Page 16 of One Night Rancher

Jace was sprawled out on the sleeping bag on his back, his arm thrown over his face, his shirt lifted an inch or so, so she could see his flat, toned stomach.

Dear sweet Lord, she needed an intervention. A miracle.

Or maybe just wine.

“I’m back with more,” she said, standing over him.

His mouth curved into a smile, his arm still thrown over his face, and she was so fixated on that she never saw his other hand coming.

Suddenly she found herself grabbed at the back of the knee and she shrieked, going down fast. And it was only his muscles that stopped her from crashing to the ground, as he somehow managed to guide her down to the sleeping bag slowly withone arm.

“Jace!” she shouted, folding down over the top of him.

He was warm under her.

And hard.

Andoh no.

She was lying across him, folded at the waist over his chest. She scrambled hard to get off him but not before her hand made contact with hisveryfirmass.

She rolled the rest of the way off him, then scrabbled back for her wine and cake. “Why are you such a child?”

He was reclining, looking at her like...

She had to look away.

“I’m definitely not a child.”

“You’re immature. I heard a noise downstairs,” she said, desperate to not think about the fact he was so very not a child, but clearly a man. “Maybe it was a ghost.”

“Well, it wasn’t. Because ghosts aren’t real. But that cake looks real and I want some.”

She still hadn’t quite recovered from the full body Jace contact. “I don’t know if you can have any because you’re being mean.”

“I’ll take it from you.”

He would too. And if there was one thing she could not handle now it was a wrestling match over cake, so she surrendered it, but she did not do it graciously.

And then she poured herself more wine.

They finished his favorite movie and then went on to hers. And she was definitely more than a little tipsy by the time they decided to put in their final comedy about a bunch of high school seniors’ quest to lose their virginity.

They’d seen it a hundred times. She had no idea how they’d ever watched it before without her feeling immeasureably uncomfortable.

“Man, I don’t miss high school,” he said, tipping back his glass of wine. She watched his throat work, watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down, and it made her feel a little bit giddy. She looked away.

“Yeah. Wasn’t exactly the greatest time of my life either.”

It was a lot of feeling weird and awkward. First with a flat chest, then with curves. But weird and awkward all the same.

“It’s just the ridiculousness of it all. All the kids who think they’re kings and queens. Of what? The cafeteria. It’s ridiculous... All the hormones. Maybe back then I should’ve decided what I wanted to do. But I was too busy worrying about things like that. Granted, I was a senior when I lost my virginity.”

She blinked. “No.”

Was he about to confess to her that he was an awkward, college virgin? She didn’t know what to think about that.

“No. More like a junior.”

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