Lori had always loved helping Marcus out with his vineyard in Napa, but even so, she was surprised by how much she liked working on a farm, with the exception of cleaning bathrooms. She’d enjoyed using the riding lawnmower that morning, and had loved the thrill of having all that power between her legs. She also really liked having her hands in the rich soil as she weeded the garden, and the pigs and chickens had become like a second family to her by now.
She had just finished mucking out the mama pig’s stall and was giving her boots a gentle hose-down when Grayson suddenly walked out of the stables. “I just heard from the neighbor to the west of here that one of my fences is down and the cows are grazing on his land. We need to get over there immediately to fix it. I’ve saddled Rosie for you.”
Lori knew she could be stubborn and full of pride. Impulsive, too. But she wasn’t stupid. Which was why she had no problem at all admitting, “I don’t know how to ride a horse. Can’t we get out to the fence another way?”
“Not without the sound of the motor driving even more cows into the neighbor’s field.”
She took a deep breath. “Okay, then, why don’t you give me a quick riding lesson?”
“We don’t have time for a lesson.”
He looked as frustrated as she felt. She knew they were nothing more than employer and farmhand, but oh, how she wished he’d talk to her, look at her, for some other reason than because of a fence or a dirty house that needed cleaning or because she’d just screwed something up.
She wished even more that she could just stop wishing, already.
Finally, he informed her, “You’re going to have to ride with me.” He looked none too happy about it.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” she said, not happy about it either. Considering the way her body instantly heated up even from two dozen feet away, she knew that his avoiding her had been a good idea...and that riding on a horse together was an equally bad one.
She couldn’t get on a horse with Grayson, couldn’t be that close to all his marvelously big, hard muscles. Especially when he was looking even more brooding, mysterious, and super-crazy-sexy today in his jeans and work shirt and cowboy hat and boots.
“More of my cows could get out if we take much longer and it looks like there’s a storm coming in. Go put on a coat.”
As he went back into the stable to bring his horse outside, she looked up at the sky, at the puffy white clouds in the bright blue. There was a light breeze, but the sun was warm and she didn’t believe there was even the slightest chance of a storm in the near future. No, she suspected he was simply trying to make her cover up so that he could pretend she wasn’t a woman while they bumped and slid and rocked against each other in the saddle.
He gave her one of his finely tuned irritated looks when he came back out and saw that she was still just wearing her thin T-shirt. She shot him one right back.
“Come here and I’ll hoist you up.”
Hating the way he talked about her as if she were a sack of grain, she said, “I can get up on the horse myself, thank you.”
But boy, did it seem like a long way up, and when she stalled a minute too long, on a sound of deep frustration Grayson’s arms went around her waist and he all but tossed her up on the horse’s back. She grabbed the saddle horn and hung on for dear life, but he was seated behind her a moment later, his strong legs and hard chest holding her firmly in place.
When he kicked the horse into a trot, it wasn’t the sudden movement that stole all the breath from Lori’s lungs, it was Grayson’s warmth, his strength, his deliciously male scent...and the swift rush of desire that she didn’t have even the slightest prayer of ignoring.
* * *
Lord, why did the cows have to bust through the fence today? And why hadn’t he taken an extra couple of minutes to figure out something else—anything else—so that he wouldn’t be up here in a hell of his own making with the sexiest damned cowgirl who had ever graced the earth?
Grayson had never been so hard in all his life, and he had a bad feeling he hadn’t been thinking with the right head when he’d decided Lori would have to ride with him.
“Wow, is all of this really yours?” He couldn’t miss the wonder in her voice as she added, “It’s so beautiful—do you ever feel like you’re living in a painting? And oh, look at that!” She gasped with pleasure as she pointed out at the ocean. “No wonder you decided to move here from New York.”
For the past years, his land had been a refuge. It had been a way to leave the rest of the world behind. But he had never let himself truly take in the beauty. Not until he couldn’t help but see it through the wonder in Lori’s eyes.
“You’re very lucky,” she said as they rode closer to the broken fence, close enough to hear the waves crashing on the shore below. “Very, very lucky.”
She was right, he was, but not because he owned such amazing property.
No, today his luck meant getting to hold a beautiful girl who saw wonder in everything in his arms for a little while under the pretext of needing to keep her steady on his horse.
Because even though it was the last thing he should be doing, in this one rare moment where they weren’t arguing, or glaring, or being frustrated with each other, Grayson couldn’t find a way to stop himself from drinking in every precious second with Lori.
* * *
Two hours later...
Lori tried not to shiver, but it was getting so cold. Where had the wind come from so quickly? When they’d left Grayson’s farmhouse, the sky had been blue and cloudless, the air still. She hated that he’d been right when he’d told her a storm was coming in and she should put on a jacket.
If only she didn’t feel like she needed to do the opposite of everything he said. It was just that if she didn’t, he’d think he was winning.
And she couldn’t let him win. She couldn’t let any man win ever again.
Which was why it was so important that she stay on top of things with Grayson. Especially when it came to blocking the attraction between them that simmered beneath the surface of every look, every word, every accidental touch.
She didn’t even like him. Not very much, anyway. So she refused to want him. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts. She was not interested in sleeping with Grayson. Definitely not.
Only, despite how much she was willing herself to remain warm in the cold breeze, she couldn’t keep a hard shiver from running through every last inch of her. She sighed as she picked up the pliers, the cool handles feeling like blocks of ice in her already chilled hands.