A Rancher's Desire by Nikki Winter Read Free Book Online Page A

it was supposed to, Hermosa.”
    She snorted but sounded far from amused. “Yeah...okay.” Her arms folded across her chest and she closed her eyes.
    Julian clenched his jaw. She was shutting him out again. “Aiyanna—”
    She turned away from him. “Can you take me back now?”
    “Aiyanna—”
    “ Please?”
    He yanked his hat off in frustration. Now he’d have to spend the thirty minute walk calling himself every kind of name that he could think of. Slamming the Stetson back on his head, he walked up behind Aiyanna and clicked his tongue once. Shadow came trotting up from where he’d wandered off to and Julian lifted Aiyanna’s tense body, sitting her back on the horse.
    She may have been pissed off with him but he damn sure wasn’t about to watch her walk when she didn’t have to. For a second, she looked down at him and her face softened. Julian stared back, hopeful, but Aiyanna looked away again; the muscle in her jaw jumping.
    Sighing, Julian gripped the reins and started off, wondering how he was going to fix this one.
     

Chapter Six
     
    “Wait, wait, wait.” Lalani waved her hands to stem the flow of words leaving Aiyanna’s mouth. “He said he was sorry?”
    Aiyanna bit off a mouthful of her burger. She and Lalani had decided to stay in all weekend, stuffing themselves like Luau pigs and watching movies that made them want to find men and beat them.
    “Yup.” She nodded and sucked down some beer.
    “But... why?”
    Aiyanna shrugged. “I don’t have the slightest idea. One minute it’s like he has eight hands at once—which I don’t think I’d be particularly objective to after this one time—and the next, he can’t snatch ’em away fast enough.”
    Lalani looked so confused that it almost made Aiyanna smile...almost. “But... why?”
    “In the last five seconds from the first time you asked me that question,” Aiyanna leaned into her friend, “I still don’t know.”
    “Okay, it was obvious he wanted to fuck you right?”
    “Judging from the sudden branch of oak that sprouted from his loins, I would concur.”
    Lalani blinked and shook her head. “Can’t you just say he was hard like a normal person?”
    “Have you ever known me to be normal? Really?”
    “No, not even when we first met and that saddens me because you’re not supposed to flash your crazy to the first person who’ll look.”
    “Some days, I question why I never tried to push you off a cliff.”
    “Because you need my logic and wisdom.”
    Aiyanna started laughing and couldn’t stop until she noticed that Lalani hadn’t joined in. “Oh...you’re serious.”
    Her friend took the throw pillow she’d been resting on and bopped Aiyanna on the head with it twice. “That was me trying to knock some since into you.” She did it again. “And that was just for fun.”
    “You can be such an asshole.”
    “I know but that’s beside the point.”
    “I think we lost the point five minutes ago when you talked about my lack of sanity.”
    Lalani nodded. “Yes, now I’m going to clue you in on something that you probably haven’t considered as of yet because you have these Forest Gump moments sometimes and I have to reel you back in.”
    Aiyanna opened her mouth and Lalani held up a hand. “You mention shrimp and that’s your ass, King.”
    She clamped her mouth shut and sat back with a sigh. Waving a hand she went, “Okay, clue me in on yourself proclaimed wisdom.”
    “Have you ever stopped to think that Julian is holding off on the bed charades because he doesn’t want you to think that all he wants from you is sex?”
    “I don’t know what’s scarier; the fact that what you just said made sense or the fact that what you just said made sense.”
    “Those facts were the same thing.”
    Aiyanna nodded. “Yeah, I know. Either way I’m fucked if suddenly out of the twenty years that I’ve known you, this is the first time something you said actually makes me believe you do have some