Page 27 of Hope's Highest Bidders

He walks toward me and stops at the door. He grabs his hat and leans down, forcing me to look at him. “This isn’t over, Sassy. And just so you know, that... what we shared.... that’s notnormal... it’s not usually like that... It won’t feel like that with someone else.”

With those words, he walks out the door, calling over his shoulder, “I’ll be seeing you soon.”

Instead of standing on the porch and watching him until he drives away like I normally would, I slam the door behind him.

So many emotions are going through my head, and I let them take over until I’m in a crying heap in my bed. This... all of it... was just a game to him. I’ve dreamed of kissing him, and now I’ll never get the feeling of it actually happening out of my mind. It may have been some kind of stupid lesson for him... but to me it was everything.

5

COLE

Ifucked up. I know I did.

I wasn’t kissing her to teach her some kind of fuckin’ lesson. I kissed her because I wanted to, because I needed to. Just the thought of her with another man has me wanting to kill someone.

I barely slept last night and rode out onto my ranch just as the sun was coming up. I know I need to think and figure out things, and the best place for me to do it is on the back of a horse. I ride until my horse Zeus and I are both breathless. I didn’t have a plan on where I was going, but it’s not completely strange that I end up out at the old swimming hole that’s on the edge of the Reid property line. I sit on Zeus and stare at the big magnolia tree, remembering the past.

It was shortly after Sassy had turned twenty last year that I found her out here in nothing but her bra and panties, swimming.

My cock flexes in my jeans just remembering the way she looked as she climbed out of the water.

I stare at the exact spot I saw her and get lost back in time. It was only last year, but it could have been yesterday it’s so vivid in my mind.

She doesn’t realize I’m watching her. My horse is grazing at the grass beneath his feet and I’m gripping the leather reins in my hand tightly.

She’s smiling, not a care in the world. She doesn’t realize that her underwear is translucent and is showing everything. Either that or she doesn’t care because she thinks she’s out here alone.

“Sassy,” I say, and my voice falters with a squeak. I clear my throat and try again. “Sassy,” I say louder.

Her head jerks as she finally spots me. I climb off of my horse and tie him to the fence before jumping over it onto her land. She’s watching me, smiling.

I take her in from the top of her head to the ends of her bare toes. She’s curvy, and she’s definitely a woman now.

“Hey, Cole,” she says with a smile on her face.

I pull my hat lower on my head as if that’s going to stop her from seeing the attraction on my face. “Sassy, you shouldn’t be out here.”

She looks at the fence line and back at me in confusion. “I shouldn’t be out on my property?”

“You’re at least two miles from your house, and no one’s around.”

She points to her horse that’s tied up to the tree. She has a rifle hooked into her saddle bag. Rolling her eyes, she tells me, “I have my rifle. I’m protected, Cole.”

Stubbornly, I tell her, “You still shouldn’t be out here...in your underwear.”

It’s then that she realizes what she’s wearing. She looks down at herself and sure enough, she spots her hard nipples pointing right at me through her thin bra. Her face turns red,but she doesn’t try to hide herself. Nope, she wouldn’t be Sassy if she did. If anything, she pulls her shoulders back, pushing her breasts out even more. “I don’t see what the big deal is. I was out here by myself.”

I walk closer to her, and she wavers for just a minute. I think she’s going to take a step back, but she surprises me when she stays where she’s at. I walk around her because I’m an idiot and a glutton for punishment, wanting to see all of her. Her ass is perfect globes, and my hands are itching to grab on to them.

I move back around to the front of her. “You’re not here by yourself now. Anyone could walk up on you.”

She lifts her head and boldly meets my gaze. “Yeah, but it’s just you, Cole. I’m not afraid of you.”

My eyes glitter. I want to bend her over my knee and spank her pretty ass for putting herself in this position. It’s probably true that no one would stumble on her out here, but if I did, one of my ranch hands or her dad’s ranch hands could do the same.

“You shouldn’t be afraid of me.”

She shrugs. “I’m not.”

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