Burning Barriers (Barriers Series Book 3) by Sara Shirley Read Free Book Online Page B

give you a piggyback ride down the street.”
    Her arms cross over her chest as her eyes climb in disgust. “Jake Galloway, I am not going to hop on your back and let you parade me through this town like a child. Besides, I’m wearing a dress, and I’m not going to show off my panties to everyone.”
    I move closer toward her and watch as her eyes begin to question my actions. “Luce, if you don’t hop on my back right now, I’m carrying your ass downtown for dinner, and I’ll make sure everyone we pass knows exactly what kind of panties you’re wearing at the moment.”
    “You wouldn’t dare. Anyway, how would you know what kind of panties I’m ‘wearing at the moment’?”
    Walking over to her, I grab her waist and pull her close to me, so my mouth lingers above her head. “I know some things never change, and I’m pretty sure you have on a hot pink lace thong right now.”
    “How…”
    “Because, babe, your underwear always matched what you were wearing, and I’m certain that hasn’t changed about you.”
    Before she has a chance to give me some feisty remark, I slightly lower myself and wrap my arms just below her ass. I effortlessly lift her up over my shoulder. Her fists flail against my back as though she believes she could physically hurt me.
    We pass at least twenty people giving us strange looks before we even reach the next block. Lucy continues to softly yell and try to kick herself loose. She won’t have any luck against my strength. I laugh as I continue to carry her until we reach downtown. As I gently lower her to the ground, my hand accidently glides under the hem of her dress and brushes against the lace that is barely covering her ass cheeks.
    Lucy’s head tilts back, and her eyes transfix on mine. My fingers move lower and graze against the back of her thighs. She doesn’t move or flinch. I begin to lower my lips to hers, but it’s then and only then that she backs away, letting her hand faintly push herself out of my grasp.
    She clears her throat, and her apologetic eyes flutter to watch the people that walk around us. “Jake, we probably ought to get moving if we’re going to make it to dinner.”
    With those words, she turns and starts walking away from me. A burn within my chest tells me my love for her still hides deep within my soul. If it takes me the entire time she’s back home in Breckenridge to prove to her that she belongs here, then that’s what I’m going to do.

While sitting here on Jake’s soft dark brown leather sofa, I’m trying to figure out how he convinced me to come back to his house with him after dinner. The cathedral ceiling seems larger than I remember as my eyes soak in the vast stone fireplace. Even with its incredible size, it doesn’t make the room feel any smaller. The light gray stones appear to continue forever through the ceiling. A massive flat screen television is mounted above a copper mantle on the fireplace, and the large picture windows behind me allow the last of the evening light to glow upon the rocks.
    As I wait for Jake to grab beers from the basement bar, I stand and wiggle my bare feet on the soft fur of the bearskin rug beneath me. Blisters threatened to ruin my night with those cowgirl boots a couple of hours ago. Once Jake and I left the restaurant, I tossed the boots back at my house and changed into my flip-flops before Jake brought me back here. Somehow, he used the excuse that it was still early, and he wanted to catch up in a more relaxed setting.
    To say dinner wasn’t fun would be a lie. Jake took me out to our favorite place when we were teenagers. The Downstairs Pub was always the place to go on the weekends because they served the best pizza and had a ton of arcade games. It also helped that it was within walking distance of my house. During a typical Colorado winter, the snow accumulates quickly. Having grown up in a skiers’ town, nothing closed, but that didn’t mean we didn’t get cabin fever. The Downstairs