Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her for the first time, using his hold on her to control the kiss. After a moment’s play at her lips, he swiped his tongue across them, demanding entry. Her mouth opened and he pressed inside, sliding his tongue along hers, his whole body coming alive.
He felt Bay move in behind her. He swept her hair aside, avoiding Shane’s hand with the expertise of long practice, and kissed her neck while his hands came up to cup her breasts.
“Not in the parking lot,” Sawyer shouted as he started toward his Jeep.
Asshole.
Shane broke the kiss and was thrilled to see Brooke had lost her devil-may-care expression and seemed a bit drugged.
Good. Her very nearness drugged him. He pulled his keys out. “Get in. It’s time we got you home.”
She didn’t have to know he kind of wanted her to be his home.
When he pulled out of the parking lot, he vowed it would be a night she never forgot.
* * * *
Brooke sat in between the two hottest guys she’d ever met and wished she’d had more champagne. More wine. Maybe a couple of margaritas, but no, she’d had to stay in control. The minute she realized Cleo was talking about a job, she’d decided to be an adult. She didn’t even have the comfort of being totally smashed.
But they’d waited for her. They’d been at the bar, and now that she thought about it, they’d walked out of Stella’s this morning behind Cleo.
“Did you hear I was going to be at Hell on Wheels tonight and showed up so you could be hanging around in case I needed a ride?”
They had already passed the deputy at the bottom of the mountain. She thought it was the new guy who was all of twenty-one and definitely not asleep since he had someone pulled over. She hadn’t recognized the car, so some tourist was getting the full-on “sheriff needs a chair” ticket.
“That depends,” Shane said.
“Depends?” They were different than she’d thought. All she honestly knew about them was that Stef liked them and Max hated them. Rye was somewhat indifferent, though probably leaned toward Max since he constantly reminded Rye that they’d hit on Rachel.
“It depends on whether you think that behavior is a red flag or the kind of flag that makes you feel like a desirable woman since two men plotted and planned to be right here,” Shane replied.
Well, put that way… “I’m only here for a couple of weeks. I’m just…stressed.”
Sure. That was sexy.
They were weirder than she thought they would be. Somehow in her head they were like a lot of the guys she met when she came home. Concerned with partying and rodeoing their way through life. A girl in every town. They weren’t serious and wouldn’t ever be about a woman.
And that was exactly how she wanted it.
She was a conquest. But then they were stress relief. It was good. No one would get hurt because there weren’t feelings involved. They wouldn’t have any, and she wouldn’t let herself have any.
Except when Shane kissed her, it felt like something more. It felt like the ground moving under her feet, the world shifting in a significant way.
It scared her but she wasn’t going to let that stop her since Bay’s kiss hadn’t been the same.
“I’m stressed, too,” Bay said quietly.
“Is there something going on out at the G? The cows giving you hell?” she teased.
“He’s got an exhibit coming up, and Stef’s bringing out his wealthy art critic friends,” Shane replied. “Not that it matters because his worth is not tied to some guy from LA liking what he does.”
She’d forgotten he was an artist. She would blow that off since everyone thought they were an artist, but there was the problem of Stef Talbot being his mentor. If Stef was behind him, he was good.
Which meant he wasn’t a simple, gorgeous cowboy walking around like sex on a stick.
Nope. That’s what he was tonight, and they only had tonight. Besides, the kiss she’d shared with Shane hadn’t really been that good. It felt that way because it had been a while. She wouldn’t respond to Bay the way she had to him.
But she kind of wanted to find out.
She unbuckled the belt around her hips. Their truck was old school, so it didn’t protest her lack of seatbelt as she moved and placed herself on Bay’s lap.
“Oh, damn,” he breathed, but his hands went to her hips. “This is not how I thought the night would go.”
She stared at him. He was a work of art. With sensual lips and a straight jawline and green eyes that seemed to sparkle in the low light. She took off his hat and tossed it in the small back seat before running her hands over his hair.