Page 20 of Texas Kissing

Bull was there, stripped to the waist and leaning over a horse trough as he washed himself. It was dim, inside the stables, most of the light coming from tiny cracks in the ceiling and walls that sent a hundred blades of gold through the room, freezing dust motes in midair. Water cascaded down his naked torso, freezing mountain streams winding down his sun-warmed body. They flowed around the smooth, hard hillocks of his shoulders and biceps. They rippled over the angled ridges of his abs and followed the lines down towards the bulge between his legs, the water falling like rain just before it reached his jeans.

I looked at the hay on the floor, at the saddles on the wall...anywhere but at him. “Did you hear that?” I stuttered at last.

He stood upright and then shook the water from himself, droplets flying like rain. “Not all of it,” he said.

I relaxed.

“Only the part about you not being a virgin.”

I unrelaxed. “Look—” I said tightly.

“You’re wrong, you know.”

That threw me. “About what?”

“Me.” He smiled modestly. “Iamthat big.”

Inside, I let out a silent scream. I wanted to run at him and, and—

What? Kill him? Kiss him? Both?

I looked at the line of stalls. Each one held a horse, its head poking out into the main room. ‘You didn’t say we were going riding,” I said weakly.

“You didn’t give me much of a chance. Kept trying to hang up the phone. What’s the matter—you needed both hands free?”

I stepped closer. “You are the most—”

“What?”

I couldn’t speak, I was so angry.

“What?”

We stood there staring at one another, the air growing thicker and thicker between us. The horses watched with interest. I could feel his gaze eating me up and yet his eyes never left mine—it was as if he was absorbing me from the inside out until he owned me utterly. And part of me didn’t want him to stop.

“Why are you so infuriating?” I asked at last, dragging my eyes away.

“Why does it sayDepartment of Homeland Securityon your forehead?”

Dammit!I rubbed at my forehead. “Just show me how to get on a goddamn horse,” I muttered, waving at the nearest one.

He grinned. “Well now aren’t you presumptuous? You’re just going to go ahead and get on one? Just treat it like athing?”

“What, should I buy it dinner first?”

“Don’t you think you should at least find out its name before you try to ride it?”

I folded my arms. “Is that whatyoudo, with thosegirls at the bar? Do you always find outtheirnames?”

He grinned wider. “Depends how much I like them, Lily. Depends how desperate they are to be ridden.”

I glowered at him, but I could feel the heat washing down from my face and twisting into a dark cyclone between my legs.

“Show me how to get on,” I said again.

“Well, you’re justdesperateto climb aboard, aren’t you?” He shook his head. “Didn’t you say you didn’t even like horses?”

I huffed and blew a strand of hair away from my lips. “Obviously you’ve planned this whole thing,” I said tiredly. “Obviously you’ve told everyone on the ranch that you’re taking the”—I almost saidfat girl—”the latest girl riding and I’d hate to disappoint you.”