Page 28 of His First Baby Rodeo

She nodded. “It’s nice,” she said. She felt herself begin to relax. Everything she had been worrying about felt very far away now.

“El?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s been great having you here,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ve always been clear about how much I value having you around.”

“You don’t have to.”

“You’ve been so helpful.”

“I like working with horses—”

“I’m not just talking about the horses.”

She looked up at him. He was gazing down at her, and the moment their eyes met, she understood what was about to happen.

She could stop it if she wanted to. She could shrug off his arm, scoot away from him on the seat — but she didn’t want to. She couldn’t resist the sheer attraction she felt to him any longer. It was cresting within her like a wave that needed to break. And she felt, suddenly and intensely, that it had to happennow, before the Ferris wheel started up again and returned them to the ground. They were in a bubble of safety and privacy now, and no one would see or comment on what happened here.

She closed her eyes and his lips met hers.

The scent of him filled her senses. Her heart raced. She twisted in her seat, trying to bring her body closer to his — she would have climbed right up onto his lap and wrapped herself around him if the lap bar hadn’t been in the way.

Mac.

She tried to pour everything she was thinking and feeling into that kiss. Her attraction to him, yes, but also the affection she had been feeling over the past several days. Her empathy for the fact that he had worked so hard to be at the top of his sport only to have his body let him down in a crucial moment. Her admiration for the way he had forced himself back into the saddle rather than allowing himself to be afraid. Her gratitude for the opportunity he had provided for her to enjoy ranch life in a way she hadn’t in years.

It wasn’t love.

But it was something like it.

There was a connection here — something she could no longer resist or deny. And she didn’t want to.

And just as that thought occurred to her, the wheel began to move again.

They broke apart as quickly as if someone had walked in on them, even though there was still a fairly long ride over the top of the wheel and back down to the ground. By the time they’d reached it and started to climb up again, they had somehow separated themselves so that there were several inches of space between the two of them.

El didn’t speak, and neither did Mac. It felt to El as if any words she said now would only rob the moment that had just happened of its power. Her joy felt as fragile as a soap bubble, and more than anything, she longed to get off this ride, away from the fair and back to the ranch — with Mac Palmer by her side.

CHAPTER13

MAC

Mac didn’t look at El as they drove home. He kept his eyes fixed firmly on the road ahead, even though he had driven this way hundreds of times and could have done it with a lot less focus on what he was doing.

And hewantedto look at her. It had been hard leaving the fair, saying goodbye to Jeff and his family. He had felt El doing exactly what he had been doing — trying to keep things presentable, trying not to let her brother see the aftermath of what had happened up on top of that Ferris wheel. Jeff was looking for signs, for things to be suspicious of. They needed to keep what was happening between them under wraps.

He wanted to talk to her about that. He wanted to saysomething.But he couldn’t. Not yet.

It felt as if it would be a mistake to even look her way. It felt as if the tension between them might shatter. He didn’t know who was going to speak first, but if the wrong words were said, it would ruin everything. If someone said the kiss had been a mistake, he knew, the other person would agree, the walls would go back up, and that would be the end of that.

The kiss hadn’t been a mistake.

He’d known it the moment it had happened. Maybe Jeff wouldn’t like it — okay,definitelyJeff wouldn’t like it — but the mistake had been trying to resist one another as long as they had. Some people just had good chemistry together. And when that happened, it was almost negligentnotto take advantage of it. For his sake and hers, they needed to see how good things could be between them.

He thought she probably saw it the same way. After that kiss, how could she possibly not? Nobody kissed like that without meaning it. He couldn’t possibly mistake what he’d felt for anything other than what it was — pure desire. And it was desire that he returned fully.

Still, the moment he said the words, he was going to get his answer, one way or the other. He had to wait until the moment was perfect.

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