Despite the absolutely weird vibe that had underscored the entire day, Aria could not remember a better Saturday. Of course, that might be due to the kisses she and Laredo were stealing every ten to twenty minutes in some far corner of the barn. Aria felt like a teenager again. There was something almost fun about spotting Laredo across the barn and then managing to steal away for a few seconds of lips and hands and the delicious taste of his mouth against hers.

Aria hummed softly to herself as she cleaned up the tack room after a full day of lessons. The room was quiet. The boarders had their tack room in the other barn, and there were no more lessons today. After a long Saturday, the windowless room packed full of saddles and bridles and grooming equipment generally looked as though a tornado had come through. Tidying up involved wiping down several bridles that had been forgotten and cleaning a few saddles. Aria didn’t mind one bit. It was relaxing work. Her hands were greasy from the glycerin saddle soap, and she smelled worse than the barn, but she felt strangely upbeat and happy. It was peaceful.

“I thought I heard the song of a siren.”

Aria glanced at the doorway and saw Laredo resting his shoulder against the doorjamb. His grin was infectious, and she could not help but laugh at his ridiculous comment.

“I think comparing my singing to a siren’s song is stretching it.” She gestured to the last bridle waiting to be cleaned. “If that was the case, then I’d be able to lure unsuspecting riders back in here to finish their cleanup.”

“What a thought.” Laredo folded his arms over his broad chest. “You could whistle and people would run to do your bidding.”

The idea appealed, but mostly it was just fun to be ridiculous. “I think I would suffer from a power trip in no time. You would start avoiding me because I would be constantly bossing you around without actually having to speak the words. Can you imagine how horrible that would be?”

“Oh, horrible,” he murmured. “I can’t imagine anything I’d like you to order me to do.”

For a single second, Aria did not know what he meant. Then his words sank in, and her cheeks flushed as she thought about all the wonderful kisses they’d shared that day. If it came down to it, Aria could think of a few things she would like to beg for too. The man could certainly make her feel as giddy as a teenager in the throes of her first crush.

Laredo was a handsome man. There was no doubt about that. Sure. He was a little older than she was by a few years, but what did that matter? It was funny how when they’d been young, he had seemed so much older. The older they both got, the more insignificant the difference in their ages became.

“What are you thinking?” Laredo wanted to know. He pushed off the doorjamb and walked the rest of the way inside the tack room. “That smile is giving me ideas. Especially if we’re talking about all of the things I would love to hear you ask for.”

“I was thinking,” she said in her sassiest tone of voice. “That you are far too old for me. You know?”

“I am not.” He laughed.

Aria wrapped the reins of a bridle around in what she called a “figure eight” and then hung it up on the proper hook. “I remember when we were all in school, everyone was obsessed with the idea that Jesse had a crush on Cal, and that Cal was way too old for her.”

“It wasn’t the age difference.” Laredo seemed to reconsider that. “Okay, back then maybe it was. Cal was eighteen when Jesse came to live with us. She was eleven. We could all tell she had a crush on him. At that point, it was illegal. But Cal and Jesse were also raised as brother and sister. You don’t think that would be a little wrong for the two of them to start dating?”

“Then or now?” Aria asked him. Then she realized that now was all that mattered. “And no. It isn’t wrong. I just want my friend to be happy.”

“Even if it makes everyone else in the family upset?” He pursed his lips and seemed to at last consider what she was saying. “I know that my parents just don’t feel comfortable with Jesse and Cal as anything more than siblings. They consider both of them their children.”

“There has to be more to it than that,” Aria insisted. She thought about the agony that Jesse had put herself through over the years on this topic. Her friend had been crushing on Cal forever. But she had been so conditioned not to talk about it or acknowledge it that she had actually convinced herself that it wasn’t true. For the most part.

Laredo seemed to be uncomfortable with the topic. “I don’t know why Cal and Jesse can’t just look elsewhere. Why my brother has any interest in dating our sister is beyond my comprehension anyway.”

Aria frowned. “Laredo, they aren’t siblings. If they don’t feel like they are, then they should be able to love whoever they want.”

“I think you’re the first person who has ever said that out loud,” Laredo murmured. “Everyone always ignores the whole Cal and Jesse attraction thing. It’s like we’ve been taught our whole lives that it’s wrong, and none of us want to think about the possibility of another option. It’s just too uncomfortable. So, we don’t talk about it.”

“Maybe we should all start talking about that stuff, then.” Aria made a face at him, but she could tell that this subject was closed for the moment.

“Can I talk about how much I want to kiss you right now?” Laredo was moving toward her a step at a time. It was like being stalked by a wild predator, and Aria could not deny the excitement of the pursuit.

“Nice subject change. Or are you really that single-minded?” She put her hands on her hips. “I don’t know if I want to talk about the same things you do. What are your intentions? I mean, you are an older boy. You could be trying to corrupt my innocence.”

Laredo laughed out loud. Aria lobbed a damp tack sponge at him. He held his hands up to deflect her missiles. “Hey! No attacking me with cleaning products!”

“Then don’t make fun of my perceived or even pretend innocence!” Not that she was offended. Far from it, actually. She hated the notion of being innocent. That went right along with naiveté in her book. And those were practically crimes in her experience.

Laredo grabbed Aria around the waist and swung her up off the ground. His forearms were locked right beneath her butt, and she could feel her chest pressed against his. Her nipples started to harden as the blood began pumping furiously through her body. She was so alive in this moment and it felt amazing!

Gazing up at him was like looking into two blue gems. His eyes were so brilliant that they were almost mesmerizing. She felt like prey and she liked it. Then he lowered his mouth to hers, and Aria was utterly lost in his kiss. This was what she wanted. It had been in the back of her mind all day long.

“God, I’ve wanted to do that all day!” Laredo groaned. “You look so damn kissable in this barn sashaying around with your hair brushing your shoulders and those big sexy dark eyes just looking at me!”

“I am not sexy!” she argued. “I’m filthy.”

“Where’s the hose? I will happily wash you off,” he offered. “And don’t tell me what I find sexy or not. It won’t work. You’re incredibly sexy.”

He kissed her again. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. He stumbled toward one of the benches and sat down with Aria in his lap. Her legs automatically went around his waist, and she sat facing him, with the bench between both their legs. The position was oddly intimate. She felt exposed and naughty and oh so excited to be that way.

She buried her hands in his hair. The softness of each strand sifting through her fingers was exquisite. She loved the curly texture of his hair. She loved the noises he made when she tugged on it. Moving her hands from his hair to his cheeks, she soaked up the sensation of his five-o’clock shadow rasping against her palms. It felt so good to touch his face and to kiss him while she cradled his cheeks in her hands.

His lips skimmed over hers before moving toward her neck. Aria tilted her head sideways to give him better access. He tickled a path toward the base of her throat before placing a kiss right there at the sensitive hollow near her collarbone. A tingle shot down her spine, and she felt every single jolt all the way to her toes.

A sudden thought made Aria draw back. “Where’s Bella?”

“Helping Jorge feed the horses.”

Now that Aria knew they had at least a few minutes, she pulled Laredo’s mouth back to hers for a thorough kissing. She tangled her fingers in his hair and rubbed her tongue alongside his. The friction was incredible. It made her so turned on that she could hardly stand it. Her core was throbbing and her breathing was ragged. Every nerve in her body was wide awake and excited about what this man could do to her.

Laredo’s hands moved down to the hem of her T-shirt. He inched his fingers beneath the worn cotton. Soon his palms were splayed against her sides. The pressure of his hands running over her ribs made her want more. He began to move his fingers very slowly toward the sensitive undersides of her breasts. She sucked in a quick breath of excitement as he pushed beneath the elastic strap of her bra.

“I wish I could get this thing off,” she said mournfully. “But getting out of a sports bra is like removing armor.”

Laredo was laughing. Then she felt a sudden release as he unfastened the closure of her bra. “There. Consider me your squire since I’m removing your armor.”

“You’re more talented than I gave you credit for!” she gasped.

Only moments later, she completely forgot how to speak. Laredo had lifted up her shirt and was cupping both her breasts in his hands. He thumbed her nipples into hard little peaks. She bit her lip to keep from crying out. It felt so incredible when he touched her! She felt alive in ways she never had before.

Suddenly a stream of air tickled her hypersensitive breasts. The skin was hot from being inside that bra all day long. One tiny breath from his lips set her on fire with the contrast of cool air and warm flesh. But before she could even remark on it, he lowered his mouth to her chest and took her right nipple in his mouth.

“Oh. Oh. Laredo!”

He used his tongue to trace delicate circles around the puckered tip of her nipple. It felt as though all of the blood in her body was rushing into her breasts. The skin grew hotter. The nipple grew harder. And she felt as if she were in danger of fainting. Had Laredo not been holding her, she would have tumbled over backward off the bench.

“You taste so incredible,” he murmured against her skin. “I love how you react to me. I love how I can do this”—he laved his tongue around her nipple—“and you moan and tell me just how good it feels.”

“Again,” Aria begged.

His low laugh caused a knot to form in her belly. She was so turned on right now that she could have imploded right there in the barn. He nuzzled her breasts, and then to her disappointment, he gently recovered them with her T-shirt. Reaching up behind her back, he fastened her bra.

“Hey!” Aria protested. “I like that you have that skill, but I didn’t tell you to use it for that!”

“Sweetheart, if I keep going, I’m not going to be able to stop.” He whispered those words against her neck. “I want you so badly, but I want our first time together to be right. I want it to be good and not in a barn.”

“What?” She wrinkled her nose at him. “You don’t want to make love with me for the first time in a barn? What kind of cowboy are you?”

“The civilized kind,” he joked. Then he stood up and held out his hand. “Shall we go rescue the rest of your staff from my daughter?”

“I suppose if it can’t be helped!” Aria felt strangely giddy. He wanted to make love to her. He wanted to be with her. Wow, did she like the sound of that!