Cowboy Up (Coming Home #3)

And, as if to prove that this really could get more humiliating, his hands go under my armpits, dislodging my hold, and pull me up off the ground as if I weigh nothing. Once he has me back on my feet, he bends and I see the top of his cowboy hat moments before he throws me up on the back of the beast that took me down.

If I wasn’t seconds away from pure panic, I would catalogued every moment that happened next to replay mentally for the rest of my life. It was a move straight out of the pages of a romance novel. Clayton Davis, cowboy in shining armor, heaves himself right up behind me and adjusts both of our bodies so that we fit on top of the horse together. I’m more in his lap than actually sharing the saddle with him, but with my butt pressed tight against his crotch and my thighs spread wide on top of his own, a whole new rush of feelings start inside me. One strong arm curls around my belly before I can even blink and he clicks his tongue. Suddenly we’re blazing toward the fields behind the barn at lightning speed. I curl my hands around the arm holding me and pray I don’t fall to my death as he guides the powerful horse away.

We burst through the field, not slowing in the least, and I have to force my nails out of the thick muscles of his forearm when it becomes clear I’m not in any danger of falling.

“Where,” I choke on my words, clearing my throat. “Where are we going?” I call over my shoulder.

“Away.” His one-word answer rumbles against my back, his arm tightens around my belly, and he continues to lead the horse with one hand holding the reins.

I look over the horse’s head and almost throw up. “Please, Clayton! Stop!” I cry out as we get closer and closer to the fence line.

He immediately calls out a command and we slow before stopping completely just a few yards from the fence I was sure was about to kill us. I slump in his grasp, my position uncomfortable and borderline painful now that nothing is distracting me. He drops the leather reins and his hands move on my body, igniting fire in their path as they glide, now distracting me for a whole new reason. Before I realize his intention, he’s lifting my body and turning me in his strong arms as if I was a child.

I flail, thinking surely the horse is going to dislodge us both if he takes even a tiny step. Not wanting to fall, I loop my arms around his neck and hold on for dear life.

“You’ve got to stop tossin’ me around like it’s nothin’,” I protest.

“Never been on a horse?” he asks, ignoring me and drawing my attention from the ground under us and to his handsome face. Without the darkness to hide in, I see him—really see him. Just as I’m sure he sees all of me. Every unremarkable bit of me.

That strong jaw that I had admired the night I found him as my barstool neighbor, the only part of him that ever got a good look at, is proud in form and sprinkled with the same dusting of facial hair that I remember burned my sensitive skin as it rubbed against it.

My belly churns as I study the man who had, until now, been a faceless stranger. There isn’t a flaw to be found. Perfect nose, full lips, and eyes brighter than a lush summer field right after the storm clouds clear and sun shines bright on the rain-soaked grass.

And those mesmerizing eyes are studying me just as fiercely as I am him.

“Thank you,” I finally say, grateful that my mind wisely didn’t blurt out how perfect I find him. “You’re correct, I’ve never ridden before.” Silence continues as his eyes probe mine. “Horses scare me,” I explain, nervously trying to fill the void his mute perusal of me is creating.

The quiet ticks around us. I’m entranced as much by it as I am with the man holding me. That is, until the horse takes a step to the side and I turn into a mess of arms and legs as I attack my savior while basically trying to climb inside his body. His chest moves in what I hope is laughter, and he adjusts his grip on me while allowing me to settle. I somehow manage to turn myself completely within his strong arms and wrap all of my limbs around him like some kind of deranged spider monkey. I realize my mistake the second his hands settle on my butt and the heat of his hold radiates through my thin shorts.

I swear, I stop breathing right then and there.

I lift my chest back from his, that rush of heat on my bottom making me feel fearless and the shyness that normally hinders my every move in life falling to the wayside as I look into his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I gasp. “I’d get off you, but I’m terrified to move.”

His lips tip at the corners in the tiniest of fractions and his eyes get warm.

“Not complaining,” he rumbles softer than a man his size should ever be able to speak.

“If you could just help me get down and then maybe point me in the direction of where we came from, I’ll get out of your hair. Or . . . off of your body, I guess.”

He shakes his head. “That’s not gonna happen, darlin’,” he answers, his tone leaving no room for me to disagree. Even if I wanted to, though, the expression on his face is enough to kill any complaint I might have voiced. I wasn’t argumentative to begin with, but the second he stops talking and inches his face closer to mine, I’m held captive. “I like you lookin’ at me like this a whole lot more than I like you doin’ it with fear in your eyes. And I like this softness in your eyes a fuckin’ helluva lot more than seein’ you with tears, baby.”

Oh. Wow.

“You want me to take you farther away from whoever put those tears on your beautiful face? Or do you want me to bring you back to your friend so she can do it? Either way, Caroline, I’m not leavin’ your side until I know you’re okay.”

Call me weak. Call me the very thing the woman I was running from had accused me of being years ago. But don’t call me a coward anymore, because right now I’d do anything in the world if it means I get to keep having this man look at me like I’m the most important thing to him. Doesn’t make a lick of sense, seeing as we don’t really know each other—apart from in the biblical sense and all—but that doesn’t seem to matter. My heart feels like I’m finally safe.

“Please don’t take me back there,” I whisper.

His head moves in one strong, sure nod. He takes one hand off my bottom as the other shifts so one huge palm is now directly between my cheeks, fingers spread wide to support me. I gasp, unable to keep from wiggling, when two of his fingers brush against the most sensitive area under my shorts-covered center. He doesn’t bring attention to how close he is to my entrance; instead he holds my gaze, his face softening even more when a puff of air escapes my lips.

“Are you gonna be okay if I let Dell move again?”

“Dell?” I frown.

“My horse.”

“Right.” I look around us but jolt when I realize just how far off the ground we really are. Especially now that I’m not just on a horse, but even higher after I just used Clayton’s body like some weird like human pole.

“I won’t let you fall,” Clayton promises, his voice low and calming.

It could easily happen though.

“No, it couldn’t.”

My eyes widen when I realize I said that out loud, thankful he didn’t realize I wasn’t talking about the horse in the least.

“You’re safe with me.”