The Curvy Vet and the Billionaire Cowboy (He Wanted Me Pregnant!) by Victoria Wessex Read Free Book Online

drink. I could feel Russ’s eyes burning into my back the whole way.

Chapter 7
     
    We tethered the horses behind some trees, out of sight, and settled down to wait. It was going to be hours before the horse got thirsty enough to come back… if she did. There was nothing to do except talk, and I was starting to feel all talked out. The tension between us—if it wasn’t just in my head—seemed to be building moment by moment. Something was going to happen, or I was going to explode.
    I looked down at my sweat-soaked body. The fast descent had been grueling and I hadn’t been able to take my shirt off or the fierce sun would have burned me even with sunblock on. Now it was clinging to my back. “I’d give a hundred bucks for a shower right about now,” I said without thinking.
    Russ was sitting with his back to me. In theory, it was so that we could watch the whole valley more easily, but having him close, but out of my eye line had another effect, too. It meant we could talk to each other without having to look each other in the eye. And sometimes, maybe, that’s what you need.
    “You know what’s better than a shower?” asked Russ.
    “What?”
    I felt his head turn, his short hair brushing against my long locks. He’d turned to look at the lake, gleaming in the afternoon sun, its slow ripples making the surface look as thick as liquid silver.
    “Tell me you’re not seriously suggesting skinny dipping,” I said, the syllables slow and unfamiliar on my tongue.
    “Why not?”
    The words hung in the air. The fact I didn’t have to look at him, that I could blush as much as I wanted to and no one could see, made it easier.
    “Because we’re not sixteen!” I said. “And we’re not… together!”
    I felt him get up. “Well, I’m going in.”
    I half turned around in shock and saw him grinning, lifting his shirt over his hard, rippling abs. I immediately turned around and sat back down again, fixing my gaze on a tree. “You are not!” I said urgently.
    I heard the rustle of his shirt. Then the heavy thud of his cowboy boots hitting the ground. “What about the horse?” I asked.
    “You said yourself she won’t come back here for hours. Might as well pass the time.” The jangle of his belt as his jeans fell around his ankles. I swallowed and kept my eyes firmly ahead. But my ears were straining for the sound of—
    The whisper of cotton as he pulled down his shorts. I’d glimpsed the waistband peeking over his jeans, so I knew they were black. Now they were lying on the grass and, only a few feet behind me, the man I’d fantasized about was completely naked.
    All I had to do was turn around. And…what? Throw myself into his arms? Kiss him?
    “I’m going to go get in, now,” he said.
    “I’m not,” I said quickly.
    I heard him pad away through the grass and then the splash of him hitting the water. He’s actually done it!
    I turned slowly towards the lake. Russ was about ten feet out from shore, treading water with just his head sticking out. With the sunlight hitting the water, I couldn’t see his body below the waterline. He swam closer. “Come on, Amanda,” he said. “Take a chance.”
    I swallowed. “I—I can’t.” I looked over my shoulder at the horses. I wanted to run away. I wanted to get on Constantine and not stop until I reached Atlanta.
    Russ swam closer still. “Do you know what I thought, when I saw you?”
    A thousand awful things went through my mind. “Don’t,” I said quickly.
    “I thought, my God I want that woman.”
    The world seemed to stop.
    “I thought, she has the most perfect, ripe body I’ve ever seen. She has gorgeous, fiery hair and a killer ass I want to grab with both hands and hang onto.”
    I listened, amazed.
    “And when I talked to you in the diner I knew you were kind, and whip-smart, and you’d do anything to help an animal. Even come out here, with me. You’re way outside your comfort zone, aren’t you?”
    I nodded. “Even if you had