Page 13 of At the Rancher's Pleasure

“Come back here,” Brett growled.

Sarabeth, feeling like she was sixteen again, dived back in, stroking his shoulder with her palms, testing the texture of his hair,silky, and relishing the warm skin beneath the collar of his plain black button-down. Their kiss deepened, and she whimpered when his hand came up to cover her breast, his thumb drifting across her nipple. Ribbons of pleasure skittered across her body and she pressed down on Brett’s hard shaft, needing the pleasure only he could give.

The thought that she was too old to be making out in the front seat of a car in broad daylight flitted through her mind, but she impatiently swatted it away. She was long done with living her life according to other people’s standards—when it came to her life, hers was the only opinion that mattered!—and figured that as long as she wasn’t hurting anyone, she could do whatever the hell she wanted.

And, judging by Brett’s very ardent response—he’d pushed his hand down the back of her jeans—he was enjoying this crazy interlude as much as she was...

Sarabeth sighed when he wrenched his mouth off hers to drop kisses along her jawline, across her cheekbone. She arched her neck when he tugged her earlobe into his mouth, gently nibbling her flesh with his teeth. How could such a prosaic, tiny part of her body be so erogenous? If she was this turned on by a hot, demanding kiss and some mild petting, God help her if he got her into bed. She might just spontaneously combust...

A hard rap on the window next to her head made Sarabeth shoot up and she banged her elbow against the side panel of her SUV, causing her to release a couple of low, rude curses. She whipped her head around to look straight into a brown khaki shirt. Her eyes traveled up and she saw the purple-and-white badge of a Texas Game Warden and, from there, up into brown eyes in a swarthy, handsome face.

Oh, God, were they facing a public indecency charge?

Sarabeth hit the button to activate the electric window and pushed back her sure-to-be-messy hair from her forehead. “Yeah, sorry, Officer, we’ll get moving.”

She caught a flash of white teeth in the officer’s smile and heard a snort from Brett. She turned to look at him to see him scowling at the Texas Game Warden. He was going to get them into more trouble if he didn’t can his attitude.

Sarabeth lifted her hands. “I’m going to get off him and retake my seat.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“I just don’t want you thinking that I’m reaching for a weapon or anything,” Sarabeth said, keeping a fixed smile on her face.

“I appreciate that, ma’am.”

Brett lifted his hand to his forehead and dug his fingers into his eye sockets. “Holy crap.” He groaned when Sarabeth dug her knee into his thigh and cupped his package with his hands. “I don’t want kids, honey, but neither do I need to be emasculated.”

Sarabeth blushed as she plopped down into her seat. Right, she could’ve accomplished that maneuver with more dignity. Pulling her shirt down, she glanced in her side mirror to see a black truck parked behind them, blue lights flashing.

How long had the officer been there? Why hadn’t they noticed and what had he seen? What was happening here?

Sarabeth watched as the tall, muscular lawman walked around the hood of her vehicle, hands on the belt holding a huge weapon, handcuffs and various doodads she couldn’t identify. He looked mean and tough and like he meant business.

“May I see your license and registration, ma’am?” Sarabeth reached for her bag to get her documentation, but Brett’s hand on her arm stopped her from pulling it onto her lap. He leaned across her to glare at the officer. “Stop being a dick, dude.”

Sarabeth’s mouth fell open, and she pinched Brett’s arm, rather hard. “Stop antagonizing him, Brett! Just do what he says and he’ll let us be on our way.”

“Yeah,Brett.”

“Cut it out, Shaw,” Brett growled. He dragged his hand through his hair before rubbing it over his face. “Jules is a friend, Sarabeth. He’s just busting my chops. We’re on private land, and we weren’t doing anything wrong.”

It took Sarabeth a moment for his words to make sense, and when they did, she glared at the officer. “That really wasn’t funny!”

“It really was,” he replied, leaning his hip against her car. “You seem to be very wary of law enforcement. Anything I should know about?”

Sarabeth stared at him before shaking her head. “No, of course not.” The curiosity in his eyes remained, and underneath it, she saw kindness. She lifted her shoulders and let them drop. It couldn’t hurt to give him a small explanation. “I dated an African American man back in California. We were stopped once by the police and it...well, it wasn’t a pleasant experience. Seeing you so suddenly rattled me.”

Jules’s lips twitched. “I think Brett had you rattled already.”

She blushed, but before she could respond Jules spoke again, his expression radiating sympathy. “I’m really sorry that happened to you, Ms. Edmond.”

Sarabeth’s eyebrows lifted. “You know who I am?”

“This is Royal, and the gossip is that you and lover boy here—” he jerked his chin in Brett’s direction “—locked lips on Main Street.”

“That was barely two hours ago,” Brett snapped. “How the hell did you hear about that already?”

“Dude—” Jules rolled his eyes “—at the risk of repeating myself, this isRoyal,Texas. Gossip is carried on the wind. But if you really want to know, Flora told Jenna, her daughter who told her cousin Beth who works at the Saint Tropez Salon. You know that once gossip hits that place it spreads like wildfire. Somehow our dispatcher heard about it, and she told me...”

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