A Little Harmless Ride by Melissa Schroeder Read Free Book Online Page A

Only, teenagers were scarier than this lot. The thought had her lips curving.
    “ What are you smiling about?” Eli said, leaning close enough that she felt his breath on her ear. It took all her power not to shiver and lean closer. She turned and then had to take a moment to compose herself. This close she could see the deepest blue of his eyes and they made her lose most of her thoughts. She didn’t have a doubt now that he was a Dom and seeing him this close, feeling his body heat, was enough to make her yearn.
    Oh, god .
    “ I was just remembering my first day at teaching.”
    He smiled, slowly, sexy, and her heart turned over. The man could tempt a nun to sin. Over and over and over.
    “ I bet you were fantastic.”
    She laughed remembering the first day of teaching hell.
    “ I wasn’t at all but I loved it.”
    “ But you don’t do it anymore.”
    “ Not right now. I might return, but I was too far away from Dad when he got sick. I couldn’t leave him on his own, and I also needed a break.”
    He opened his mouth but was interrupted by the foreman.
    Jerry Mitchell was an older Hawaiian with a weathered face and nice eyes. Oh, he knew how to scare the crap out of his workers, but she knew he was kind from the way he looked at her. He reminded her a bit of her father.
    “ Okay, shut the hell up.” The room quieted down. “Now a lot of you got to meet Crysta at the memorial for Joe, but now she’s your head boss, just like Eli.”
    She snorted and got a mean stare from Jerry. Okay, maybe he could scare her too. She sat up straighter and tried not to look at Eli. She knew he was probably laughing at her.
    They went through a few things, talking about the upcoming ranch party they have every year. Her mind started to wander. It had been a long trip from the mainland and now, a meeting…Crysta wasn’t a woman who liked to deal with that. She’d been a teacher, but she used all her extra time to play outside.
    “ So, if anyone has any questions, let me know. Ms. Miller, did you want to say anything?”
    Almost every person looked at her. “Uh, okay. She stood and the room swayed a little. She needed sleep.
    “ I want to thank everyone for the welcome. I know that most of you understand the terms of the will, but I wanted to make sure everyone realizes that everything stays the same. Eli is going to teach me a bit about the ranch and I’m going to be out there working, but just so you know, I don’t expect special treatment. Thank you all for being so welcoming.”
    She sat back down next to Eli. Mike got back up and started talking. She couldn’t believe that her heart was beating so hard. She hoped they didn’t notice.
    As if reading her thoughts, Eli leaned closer and said, “You did good, Crysta.”
    A few minutes later, the meeting was over and they were walking toward the house.
    “ Wanna ride tomorrow?” Eli asked.
    She glanced at him. For a second, she had thought he meant…
    “ If you don’t want to, we can--”
    “ No, that will be great. I’ve wanted to see it all since Joe told me about it.”
    “ It’s a date,” Eli said with a smile.
    They walked into the house without another word. The day of travel was starting to hit her. She suddenly felt so tired that the thought of undressing seemed to be too much.
    “ Hey, you go on up. I have some work to do,” Eli said.
    “ Night, Eli.”
    He stood at the bottom of the stairs and watched her. When she reached the top and glanced down, he was gone.
    She needed a good night’s sleep and she would stop daydreaming about her partner. Well, okay, maybe not stop, but at least control it.
    Because falling for her last Dom had left her emotionally scarred and she wasn’t ready for that again.
    No man was worth it.
     
     
     
     

Chapter Six
     
     
    Crysta beat Eli to the kitchen the next morning. It was about thirty minutes before dawn and she was sitting in the kitchen talking on her phone and drinking coffee. He was hard pressed to