She remembered kicking away her panties. She thought they’d landed close to the door. Sweeping her foot in front of her, she searched for them. This is crazy. She could go home without them.

Her foot had found his shirt and her pants. She’d draped his shirt over her shoulders, taking time to sniff it. It still bore the aroma of spicy cologne, testosterone, and whatever that delicious scent Eli naturally gave off. She’d decided pheromones.

A light snapped on, and she yelped.

“Where’re you going?”

Turning slowly, a tad worried he’d heard her smelling his shirt, her gaze fell on an incredible, muscular chest, broad shoulders, and a sleepy man. Powerful.

“Come on back to bed,” he said, holding out his hand.

“No can do,” she said, shifting her pants until they covered her lower half. “I’ve got morning chores that I have to do.”

He scratched his chest, and her mouth salivated.

Lifting the covers, he scooted over. “It’s warm and toasty under here.”

“You’re not nice,” she said with a laugh.

“Hang around, and I’ll make breakfast.”

“Now, that’s just evil.” She took a step away, and her toes landed on her panties. There they were. She shook her head. “Warm bed, sexy man and breakfast? That’s sort of like leading a kid into a candy store and saying, ‘Help yourself.’ Not fair.”

He arched one sexy brow. “Who said I play fair?”

“Bad, bad man. I have to go.” She bent over and picked up her panties. She heard the rustle of sheets, and before she could straighten, Eli’s big hands grabbed her hips and pulled her against him.

“Bending over like that? How did you expect me to ignore that?”

She straightened and leaned her back into his chest. “Has to be a quickie.”

“I can do a quickie.”

She looked over her shoulder into his deep, dark eyes. “Haven’t seen one yet.”

An hour later, she was climbing into her car, her panties in her pants pocket, and still wearing his shirt. If only she knew how to sew, she could make a pillowcase from that shirt and have that wonderful scent to lull her to sleep every night.

Who was she kidding? She’d never go to sleep with that aroma filling her room.

By the time she drove down the drive to her house, the sun was well up and had been for a while. After a quick stop to change into work clothes, she headed down to the barn, already preparing her story for when Grisham asked why she was so late.

Pedro had the entire weekend off and had gone to Kansas to see his family. Grisham had Sundays off, so she’d expected to find him in the barn. However, his truck was missing and the doors to the barn were closed. Not like Grisham to oversleep, but anything was possible.

She moved the horses that stayed in the barn overnight out into the pasture. The last stall contained Princess and Duchess, who exited with regal tail flips and attitudes befitting their names.

Cleaning the stalls was nobody’s favorite job. She tackled the work all the while reliving last night. It had been everything, and more, than she’d dreamed. She had hoped, wished, and even dressed in her sexy undies just in case, but she hadn’t really believed she’d end up in Eli’s bed. The man definitely knew his way around a woman’s body.

The barn phone rang, and she hurried to the office to grab it. “Flying Pig,” she answered.

“Good morning, Marti.”

“Eileen?”

Eileen Grisham rarely called, but her Irish lilt never failed to make Marti smile. “Aye. It’s me.”

“I was getting worried about Grisham. Everything okay over there?”

“Nay. The old fool fell off a ladder this morning. Broke a couple of ribs.”

“Oh, no. That’s horrible.”

“We’re at the hospital now. Don’t know when he’ll be back.”

“I am so sorry, Eileen. Tell him everything is fine here. He just needs to get better. Pedro and I can handle things.”

“Doctor’s here. I’ve got to run.”

“Keep me informed.”

Poor Grisham. She’d broken a couple of ribs when she’d been a crazy, take-a-dare teen. She’d climbed a tree and tumbled from the upper limbs. The pain with each breath had been excruciating. Basically, the only treatment had been to give the ribs time to heal. Babying the broken ribs and killing time while the breaks mended had been so maddening. She felt for Grisham. Idle time would drive him nuts.

She and Pedro would be fine. It was May, and the cattle had plenty of fresh grass shoots to eat and most of the heifers had delivered. Other than maintaining fences and checking for any late deliveries, this was their slow time, which was exactly why her parents had felt they could be away right now. If she told them about Grisham, they would certainly turn around and head home, which was the last thing she wanted. They would just have to not find out.

With the barn cleaned, the horses turned out, and nothing pressing that had to be done, she headed back to the house for lunch and a little rest. She’d take Ransom out later today.

A couple of hours later, the crunch of tires on gravel pulled her from a nap. She opened the door and watched Eli climb from his SUV. Her heart skipped a few beats.

“Hey,” she said. “Don’t tell me you were just in the neighborhood.”

He chuckled. “I know I’m early, but I was done at the hospital and I saw no sense in going home for thirty minutes to kill time, so here I am.” He closed the driver’s door and walked around the hood of the vehicle. Dressed in new-looking jeans, definitely new boots, and a short-sleeve Henley, he looked great, but she had no idea what he was talking about. Early?

“Um, okay.”

He climbed her stairs to the porch. “You sound confused.”

“That’s because I am. You’re early for what?”

“First, I’m late for this.” He pulled her into his arms and captured her mouth in a deep, erotic kiss. Their tongues tangoed. Pretty much every bone in her body melted.

“Damn you’re good at that,” she said when he finally broke the kiss.

He grinned.

There was a solid tug behind her bellybutton.

“Thank you.”

She gave him a crooked smile. “Is it possible you’re early for more of that?”

His eyes dilated with lust. “Oh, there’ll be more of that, you can be sure. But I’m early for the riding lesson you promised. Last night. Don’t you remember?”

It was her turn to chuckle. “No, I don’t remember that conversation.” But pieces were dropping into place. Now that the memory was returning, seemed like he might have had his head between her legs at the time. “No, wait. I remember.” She felt her cheeks warm. “I think I might have agreed to pretty much anything at that moment.”

He smiled. “Probably. I brought a bribe.”

“I thought your head between my legs last night was a bribe.”

He threw back his head with laughter. “Good to know it works. But right now…” He held up the sack that’d been behind his back.

She’d noticed the white sack when he’d walked around his car.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“Okay. I’ll go put it back in my car.” He turned and pretended to walk away, but that wasn’t going to happen. The aroma from the bag was too delicious to let leave.

“No way.” She grabbed for the bag. Inside were fresh pastries from Porchia’s Heavenly Delights. “Oh, man. You know exactly how to bribe me. Come on in. Want some coffee or something?” she said over her shoulder as he followed her into the kitchen.”

“Only if you’re going to have a cup.”

“Sit.” She pointed to the table and chairs. He did, and she rounded up a couple of cups of coffee. She set the pastries on the table, got out some forks, plates, and napkins and added them to the table. “Help me eat these, please.”

He took his coffee. “Had an interesting case this morning.”

“Yeah? Wasn’t Grisham, was it?”

He looked surprised. “No. What happened to Grisham?”

She explained about his ribs. “Sucks, but….” she leaned toward him as though telling a secret, “he couldn’t have chosen a better time of the year. This is one of our few slow times. Who was your patient?”

“Adam Montgomery.”

“Travis and Olivia’s oldest. What happened?”

“Broke his leg this morning. Was trying to get his horse to jump a fence. Poor kid landed wrong.”

“Poor Adam.”

“Yeah, but kids’ bones heal pretty quickly. He’ll be back on his horse before summer.” He shook his head. “Horses and broken legs, and you wonder why I’ve been hesitant to learn to ride.”

“Eli, riding will be a snap. Trust me.”

“I do. It’s just that—”

“I know. You and horses don’t mix, but you will today.” She took a big bite of an almond croissant and moaned. “That woman has the magical touch.”

He shoved a remaining end of a croissant into his mouth and nodded. “Uh-huh.”

“Let’s talk about your clothes before we go.”

He looked down and then up at her with surprise. Spreading his arms, he said, “Jeans, boots, and shirt.”

“Yeah but the jeans are all wrong.”

“What’s wrong with them?”

“They’re new.”

“So?”

“They’re probably going to rub your inner thighs.”

“Aw, shoot, Marti. I won’t be on a horse long enough for that.”

She laughed. “Okay, but if you’d rather I try to dig up some old jeans that might fit you, I can.”

“These are fine.” He sighed. “Let’s just get this over with.”

She kept on chuckling. “Great attitude.”

“I know. I wish my mouth would sometimes let my brain lead, then I wouldn’t be in this mess.”

Even if someone shoved bamboo shoots under his nails, he would never admit how nervous he was. Marti suspected, but she had no idea of the depth of his anxiety. He was glad they’d slept together before today’s lesson. Afterward, he was pretty sure she’d look at him differently.

At the railing, Marti whistled, and a couple horses popped up. “Come on, Ransom. We’ve got work to do.”

The dark horse—he had no idea if it was male or female—came toward them at a gallop.

Eli took a step back.

“This is my horse. Ransom is a gelding I’ve had for about seven years. Bikini,” she yelled. A tan horse lifted its head. “That’s Bikini. She’s the perfect one for you.”

“Bikini?”

The grin she gave him was pretty much like a solid jab to his gut. The air swooshed from his lungs, and he struggled to take a breath.

“Yeah. Bikini. Look at her markings. She’s a little lighter over her flanks, like she was wearing a bikini in the sun. That’s her tan line.”

He snorted. “I can see it now. I’m assuming she was tanning topless?”

“Who doesn’t?”

The memory of her full, sweet breasts had his cock rising to the mental vision. He cleared his throat. “Why her?” His voice was a little thick.

She patted his shoulder. “You’ll love her. She’s gentle and very sweet. Great for a beginner.”

“I’m not exactly a beginner,” he protested, a little embarrassed by her assessment of his abilities. “I’ve been on a horse.”

“Right,” she agreed. “Still, let’s use Bikini. She can use the exercise.”

The tan horse walked up to the railing and begin to nose Marti. “She’s looking for a treat,” she explained. “You spoiled them with those horse peppermints.”

He smiled but it was forced rather than natural. “Yeah, Bikini, remember that. I’m the guy who sent treats.”

Marti led both horses out of the pasture and into separate stalls.

“Help me get the saddles.”

He nodded and followed her. Shortly, his arms were laden with a blanket, reins, and a saddle.

Marti fit the bit of the reins into Bikini’s mouth and fastened the reins to a tie in the stall. “Hang here,” she said. “I’ll get Ransom saddled, and then come back to do Bikini.”

“I can put on a saddle.”

“I thought you were afraid of horses.”

“More like I don’t trust them to not toss me off, but I know how to saddle.” He knew his voice was indignant, but damn it! He didn’t want her to think him a total loser. Not being able to stay on a horse was a whole lot different from saddling.

“Okay,” she said. “Be sure to get her cinched tight. She’ll hold her breath on you.”

He waved her off. “I know all about that.”

She nodded. “See you in a minute.”

Jets of acid streamed into his stomach. A wave of nausea swept through him. He could do this. He’d done it before. The horse seemed nice enough. So far, she didn’t seem interested in nipping him. That was a relief.

He started going through the steps as he’d learned them years ago. Plus, he’d watched Gina saddle her horse numerous times.

He could do this.

He found a brush on a shelf in the stall. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he remembered he was supposed to brush the horse’s back before he put on the blanket under the saddle. He had no idea why, only that he was supposed to.

Bikini was calm as he approached her.

“Nice horse,” he said. His hand shook as he touched her. She didn’t move, didn’t flinch. He stepped closer, the brush in his hand. Loose horse hair flew around the stall and collected in the brush. After a few strokes, he set it down, picked up the saddle pad, and put it on her back. She remained still, seemingly not at all concerned about what he was doing.

He had no trouble setting the saddle on her back. He remembered all the little things like making sure the right stirrup and girth strap were over the saddle so they wouldn’t get trapped when he hefted it onto Bikini’s back. Marti’s words about tightly cinching the saddle came back to him, but he was doing great. In fact, he was feeling pretty darn good about what he’d done thus far, to the point of almost being cocky. Marti would be impressed.

So he had to pump himself up to reach under Bikini to grab that strap. He winced and braced for the horse to kick him. She didn’t. She remained placidly still.

“Good girl,” he cooed. “Just keep standing still.”

He pulled the strap through the latch and jerked it tight. After waiting for a couple of minutes for Bikini to breathe, he was able to pull the strap another notch tighter.

“How’s it going?”

He whirled around and found Marti watching from the door.

“Fine.”

“Remember to—”

“I got it.”

“Bikini tends to hold—”

“I know. I got it.”

Marti nodded. “Okay then. Let’s head out. We’ll take it slow.” She whirled and walk down the aisle.

“Okay, Bikini. Now, be a nice horse,” he whispered. After untethering her, he led her outside.

Bikini followed at a sedate pace behind him. Even though he’d wiped his damp hands on his jeans, there were still heavy sweat marks on the leather leads. His legs worked, but his knees were like jelly. He made a conscious effort to maintain his breathing, although he did feel a tad woozy.

Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea after all. Maybe just saddling a horse was a great step for the first day.

He was trying to find the words to suggest that when he got his first view of Marti on a horse. With the afternoon sun behind her, she sat high in the saddle, a warrior princess prepared to battle.

“Ready?” she called from high in the air. He tilted back his head to look up at her…way, way up. His lightheadedness was taking on a headache companion. Uncertainty—not fear, he told himself—clawed at his gut.

“Eli? You okay? You’re a pale as my butt in summer.”

Her comment shook him out of his daze. “I’m fine,” he lied. “For the first time lesson, don’t you think just being able to saddle the horse is enough?”

She studied him, and then swung down from Ransom. “You’ll be fine.”

“I know I will,” he snapped. He fisted his hands, the leather strap biting into his palm. “I don’t need to learn to ride. This is stupid. I’ll be back in New York in a couple of months, and I’ll never need to ride again.”

Marti walked over and set a hand on his shoulder. “Eli,” she said on a long exhaled breath.

He wanted to shrug her hand off his shoulder. He wanted to throw the damn strip of leather in his hand onto the ground, get in his car, and drive away.

Looking into her eyes, he wanted to kiss her, to lose himself deep inside her.

“Eli,” she said again. “Get on the horse.” Her voice was a stern order.

“Excuse me?”

“Get on the horse,” she repeated. “Do you need me to tell you how?”

Now, that just pissed him off. “No,” he snapped again. “You do not need to tell me how.” He crammed his left foot into the stirrup and pushed up until he could swing his right leg over. His behind settled heavily in the saddle seat.

Marti stood holding Bikini’s halter, a little smile on her lips. “Save all that passion for later tonight.” She winked and walked back to her horse. She climbed on him with a grace that spoke of years of experience.

“How long have you been riding?” he asked.

“Don’t remember this of course, but Mom says Dad had me on a horse when I was six months old.” She chuckled. “She was not happy about that. Told him if he did it again, she was going to put concrete in his favorite pair of boots. He’d explained that I would grow up around horses my entire life, and I’d better get used to them fast. Mom hadn’t liked his answer, but she understood his reasoning, so that was that. I could ride alone by two years old. Of course, my horse was an old pony who probably could barely walk. Still, for a kid, I was flying on the back of a racehorse. Now, quit killing time.” She clicked her tongue. “Come on, Bikini.”

Upon hearing her name, Bikini took a step. Eli’s heart took a leap. He latched onto the saddle horn, his hands too sweat-slickened to get a good grasp.

“Don’t hold on to the horn,” she said as Bikini walked up to where Ransom stood patiently. “Hold the reins like this.” She demonstrated how to hold the reins between two fingers.

He relocated his hold on the reins, holding them tight between his fingers.

“Loosen up,” she said. “Poor Bikini’s head is pulled back.”

He did as she said.

“Great. That’s it. Okay, here we go.”

She clicked her tongue, and Ransom took a step. Bikini followed. It wasn’t too bad. His butt slid left to right with each step. At least, he wasn’t slamming his rear into the seat. His thighs cramped. Spreading them so wide wasn’t a normal position for him.

“You’re doing great,” Marti said. “I’m going to ride ahead and open a gate. You just continue this way.”

Ransom took off in a gallop, Marti moving with the horse like they were one unit.

Bikini noticed and picked up her pace. His butt bounced in the saddle, snapping his teeth together. Slap left cheek. Slap right cheek. Slap left cheek, and so it went. Reflexively, he tightened the reins.

“Slow down,” he said.

But he must have done something to send a different message to Bikini. She picked up her pace to a full trot. He landed hard on his left hip. The saddle moved a little to the left. He shifted his weight to his right trying to adjust the saddle. With each hard step from Bikini, the more he felt his saddle move left. His left leg was closer to the ground now than his right.

Crap. His saddle was shifting.

Marti was riding back toward him at full speed. “Hang on, Eli. Pull on the reins to stop Bikini.”

Bikini, seeing Ransom’s racing back, sped up, jarring Eli even more off to the left. Then he felt it. Knew what Marti was yelling.

He was a pat of soft butter on top of a stack of pancakes, slowly melting and ready to run down the side.

Marti grabbed Bikini’s reins and jerked her to a stop. Eli’s left leg was curled under the horse’s abdomen, his ass almost totally off her back.

“Are you okay?” she said breathlessly.

“I assume this isn’t what is meant by the term sidesaddle.”

She burst out into a loud laugh. “Hang on. Let me help.”

A quick look confirmed that Bikini had indeed been holding her breath while Eli had been saddling her. Once she started walking, she let it out, leaving the girth strap with inches of extra material.

Once Marti the strap cinched property and sweet talked him into getting back on, the rest of the afternoon went without a hitch. Every once in a while, she would look at Eli and chuckle. Their ride into the pasture and back to the barn took about an hour. By then, his thighs screamed. His ass ached. His neck muscles wanted to give up and let his head roll from his body.

“You did great. Really great,” Marti said as she swung down from her horse. “You’ll have no trouble getting really good at this. Joe will think you lied to him.” She tossed her reins over a fence rail. She looked at him. “Why are you still up there? Waiting to go longer?”

He cleared his throat and confessed, “I don’t know that I can move.”

She laughed, assuming he was joking. “Get down. I’ll go grab some brushes so we can get these guys undressed, so to speak.”

“So to speak,” he repeated.

He waited for her to walk away before he pulled his right boot from the stirrup. With immense effort, he got it over Bikini’s flanks, freed his left foot, and dropped to the ground. His legs wobbled and he held on to the saddle for support.

“Here ya go,” Marti said, tossing a brush toward him. “Just take everything off and give her a brush down. She’ll love you forever.”

The brush hit the dirt with a thud. He looked at it but didn’t move.

The thud made Marti turn and look at him. “Are you okay?”

“A little stiff,” he admitted.

The corners of her mouth tweaked up, and he suspected she was fighting a smile. “Let me give you a hand. And don’t argue with me,” she added when he started to do just that. “I can unsaddle faster, and with as much ease as I brush my teeth. Scoot, and let me work.” She bumped him over with her hip.

She bent over to unbuckle the girth strip, her tight little ass arched in the air. Yeah, that was nice. His argument died in his throat.

“How about I make you dinner tonight? As a thank you for today,” he said.

“You don’t owe me anything.”

“I didn’t say I did. I just thought you’d enjoy a nice dinner with some fine wine, a little conversation, and maybe throw in some star gazing.”

She lifted the heavy saddle off Bikini. “Sounds wonderful. What time?”

He checked his watch for the time. Four. It would take him an hour to get home, another hour to stop and get the supplies for dinner, some time to clean up, so, he needed at least two-and-a-half hours.

“Six-thirty?”

“Can we make it seven or seven-thirty?” she asked. “I’m the only one here today, and there are a few things I need to do before then.”

“Let me have that saddle,” he said, and took a painful step forward.

She hesitated, and then handed it over, adding the saddle blanket to his load. “You know where it goes.”

When he got back, she was brushing Bikini with long strokes. Bikini shivered, and he followed. This woman was intoxicating. The one thing he knew for sure was that he wasn’t done with her yet.

Stepping up to her back, he put his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck. “I like how you smell.”

Dropping her head back on his shoulder, she laughed. “Like sweaty horses?”

“No, like Marti.” He pressed his lips to the spot behind her ear. He remembered that she liked that. “Yum.”

She turned her head and kissed him. “Thank you for trusting me today.”

“You’re easy to trust.”

He kissed her, only this time, she turned in his arms to take the kiss to a deeper, hotter level. A low moan came from deep inside her. His gut tugged.

“If you actually want food when you get to my house, you better stop that.”

She laughed. “You got peanut butter?”

“Yes.”

“Jelly?”

He nodded. “And bread.”

“Then I’m fine.”

He chuckled and pulled her tightly against him. “Maybe I want to impress you with my cooking skills.”

She leaned back until their gazes met. “Seriously? I figured you would call and get take-out somewhere.”

“Ha. No way, baby. It’s going to be all me tonight.”

“Umm. Sounds like something I could get into.”

“And you are definitely something I can get into.”

She laughed softly and pushed him away. “Go. I’ve got work to do.”

“Anything you don’t eat?”

She looked at his face, let her gaze deliberately drop to his groin, and then slowly worked her way back up his body. His cock stiffened and pushed his zipper into a bend.

“No,” she said and licked her lips. “Can’t say that there is.”