Page 69 of The Wildest Ride

“I’ve never seen anyone start a fire like that,” she said, coming back to it, and he understood.

He’d only ever seen The Old Man do it like that.

Her husky voice slid over his skin like silk, which he tried to ignore while his body ignored him.

“The Old Man is one of a kind,” he said, escaping the moment in business. “What sounds good for dinner? We’ve got beans and chili and s’mores supplies.”

Lil stared at him blankly. “You’re joking.”

AJ held up a bag of marshmallows. “Gladly, no.”

Lil closed her eyes on a sigh. “That is seriously the least cowboy thing ever.”

“I don’t know. Chasing a wild herd of cattle off course seems pretty cowboy to me. So, you want the chili, then?”

“Absolutely no to chili, and they’re hardly wild.”

AJ laughed. “What do you want, then?” he asked, even though he knew the answer.

When she mumbled her reply, AJ cupped his ear. “What was that? I couldn’t hear you.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“Hurtful, but audible. Why don’t you try again with your dinner request? What does the big bad cowboy want for dinner?”

Lil muttered, “S’mores,” and AJ let out a whoop.

In the darkness, the cows mooed.

Though she obviously resisted it, across the fire Lil smiled, bringing her fingers up to pinch the bridge of her nose, a chuckle escaping as she moved.

AJ forgot about the s’mores.

He forgot about the challenge.

He forgot about CityBoyz and the gaping lifetime stretching out ahead of him, and for the first time since he’d found it, he forgot about rodeo.

The only thing on his mind was figuring out the key to unlocking that easy, private, smile. Something told him it might be the kind of mystery that took years to unravel.

“Hand that stick over,” Lil demanded, breaking into his swirling thoughts.

She sat close to the fire, legs crisscrossed, arm outstretched. He looked down at the marshmallow stick he held before he handed it to her.

“Thank you. Chow time.” She gave him a little salute before turning her attention to roasting her marshmallows, holding the stick well away from the flame as she rotated slowly and evenly, like a human rotisserie.

She was one of those people.

AJ sat beside her and stuck his own marshmallows directly into the flames. When they caught fire, he pulled them out, blew on them, and then squished them between two graham cracker pieces with a bit of chocolate beneath them.

Lil waited until he was finished to say, “You’re a monster.”

Her marshmallows had taken on a golden brown color and were evenly plump all around. She sandwiched them between graham crackers and chocolate, set her stick down, took a bite, and moaned.

AJ’s jeans squeezed.

“I love s’mores,” she said.

“Who doesn’t?” he asked, mouth dry.