Cowboy Up by Vicki Lewis Thompson Read Free Book Online Page B

they’d averted a disaster. He’d swept her away with that kiss, and if he hadn’t called a halt, no telling what would have happened.
    Yes, he’d made the first move, but he was a guy. Guys were conditioned to make the first move. She hadn’t stopped him, and she could have. She should have. Clay had the body of a Greek god, but he could also have a heart of glass. She’d do well to remember that.

    E MILY TURNED OUT TO BE a good and efficient worker. She did her share of the loading and made a couple of good suggestions for how to fit everything in. Once again, she’d surprised him by pitching in so eagerly. If he didn’t know about the monthly checks she took from Emmett, he’d think she was a great person, someone he’d like having for a friend.
    Maybe he’d have an opportunity to ask about those checks because that was the piece of the puzzle he didn’t understand. He couldn’t blame her for preferring the beach to the ranch. She’d been raised to think that way. But taking money from her father when he obviously wasn’t a wealthy man—that made no sense at all.
    Thinking about her accepting financial aid helped a little bit as he tried to ignore the enticing little droplets of sweat that rolled down her throat and into her cleavage. He reminded himself about those checks when she leaned over the tailgate and stretched the denim covering her delicious backside. She didn’t have to do anything special to turn him on. Just looking at her got him hot.
    He shouldn’t have kissed her. Then again, the kiss might have worked to his advantage if he hadn’t enjoyed it. Just because a woman was beautiful didn’t mean she could kiss worth a damn. At least that’s how he’d justified what had probably been a stupid move on his part.
    Now he knew that she could kiss. She’d also informed him she could do other things with her mouth, things that he didn’t need to be thinking about. Of course he couldn’t seem to think about anything else, especially when she stopped to drink water from the canteen he handed her and fit her mouth around the opening. Damn.
    He’d focused on the task at hand as best he could, and at last the truck was loaded. While Emily filled up the canteens, he tucked a couple of shovels in the back. He didn’t know if she’d want to help dig the fire pits, but he’d offer her the chance. She seemed to enjoy physical labor.
    Too bad for Emmett’s sake that she didn’t like ranching, because she had the kind of attitude that made for a good hand. She cheerfully accepted hard work and adapted to whatever conditions she found herself in. She didn’t seem to mind getting dirty, either, which totally surprised him.
    As she walked back to the truck with both canteens slung over her shoulder, he moved around to the passenger side and opened the door for her.
    She turned that wonderful smile on him. “That’s just so nice, Clay,” she said as she climbed in. “I didn’t realize how much I like having a man hold my chair and open my door for me.”
    “Like I said, Sarah deserves the credit. She won’t tolerate sloppy manners from the men on her ranch.” He felt guilty being praised for gentlemanly behavior when he’d taken full advantage of his position by the door to enjoy the snug fit of her jeans as she climbed in.
    Under the circumstances he should be treating her like a kid sister and avoiding any sexual thoughts whatsoever. Yeah, right. She’d turned him on the first time he’d met her, and nothing had changed. If anything, his attention had become more intense.
    God, he should never have kissed her. What had he been thinking? He hadn’t been thinking—that was the answer. He’d walked over to her car and seen her sitting in it with her eyes closed and her hands clenched around the steering wheel.
    Instantly he’d worried that she was sick, and with Emmett gone, he was responsible for her well-being. But then she’d opened her eyes and he’d known right away that she