him the weekend off, but yeah, I suppose I could come by tomorrow.”
She took Indi over to hose her down, feeling guilty that she’d only ridden her today and one other horse earlier in the morning. She usually tried to fit in at least three rides a day to make sure all her horses were all fit and well-muscled.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she said as she passed him the hose and led Indi off. She put her away, ran to fetch her some hay, checked her water supply and then hurried off toward the house. She’d left all the food in the tack shed for Sam, so she grabbed a banana off the counter when she ran through the kitchen, pausing only long enough to eat it and to down a big glass of water. She went to dash into the bathroom but stopped to get a packet of rice crackers from the pantry. At least she could eat them as she hurried to get ready.
As she wolfed down the crackers and turned the shower on, stripping her clothes off, she wished it were Sam she was getting ready for instead of some mystery guy. She stepped into the shower, under the hot stream of water, letting it run over her face and down her body, over her breasts and down her stomach. She reached for the soap and lathered her skin up, still thinking about Sam and wishing to hell she wasn’t. She was imagining him storming into the house and finding her in the shower, pressing her up against the tiled wall and kissing the hell out of her this time. His lips would be rougher, his hold firmer, his body…
She gulped and opened her eyes, turning around and running her hands through her hair to check it was wet enough for shampooing.Enough with the thoughts about Sam! He’d made it more than clear that he only wanted a professional relationship with her, and she was going to respect that. She probably wasn’t even remotely his type.
She shampooed and conditioned her long hair, rinsed it then stepped out. Kat’s cousin might not be Sam, but he was a single guy taking her out for drinks and dinner. She’d be damned if she wasn’t going to get all dolled up and have a hell of a time, because it wasn’t like she let her hair down very often, and it was time she did.
Even if, deep down, all she wanted was to pull her hair back up into a ponytail and head straight out that door and down to Tex. An afternoon in the hot, sticky Texas sun watching Sam work the stallion would have meant more to her than all the fancy dinners in the world.
She pushed thoughts of Sam away and wrapped her towel around herself, pinning up her hair. She’d made a promise to Kat, and she wasn’t going to flake on her. Which meant she had to get herself ready, go out and have some fun. She deserved it, and if she didn’t start going out more now, she’d end up an old lady sitting home alone, surrounded by animals and damn lonely at that.
