Free Laredo's Sassy Sweetheart by Tina Leonard Page B

been envying Cissy, who could throw herself at men with such confident ease.
    Yet Laredo was sorry he’d kissed her. And Stanley hadn’t liked to.
    There was something wrong with her. It was some kind of weird spinsteritis. Men sensed it as soon as they touched her.
    She had hoped it would be different with Laredo. She had hoped she would be different. “It’s all right,” she murmured. “Kissing’s not that big a deal.”
    Of course, it was to her, but she wasn’t going to make Laredo feel bad over her lack of sex appeal.
    He looked surprised at her statement. “It’s not?”
    She shrugged. “Not really.”
    “Well…I’m surprised to hear you say that. You practically set a record running away from me.”
    A blush burned across her cheeks. “I was caught off guard.”
    “You said you weren’t the girl for me. But I’m not looking for a girl for me.”
    She blinked. “What are you looking for?”
    “Adventure. And that’s just about it.”
    Kissing with no strings attached. That certainly took all the pressure off. “I like to be adventurous.”
    He grinned at her, knowing at once that she was fibbing, she supposed. “Well, I’d like to be adventurous,” she added.
    “I don’t have any plans tonight,” he said.
    “Are you asking me out?” After she’d run away from him like a scared rabbit, why would he?
    “Friends can go out, can’t they?”
    “Friends?”
    He nodded. “I promise not to kiss you again.”
    Her heart sank. “Okay,” she said, trying to be a good sport.
    “If that’s what you want.”
    “Oh, yeah, yeah, sure. It’s what I want.” Well, not really, but she was in a bit deep here, and he was standing in her bedroom. Laredo didn’t really stand, he lounged, or maybe it was loomed, because he towered over her. She’d never been alone with him like this, and never in such close proximity to a bed, and if they started kissing again like they had just a few hours ago, the virgin part of her might unfreeze and she’d jump him and then where would they be?
    In bed.
    She wasn’t certain that would be such a bad thing.
    On the other hand, he’d just said he wouldn’t kissher again. That didn’t sound like a man who could be jumped.
    Strange. She’d never thought about jumping Stanley.
    “What kind of friendly date did you have in mind?” she asked.
    “Tell me what’s in this town.”
    “Um, lots of unmarried women.”
    “One woman per date, I always say.”
    She rolled her eyes at him. “We could go riding.”
    “We could go for a walk and see what kind of trouble we could find,” he suggested. “Seems there’s always something brewing here.”
    “We could go lay pennies on the train track. The eight-thirty will come through tonight.”
    “Katy,” he said suddenly, “what kind of dates have you been on lately?” He went around the fiancé issue, not wanting Katy to know that he had been filled in on her broken heart.
    Or maybe not-so-broken heart. She didn’t look all that broken-up to him.
    She way-too-casually studied her fingernails. “Oh, you know, the usual.”
    He thought about that for a minute. “I haven’t dated in a while. I’m rusty. What’s the usual?”
    “Mostly watching TV at my folks’ house.”
    “I’ve got an idea,” Laredo said. “Let’s go for a drive.”
    “Where?”
    “Nowhere. Out in the country, with some blankets and some beer. We’ll lie in the truck bed and count the stars.”
    Her eyes got round. “That almost sounds…romantic.”
    No way was he going to let her get scared off again. If he knew anything about Katy Goodnight now, it was that she didn’t know what a really good night was.
    And he wasn’t going to be the one to show her.
    “Nah,” he said, “it’s the cheap man’s entertainment. Beer and a truck bed for stargazing.”
    “All right,” Katy said. “We can drive down to the creek. Let me change into some jeans and grab my blanket. You get the beer.”
    “Do you want to invite Hannah