The Cowgirl's Chosen Love - Vivian Arend Page 0,41

full-on smile. “You okay?” he asked.

“I’ll explain the details later. I have very smart sisters,” she informed him.

“Smart runs in your gene pool.” He winked and slipped from the room.

It didn’t take that long to empty her apartment, but by the time they were done, a crowd of interested onlookers had gathered. A few pretended to rest on the bench across the street. More peered out the windows of Connie’s restaurant as Julia’s belongings were stacked in the back of the trucks.

“I need to get my car from the fire hall,” she told Zach after the final boxes were removed.

“I’ll drop you off before I head back to the ranch.” He made a face. “It’ll take me a bit to get my things out of your way.”

“Just stack my stuff on the porch or in one of the empty cabins for now,” Julia suggested. “I have what I need for tonight in my suitcase. And I have some work clothes stashed in my car I’ll grab for tomorrow.”

“Sounds good.”

A second later all the air shot from her lungs. He’d stepped in close. So close their torsos touched. But that didn’t seem to be enough because suddenly his hand slipped around her, pressed to her lower back. Contact between them increased as he dipped his head.

Julia pressed her palms against his chest to pause his forward motion. “What are you doing?” she whispered.

“We have an audience,” he whispered back. “Sorry.”

His lips brushed hers. Whisper-soft. Barely there. Just enough of a tease to set her heart pounding.

Her fingers curled involuntarily, caught in the soft brushed cotton of his T-shirt. The hard planes of his muscular chest rose under her palms. His breath ghosted over her skin.

Zach swept in again, his tongue teasing her lips. Tracing their outline until she opened, and he took total advantage. Between them, heat rose, a fire unfurling in her belly. His taste slid in, overwhelming her senses and filling her head.

He adjusted position, easing their bodies until they clicked like two pieces of Lego lined up just right. His hardness pressed against her, and she was shocked to discover her hands had moved of their own accord. Fingers now gliding through his hair as she leaned in and hungrily participated in the kiss. In the contact.

In the…very public display of affection that was even now bringing the catcalls and whistles from their rapt audience.

Zach eased the pressure between them, but he didn’t stop. Not right away. He took his damn time. So slow, in fact, that before his lips left hers, she felt them curl into a smile.

His pupils were dark and mesmerizing as he stared down, breathing heavily. “You good?”

“You’re bad,” she whispered.

“So are you,” he teased. “But since the point is that we’re supposed to be bad together, mission accomplished.” He let her go only long enough to link their hands as he led her to the passenger door of the truck. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”

10

Zach didn’t push it when they both finally made it back to the ranch. In fact, he made sure to stay as out of the way as possible after helping move in the boxes Julia needed to organize her room.

She caught him up on the idea her sisters had shared regarding being too stubborn to get a divorce, which made it easier to share their news. It also meant he had a guaranteed one-year timeframe to work within, which all things considered, he wasn’t going to complain about.

After she mentioned their need for rings and he promised to take care of it, it seemed appropriate to give her a little space to adjust to everything that had shaken down over the past forty-eight plus hours.

“Got some chores I need to do,” he informed her. “There’s leftover pizza in the freezer we can have for supper if that sounds okay.”

She didn’t pause her task of putting sheets on the bed. “I’ve got a bunch of stuff I rescued out of my fridge to make a salad. What time do you want to eat?”

“Six-thirty sound okay? I mean, I’ll be back so I can get things started. We can eat a bit later.”

“Okay. I might be organized by then, as well.” She waved him off and dove into a stack of pillows.

He walked away slowly, the whole ordinariness of the situation striking him as extremely bizarre.

Outside, the air had grown cooler, the fall wind sliding in from the mountains to the west. Still, he didn’t have much to complain about