Page 35 of Wrangling a Wild Texan

She froze in her tracks.

She had expected him to put a paint shirt on over his T-shirt, but it looked like she hadn’t made that clear. The naked muscles of his back flexed and released in a display of stunning masculinity as he slipped his arms in the sleeves of the shirt and pulled it over his broad shoulders.

It wasn’t until she felt something cold splashing her bare toes that she realized she was spilling the glass of water she held. She closed her eyes and took a deep, even breath before she turned to the bed. Sophie was fast asleep with Patsy Cline cuddled against her neck. After leaving the painkillers and water on the nightstand, Sunny turned to see Reid standing there with a concerned look on his face.

“She never said a word about feeling sick. Do I need to take her to the doctor?”

“She doesn’t need to go to the doctor. It’s just menstrual cramps.”

Reid’s face flamed. “Oh.”

His embarrassment made Sunny realize how difficult it must be for a single man to suddenly be thrown into a teenage girl’s world. Or vice versa. It had to be hard on Sophie too, living with a man who didn’t understand her needs. But there wasn’t anything Sunny could do about it. She had tried helping and look where that had gotten her. The best thing she could do was keep her mouth shut . . . and her lust contained.

“Well, let’s get started.” She headed to the tables where she and Jesse had placed the sign. Last night, she had primed and painted over the original sign so it was now a blank slate.

When Reid saw it, he wasn’t too happy. “I thought we were just going to paint over the extrat.”

That would have been much simpler, but she felt like she owed Noelle and Sheryl Ann more than just a simple paint job. “The sign was old and needed repainting anyway. So I decided to completely redo it.”

She had let Noelle believe she was just helping Sophie out, but she would find out eventually—along with all the other sisters—that Sunny was actually the one responsible for both times the sign had been defaced. Sunny was sure the gossip was already spreading like wildfire. That’s why she wanted to make the sign spectacular. She hoped it would be a small way to show everyone how sorry she was.

Collecting her supplies, she got to work applying the stencils she’d made for the lettering and sketching out the graphics. Since Noelle now made all kinds of desserts, not just muffins, Sunny had decided to fill the sign with pies, cupcakes, cookies, and other delicious treats.

She was so focused on sketching the perfect graphics she didn’t notice Reid standing behind her watching until he spoke.

“You’re really good at that.”

She jumped and dropped the pencil. When she turned to him, he was looking at the pie she’d just drawn.

“So where did you learn to do that? Or does it just come naturally?”

She went back to sketching. “A little of both. I’ve always had a knack for drawing, but I’ve also taken a lot of art classes.”

There was a long pause before he spoke again. “I’m no artist, but I could probably stay between the lines of those lettering stencils.

It turned out he was much better at detail work than Sunny. As he painted each stenciled letter, he kept a steady hand and an intense focus that never strayed from his brush.

Sunny wasn’t staying as focused. Every few seconds, she couldn’t keep her gaze from wandering over to Reid. The sexy curve of his jeaned butt as he bent over the sign. The flexing of his forearm muscles with each stroke of his brush. The cute way the tip of his tongue peeked out between his lips as he concentrated on his task. She wondered if he gave the same intense focus to everything he did: herding cows, riding horses . . . making love.

The last thought conjured up other thoughts. Thoughts of Sunny being stretched out on the table while Reid completely focused on painting her—not with a paintbrush, but with his calloused fingertips, firm lips, and hot tongue.

“Am I doing it wrong?”

The words had her blinking out of her fantasy to see Reid glancing over at her with a questioning look.

“Umm . . . no, you’re doing great.” She turned back to the cupcake with sprinkles she’d been painting.

Once Reid finished painting all the letters he could paint without getting in Sunny’s way, he took the brush to the sink to rinse it. With him gone, it was much easier to stay focused. In fact, she got so focused on her vision for the sign that she didn’t pay much attention to what Reid was doing until he spoke.

“Did you paint this?”

She glanced up to see him standing at the easel in the corner, holding up the drop cloth.

“Don’t look at that!” She quickly set down her paintbrush and hurried over to snatch the drop cloth out of his hand and re-cover the painting. His stunned look at her outburst had her face burning with embarrassment. “I’m sorry, but I don’t want anyone to see something that was just for practice.”

He glanced at the drop cloth. “It looks like you spent an awful lot of time on something that was just for practice.” He looked back at her and his eyes narrowed. “So what’s really going on?”

“I told you. I’m just protective about my art.”

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