by Em Petrova
She wanted to pinch her eyes shut. If he fell off and got killed before her eyes…
She opened her eyes wide and continued to stare, as if the force of her will would keep him on the horse and give him the skill to bring it to a stop.
“That horse has always been trouble. We’ve been tryin’ to train it for what? Six months?” one of the ranch hands asked.
“Some are easier to train than others. Theo can manage.” Cort shielded his eyes with a hand. “He’s slowing.”
His words hit her full force in the chest but did nothing to ease her palpitating heart. She squinted into the sun, gauging the horse’s speed. Sure enough, Cort was right.
Next thing she knew, Theo had a rope around its neck, slowed it to a walk and then dismounted. When his boots touched earth, the guys gave a resounding cheer. She couldn’t even manage a feeble gasp, because her lungs were so constricted, her heart still raced and she shook more now than a minute ago.
Theo grabbed the rope and turned to walk the runaway back toward the ranch. He issued a whistle that sounded faint from here, but the other horse trotted over to him. He mounted it in a smooth glide of sheer muscle and started back with the other horse in tow.
Whoops of celebration filled the air, but she couldn’t think past what could have happened. She was never a worrywart. Far from it. As a kid and teenager, there wasn’t a challenge she wouldn’t take when it came to horseback riding. While her parents fretted, she jumped, barrel-raced and put a few more wrinkles on her momma’s face.
That old Sadie’s spirit of adventure got crushed when her husband died.
Some of the guys walked out to the field to take the horse from Theo. He nodded to them and grinned and then looked around. When his gaze fell over her, she experienced the ripple of attraction that had spurred her to take a different sort of risk the minute she rode into Crossroads.
Maybe she hadn’t totally lost her spirit of adventure after all.
Theo dismounted and let the guys take that horse too. They clapped him on the back and his grin widened.
“Haven’t seen that sort of action from you in a while, Theo. Thought that show-off in spurs I hired might have lost his gumption.” Cort pounded his back.
“Glad I caught up with her.” Theo said something else she didn’t hear and separated himself from the guys.
As he strode toward her, she drank in everything about the cowboy, from dusty hat to boots and in between the roll of his shoulders and pull of denim over his strong thighs. Show-off in spurs… She didn’t want anything to do with a guy who sported that nickname.
Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe.
She folded over as panic swept her. What was happening? The air crushed from her lungs, and she couldn’t even drag a molecule into her chest.
“Sadie? Sadie!” He ran the last few feet to her, grabbing her around the middle. “What happened? Are you sick?”
Anxiety, panic and more pressed down on her like cement dumped over her. She whirled, and somehow forcing her legs to move, ran for her truck. Behind her, the thud of his boots kept beat with the pounding of her heart. When she reached her truck, she folded forward, hands on knees, chest heaving.
“Sadie, are you gonna throw up?” He swiped the hair off her face, holding it back in one of the most humiliating moments she’d experienced in a long while.
After a minute, her panic began to flow away, along with the nausea. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Damn, honey. You don’t need to apologize.”
She slowly straightened and scrubbed an unsteady hand over her eyes.
“Are you sick?” he asked again.
“No… I…” She stared straight at him. “You scared me!” Now that the panic passed, hot fury flooded in.
He nudged up his hat as if to get a better look and see if she was joking. Whatever she saw in her expression must have convinced him, because he scuffed a boot on the pavement in the parking area.
“Shit. I’m sorry. I only did what had to be done to catch that horse. If it jumped a fence, it probably wouldn’t stop running until we caught up to it in the next county.”
“I’m finished with this conversation!” She grabbed her door handle and threw the door open, but he stopped it with a hand, keeping her from leaving.
“Sadie, wait. What’s happening? I had to chase that horse.” Confusion pinched his brows, slanting them down and reminding her of how he looked just before he came apart in her arms.
She shook herself and tried to push her door open wider to climb behind the wheel. He prevented her with a palm planted firmly on the metal.
Irritated, frustrated and hating how helpless he’d left her feeling with his show-off-in-spurs antics, she raked her fingers through her hair. “You can scoff if you want, but that scared me. This whole ranch scares me.”
He started to chuckle. “Scares you? Why? It’s only a…”
He cut off.
“Fuck, I am an asshole. Your husband. I’m so sorry, Sadie.”
She had cried all the tears she had in her for a decade, and thankfully her eyes were dry now. She sent Theo a glare.
Taking a step toward her, he hemmed her in against the side of the truck. Her body scorched at his nearness.
Clearly she had no grip on her body at all—in minutes she’d gone from panicked to sick to furious and now aroused.
Why did this man have to drag her through the gamut of the strongest emotions a person could possibly feel?
He hovered over her, lifting her jaw to force her to meet his stare. “You have to believe I’m sorry that I frightened you.”
She balled her fists and readied herself to knee him in the balls if he didn’t back away.
“You came here to ask me for help, and I’m more than willing to give it. We’re going to look at the job right now.”
She didn’t speak.
“And I’m driving. So get in the passenger seat.”
Glaring up at him did no good, and she didn’t have the energy left after climbing off her rollercoaster of the last few minutes.
She walked around the truck and got in.
When he settled, he moved the seat all the way back.
“I’ll never get the seat in the right spot again,” she grumbled, trying not to notice the length of his legs and how he ate up every inch of the leather.
He sliced a smile at her, leaving her warmed from more than anger. “I’m sure you’ll manage to figure it out.”
He backed out and trundled down the driveway leading from the Bellamy Ranch to the road.
She never should have come here looking for him. Her impatience with the slow-moving contractors in the area had led her here, and look what happened. She went crazy, almost puked on her boots and at the moment, she kept thinking about that sunset they shared.
Sometimes while watching a rodeo, she’d get tense enough that she played with her hair as a nervous reaction. She felt herself tugging at the ends and dropped her hands to her lap.
“Tell me more about this schoolhouse.”
She side-eyed him. He was trying to distract her.
“You know where it is?” she asked.
“Yeah. Pretty sure one of the ranch hands attended there in the old days.”
She raised a brow.
“Kidding. Max isn’t that old. We all rag on him for being around since before the first saddle was made, but it’s all in good fun. So, you need new flooring.”
“After I build some walls, yes.”
He cocked a brow. Across the space, electricity zapped, supercharging the air. They were already on a back road and he only had to pull off somewhere and she could be in his arms.
His lap.
Sinking over his thick cock.
Shameless. What is wrong with me?
“I’m capable of building walls,” she defended.
“Since I don’t know you very well, I have no idea of the skills you possess.” He dipped his eyes over her breasts.
“
Why did you look at my breasts when you said that? As if they have any special abilities!”
He blinked at her outburst and then cracked up laughing. Swinging his attention to the road, he continued to chuckle for a good half mile before he spoke. “You’re an enigma, Ms. Sadie. I admit I have no idea what you might say or do next.”
No wonder—she’d been a maniac since the minute they met and she jumped him. Since then, she’d run away from him at the outdoor party, tracked him down at the ranch where he worked and so much more that made her unpredictable in his eyes.
“I can’t wait to see this new house of yours.” His tone of voice smoothed over her like silk against bare skin. Like panties being pulled down her hips and off an ankle before he dove between her thighs.
The squeeze of desire in her lower stomach made her wiggle in the seat. Of course, Theo’s heavy gaze latching onto her didn’t make her calm down even the slightest.
When they arrived at the schoolhouse, he cut the engine and sat staring out the windshield at the quaint structure. “It’s pretty great.”
Excitement at her good luck hit all over again. “I know!” She bounced out of the truck and hurried across the grass to the front door.
“You could use a sidewalk.” He looked down at the patchy grass as he followed.
“I haven’t decided if I want stepping stones or a concrete sidewalk.” She unlocked the front door and swung it wide.
He stepped up to the entrance. “Do both doors open?” He touched the double door still fixed in place.
“Yes, they do.” She stepped in to the echoey space which only held the few boxes she’d brought from Texas.
He drank it all in with one swipe of his gaze. “You had some lumber delivered already. Good.”
“Yes, for the walls. Some won’t be full walls, only partitions. Come see my plan.” She led the way to the boxes she had stacked in the middle of the floor, labeled with the contents. On the top box lay a paper plan she’d hand drafted of the schoolhouse including the designated spaces and where walls would go.
He picked it up and then locked his brown eyes on her. “You did this?”
She nodded.
“Dom told me you’re a house doctor but I had no idea this is what you do.”
She smiled. “Did you expect boxes of curtain samples?”
He offered a sheepish grin. “Maybe. And wooden geese you hang on the wall. My grandma had them in her kitchen.”
A chuckle escaped her, softer and throatier than she expected. But standing so close to Theo affected her in ways she didn’t know how to explain. Maybe she’d left her brain back in Dallas and her libido took its place. Or the connection she felt whenever she looked at him was to blame, even if it was loneliness.
His long, capable fingers wrapped around the edges of her plan, which he stood admiring with a small smile, sparked more excitement in her core.
What a terrible idea to have him working in her home. All that maleness, muscle and testosterone.
She’d have to leave when he stopped over or risk more of that madness that catapulted her into complete insanity when she got within a mile of him.
Being around him felt like…
She tipped her head up to study his profile.
Surrender.
Dammit, why did that word spring to mind first? Contracting Theo to work on her home might be her worst plan yet.
She tried to pull her attention away from the angles of his rugged jaw—she really did. She thought of the most unsexy things possible—sweaty gym socks. A dog licking its ass.
But nothing helped. She wanted him.
Stepping back, she put distance between them. Theo glanced up from the plan…and his eyes started with that electric twinkle, as if the sparkles of gold in the depths were stars in the dark brown canvas of his iris and they came to life as if someone flipped a switch.
She did it—she’d flipped the switch.
He set the plan on top of the box and stepped in her direction. Without willing her legs to move, she felt her feet scuff against the worn old unfinished knotty pine covering the floor.
Suddenly, she was locked in his arms. She thrust upward to her toes. “This is such a bad idea,” she murmured a split second before she crushed her lips to his.
Their mouths fused, and she drank in his spicy scent reminding her of wood shavings and hay. That scent had followed her to dreamland several nights, and she’d woken sniffing the air to catch more.
He brought one arm around her spine and yanked her closer, mashing her aching breasts to his chest. Her nipples puckered, and wetness pooled low in her belly as he angled his head and lapped his tongue over her lower lip, growling, “Let me in.”
She did…burning…a total goner the minute she stepped into his arms.
Twisting his head, he angled deeper, thrusting his tongue in a fucking motion, which came next if they continued to burn much longer.
She reached up and pulled his hat off. She dropped it and plunged her hands into his hair, pulling, holding him, moving him where she wanted for the perfect, mind-blowing kiss. Her toes curled inside her boots.
Theo issued a low moan as he skimmed his palms over her spine to cup her ass. He squeezed the globes lightly at first and then clamped down more insistently. She moaned and rocked into him.
He tore away with a “Fuck yeah,” and whipped her around to face away. “I want to look at your ass, honey.”
A beat of silence.
“Fuck!” He held her by the hips while her heart juddered inside her ribcage, a trapped animal. She never felt desire this blazing hot. Theo lit a million matches inside her.
Her breaths escaped in short rasps that only grew louder as he smoothed his hands down her hips and around the undercurves of her ass. Her insides knotted. Juices slicked her pussy.
“I want you. So. Fucking. Much,” he grated out.
She panted and twisted her head to look at him. Tenderly, he raised a hand and slipped her hair off her neck. When he leaned in, she felt his heated breath trail over her skin. Each little hair on her nape lifted in response, and her nipples bunched up hard.
Up and down, he trailed his nose over her neck. Heartbeats ticked by. Her insides wobbled. He still cupped her ass, his touch burning through her jeans and panties, straight to her flesh.
He lightly closed his hands on her ass again.
Her knees nearly buckled, and a low whimper of want broke from her.
With an answering rumble, he slid his mouth up and down her throat. “So goddamned beautiful. You need to be cherished. Every. Damn. Day.” He opened his mouth, latching on.
She creamed her panties.
Gasping, she raised a hand to his jaw. As she leaned into him for support, she closed her eyes and let her mind spin out of control.
He released his kiss on her neck and nuzzled her again. Another throbbing heartbeat and pussy squeeze passed, and then he whipped her to face him again. She slammed into his chest, bringing her arms around his neck and tilting her head for his kiss.
He claimed her mouth, kissing her into an inferno that turned into a five-alarm blaze. Need blasted though her, and she clung to him with short, panting rasps.
“Do you have a bed or should we use the floor?” he grated out.
“Back corner.” Her one big purchase for the new schoolhouse was a mattress, which she’d lugged into the corner. Even if she didn’t yet have a bedframe, she boasted new sheets with a thread count so high they felt like silk.
Theo stared down at her, searching her gaze until she didn’t know where she started and the depths of his warm brown eyes ended. He lifted her. She wrapped her thighs around his hips and burrowed her head against his shoulder as he carried her to the corner.
When he dropped to his knees on the mattress, she kissed him as they tumbled down.
He rubbed his thumb over her nipple, pebbling it into a harder peak.
“You make me feel so good,” she whispered.
His gaze bore in
to her. “You deserve it.” He took her mouth again, toying with her lips with soft nibbles and then feeding her his tongue in a small cat and mouse play that had her dying of need.
She tore off his shirt and spread her fingers over his rounded pecs, exploring the discs of his nipples and noting how they pebbled at her touch. He lowered himself over her, crushing her into the thick memory foam and springs she’d never imagined she’d share with Theo. Yet here he was, in her bed, less than a week after she made the purchase.
Passion burned hotter as she traced a path along his chest to his chiseled abs. The dips and swells burned into her skin, leaving imprints she would carry with her long after this encounter.
He stripped off her shirt and spanned his palms over her ribs, looking at her for what felt to be endless seconds. The silence of the schoolhouse surrounded them, and golden sun streamed through the tall windows, slanting across his muscular torso.
“I’ve been dreaming about you ever since that evening in the truck.” He pressed a tender kiss to her chin and then dragged his mouth down her neck to her breasts, making her arch. He slid a hand underneath her and popped the clasp of her bra. Hooking a finger into one strap, he eased it down her skin. The other strap followed, and then he removed the garment.
Her chest heaved. “The way you’re looking at me right now… It makes me feel so beautiful. I forgot how that felt.”
He smiled. “Then I’d better do more than look. I’d better show you too.”
Chapter Four
Theo needed to get out of his jeans before his cock strangled. The length felt double its normal erect size, and every small whimper Sadie made had more precum slicking the head.
He swept kisses over her breasts and stomach, moving down at a faster rate than he wanted. He told himself weeks ago that if he ever got another chance with her, he’d savor each minute. Now he couldn’t slow down if he wanted to.
Her wide, glazed eyes drove him on his downward quest, kissing and nipping her skin as he went. When he popped the button of her jeans and eased down her fly, she shuddered and fisted the covers.
Seeing her small hands knotting the cloth threatened his control. Such an innocent thing—his younger self got turned on by naked breasts or bare thighs. He was aching at the sight of her gripping the blanket.
