Page 25 of A Cowboy Holiday

“Good.”

And with a tip of his hat, he turned and walked away.

Uh…what the fuck?

“Hey. Wait up,” I called after the behemoth of a man striding toward the stables.

Axel didn’t wait.

He continued inside and veered left.

I went after him, but I was stopped twice by eager employees with cheery greetings before I was able to break free.

The office was empty. No one was at the desk or hanging around the coffee bar along the far wall. Not surprising. The Oak Ridge stables consisted of three separate buildings, and though each had an office, only the main one—which was also the largest—had a full-time staff presence. The others were used by vets, breeders, and trainers as needed.

The plain walls were lined with tasteful black-and-white photographs of our horses, past and present, and rows of plaques were interspersed with casual staff pics on the walls of the short hallway that led to a supply closet and a bathroom.

I checked the bathroom first, then pushed open the door to the supply closet.

Axel stood in front of a shelf of ointments and bandages, hands on his hips, perusing the selection as if he were choosing cereal at a grocery store. He glanced up and don’t quote me, but I could have sworn he smiled.

He reminded me of a wild animal, dangerous in its stillness. A smarter person would have cut their losses. Not me.

“You said…anything.”

More silence. It pulsed and echoed off the walls until it reverberated like a heartbeat.

Axel’s lips lifted in a rogue-like tilt. “What’d you have in mind?”

Look, I’d had plenty of male lovers over the years, and I wasn’t shy or nervous about sex. However, I’d never been with a man like Axel. I’d always ended up dating thin, lanky professorial types who didn’t mind giving up control.

That was not Axel. He gave alpha male energy like no one I’d ever met.

I felt small next to him. Strange, ’cause I was tall by most standards, fit, and muscular. I could hold my own at the ranch…or in a bar fight if necessary. But only a true fool would dare mess with Axel. He was too big, too mean-looking. He was the kind of guy who could turn your insides liquid with a feral growl or end you with a lazy swing of a bear-sized paw.

What did I hope to gain by cornering him in a supply room?

Okay, fine…sex. Or something, anything. The second we’d agreed this was possible, it was all I could fucking think about. Axel’s big body on mine—covering me, owning me.

Axel stepped closer, his gaze sweeping me from head to toe. I held a hand out in invitation. He ignored it. My heart sank as he walked to the door.

A click of a lock later, my back was against the wall, my hat was on the floor, and his tongue was halfway down my throat.

This was right where we’d left things the other day…times ten. The fire burned hotter now. There was nothing tentative in our touches. We sucked and nipped in feverish exploration.

I was drunk on the taste of him and the heat of his body. My tenuous grip on self-control slipped with every twist of his tongue. That needy whimper had to be coming from me, and if I wasn’t so horny and hard—to the point of detonating like a time bomb—I’d have been mortified. Circumstances being what they were, I didn’t give a fuck. I had to feel him.

I hooked my fingers through Axel’s belt loops and tugged him to me.

He grunted the second our denim-clad erections collided. “Oh, fuck.”

“Ungh, that’s good. So good,” I groaned, knocking his Stetson off as I fused our lips and ground my pelvis against his rock-hard length.

It was raunchy and nasty, but damn, the friction felt amazing. And when he dragged his lips along my jaw, lowering his hands to cup my ass and buck his hips, grinding our cocks, I almost came on the spot.

Axel must have been in the same state. He inched away, resting his forehead on mine. “Wanna touch you.”

“Do it,” I whispered, grabbing his hand and flattening his palm on my crotch.