Silk and Spurs by Cheyenne McCray Read Free Book Online Page A

to the side. “I bet you played football in school.”
    “High school and college ball.” He nodded.
    She grinned. “Oooh, I bet all the girls were after you.”
    He gave her a quirky smile. “A few.”
    “Ha.” She pointed a barbeque chip at him. “I’ll bet a lot more than a few.”
    With a shrug he said, “What about you? I know the boys had to have been nuts over you.”
    She laughed. “No, not me. I was on the bookish side and preferred my camera over swooning over boys.”
    “But you had boyfriends,” he insisted.
    She shook her head. “I had a few crushes but not really any boyfriends.”
    “Can’t imagine that,” he said as he studied her.
    She felt herself start to grow warm from the way he was looking at her.
    “You have a few crumbs on your face.” He raised his fingers and her cheek tingled from his touch when he brushed them away.
    Jessie went rigid. He was engaged and he was touching her in a way that made her feel like she meant something to him.
    She barely knew him but she realized something that made her heart ache—she was already falling in love with him.
    With her eyes averted from his, she scooted up on the blanket and got to her feet. “I’m not feeling so well. I want to go back to the ranch house.”
    “Are you all right, Jessie?” he asked with concern in his voice.
    “My stomach is really upset.” She lied to him because she didn’t know what else to do. If she didn’t, she might find herself in the arms of a man who belonged to someone else and she knew her heart couldn’t handle it. “I think I need to go back to the guestroom and lie down.”
    “All right.” He stood and started gathering their picnic items and putting them back into the basket.
    When they were packed up she gave him a smile that she desperately attempted to make look genuine. “Thanks,” she said. “I’m sorry to ruin our picnic.”
    He touched the side of her face and she had to force herself not to jerk back from his touch. “What’s important is that you feel better.” He let his hand fall away and he smiled, but his expression was concerned.
    It made her feel like a heel for lying, but at the same time she figured he should be the one to feel bad. He shouldn’t play with her heart like that.

Chapter 7
     
     
    Jessie shut the door to her apartment hard then tossed her duffel bag onto her overstuffed couch and set the backpack with her camera and equipment on a chair. She stood in the middle of her small living room, closed her eyes, and clenched her hands.
    Leaving the note on Zane’s breakfast bar and taking off for Tucson in the middle of the night had been the coward’s way out, but all she’d known was that she had to get away from him.
    Why did he have to do that? Make her feel like there could ever be something between them. She brought her hands to her chest and held them over her heart.
    After several deep breaths, she opened her eyes. How could she possibly fall for someone so fast? At least she was smart enough to recognize it.
    She’d been cheated on and she wasn’t going to start a relationship with a man who would be cheating on his fiancée. No way was she going to be the other woman.
    A couple of her friends were photographers. She’d talk one of them into finishing the job for her. The Camerons were paying very well, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.
    She shoved hair out of her face, grabbed her duffel bag from off of the couch, and headed down the hallway to her bedroom. The apartment seemed cramped and lonely after having spent some time on the ranch where everything was so big and open and there was always something going on.
    Once she made it into her bedroom she set the duffel on the bed, unzipped it, and searched for her bag of toiletries. Feeling almost mechanical, she took them into her bathroom, brushed her teeth, and washed her face before getting into her shorty nightgown and climbing into bed. For a long moment she stared at the blank TV that was in