The Fantasy Factor by Kimberly Raye Read Free Book Online Page B

to the image of her so soft and warm and ready. He’d fantasized then the way he always did when her memory managed to distract him, but it wasn’t nearly as fulfilling as usual.
    Because he’d gotten a taste of the real thing and he wanted more.
    She’d not only kissed him, she’d gotten under his skin and fired his blood, and no matter how many times he played his favorite memory over and over in his head, it wasn’t enough to slake the lust eating at his common sense.
    He needed the real woman for that.
    Which meant he had to get Sarah out of his thoughts and into his arms for the final four of the Sexiest Seven. Then he could stop thinking and fantasizing and wondering.
    He would know. His curiosity as satisfied as his greedy body. Then he would leave Cadillac the way he always did, but this time he would be rid of the fantasy that had haunted him all these years. He could forget her for good and sever the one tie to his past. And then he could concentrate on his future. On breaking the championship record and proving his old man wrong once and for all.
    In the meantime…
    He turned his attention back to Hank.
    “You still got that old mechanical bull out back?”
    “I might.”
    “Think you can still run it as good as you did back in the old days?”
    “Does a bear shit in the woods?” He grinned. “What did you have in mind?”
    “I need to practice. To stay in top form for Vegas.”
    Hank grinned. “You came to the right place, boy. Ain’t nobody gives a ride like me and old Nell out back.”
    Actually, Houston could think of someone who did, but he’d made up his mind not to think about her for the time being. She was the one who needed to think. To burn.
    If she got hot enough, he had no doubt she would come to him. He just hoped it didn’t take too long.
    He’d never been a patient man when it came to something he wanted, and he wanted Sarah Buchanan.
    Almost as much as he wanted that tenth championship.
    “We can start first thing tomorrow if you want,” Hank said. “I’ve got my boy Harley over there—” he pointed to a twenty-something man shoveling oats into a feeder “—to help out with the chores here and a foreman who oversees the ranch, so most of my time is my own.”
    “How about today?” Houston needed to slide his hand under the grip, feel the rope cut into his palm. Maybe then he could forget the softness of her skin. The warmth. “Right now.”
    “Harley!” Hank called out. The young man, dressed in worn jeans and boots, the sleeves of his plaid button-down shirt rolled up to his elbows, turned toward them. “Go on out back and pull the tarp off of Nellie. We’ve got an old friend here who wants to say hello.”
    “You sure?”
    “I said so, didn’t I?”
    “Hot damn!” The young man grinned, shoved the scoop into the large sack of oats and headed for the rear of the barn.
    Hank grinned and turned to Houston. “Follow me.”
     

    “I’ M SO SORRY , G RANDMA . I got caught up at the nursery and forgot the time.” Hey, it was the truth. She didn’t say she’d been caught up with the nursery, just at the nursery. She kissed the old woman on the cheek and headed into the kitchen to retrieve the dinner plates.
    No more, she told herself. She was not going to think about him, or the way that his lips felt eating at her own, or the way his fingers had plucked at her nipple in the dark corner of the VFW Hall last night. Or the way he’d traced those lazy circles right against her—
    “You look flushed, dear.” Her grandmother’s voice shattered the thought.
    Sarah whirled. A plate slipped from her hand and crashed to the floor. “Oh, no.” She dropped to her hands and knees and started to retrieve pieces. “I’m so sorry, Grandma. I know these are your favorite dishes. I can’t believe I’m so clumsy.” She gathered a few large shards. “Maybe I can glue it.”
    “It’s all right.” Grandma Willie hobbled into the kitchen and opened the trash can.