Rocked by the Billionaire: A Billionaire's Club Story by Mandy Baxter Read Free Book Online Page B

every ounce of cowboy out of you.”
    He headed for the door and Kayleigh went after him as though she had no other choice. Luke had always had a magnetic pull that was too strong to fight. “There are a lot of things L.A. hasn’t managed to flush out of my system.” She shivered at the dark tenor of his voice and the way his eyes held hers when he turned to hold the door open for her. He leaned in over the top of her head and took a deep breath. Kayleigh’s eyelids fluttered as he released it. “Riding is one of them.”
    So much for getting him out of town. At the rate they were going, Luke would be sticking around for good.
    And if Luke decided to stay, Kayleigh knew that it would surely ruin them both.

Six
    Luke’s bravado had definitely gotten the better of him. He owned three of the ranch’s stock horses, but it had been almost a decade since he’d saddled up and it showed. His ass was killing him and Lucifer—Ryder’s idea of a joke—was living up to his name, making the trip to the back forty as hard on Luke as possible. Damned gelding nearly threw him after coming to a dead stop at the bottom of the knoll. It had given Kayleigh something to laugh about, though, so he’d let the bastard’s ornery streak slide for now.
    It might have been stupid to press his luck with her, especially after hearing her beg Ryder to get him out of town. Short of stripping her naked and licking her from head to toe right there in the foyer, he’d all but dared her to look him in the eye and tell him that she didn’t want him. And the fact that she hadn’t further proved that she couldn’t stay away from him any more than he could from her. He wasn’t ready to throw in the towel yet. Not as long as there was still this spark of electricity between them.
    Kayleigh brought her mare to a stop near a narrow stream that ran through the pasture. Short, brilliant green spring grass had begun to poke up through the dry white stubble of last season’s hay. In L.A. the seasons weren’t quite so marked. Nothing poked up through the sidewalks to indicate the coming of spring. Luke missed the rolling open fields and quiet solitude. Kayleigh hopped down from her mount and let the mare graze while she walked a few yards to the north and sat down under a giant oak tree, its newly sprouted leaves rustling in the light breeze.
    For a moment Luke just stared. Took in the sight of her, absorbed the calm that she projected. He’d taken more deep breaths in the past twenty-four hours than he had in the last five years. And each one of them smelled of lilacs and sage.
    “Do you remember that time we made a fort with Jase in Rich Davis’s wheat field?” Luke asked as he led his horse down to the creek. He tried to dismount without looking like a fool, but his foot got caught in the stirrup and he damned near fell flat on his face. If Kayleigh noticed, she didn’t let it show. Thank fuck. “I thought the old man was going to have a heart attack when he saw what we’d done.”
    “I remember thinking that it was so beautiful. A sea of gold and so thick you couldn’t see through it.”
    Luke could barely remember the field. But he remembered the way she’d looked that day, her cheeks flushed from running and her smile wide with laughter. He left his horse to graze next to hers and walked to the tree. She’d found a bed of spring clover to sit on.
    She looked out across the field and tucked her legs beneath her. “I also remember the split lip Jase ended up with after you hit him.”
    Jase was his twin and there was no one on the planet he was closer to. But that day, Jase had pushed him too far. Teasing Luke about his crush. Of course, Luke had denied it. When Jase threatened to kiss Kayleigh though, Luke had lost his cool and popped his brother in the face. They’d been fifteen at the time and that was the moment that he realized Kayleigh meant more to him than a simple friendship. Lying in the circle of wheat that they’d laid