Cowboy Take Me Away by Soraya Lane Read Free Book Online Page B

were being all sophisticated and having wine tonight.”
    He took a sip then grimaced. “I have a confession to make.”
    She raised her eyebrows, waiting.
    â€œI was taking you somewhere different, but then when I started driving from your place, I decided it was all wrong. Wrong for us, anyway.”
    â€œWrong how?” she asked, deciding the beer wasn’t half-bad when she sipped it again.
    â€œFancy, expensive, and…” He shrugged. “We were never about all that shit, were we? It was just two great friends hanging out and rolling with the punches. But we can still drink wine. If you want.”
    â€œBeer’s fine,” she said, her shoulders relaxing, her body no longer tense just because she was sitting close to Chase. “In fact, this place is perfect.”

 
    Chapter 3
    You’re perfect. It was on the tip of his tongue to just say it, to man up and tell her what a jackass he’d been, that he should have called her, should have tried harder to stay in touch. But she’d had a phone, too, and she’d been the one to slip out of the motel room that morning and disappear. Damn. To hell with it . They were hanging out now and if she was going to be staying in Dallas then they had plenty of goddamn time to forgive and forget.
    â€œThey do mean grilled burgers here,” he told her, draining almost half of his beer in one long pull. “And their Tex-Mex is damn good, too.”
    â€œA burger will do me fine,” she said, scooping her long hair up and dragging it to rest over one shoulder. Her neck was exposed on one side now, golden skin so soft he was aching to cover it with his mouth. She licked her lips, so unaware of the effect she was having on him.
    â€œSo how’re you liking your new job?” he asked.
    â€œHey, it pays the bills and I’m doing what I trained for. I’ve dedicated the last few years to honing my skills and becoming as specialized as I can.”
    She was saying all the right words, but he could tell she wasn’t happy, that she wasn’t telling the whole truth. Hope had never been good at keeping things from him, and it seemed nothing had changed.
    â€œBut you’d rather be putting it all to practice on your own ranch, right?” He didn’t want to push her, but whatever the hell had happened with her ranch was like the elephant in the room
    â€œI was hoping to start breeding quarter horses, actually. My dad was always interested in it, and after he passed away I wanted to do it even more. For me and for him. We’d always talked about crossing them with European Warmbloods to produce top quality, sensible sport horses.” She sighed. “It was one of those things on my bucket list for the future, after I’d made a name for myself.”
    Chase put down his beer and reached for Hope’s hand, the sight of her eyes tearing up enough to jolt something deep within him. The urge to protect her went into overdrive. He hated to see her in pain.
    â€œHope, you should have said.” He tucked her fingers beneath his. “I’d never have asked if…”
    â€œMy dad passing wasn’t the reason we lost the ranch,” she said matter-of-factly, her voice devoid of emotion even if her eyes gave away her pain for all to see. “He left everything to me. I was his only child and he knew that I was capable of running the place.” She made a noise that was half laugh, half cry. “Hell, he’d groomed me for it my entire life.”
    â€œAnd your mom?”
    Hope’s hand moved beneath his, as she turned her palm over and linked their fingers for a moment before wiggling them apart. She raised her eyes.
    â€œMy mom passed away eight months ago,” she said, her gaze so haunted it made him wish to hell he’d never asked. He watched her take a very slow, steady sip of her beer. “She saw everything start to crumble, she knew something was wrong,