Free Laredo's Sassy Sweetheart by Tina Leonard Page A

it right. “Where do you want to go?”
    “Anywhere, as long as you’re taking me.”
    He stepped back from her shirt-roving hand. “Cissy, I wouldn’t dream of driving off with you. People would be looking for my body for months.”
    She laughed. “We’re not that determined to win.”
    “No, but you’re working me for some reason. I suspect you’re supposed to lure me out of town and then knock me out until the rodeo’s over.”
    “You’re so suspicious!” She smiled at him. “Are you always like this?”
    Since he’d met her? “Yes.”
    “Oh, piffle. You’re just letting that crazy Katy Goodnight make you nuts.”
    “Crazy?”
    “Sure.” She blinked at him. “Everybody knows she wouldn’t let her ex-fiancé kiss her. So he dumped her. Big surprise, huh? I mean, virginity shouldn’t be a remote-control trap, should it?”
    Whoa! His mouth instantly dried out. “Virginity?”
    “Well, if she won’t let her fiancé kiss her, she sure wasn’t going to get to normal relations.”
    “How do you know this?” He couldn’t see Katy confiding in Cissy.
    She laughed. “Laredo, this is a very small town. And we make it our business to know each other’s business. Delilah and her girls act like unblemished southern ladies, but they keep tight tabs on us just like we do them.” Cissy stepped between his legs so she could stare up at him with big eyes and a sultry mouth. “Depriving a man is cruel, Laredo. A man could lose his mind that way.”
    Wind blew through his brain in tunnel-like fashion. Cissy was standing too darn close to him. There was nothing remote-control about her trap. She was all about hands-on ambush. “Thanks for the tip on Bloodthirsty,” he said, turning to head in the opposite direction. “If you’ll excuse me, Miss Cissy, I’ve got to go.”
    If indeed Cissy was telling the truth this time, he had to tell his brothers. They had some major strategy revising to work on.
    After that, he had to move out of Katy’s room. A virgin? His tongue felt as if it had turned into a dry sponge. The first thought he’d ever had about Katywas that a man could spend many good nights with a girl like her!
    He’d been way off the mark. No wonder he’d had trouble sleeping—he’d been in a virgin’s bed. And he had two more nights to go!
    He’d never make it. Sleep was going to be a thing of his past until he left Lonely Hearts Station, or until he vacated Katy’s room. Every time he looked at Katy he thought about sex. Now, if he could get to sleep, he’d probably be dreaming about making love to her.
    Being the first man in a woman’s life was a load of responsibility.
    It would also be a rush of major proportions. He’d never let that little gal out of his sight if he were her first….
    That would not fit the doing-something-big plan.
    Glancing up and down the street, he saw he had two choices for lodging: his truck and Miss Delilah’s. As their champion, they felt it proper to put him up. He’d kissed Katy—and she’d virtually run away. Without sleep, he’d be mush by Saturday, and they’d have to pour him onto Bloodthirsty, and that bull would throw him to kingdom come. He’d wind up sleeping in a hospital.
    Slowly he walked back into the Lonely Hearts Salon and climbed the stairs to Katy’s room, where he knew he’d find her.
     
    K ATY TURNED as Laredo walked into her room. He looked different, worried. “What’s wrong?”
    Silent for a moment, he finally said, “I’m sorry I kissed you.”
    She only kept her lips from parting in surprised disappointment by the greatest effort. “Sorry?”
    “I shouldn’t have forced myself on you.” Laredo rubbed his chin and then the back of his neck. “You were right to…reject my advance.”
    “Oh,” she murmured. How much could words hurt a heart? Hannah said the heart was only a symbol, but it sure felt like her symbol was breaking. She’d been wishing she wasn’t such a chicken when it came to Laredo; she’d