Page 27 of Dirty Player
I pointed toward the ground. “Stay here.”
Turning, I rushed into the mudroom of my house, not looking back to see if she stayed.
When I reached the room, I kicked off my sandals and pulled on my work boots. Then I searched through the closet and dug out the ones my mom wore when she visited. She hadn’t been here in over a year and the leather was dusty and hardened, but I figured they’d work. My mom wasn’t that much taller than Shannon. If they were too big, they’d still be better in the dirty horse barn than the sandals she was wearing.
I walked out of the house and back through the garage to see the spot I’d told her to park it empty.
Instead, I found her at the white fence. One arm draped over the top railing, her other hand blocking the sun while she looked out at the fields.
I paused in my tracks, taking in the view of her delicious, barely covered ass before I walked toward her.
She was beautiful. Curvy but thin, so soft in my arms. My dick was already half-hard again by the time I reached her.
“It’s so beautiful and quiet here.” Her voice was soft, almost as if she was talking to herself.
“You’re from Iowa—land of farms and corn and soybean fields.”
From her profile, I saw her lips tilt into a smile. “Yeah, but I lived in downtown Des Moines. It’s not a big city, but it was never as quiet as this.”
It shouldn’t have made me smile that she liked where I lived.
I held out the boots to her. “Put these on.”
She looked at my outstretched hand and frowned. I knew what she was thinking. She’d be a shitty poker player. Every expression she had was plain and unhidden on her face.
“They’re my mom’s. No one’s worn them in a year, but they’ll keep you cleaner than the sandals.”
Her eyes flickered to me before she finally took them from my hand.
Once she’d kicked off her sandals and slid on the boots, she stood up and grinned.
And damn it if that grin didn’t burn straight to my chest. She kept nothing hidden, not her fear or her happiness.
It was that moment I knew that whatever we’d decided was a mistake. A stupid agreement for meaningless sex—even if it was dirty, raw, and fucking amazing sex—was going to ruin every wall I’d built since Serena walked away from me.
I was smarter than this. Knew what I needed to do to keep my head in the game and my eye on the ball. I should have picked her up, thrown her in my car, and taken her to Beaux’s immediately.
I didn’t do anything I should have when she looked at me, giggling before she looked down at both of our boot-covered feet. “We look ridiculous. Swimsuits and boots.”
Still thinking with my cock, I reached out and took her hand in mine and pulled her toward the barn.
“I’ve got three horses,” I said as we walked. “You ever ride?”
“Once. When I was ten.”
I looked down at her and waited for a better explanation.
“I had a friend who wanted to ride horses. She took a bunch of us for her birthday party to a place where we could ride horses on a trail. It was only an hour and I was so young.”
“But you liked it.” I could tell by the way her eyes went hazy as she pulled the memory to the front of her mind.
“Yeah.”
That one word made me happier than it should have.
I opened the door to the barn, dropping her hand from mine to unlock the double doors and push them open. As we stepped inside, the unmistakable smell of horseshit and hay and dirt made her crinkle her nose.
But she said nothing. She walked forward, down the row to the last few stalls where the noises from the horses grew louder.
