“Actually, he grew up here.”
“Are you trying to be argumentative?” I snapped.
The wide grin on her face only pissed me off. “Nope. Just pointing out the obvious.”
“And all the tattoos. You show me one man who has tattoos like on this cover, who doesn’t have a beer belly and a gnarly beard that has food stuck in it!”
“Ryder, Archer, Liam, Michael, Maverick?—”
“I said one!” I shouted, cutting her off before she could name the one man with sexy blue eyes that I couldn’t stop thinking about.
“Look, all I’m trying to say is that romance novels depict these men in unrealistic ways. There is no man out there who will make me fall to my knees or be that good in bed that I’ll never want to leave him. It’s just not going to happen!”
She bit her lip, holding back her laughter.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing. It’s just that a sexy man with a trimmed beard, tattoos covering his body, built like a machine, and amazing blue eyes happens to be outside your shop right now.”
Mortified, I spun around only to find no one there.
“You lied,” I seethed.
She gathered an armful of books, laughing at me. “Yeah, but you should have seen your face.”
4
SAM
“I look ridiculous,”I muttered as I stared at myself in the mirror.
“Trust me, you don’t want loose jeans when you ride a horse,” Michael said, grabbing a set of chaps for me, tossing them in my face.
“And why do I need these?”
“Well, for one, it’s cold out, and these will help keep you warm. Second, it helps with chafing. Third, you really don’t want to know what it feels like when a horn hits your thigh. And last, but not least. It’ll protect you when we walk through the high grass, thorns, and brush.”
“There is no brush. It’s the middle of fucking winter.”
“It’s actually still fall. The first day of winter is December 21st.”
“It feels like winter,” I grumbled.
“Then I refer you back to my first point. It’s fucking cold out there.”
I sighed, already hating the idea of helping him with anything to do with the ranch. I was supposed to be recovering from my injury, not riding horses.
“Look, maybe I should just?—”
“Nope. Krista asked me to get you out of the house. You’re driving her fucking crazy. And on top of that, your sister is worried about you.”
“Fucking ridiculous,” I muttered, adjusting my dick in the overly-tight pants. How could anyone walk around in these? There was no room for anything to breathe.
“What’s ridiculous is that you moved out here with no clue what your next step would be.”
“And riding a horse is going to suddenly enlighten me?” I asked sarcastically.
“You never know.”
