Page 29 of Claimed By the Cowboys

Dalton lets out a breath. His fingers gently tug the fabric until it goes onto the floor with a gentle woosh.

My heart feels like it’s beating so loud, I’m sure that he can hear it. One hundred percent. There’s no way he can’t.

Dalton’s eyes trace over my skin. Everywhere he looks, my skin breaks out in bumps, like he’s trailing his fingers over me. Ifeel like my nerves are just strung with lightning right now. Like I’m a house that’s had electrical work done by someone’s shady uncle.

God. I can’t do this. The whole reason I had the no kissing rule was that it was safe. It kept me from being too intimate, from making it more than just being friends.

This feels way, way different than friends helping each other out. I had no idea that it would feel like… this.

I’m panicking. I know I am. Dalton might not know it yet, but I do. I need to leave, but I don’t know how to do that without making him feel bad…

“Piper,” he says. His voice is low and rough and almost physically makes me moan. “Listen to me.”

The order does something to me. It snaps me to attention, and I look up at him.

“Breathe,” he whispers.

I suck in a huge, halting breath, before letting it out.

Dalton nods. “Good girl.”

Oh.Oh my.

“Do that again.”

Dalton tilts his head in question, and I take a breath.

“Tell me what to do. And tell me…” My voice trails off, and I bite my lip.

Dalton’s brown eyes flash with understanding. “Good girl?”

I nod.

The pupils in his eyes explode, moving to take up so much space that his brown eyes look almost black. He takes a step back, surveying me again.

“Take off your jeans,” he orders.

It’s like my body is on autopilot. I don’t have to think about anything; all I need are Dalton’s words, telling me what to do.

Take off your jeans.

My hands do just that. They unbutton my jeans, taking them apart as I shimmy them off. I’m not wearing underwear that is particularly sexy, but it’s something that I find… pretty. And it is made of white lace. Just like my bra.

Dalton makes a rumbling sound. He looks at the bed, then at me. “Lie down on your back.”

Silently, I do that.

Dalton prowls to the edge of the bed. He stops, his hands tugging at the bottom of his pearl-snap button-down. When he takes it off, my breath catches in my throat.

Dalton is… Okay, hot is an understatement. He’sgorgeous. His body is sculpted by hard work and horseback riding, and I want to touch it.

But that would be… kind of intimate. So is looking at him, actually. I want to turn over to be on my hands and knees, but then that brings up the whole ‘prized cattle’ feeling again, and I definitely want to avoid that.

“Piper.” Dalton’s growl interrupts my swirling thoughts.

I gulp. “Yeah?”

“Stop thinking,” he commands.

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