Page 28 of The Cowboy Takes A Bride

“I’m sorry for the interruption.” He shifted in his seat and straightened the front of his pants. Meredith blushed and looked out the window.

“Maybe it was a good thing?” she mumbled.

“How so?”

“Don't you think it would be a mistake to...to...you know.” She clasped her hands together. “Mix business with pleasure.”

Jace wiped a hand down his face and blew out a breath. “No, I don't. I think it would make things more believable.”

“Do you really believe that?” Her blue eyes sparkled against her flushed cheeks.

Getting frisky looked good on her and, yeah, he really wanted to be right about it making things more believable between them if that meant they could pick up where they left off. But he wasn't right. He knew that.

He punched the steering wheel with his palm then said, “Yeah, you're right. It could cause serious complication.”

“I’m so embarrassed,” she mumbled, then looked away.

“Why?” He tried not to focus on any part of her body. As far as he was concerned, every part of her was begging for him to kiss it. But she'd brought up a good point. There would be no avoiding each other if this ended awkwardly and there was ahigh probability of that happening. They barely knew one another. Sex in the cab of his truck might not be the best way to start out this arrangement, whether his body wanted to or not.

He had to think of Pops.

She let her head fall back, resting it on the seat, and looked at the ceiling. “What you must think of me. First you catch me trying to skip out, breaking my word to Sabrina, then we strike a deal to help each other out, and now I'm all over you. Not a very clear message.”

He understood what she was saying; it was important to her not to be thought of negatively.

“It's clear we've got some chemistry between us. Maybe it'll help convince my folks that our marriage is genuine.”

She rolled her eyes to him. “Do you think we can pull this off?”

“Having sex? Hell yeah.”

When pink color stained her cheeks, he chuckled and said, “I think we take it day by day. How does that sound?”

“No, ah...” She gulped and leaned toward him. “Sex,” she said in a lowered voice. “I'm not the type... I haven't ever… I wouldn't be able to compartmentalize.” She shook her head.

Jace tried to decipher what she was saying and wondered if it was possible she was a virgin. He slowly nodded. They needed more time to get to know each other, and she needed to get her feet under her–so to speak. “Day by day sounds good.”

Tuck honked several times and pulled up to the truck heading the opposite direction so their driver’s sides lined up. Jace lowered his window.

“Dude, where you been? Shits getting real here. Fence is down in the east pasture, and we’re missing some heads.” Tuck looked past him to Meredith. “Whoa. Hey.” He scanned what he could of her and gave Jace a wide-eyed, questioning look.

“Tuck, this is Meredith. She and I got married this morning.”

Tuck's mouth dropped open before breaking into a wide grin.“You’re shitting me, right?” Tuck slapped the steering wheel.

Jace shook his head. “Sorry man, I would have had you there if I realized it wasn’t going to be the private ceremony I wanted.” He glanced at Meredith. “The private ceremony we wanted.” He smiled at her.

“Hell, man. Congratulations. Mandy is going to kill me. You know that right?” Tuck leaned back in his seat and looked across Jace. “Congratulations, Meredith. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Thank you. It’s nice to meet you as well.” Her eyes darted between Jace and Tuck’s. Sooner or later he’d like to hear her story and learn why she was so nervous around others. Preferably sooner.

“So about the fence and the cattle…” Tuck said.

“Let me get Meredith to the house and situated, and I’ll head out there with you and get it fixed up.”

Tuck nodded and, following a wag of his brows, drove away.

“I hate to leave ya like this, but we can’t afford to lose any more cattle.” He cruised slowly down the drive.

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