And Then You Kiss (Crested Butte Cowboys Series Book 3) by Heather A Buchman Read Free Book Online

from her attitude earlier. It didn’t matter though. He liked Blythe. She was fun to be around. He looked at her and realized he’d drifted away for a minute, and she was studying him. He reached over to her.
    “Where were we before they came in?” He pulled her back onto his lap. “I like you better closer.” He reached up and pulled her hat off. She put her hand on his, trying to stop him.
    “I wanna run my fingers through your hair darlin’. Let go now.” He eased her hat away from her hand and put it on the table.
    “Hat hair,” she said, and blushed, like she was embarrassed.
    It was such a simple thing, but that vulnerability did something to him. He shifted her so she couldn’t feel his reaction to it. What was it about her that made him want to keep her feeling that way? Vulnerable. Shy. A little off kilter.
    “So sweet,” he whispered, and kissed her again. “You wanna keep skiing girl, or should we find somethin’ else to keep us busy?”
    Renie and Billy came back to the table before Blythe had a chance to respond.
    “I got a text from my mom,” Renie said. “She wants to know when we’re coming back to the house.”
    “Everythin’ okay?” asked Billy.
    Renie texted something back to her mom, and waited for a response.
    “Yeah, everything is fine, but they’re wondering.”
    Jace looked at Blythe again, who still hadn’t spoken. “I think we’re ready to call it a day,” he answered for both of them. “I’ll go turn our skis in. You wanna get out of those boots darlin’?”
     
    Blythe realized he was asking her a question. Something about her boots. She’d been in a bit of a daze. She got lost in kissing him. Like she had with Tucker. In fact, she wasn’t sure which one she was kissing for a minute. They were so much alike, yet so different. God, what was she doing?
    She nodded her head and stood. “Yeah, sure.” She sat back in her own chair and took off her boots.
    Billy stood. “I’ll help,” he said and picked up her boots. “Jace, you go get the skis and I’ll meet you in the rental place.”
     
    “Are you okay?” Renie asked Blythe.
    “What? Yeah, I’m fine. I got a little light-headed for a minute. Alcohol, altitude and an overly affectionate cowboy will do it every time,” she grinned.
    “You two are cute together.”
    “Cute? What? Who are you?” Blythe looked at her. “Aren’t you the person who told me to stay away from him yesterday?”
    “I don’t know. It’s different now. He seems different.”
    “Who does? Jace?”
    “Yes, of course Jace. I don’t know what it is. He’s different. And I like it.”
    Blythe raised her eyebrow at Renie.
    “No, not like that. I mean, I like him with you.”
    Blythe had a hard time believing it, but didn’t say so.
     
    A minute later Jace walked back in, carrying her snow boots. When he handed them to her and she slipped her feet in them, they were warm. She looked up at him.
    “Boot warmers. I put them in while we were skiing, so they’d be warm when we got back.”
    Blythe looked at Renie and they both giggled.
    “Oh God,” Jace groaned. “What now?”
    “Cowboys,” they answered in unison, before they started giggling again.
    ***
    Blythe looked around for Tucker when they got back, but didn’t see him. And she definitely wasn’t about to ask where he was.
    “Call your brother,” Jace’s mom said a few minutes later. “It’s time he came back.”
    “Where is he?” Blythe asked him.
    “Out wandering,” Jace answered. “He’s not big on holidays. He usually disappears for most of the day.”
    “Why?”
    It wasn’t something Jace wanted to talk about, especially to Blythe. “I’ll tell you later,” he answered. Even though he had no intention of doing so.
    ***
    Tucker saw the text from Jace, but wasn’t ready to go back to the house. He supposed he should. If he stayed out here any longer, he might not ever go back to the house, and then instead of escaping everyone’s attention, it