Page 10 of Wrangle Me, Cowboys

“So I’ve heard.”

“I’m going back to work,” Waylon said. “I don’t have time for gossip.” When his hand left my shoulder, I felt woozy again, and desperate for his hand to steady me. But he stomped out of the kitchen, leaving me with his two brothers and his mother.

“I just think you might be happier someplace else,” Lidia said to me. “My ex-husband has no right to force you to live with these boys. And neither does your mother.”

“She didn’t force me to,” I said. “It’s a break for me, that’s all. I needed to get away, anyway. And in case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve been decorating around here. I’ve never seen such a bare bones place as this. The only decoration in the whole house is a rack of antlers and a bear skin on the floor. It looks like a hunting lodge, not a home.”

“Well,” Lidia said with a huff. “That’s not my style, but they are boys.”

“Doesn’t mean the place couldn’t use a woman’s touch.”

Sawyer smiled at me. “Trust me, Mother, Amber’s no trouble for us.”

“Depends on your definition of trouble,” she muttered.

Ain’t that the truth, I thought, trying not to openly ogle Sawyer as he peeled off his jacket.

6

Amber

When Holden took their mother outside to show her some new farm equipment, I finally breathed again. “Sorry about that,” Sawyer said, taking a seat beside me. “Our mother can be a handful.”

“All women are,” I said lightly. But inside, I was fuming.

“Here, I think you’ve earned another glass,” Sawyer said, pouring some wine and handing it to me.

I took the wine and set it down carefully, so I wouldn’t spill any when I turned and punched him in the shoulder. “You could have warned me,” I hissed. “I made a total ass of myself.”

“You do have a pretty nice ass…”

“Not funny,” I growled. “She hates me!”

“Aww, no one could hate you, Princess,” he said, reaching out and slowly tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. His touch lingered on my cheek.

“This doesn’t feel like brotherly love,” I whispered.

“The house isn’t the only thing that could use a woman’s touch,” he said, leaning closer.

“Is that so?” I turned in my chair to face him.

Sawyer pressed his forehead to mine, his eyes cast down at my wine-stained lips.

Suddenly breathless, I lifted my hands and steadied myself by clutching his massive arms. My god, I’d never found muscles so sexy in my life. Slowly, he moved the tip of his nose back and forth across mine, a smile beginning on his lips. Tingles spread down my spine, and my back arched, wanting to get closer. I clenched my knees together against the heat swelling between them.

His hand slid from my ear to the back of my neck, and he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

“Kiss me,” I whispered.

He did. His kiss wasn’t tentative and soft like Holden’s. It was passionate and forceful. His tongue took command of mine, and I was lost. My pussy throbbed as he angled his head sideways to taste my mouth more deeply. I’d never been kissed like that in my life—as if he wanted to know every millimeter of my mouth, my tongue, my lips. As if he wanted to claim them for his own. A sound escaped my mouth, somewhere between a moan and a whimper.

Embarrassing. But who the hell cared? I was too busy kissing my stepbrother to worry about it. I mean, sure I’d made out with Charlie tons. Usually I was desperately trying to get him to show just a little bit of passion, instead of doing everything in the mechanical way he had. He kissed like he’d researched how to kiss on the internet, and he was following the steps exactly, and no deviation was allowed.

Sawyer’s kiss was nothing but passion, his tongue claiming mine, his breath coming fast. He bent me backwards with the force of it, and I dropped my hand to his knee to steady myself. His skin was hot through his jeans, and I wanted to run my hand all the way up his thigh and touch him the way I’d done the night we’d slept on the living room floor together.

Before I could, he pulled away.

I wanted to howl in frustration. I grabbed the front of his shirt, trying to keep the kiss going, but he pried my fingers loose. “We’d better stop now, or I won’t be able to,” he said, breathing hard.