Page 113 of The Wildest Ride

AJ resisted the urge to check his outfit in the large mirror that decorated the restaurant’s lobby. That kind of move was supposed to have been long behind him. These days, he generally left the looking at himself to his date, but he wanted to look good for Lil.

He wanted a lot of unusual things when it came to Lil.

Now that he knew what she was fighting for, he wanted to fight for it alongside her. No matter what the outcome of the competition, he wouldn’t let her lose her home. Swallowtail Ranch was a place like none he’d known. He was used to big skies and flat vistas, but he was brand-new to old farmhouses and porch views and tidy well-kept barns that said humbly,Love lives here and you’re welcome to stay.

Though they’d been out of sight and bedded down for the night while he’d been there, he’d known that somewhere on the property were stock, and horses, and all the other picturesque creatures that belonged on a farm. He’d sensed them, in the faint scent of warm large mammals on the breeze and the tangible hush in the air of being surrounded by sleeping animals.

But while the scents were familiar, reminiscent of the rodeos at which he’d first encountered them, they were also different—less frantic and chaotic, less edgy and looking for a good time, less desperate and willing to lay it on the line.

Swallowtail was peace, carved out of the chaos of nature but made of the same blood and dirt that he’d been chasing his whole life. It was easy to see why she loved it. Just like it was easy to see so many things with Lil, things like sending CityBoyz participants to a real ranch, things like working together to save both of the things they loved, for the long haul.

And because he could see those things, he was waiting at Tito’s, a top-rated restaurant in Houston, at 6:40, trying not to check out his outfit in the mirror like a jerk.

He looked at his watch instead. A minute had passed.

Waiting on a woman was a novel experience.

It was a relief when she arrived five minutes early, particularly as it took another five minutes thereafter to reorient the world upon seeing her walk through the door.

Her dress was white and off the shoulder, decorated with colorful Mexican embroidery. Her hair was unbraided and curly, falling to one side, leaving the bare side of her head exposed, the other hidden in an explosion of riotous glossy black curls. The smooth bare brown skin of her shoulders looked as silky and soft as he knew it to be, and in the restaurant lighting, her eyes swirled and flashed like a summer storm.

He fought the urge to stand and stride over to her and trace the fine-boned architecture of her shoulders and collarbone with his fingertips—not because he didn’t know she’d welcome him, but because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop himself from sliding his hand up her thigh, and her dress along with it, at the same time.

The dress ended midthigh, leaving plenty of gorgeous muscled leg on display and causing AJ to send a thanks up to the lord for bulls and this reckless woman who rode them.

Everything about her glowed, including the sweet, shy smile she wore.

She was stunning, her legs looking even longer than usual in the platform sandals she wore, and he wondered what it’d be like to kiss her with the extra height. He closed the remaining distance between them to find out.

As he’d suspected, the additional inches made it that much easier to capture her full lips with his own and make her forget they stood in a restaurant lobby. To remind her how well they fit.

When their kiss ended, her cheeks were dark from blushing and her eyes dazed. Taking the sight in, his heart flipped over in his chest.

“Hi,” she said when she finally found words. Her voice was a breathy rasp that went straight to his groin. He loved how responsive she was—that he could distract her from the entire world while he made her dizzy with his kisses.

“Hi.” He smiled. “Glad you could make it.”

“I had a cab take me into town earlier. Finding a dress in time was harder...”

His grin flashed, wicked and satisfied. “Worth it. You look phenomenal.”

Her dusky blush darkened even more. “Thank you,” she said, before looking away, around the restaurant, taking in her surroundings for the first time. “Where are we?”

“Spanish steak house. Felt somehow appropriate...”

She laughed. “How do you know I’m not a vegetarian?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re a rancher. And I’ve seen you inseminate a cow.”

Her laughter was like a wind chime. She nodded. “You’re right. And I happen to love steak.” Her grin showed her canines and he considered skipping the date and dragging her back to the hotel.

But that wasn’t the point of tonight. Tonight he was taking her out. And there were cameras all over the hotel. Escaping them had required creativity.

“Somehow, I got that impression,” he said, his voice only faintly hinting at the heat rising in his body.

Her pulse picked up in her neck and he knew she caught it anyway. She reached out her hand to him palm up, an electric nervousness to the movement, and said, “So are we on a date, then?”

He took her arm into the crook of his and walked her toward the secluded corner where their table was. “We are.”

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