“Because I want to sit.”
“There’s an entire barn.”
“I like this spot.”
His expression changed.
He understood.
“No.”
The ranch woman raised one eyebrow.
“No?”
“No.”
She stepped over his boot.
The cowboy immediately sat straighter.
“What are you doing?”
“Apparently ignoring you.”
“You’re very good at that.”
She lowered herself beside him.
Too close.
Their shoulders touched.
The cowboy moved away.
The ranch woman followed.
He stared.
She smiled.
“You’re behaving like a frightened horse.”
“Because you’re acting like a woman with no survival instincts.”
The ranch woman reopened her book.
“Relax.”
She began reading.
The cowboy stared at her.
She ignored him.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
His body gradually relaxed.
That was when she shifted.
Her leg crossed over his.
He stiffened.
She continued reading.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“That is more polite.”
“Move.”
She turned a page.
“No.”
The cowboy closed his eyes.
The ranch woman smiled at the book.
Then she shifted again.
This time she sat partly across his lap.
His eyes opened instantly.
Both hands rose.
Not touching her.
Hovering.
“Woman.”
She kept reading.
“Yes?”
“What are you doing?”
“Reading.”
“You were reading perfectly well over there.”
“It was less comfortable.”
“You cannot possibly be comfortable now.”
She adjusted deliberately.
The cowboy’s entire body locked.
The book nearly fell from her hands.
His voice became rough.
“Stop.”
She finally looked at him.
“Do you want me to?”
The question changed everything.
The cowboy stared.
Her teasing disappeared.
She waited.
He looked at her face.
Then at the hand holding the book.
Then back at her.
“If I say yes?”
“I move.”
“And if I say no?”
She lowered the book.
“I stay.”
His jaw tightened.
She waited.
“No.”
The word came quietly.
She smiled.
“Good.”
One of his hands finally touched her waist.
Carefully.
The other rested against the hay.
The ranch woman placed the open book against her thigh.
The cowboy watched her.
“You’re enjoying this.”
“Immensely.”
“That’s cruel.”
“So I’ve been told.”
His thumb moved once at her waist.
The ranch woman’s breathing changed.
He noticed.
She noticed him noticing.
Neither mentioned it.
Then his eyes moved down the length of her leg draped across him.
He swallowed.
The ranch woman leaned closer.
“You keep staring.”
“You keep putting things in front of me.”
She laughed softly.
His hand tightened slightly.
The laugh stopped.
The cowboy looked into her eyes.