style="font-size:15px;"> “Ah.”
Hell, he had to be more careful. Not ask questions that could be turned back on him. He’d kept to himself for so long he was out of practice. And with someone like Erin...the woman was an open book, frank and matter-of-fact. Maybe that was how she got people to feel comfortable. Convince them to open their homes and lives to her. Something he’d better keep in mind. And not recklessly invite her on ride-alongs.
“So, why are we going to the Lone Wolf?” she asked.
“I have some business with the owner, Matt Gunderson. I can’t speak for why you’re tagging along.”
Erin grinned. “It’s pretty out here. So different from when I was here in July.”
After putting the bag on the floorboard, she tucked her free hand under her thigh. Hunching her shoulders, she looked cold. He was still wearing the fleece-lined jacket he’d put on to feed the horses before he left, so he hadn’t bothered with the heater.
He turned it on. “Feel free to adjust the temperature.”
She was right on it. “Tell me if it gets too warm for you.”
“I have a question.”
“Okay.” She wedged the can between her legs and rubbed her palms together in front of the vent as she looked at him.
A slew of lusty thoughts raced through Spencer’s mind. All because of where she’d innocently stuck the damn can, he thought with disgust. Although, in his defense, it didn’t help that he’d seen her bare thighs. Nice and toned, they’d feel real good gripping his waist.
Images of her in that short denim skirt had haunted him late into the night. No surprise he’d woken up harder than a rock.
It wasn’t her. It was him. He hadn’t gone without sex this long since the summer between sophomore and junior years of high school. Hell, he was probably going through withdrawal.
“So, let me get this straight—your friend Lila gave you the makeover advice. Obviously to get my attention...” He saw Erin fidget, and he purposely drew out the suspense as he navigated a curve in the road. “And then what? You were willing to sleep with me to get—”
“No.” She barked the word, then folded her arms across her chest. “I mean, I would—but not to get you to—” She huffed with aggravation. “The short answer is no.”
“We have another five minutes to the Lone Wolf. Plenty of time for the long answer.”
He’d meant to tease her, but it backfired. The pink in her cheeks and the fire in her eyes were making him hot and prickly. Maybe he was reading into it, but it was possible they shared the same itch. He had to really think about how he wanted this to play out.
“To soften you up, I guess,” she said, though he hadn’t expected an answer. “It’s kind of funny. There’s no way in hell I’d have sex with you in exchange for Moonlight Mountain—”
Spencer snorted a laugh. “You’d have to be damn good to expect me to give you the whole mountain.”
“You know what I mean,” she said, leveling a cool gaze his way. “And had you let me finish, I was about to say that under any other circumstance, yeah, damn right I would’ve slept with you.”
He almost missed the turn. Spotting the road marker at the last second, he wrenched the steering wheel. Erin threw out both arms and flattened her palms against the dashboard. His Stetson tumbled off the console onto the floor.
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
“I guess that was partly my fault.”
Deep ruts in the gravel road worked against him as he righted the truck. The ground was still muddy, some patches slick from the wet fall leaves. All he needed was to get stuck out here; with Erin, no less.
Erin and the self-satisfied smirk she was trying to hide.
Spencer knew some bold women back in Boise, and Erin, being strong and plainspoken, shouldn’t have surprised him. But he had to admit, he hadn’t seen that coming.
The moment they were back on track, all tires accounted for, he said, “So you’re saying if we’d met at the bar in town and had no business connection, you would’ve gone home with me.”
“I don’t know.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Maybe. But I wouldn’t have gone to your place.”
“The inn?”
“You know what? It’s a moot point.” She shifted in her seat, adjusted the air vents again. “Let’s drop it.”
“You opened the door.”
“Yeah, well, now I’m closing it.”
Spencer smiled to himself. He’d finally figured out her strategy. She thought dangling sex and knocking him off balance would give her the upper hand. And damn, she wasn’t completely wrong. “Humor me. I’m curious.”
She huffed out a disgruntled sigh. “Look, I don’t pick up guys in bars, okay? And if I did, I sure as hell wouldn’t let them know where I live. Or go to some strange man’s place. That would be pretty stupid.”
“So, what? You’d prefer to have sex in a car? A hotel?”
“What part of moot point don’t you understand?” Staring at him, she shook her head. “Like I said, circumstances being what they are, it doesn’t matter.”
“Well, I’m never going to let you and your people set foot on the mountain.”
“And I’ll never quit trying to wear you down. Today you get a pass. I intend to honor the condition of my ride-along. But after that...” She shrugged, her lips curving in a cocky smile.
Spencer couldn’t believe he was having this conversation. Or worse, that he wouldn’t let it go. “I’m flat out telling you Moonlight Mountain is off-limits,” he said and caught her smile slip a bit. “So there’s no reason for sex to be off the table.”
“Since I’m confident I can change your mind, sex definitely can’t be part of the equation. It would feel too creepy.” She straightened in her seat and peered up ahead at the buildings starting to become visible. “Is that the Lone Wolf?”
“I think so. I’ve only been out here once before.”
“Looks big.”
“Yep.” He tried not to sound like a sulky ten-year-old. Especially since Erin didn’t seem to give a shit one way or the other about having sex. But in truth, he was used to getting his way. Up until the accident that had changed everything, his life had been golden.
* * *
HE PARKED THE TRUCK close to a structure that Erin guessed was the barn. The ranch in general was a sizable spread with a large stable, what looked to be a second barn, a dozen or more corrals and a building large enough to be a warehouse.
She opened the door and frowned at the soft ground around
