Free Roping Your Heart by Cheyenne McCray

she followed him, her throat suddenly dry.
    When he reached the doorway to his office, he gestured for her to go in before him. As she passed him she caught his clean scent of soap and shampoo.
    Inside the office was a large oak desk with a leather chair behind it as well as two chairs in front of the desk. There were wood file cabinets along one wall. She walked up to the wall of bookshelves and saw that books by Harold Bell Wright, Zane Grey, and Max Brand filled them as well as classics by Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and D.H. Lawrence, and more, much more.
    He also had books on things like anatomy and physiology, and books related to agricultural subjects. Horse and cattlemen magazines were scattered on a credenza.
    When they were young, Blake had always loved to read before he went to bed. He had a thirst for knowledge that she’d never seen in anyone else.
    She turned to face him. “Did you go to Northern Arizona University like you always planned?”
    He shook his head. “Arizona State for four years.”
    “So we’re rivals.” She laughed and he grinned. “U of A and ASU have been bitter opponents for over a century. What made you decide to go to ASU?”
    “ASU has a better business degree program.” He moved behind the big oak desk. “Where do you want to start?”
    She sat in one of the chairs in front of his desk and crossed her legs at the knees. She opened the file on her lap. “I have the copy of the notice from the IRS here. I guess we’d better start with the first year you’re being audited.”
    About half an hour later, Demi walked into the office. She had a duffel bag slung over one shoulder and was holding a present wrapped in light purple with a big dark purple bow. “Dad, Amy’s mom is here to pick me up. She said she’ll drop me off tomorrow afternoon.”
    Blake got up from behind his desk and went to his daughter. He gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Have a good time, honey.”
    She kissed his cheek. “I’ll try,” she said, but smiled. She looked at Cat and gave her a little wave. “Bye, Cat.”
    “Have fun.” Cat returned the wave.
    Demi ducked out of the office and a few moments later Cat heard the opening and closing of the front door.
    Cat was suddenly aware of the fact that she and Blake were all alone now. A tension seemed to develop in the air between them and their gazes met and held for a long moment.
    She looked away, her eyes going to the papers spread out on the desk in front of her. “I guess we’d better get back to work.”
    When she met his gaze again, he gave a slow nod. “I guess we’d better.”

Chapter 7
    “I guess that will have to do for today.” Cat brushed her hair out of her eyes as she started to organize the papers on Blake’s desk. “We can work on this more another day.” She glanced from the papers to him. He was sitting in the chair beside her now, in front of the desk. “My schedule is still pretty open,” she said. “When is a good time for us to get together again?”
    He was studying her, his gaze so intense that she felt the heat of it on her skin. “Friday night at seven,” he said.
    “Friday night?” It took a moment to register that he was asking her out. “Oh.” She hesitated and he kept looking at her with that same dark look. “I—sure.”
    She felt warning bells going off in her head, but too late. It wasn’t good to spend so much time with the man. She was going to fall head over heels for him again.
    If she hadn’t already.
    She looked away from the intensity of his gaze and got to her feet. From her peripheral vision she saw him stand, then felt the heat of his body when he moved closer to her.
    “I think we made pretty good progress.” Her heart pounded faster and she busied herself with making each stack on the desktop perfectly neat. “We might be able to get everything done in one more meeting.” She rushed her words, feeling like she was babbling.
    “KitCat.” His voice was soft and she went still at