Page 82 of Paper Horses

He dragged me to him, kissing a trail where my tears had been. “No more tears. No more thinking about what awaits on Monday. No more worries. Understand?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go have some drinks, and you can remind me why we rarely went dancing when we were in school.”

“I don’t dance.”

“I know. You look like one of those toy monkeys with the cymbals when you dance.”

I shoved him, my mood lifting. “That’s not nice.”

“I know, but it’s the truth. Maybe I’ll just keep you in a corner so nobody can see how sexy you look. I thought that skirt you had on earlier was killer, but this is guaranteed to get me into a few fights.”

The masculine possessiveness should have ticked me off, but it sent a shiver through me that went all the way to my center, warming my belly.

He wrapped an arm around my neck, plucked his baseball cap off, and plopped it on my head.

“Hey, my hair!”

“Damn, that’s cute.”

I frowned, trying to pull it off. “I’m a thirty-seven-year-old woman, Hudson. I don’t wear baseball caps.”

“Maybe you should, cause you look sexy as fuck in my hat. I should put my cowboy hat on you, but if I did, we’d probably never leave because the idea of you in boots and my hat has me uncomfortably hard.”

I pushed him with my shoulder, but he didn’t loosen his hold on me.

“As a matter of fact.”

“Hudson,” I warned, but he had me hoisted over his shoulder before I could finish.

I was sure the hood of his truck still had my body print on it when we finally drove away from the ranch.

Chapter 20

Hudson

Ipulled the truck into an open spot directly in front of the general store. That this town was so small it didn’t have a grocery store, just the general store, had been one of the appealing features. No commercialism, just small businesses run by ordinary people.

“This doesn’t look like a bar.”

I glanced at Olivia. “Good observation. They teach you that in the city?”

She glared at me, but it didn’t stop me from grinning. Her scent lingered on my hand as I rubbed it over my face. I’d nearly kept her home for the night after seeing her fall apart on the hood of my truck. Certainly would never look at it the same again after that.

“Don’t be a smart ass.”

“Come on. We have a stop before we go to the bar.” I’d planned to be there earlier, maybe grab some dinner before we hit the bar but she’d taken so long to get ready and I’d taken so long tearing her clothes back off that it was now growing dark.

“Can we stop at Sheila’s?” she asked, hopping from the truck.

I looked at my watch. Close to closing time. “Why?”

“I want to pick something up for Tori.”

She passed through the door as I questioned her with my eyes.

“Socks,” she explained as we walked in.