From This Moment On - By Debbi Rawlins Page 0,20

waited until just before he came to meet her. Taking another pleasant whiff, he vaguely reasoned that needing a razor didn’t play into any part of today’s—

Shit.

He froze in sheer panic, though he obviously wasn’t panicked enough. She was too short for her ass to be a strategic hit to his fly, but her lower back was doing a fine job. He had an erection the size of a national monument.

“Hey, you know...” He moved so that they weren’t touching, caught her shoulders when she lost her footing. “A stool is a good idea.” He couldn’t let her turn around and see him like this, let her think his motives for bringing her out here were anything but aboveboard. “I’ll get one and you can keep it in your truck for next time.”

Dammit all to hell. He rushed past her, afraid there wasn’t enough cold water in the whole state of Montana to cool him down.

* * *

“TRACE.” NIKKI UNDERSTOOD the problem. What she didn’t know was whether she should admit it or try to act as if she hadn’t noticed. If she came clean, she risked the chance that this innocent and very sweet overture on Trace’s part would turn into something that couldn’t be undone. Because she was turned on, too. How could she not be?

She knew what was under that brown T-shirt. And he had strong muscled arms that made her feel protected and safe—which was juvenile, because she knew better, from personal experience. A man could use his good looks and charm to make a woman believe promises he had no intention of honoring.

To be fair to Trace, he was slowly proving that maybe she’d been too quick to judge him. He had sides to him she hadn’t expected. In his own subtle way, Matt had tried to tell her there was more to Trace. But as much as she had grown to love her brother, when it came to men, she trusted her own instincts over anyone else’s. Right now, though, she was a little shaky in that department.

“Trace.”

“Yep.” He was keeping his back to her and stroking Gypsy’s neck.

Nikki had no desire to get in the mare’s space or to embarrass him, so she stayed back a few feet. “Thank you for taking time away from your work to do this for me. Gypsy, I want to thank you, too.”

He smiled at her over his shoulder, then frowned and leaned into the mare, his ear close to her muzzle. “What’s that?” He drew back, looking annoyed and glaring at poor Gypsy. “I’ve warned you about your manners.”

Nikki laughed. “Okay... What did she say?”

“‘Talk is cheap. Where’s my damn apple.’”

“You’re nuts.”

“Yeah, Gypsy said that, too.” He was still smiling when he moved to unfasten the saddlebag.

She knew he couldn’t still be hard or he’d be turned away, but she had to look. Not quite normal yet, though not nearly as impressive as five minutes ago. She almost sighed. Such a waste.

Gypsy had to know what was coming. Stretching her neck, she turned to watch him pull out her treat.

“I’m not sure why, but I’m surprised you feed her apples.”

“I don’t usually.” He shrugged. “Sometimes I let a guest give her one. I thought you might like to.”

“Um, I—I—” She ended in a soft whimper.

“Not now. I’d hoped we’d get a little further.” He gave the glossy red apple to Gypsy, who chomped down on it. Wow, she had big teeth. “Maybe next time,” he said. “You still game to try again?”

“Tomorrow?”

He shook his head. “Maybe the day after. I’ve got something going on in the morning and can’t predict when I’ll be done.”

She’d bet it had something to do with the guests, which shouldn’t matter to her. And it didn’t...not at all...

Now that she thought about it, he hadn’t flirted with her once. Not like he did at the bar. The hard-on didn’t count. It was a natural physical reaction and he’d run from it.

Huh.

“You know I don’t have to leave yet,” she said. “Unless you do.”

“No, I planned on us spending a couple hours out here. What time do you have to be at Sadie’s?”

“Around five.”

“You going straight there?”

She nodded. “I’m not hot and sweaty so I don’t need to go home first.”

He gazed up at the passing cloud cover, adjusting his hat to protect his eyes. “It feels nice in the shade.”

“Yes, it does.”

Silence stretched, and she didn’t understand why it suddenly seemed awkward between them. They’d moved past the embarrassing hard-on thing