Page 16 of Wild, Wild Cowboy

When Hannah offeredto drive us back, I didn’t protest. It had been a long day, and the thought of folding my aching body into the driver’s seat did not appeal. That was part of the healing process no one had warned me about. Lifting your foot back and forth between the gas and brake pedals, even just keeping constant pressure on the gas, used a shit ton of muscles from your abdomen all the way down to your toes. Driving fucking hurt.

With Hannah in the driver’s seat—looking fucking adorable and completely out of place, I might add—I pushed my seat back as far as it would go and took the opportunity to stretch my body and massage sore muscles. Hopefully it would be enough to keep me mobile tomorrow.

I tucked Hurricane Red to the back of my mind, even though I knew he was going to poke back out again at three a.m. We spent the two-hour drive talking about the rodeo for the library, what events we would include—barrel racing and mutton busting seemed to be her top priorities, but reining and roping events would be the headliners—and what permits and insurance we would need. Brax was handling that part of the rodeo, but I told Hannah I’d check in with him to make sure he had everything he needed to keep us out of trouble.

And then suddenly we were pulling into her driveway after what felt like maybe thirty minutes. I hustled out of the truck so I could open the driver’s door for her and help her down.

“You don’t have to walk me to my door,” she said.

“It feels good to move,” I countered, and it was true, but I would have seen her to the door even if I’d had to crawl on myhands and knees behind her. Not because I doubted her ability to make it the twenty feet from my truck to her porch, but because I had manners. Some traditions were worth keeping, even when they didn’t make a whole lot of rational sense. She could drive my truck anytime she wanted, but she sure as fuck wasn’t walking to her door alone.

She unlocked the door and stepped just past the threshold. A white ball of fluff made a beeline for her ankles. With a laugh, Hannah scooped Evie into her arms and plopped a kiss between her ears, then turned back to me. “Do you want to come in for coffee?”

I leaned against the doorframe, half in and half out, not entirely committed to either course of action. “It’s coming up on eight o’clock, darlin’. If I have coffee now, I’ll be wide awake until it’s time to feed the horses at dawn.”

Her glasses slid down a fraction. With her arms full of cat, she couldn’t do much about it besides scrunch her nose. I had the oddest inclination to take care of it for her, to slide my finger up the slope of her nose and gently place her glasses back where they belonged, but I crossed my arms instead. Fuck, those blue eyes would be the death of me.

“I assumed a man of your experience would understand that by coffee, I meant sex,” she said.

I stared at her. It shouldn’t have knocked the wind out of me like it did. I had been propositioned hundreds of times, but never quite like this. Never so bluntly and never without so much as a kiss to warm things up. Never by a prim little librarian so deeply buried in yards of extra clothing that I had no idea what I would find under there.

I was fuckingcharmed.

Charmed, and horny.

I hadn’t had sex since the accident. Hadn’t even made use of my own hand. Before Hurricane Red stomped all over my body,nine months without sex was as unthinkable as nine years. Hell, I had never gone even ninedays. But to be honest, I hadn’t missed it. I’d missedwantingit. But the actual act itself? No interest at all.

Now, I was interested.

“Hell, yes, I want to come in for coffee, Hannah Bell.”

6

HANNAH

There were very few things I loved more in this world than a well-thought-out plan. When I’d left the compound, I’d had a plan. The first time I’d stepped into a library and realized it had all the answers to any question I could ever ask, I’d determined the plan for my career. My first experience with sex had beensomeone’splan, but it hadn’t been mine, and I had rectified that every time since.

Until now.

Because now, with Zack Hale filling my doorway and looking entirely too large for it, like a giant in a gingerbread house, his lean, muscular body backlit by the porchlight, and that ridiculous belt buckle gleaming richly in the shadows, it could not be said that there was a single rational thought in my brain, much less anything resembling a plan.

Thirty seconds ago, I had intended to bid him good night and send him on his way. Instead, I’d invited him in for sex.

Zack stepped fully inside, then gently kicked the door shut behind him with his heel. He came toward me until I had to tilt my head back to look at him. That delightful mouth of his tipped up at one corner as we studied each other.

“You changing your mind, darlin’? Because you can, you know.”

I gave that due consideration, then shook my head. “No, I’m not changing my mind.” Evie, cuddled against my chest, decided my affections weren’t enough, and rubbed her forehead against Zack’s abdomen. Honestly, who could blame her.

He glanced down at Evie, gave her head a slow, circular stroke with his thumb, then looked back to me. “You sure? Because you’re holding that cat like a shield.”

“Oh.” I supposed I was. I stepped back a little, just enough to encourage Evie to jump down. “I’m sure.”

I expected him todosomething then, kiss me or touch me or something, but he kept right on watching me with an intensity that made me wish I still had Evie between us. But I wasn’t a coward, so I took his hand and tugged. “Bedroom is this way.”

He didn’t budge. I might as well have tried to move an oak tree. I raised an eyebrow. “Zack?”

His gaze was locked on our hands. Slowly, slowly he pulled me to him.

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