Free Smoke. Fire. Cowboy (Cowboys of Nirvana Book 3) by Rhonda Lee Carver Page A

holding hers.
    “Not sure that I do.” His eyes were amazingly bright, and that smile, the one that made her body throb, lured her in.
    He took her hand into his, palms meeting and a flash of electric shot up her arm, settling in her chest. “Sweetheart, I’ve known a lot of women over the years. That’s no secret. A man can look at a woman and know, just by the way she moves or the look in her eye, what she likes in bed. And you, Sofie, need a confident man. One who isn’t afraid to take control, to put out the fire raging in your sweet, little body. You can barely contain the ravenous lioness within you aching to be set free.”
    All she could do was stare as his words played her core like a harp.
    “We’re more alike than most people would believe, darlin’. The only difference, when you look at me you see what you get, and you, sweetheart, are a wolf hiding under a lamb’s coat.”
    She pulled back, but he clasped her hand tighter. “There’s where you’re wrong, Jared. I’m not a wolf.”
    “It’s okay to be who you are.” He laughed. The rich sound traveled along her nerve endings and each one tingled in desire. “That’s what men want. A sweet angel, but a freak in the bed.”
    His theory struck way too close to home. Luther had told her the same thing, just different words. She’d been the perfect wife, in and out of bed. He’d liked her dirty, naughty, and she’d gladly tempered his every need.
    An image came to mind—her laying sprawled across Luther’s desk, him pounding inside of her, and then seeing Janelle. Sofie’s world had come crumbling down. The woman moving into her house. The divorce. Luther and Janelle having a child. He’d never wanted children with Sofie. She’d been good enough to screw and clean his house, but she’d not met the bar to have his child. “I’m about to do something very crazy.”
    He chuckled and rubbed his chin. “We all deserve to get a little crazy at times.”
    With a frustrated groan, she stood. “I’m glad you see things my way.”
    The smile fizzled from his expression. “What’s wrong, Sofie?”
    “Do you believe in kismet?”
    “I believe we make our own fate.”
    “And that’s exactly what I plan to do.”
    Sofie wanted to tame the flames licking at her insides, to rinse the betrayal and memories from her blood. She wanted to feel—just to feel without worry. The torturous desire wrangled through her veins, roping her desire and firing up a steamy heat in her loins. There was no denying the unavoidable. Grabbing the towel covering her, she loosened the knot. The material dropped to her feet and a blast of cool air swept over her body, but didn’t touch the searing passion inside of her.
    Jared’s eyes turned a deeper color and he worked his jaw. “Sweetheart, I’m not sure…”
    “One more question. The most important one. Do you want me?” She was taking a risk that he would reject her, that tomorrow would bring other issues, but it was a risk she was willing to take. Her body quivered and her inner thighs moistened.
    “More than my next breath,” the words were on the end of a husky sigh.
    “No one needs to know,” she whispered.
    He met her gaze, urgent and curious. “Can you live with that?”
    “At this point, I couldn’t live knowing that I walked away.” She took the three steps dividing them and crawled over his lap, spreading her thighs over the bulge in the towel. Jared was the only man she’d been this close with, besides her ex. Jared’s hands on her thighs should have felt awkward, but instead his callused palms were nice—right. Her nipples were already peaking and tingles were shooting through her. The growing bulge rubbed her core. Her most precious part opened, like a blooming flower, seeking his touch, his warmth, the release she knew he could give her. Heat rose like blue fire, licking at her nerve endings, rushing through her like a forest fire. Maybe he was right—she was a wolf. If that were the