He was all business again, adjusting the stirrups, showing her the correct position, how to hold the reins, keep them loose and low, with just enough pressure. The problem was that in order to show her, he had to touch her, and every time he touched her, she wanted to slide off the horse into his arms.
Oh, this was so bad. How had she ever come up with such a stupid idea?
Josh must have agreed because he got quieter and quieter, as if forcing each word out was a challenge.
“Let’s . . . umm . . . go into the arena.” He led Rosebud into the fenced-in ring and directed Tory to ride in a circle, first walking, then trotting. Josh taught her to post, which kept her from bouncing around like a fool.
She rode for an hour, found herself enjoying the feel of the animal responding to her subtle commands.
“You’re doing great but we’d better stop for the day. You’ll be sore tomorrow if we don’t.”
A hot mental picture arose. She’d be pleasure-sore if Josh did what she wanted him to do.
As he tied the mare to a ring in the wall, she glanced down at him, into eyes as blue and hot as the tip of a flame. Josh reached up and wrapped his hands around her waist. Tory set her palms on those wide shoulders and felt his amazing muscles bunch. It was too much. She couldn’t take it anymore.
When he swung her to the ground, she didn’t let go, just went up on her tiptoes, slid her arms around his neck, and kissed him for all she was worth.
Josh growled low in his throat. A moment’s hesitation, then he was kissing her back, his tongue in her mouth, hers in his, walking her backward till she came up against the rough board wall.
Tory slid her hands beneath his T-shirt, ran her fingers over the hot, smooth skin underneath, traced the jagged line of his scar. His muscles flexed and tightened and she moaned.
Josh tugged his T-shirt off over his head, tossed it away, and kissed her again, long, slow, and deep. Tory traced his six-pack abs, his pecs, wrapped her fingers around a thick bicep. She was hot all over, barely able to breathe. All those beautiful muscles felt better than she could have imagined, and Josh really knew how to kiss.
His fingers worked the buttons on the front of her blouse, fumbling, trying to unfasten them. Tory did it for him, tugging so hard on the last button it went flying across the barn. When he popped the clasp on the front of her bra and filled his hands with her breasts, she thought she might actually faint.
But when she started to peel the blouse off her shoulders, Josh went still. He caught her hands, pushed them aside, and began to pull the fabric back in place.
“Noah and Cole are coming in for fresh supplies.”
Tory whimpered. No. She was shaking. God, this can’t be happening.
Leaving her to refasten the rest of the buttons—all but the missing one—he grabbed his T-shirt and pulled it on over his head.
“Go back to the house. I’ll take care of Cole and Noah.”
She just nodded, her face the color of a tomato. She was beginning to realize what she had done. She’d almost had sex with Joshua Cain, had physically attacked him out in the cow barn. Oh. My. God.
She didn’t know whether to apologize or pack her bags and head off down the road. She wanted to tell him she had never done anything like that before but if she did, she would probably sound like an idiot.
Moving quickly as the men roared up on their ATVs, she headed back to the house, pausing for a moment outside the front door to compose herself, praying Mrs. Thompson wouldn’t notice the pulse fluttering at the base of her throat or the slight flush remaining in her cheeks.
She prayed she would still have a job in the morning.
Oh, dear God.
*
“We came back for a fresh load of fence posts,” Noah said. “Got farther along than we thought we would.”
He nodded. “That’s good. You get a chance to check on those cows up by the pond?”
Determined to keep his gaze from straying to the house, Josh forced himself to concentrate on the work that needed to be done and not the feel of Tory’s full breasts in his hands. The memory sent a fresh rush of heat into his groin, making his already snug jeans even tighter.
“They were fine,” Cole said. “Got plenty to eat, that’s for sure.”
“There’s a crew coming in tomorrow,” Josh said. “Heavy equipment to tear down what’s left of the barn and haul it away, get the pad ready for building the new one. I’ll need you here to help.”
“No problem,” Cole said.
“Be smart to get a new barn up as soon as possible.” Noah glanced over at the pile of charred, blackened wood. “Weather can be crazy around here.”
“That’s for sure,” Josh said, thinking at the moment, he was the one who’d gone crazy.
The men headed over to the stack of fence posts and spools of twisted wire and began reloading the supply trailer.
Josh went back to work on the cow barn. He tried to concentrate on tearing out the big, termite-riddled frame around the wide double doors, replacing it with new lumber, but his mind kept returning to Tory.
What could he say to her? How could he explain what he had very nearly done? He still didn’t understand how an innocent little kiss had exploded into something so hot it had very nearly cost him his highly prized control.
If Noah and Cole hadn’t shown up, he was pretty damn sure he would have taken Tory right there in the dirty old cow barn.
What the fuck was he thinking?
He wasn’t using his head, that was for sure. Or at least not his big head. He couldn’t remember ever feeling so close to the edge, and he sure as hell didn’t like it.
Not one bit.
He didn’t know what he was going to say to her. If she didn’t need his protection so badly, he would give her a fat chunk of severance pay and send her down the road. He would be doing her a favor, doing the best thing for both of them.
But he couldn’t do it. Not with her predator ex-boyfriend still on the hunt.
He’d talk to her, he decided. They were both adults. They could discuss what had happened, come to an understanding of why it couldn’t happen again.
Tory was a smart girl. She understood it wasn’t right for a boss and his employee to share a physical relationship. He’d talk to her tonight after she put Ivy to bed. Make sure they were both on the same page.
He just needed to work up the nerve.
Chapter Thirteen
Tory worried the rest of the afternoon. What could she possibly say to Josh? It was entirely her fault. The man was simply teaching her how to ride a horse and she had attacked him. She was so far beyond embarrassed she couldn’t believe it.
And yet there was a tiny secret part of her that wished he hadn’t stopped when he had. A tiny feminine part that wanted to take that wild, amazing ride all the way to the finish.
She wanted him now more than ever. Would he see the hunger stamped in her face the moment he looked at her? She prayed to God he wouldn’t. If he did, he would probably fire her on the spot.
Or maybe not. The way he’d touched her, kissed her, there was a chance he had wanted her as much as she’d wanted him.
Either way, it wasn’t going to happen. She would tell him that as soon as she saw him, explain that something she didn’t completely understand had happened but she wouldn’t allow it to happen again.
She thought about it the rest of the afternoon and the entire time she was making him supper, mentally preparing herself to face him. By the time she had the ham baked and the green beans with bacon cooked, she was ready.
Unfortunately, Josh didn’t come in to eat. After an hour of waiting, she fixed him a plate and shoved it into the oven, bagged up her portion, and put the rest of the food in the refrigerator. She took Ivy’s hand, and they walked back to the trailer.