Her Summer Cowboy by Katherine Garbera - Her Summer Cowboy Read Free Book Online Page A

much more. “Tonight. I don’t think you want more from me. I think any guy who can distract you from whatever is going through your head would be a welcome. And I need you to want me not just any guy.”
    She bit her lower lip and started to turn away. She glanced back at him over her shoulder. “You’re right. I’m not sure how you figured it out before I did, but that is exactly what I’m looking for. Some kind of fight or anything to force me out of my head.”
    He nodded.
    “But that doesn’t for a minute mean that I didn’t know I was talking to you. You’re the only man I have on my mind tonight, Hudson.”

Chapter Five
    S he had been hoping that maybe she’d be able to find herself tonight. It was funny to her because for years she’d hidden that part of her soul away and forgotten about the pain and the love. But tonight she wanted more. She had wanted to forget again.
    She’d wanted to feel young and in love. Not like this messed-up-inside woman that she was. But she’d played a game. She’d been afraid to ask for what she wanted and it had backfired on her. Hudson couldn’t be blamed for pushing back at her.
    If she’d been honest and said she needed some company tonight maybe that would have been better. She walked away from him and the horse, wondering why she hadn’t just been honest.
    Was this her dad’s legacy to her?
    Fear and doubt.
    “Wait up.”
    She paused as Hudson caught up with her and then fell into step beside him. He was a big guy but it was more his inner presence that reassured her. There was something inside of him that made her feel safe. And that was silly because she hadn’t been in danger ever.
    “Sorry about that. I just wanted to see you. The last few days have been busy and I didn’t mean—”
    “I’m sorry. Listen. I can be a dumb redneck when it comes to women. There have been times when I let myself get in over my head and then regretted it. I’m not saying that could happen with you but I just…I like you, Emma. I like how feisty you are when it comes to protecting Alan. Your grit when you dig in and push through your own fears to make sure you don’t disappoint him.
    “But I need to be sure that I’m not pretending this is anything but what you said. A summer affair.”
    She got it. She was going back to her life when the tour ended and that meant teaching school in Georgia and visiting Gramps on the holidays. She didn’t see a place in that life for a Montana man determined to get back home?
    “Fair enough.”
    He grabbed her hand and twined his fingers with hers. She looked down and then up at him. She wasn’t sure what he wanted or needed from her now. “Tell me about performing tonight.”
    She took a deep breath and the word friend echoed through her brain. She started talking about the songs and how once the spotlight was on Gramps it had become like second nature to just sing. She talked about the show but all of her focus was their joined hands. And how she wished she’d been a little more direct when she’d seen him and his horse.
    She wished she were the brave woman that Gramps saw her as. But she never had been. Why couldn’t she be?
    Tonight with the breeze blowing softly around them she felt like she could be someone else. Someone who didn’t have her history and her chains to weigh them down. Wasn’t that what everyone was looking for? Even Hudson.
    “How’d you like riding on stage?” she asked. She had stepped outside to get out of her own head.
    “It was okay. I’m not going to get addicted to doing that,” he said with a grin. As he smiled over at her she noticed one of his front teeth was just a little crooked. A tiny little imperfection in a man who seemed to have no flaws.
    “What do you see yourself doing?” she asked. “You’re heading home to do what?”
    He shrugged those big shoulders and dropped her hand. He kept walking next to her but she sensed he’d gone someplace far away in his head. “I’m not