Chapter 9

Lawson arrived at the stables earlier than the time Julie was expected to be relieved from babysitting his niece. He typically helped Beth with the chores here, either in the mornings or evenings. It wasn’t a big hardship. This was the work he’d grown up doing. The work he loved. He also loved flying helicopters, but that dream was slowly crashing and burning—literally. The longer he stayed on the ground, the more he wondered if his piloting career was over for good.

Lawson watched the side door to the house expectantly, feeling a little like Stalker Mel. He’d seen Beth return home ten minutes earlier, and knew Julie would be coming out any minute. The side door to Beth’s house opened, and his heart kicked into gear.

Julie headed down the steps, wearing a tight-fitting pair of Beth’s riding pants and the boots he’d picked out for her at lunch.

“Hey,” he said as she approached.

She whipped her head up to face him.

“Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to sneak up on you, darling.”

“Darling?” Julie laughed.

“You’re in cowboy territory now. That makes you a darling.”

She laughed again. He loved the sound. It made him want to say one charming thing after another. To charm the pants right off her. Literally.

He gestured to the barn. “You’ve been teaching me yoga, and showing me what makes you feel better. Now I want to show you my idea of stress relief.”

She offered a slight nod. “Okay. Let’s do this. Do I look all right?”

His gaze ran down her body as he suppressed a groan and fumbled for the right words. She looked more than all right. He’d always had a cowgirl fantasy and right now Julie was pretty much fulfilling it. “Yep” was all he could manage. He turned and headed toward the barn, opening the stable doors and exciting the horses inside. The smell of hay and animals invigorated him. So did the beautiful woman who stepped up beside him.

He grabbed a saddle from one of the hooks on the wall. This had seemed like a good idea when he’d dreamt it up at lunchtime, telling himself he was just being friendly, taking Dr. Pierce’s advice and letting someone in on his feelings. Dr. Pierce had also advised him not to get romantically involved right now, and suddenly this felt like he was in direct opposition to that advice.

“How many horses do you have?”

“I don’t have any here. Mine are back home in Texas. Beth has two. Jax is hers. Bon-Bon belongs to Sabrina.”

“Sabrina has her own horse?” Julie asked, as surprise lifted her brow.

Lawson grinned, unlocking Bon-Bon’s stall. “She doesn’t really ride, but Sabrina likes to come out here and feed her apple slices.” He rubbed his hand over Bon-Bon’s sorrel-colored muzzle. Leaning in close to the horse, he whispered loud enough for Julie to overhear. “Want to take a ride with me, Bon?”

The horse made a gentle nicker.

Lawson looked at Julie. “She says yes.” He started preparing the saddles.

“Wait,” she objected at his side. “Wait.”

Lawson turned back to her, noticing her wide eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know how to ride,” she confessed. “I mean, I’ve been on a horse before, but it’s been ages and I basically just walked around on a lead. I really don’t think—”

“Relax.” He continued fastening the saddle on Bon-Bon’s back. “No thinking necessary. I’ll take care of you.” Carrying the other saddle toward Jax, he mentally reprimanded himself.

I’ll take care of you?

A few minutes later they were standing outside the barn with both horses.

“You can ride Bon-Bon.”

Julie nodded. “Okay.” She lifted her leg, securing her foot in the stirrup, and tried to pull herself upward. It didn’t work. She tried again, then again. After several unsuccessful attempts, she sighed and turned to Lawson.

“Can I help?” he asked, praying she’d say yes. Because helping her meant being close to her, touching her. And he couldn’t think of anything better than that at the moment.

Julie blew a breath toward the lock of hair that had slipped out of her ponytail. She really wished she didn’t need to say yes to Lawson’s offer of help, but mounting Bon-Bon was proving to be impossible. “Please,” she said, releasing a breath of frustration. So far Lawson’s claim of stress reduction with horse riding was falling flat.

He took a step toward her and her entire body stiffened. Then he leaned in close. “I’m going to have to put my hands on your leg, Julie. Is that all right?”

The thought set her skin ablaze. “Mm-hmm.” She nodded, anticipating his touch. Wanting to run just about as badly as she wanted to match every movement he made toward her.

“Okay, bend your left leg,” he said. “I’m going to grip underneath your knee and lift, while you use your right leg to push up off the ground. When I do, I want you to use your arms to hold on to the saddle and pull your body up.”

She swallowed and nodded her agreement.

“Here we go,” he said. “On the count of three. One…two…three.”

She jumped and his hand pushed against the back of her knee just as he’d told her it would, though by the end his hand had shifted up on her thigh. Then, when she needed just a little help swinging her right leg over onto Bon-Bon, he gave a small push on her backside.

Is Lawson’s hand where I think it is?

She landed in the saddle and held on tight.

“You okay?” he asked, standing on the ground below her, acting as if he hadn’t just gotten a free pass to first base. And if she wasn’t mistaken, a small curve lifted on his mouth.

She nodded quickly, not wanting to draw attention to her complete embarrassment. And turn-on. That was more action than she’d gotten with a man in a very long time.

“Good. All you need to do is follow my lead. She’s a gentle horse. To turn right, lightly pull your reins to the right. To turn left, pull your reins to the left. To stop, pull back toward your belly button. It’s that easy.”

“Right, left, belly button.” Julie nodded. “Got it.”

“You’ll be fine,” he assured her.

She nodded again and then tightened her legs around the horse, not wanting to fall. She could do this. No problem. What she couldn’t do was look at Lawson and not remember his hand on her ass.

She rode behind him down a path that led through the trees behind Beth’s house. Julie hadn’t even known the path was here. It was narrow, leading through a canopy of tall pines. The air was cooler, crisper in the shade. She inhaled, relaxing into the saddle below her.

“Almost there,” Lawson called behind him.

She pulled her eyes from his backside. She hadn’t even realized she’d been focused on his tight-fitted jeans with a little worn spot near the left-hand pocket. He had a worn T-shirt tucked into his waist and a leather belt hugged his narrow midsection.

“You still doing all right?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder at her.

She nodded. “Left, right, belly button.”

A smooth, sexy smile crossed his lips. “You’re a natural,” he said.

They continued riding until the path opened onto a field, speckled with yellow dandelions. The breath caught in Julie’s chest. “It’s beautiful.” She stopped her horse beside Lawson’s, pulling the reins back toward her belly button just like he’d instructed her.

“Yeah. When I come out here on horseback, I feel a little less homesick.”

“You miss Texas?” she asked.

He shrugged, the fabric of his shirt hugging his body a little tighter as his muscles contracted. “Of course. You can take the boy out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of the boy. That’s what my dad used to say.”

From where she was sitting, there was no boy in sight.

“Guess that’s why Dad decided it was okay to skip town.” He kept his gaze straight.

“I’m sorry,” she said, quietly.

“It’s not your fault. You aren’t the woman who stole his attention away from our family. That honor belongs to my mother’s best friend.”

Julie watched him. “Ouch.”

“Yeah.” He sucked in a deep breath. “What makes it worse is that my mother had just been diagnosed with stage-two breast cancer. She was about to start her first round of radiation and my father decided he didn’t really mean that whole spiel about ‘for better or worse.’ ”

“Sounds like your family had it rough.”

“Forgive and forget, right?” he said, smiling at her.

“If only it were that easy. How is your mom now?”

“Good. Cancer-free for almost ten years.”

“That’s great.” Julie looked out on the field as they walked the horses some more, breathing in the fresh air. A gentle breeze blew around them, making her hair tickle the side of her cheek. “I can see where this would be stress relieving. It’s nice out here.”

“You should come to Texas someday.” He looked over. “My mom lives on twenty acres. A horseback ride can last forever.”

“Sounds peaceful. Thank you for bringing me here,” she said, glancing over.

“Thank you for coming. You look good on a horse.”

This made her laugh. “Really?”

Lawson tipped his head to one side. “You could use a hat.” He brought his horse closer to hers and took the hat off his head to place on hers. It was akin to wearing a guy’s jacket, an immediate intimacy falling on her and igniting all those dormant places. She doubted Lawson gave the honor of wearing his cowboy hat to just anyone.

“How do I look?” She struck a pose, holding on to Bon-Bon’s reins.

“Beautiful,” he said, stealing her breath and her smile.

Her heart bucked against her rib cage. “I, uh, better get back. I have to prepare for tomorrow’s yoga class. I want to add a new pose or two.”

He rubbed his hands together. “Can’t wait. Never thought I’d say that about yoga.”

“It grows on you,” she said, as they turned around and headed back down the path. He was growing on her.

“I’m here a lot after work. Come ride with me anytime,” he said, helping her dismount from Bon-Bon when they were back at the barn. He didn’t place his hands on her ass this time, which was both regrettable and a relief. Instead, he steadied her waist with his hands. She turned to face him after he helped her to the ground, and was surprised to find how close they were standing. Close enough that the brim of his hat on her head nearly touched his chin.

“This belongs to you.” She took off the hat and went up on her tiptoes to put it back where it belonged. Their eyes locked as the movement brought them even closer together. Her heart bucked again, like a wild horse ready to bolt.

Returning to flat feet, she started to step away. Needed to step away. Too bad Bon-Bon was still behind her, blocking her escape.

“Julie?” he said, making her feet pause and her heart stutter. She liked the sound of her name on his lips. Low, deep.

“Yes?” she asked breathlessly.

He reached out his hand to tame a strand of her hair brushing against her cheek. “You have what I call hat-hair.” He took his time smoothing the hair around her ear, awakening every nerve in her body. Then he slowly dipped, keeping his blue-as-the-ocean eyes on hers, and kissed her.

She melted into him instead of stepping away. The side of his cheek on hers was warm and inviting, intoxicating. His tongue tapped softly against hers, just once, as he swept his hand behind her neck, pulling her gently toward him.

A soft moan escaped her throat, betraying her. She parted her lips for him, inviting him in, begging him to stay, which he did for just a moment longer. Then he broke it off, keeping it sweet. The kiss had threatened to be more, though. It had threatened to take her inside that barn, lay her down on a blanket of hay, and be a whole hell of a lot more.

“See you later, Lawson,” she said, forcing herself to step away from him, away from the horse and the barn. She turned toward her car and didn’t look back. Otherwise, her hormones were going to win and drag this cowboy into the barn and slam the stall doors behind them.

“See you later, Julie,” he called after her.