craves his touch. And when a storm strands them together, their undeniable chemistry explodes. Now Alexa finds herself introducing Hayes to her precious son, imagining herself in Hayes’s world and keeping secrets that could destroy everything…
This was crazy.
She’d just met the man, yet he did something to her that she couldn’t quite put into words. Granted right now she was having a difficult time with any coherent thought other than “take your shirt off, cowboy.”
He took a step closer, never looking away from her eyes, her mouth. “Your clothes are all wet again.”
“They’re your clothes,” she countered.
The corner of his mouth tipped up. “Yours are dry now if you want to change.”
She pulled in a deep breath, her breasts brushing against his chest. Had he closed the distance so tight or had she stepped forward? She’d been so mesmerized by his voice, his predatory gaze.
“Are you changing?” she asked.
Hayes reached behind his back and jerked the wet shirt up and over his head, tossing it onto the wood porch with a heavy smack. Ink covered his chest and up one shoulder. Dark hair glistened all over his pecs.
“You’re not playing fair,” she told him.
“Who said I was playing?”
He thrust his hands into her hair and covered her mouth before she could take a breath.
* * *
Taming the Texan
is part of Harlequin Desire’s #1 bestselling
series, Billionaires and Babies: Powerful men…
wrapped around their babies’ little fingers.
National bestselling author JULES BENNETT has penned over forty contemporary romance novels. She lives in the Midwest with her high-school-sweetheart husband and their two kids. Jules can often be found on Twitter chatting with readers, and you can also connect with her via her website, www.julesbennett.com.
This book is for anyone who suffers from PTSD,
depression, anxiety…please know you’re not alone.
“What are you doing here, Ma’am?”
Alexa Rodriguez spun around, her hand to her heart. The low, gravelly voice had shocked her, but not as much as seeing the man strut toward her.
Well, he had a cowboy swagger with a slight limp, so she wouldn’t quite call it a strut. Regardless of the label, the man held her attention and there was nowhere to go...not when she was pinned in place by that dark-as-night stare.
When she first stepped into the impressive stables on Pebblebrook Ranch, she hadn’t seen a soul. And now this sexy cowboy stood only feet away, staring at her from beneath the wide brim of his black hat. Her heart shouldn’t be beating so fast, so hard. But...yeah, he was one sexy stable hand.
Was she trespassing? The owner of the bed-and-breakfast next door had told Alexa the stables were open to B and B guests, but maybe there was some disconnect because this man did not look happy to have a visitor.
“I’m a guest next door,” she explained as she tried to keep eye contact and not fidget. “I was told I could come ride and that someone would be here to assist me.”
The stable hand grunted, but never took his eyes off her. Well, this was awkward.
Stepping out of her comfort zone was the theme of the weekend. Her meddling yet well-meaning best friend had bought Alexa a package for a three-night stay at the B and B, stating Alexa was an overworked single mom who deserved some alone time.
Alexa had just registered next door and put her bag in her room when she decided to check out the outdoor amenities before the predicted storm moved in. She hadn’t been on a horse since she was five. Yeah, she was so far outside her comfort zone she didn’t even know where comfort was anymore.
But if the horse came equipped with a captivating cowboy, maybe doing something different wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Her best friend would definitely be thrilled Alexa was showing signs of life in the lust department, that was for sure.
This stable hand had sultry written all over him, from the dusty boots to the fitted denim over narrow hips to the black hat. And the way he drawled out the word ma’am had her stomach tingling.
Clearly, it had been too long since she’d had interaction with someone outside her preschool special education classroom and her fourteen-month-old son.
“You ever ridden before?” he finally asked.
“Once,” she admitted, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “I was five and at a cousin’s birthday party.”
He took a step closer, minimizing the gap between them, and all the breath in Alexa’s lungs seemed to vanish. How could one man be so striking, so bold? The deep eyes with long, dark lashes and a stubbled jaw outlining the most perfectly shaped lips...and that was all just his face.
Broad shoulders stretched his button-up black shirt in the most glorious way, one that had her imagining what excellent muscle tone he must have beneath the fabric. Those lean hips covered with well-worn denim could make any woman beg...but not her. She’d sworn off men who made her tingle—they were nothing but a hindrance in the life she’d carved out for her and her son.
And this man? He looked like pure trouble. The kind of trouble that could make a woman forget all common sense, the kind that would have a woman crying out his name over and over, the kind—
No. Her days of flirting or dating or anything else with a man were over—at least until her son got older and she could focus on her own life. For now, Mason was her everything and all that mattered.
Still, that didn’t mean she couldn’t look and appreciate...and there was so much to appreciate with this cowboy.
“Do you work here?” She had to assume so, but now she wondered if he was a guest, too.
He held out his hand. “Hayes Elliott.”
Elliott. She wasn’t just ogling any stable hand or random guest. Hayes was the elusive, mysterious war-veteran Elliott brother. Living in Stone River, she’d heard rumors about how he never left the ranch and the term PTSD had circulated nearly every time she’d heard his name.
Also what had cropped up along with his name was how he’d saved several children in a small village overseas and then been left severely injured, and how some of his friends had died in the same battle.
Something like that alone would make waves across a small town like Stone River, but couple the rumors with the fact that Hayes was a member of the prestigious Elliott family,
