Free Her Unbridled Cowboy (Harland County Series) by Donna Michaels Page B

Instincts .
    Her hands itched to touch him, so
she palmed his chest and slowly ran her fingers upward to his shoulders, loving
the feel of sinew and muscles rippling beneath. Darn man was walking
testosterone wrapped in hard strength.
    Even though he still hadn’t touched
her, Connor’s eyes had darkened, so she took that as a sign she was doing
something right. Please God, let me be doing this right . Using her need
as a guide, Kerri ran a finger up the bare flesh of his neck, over his jaw then
down to his chin.
    Holy smokes, the man was hot. Heat
emanated off the cowboy like an L.A. sidewalk in mid July. And she could feel
him, all of him. She was very aware of the bulge poking her cradled butt.
    The strangest urge to squirm and
rock into him shook through Kerri. So she did.
    He stiffened. “Kerri.” His sexy
tone was too low for the others to hear, but she heard the warning.
    Holy sugar , he made her want
things…things she couldn’t name.
    Completely unable to breathe, she
ignored that minor annoyance and brushed her finger over his lower lip,
watching, enthralled as his pupils grew large as she very slowly moved her face
closer.
    But he still made no move to touch
her.
    Didn’t matter. It was no longer
about him. It was about her. She needed to taste him. Now.
    Holding his chin in her hand, she lightly
ran her tongue across the seal of his lips, and Alleluia , he growled.
    Growled.
    In an instant, she was crushed to
him as one large hand spanned her shoulder blade and the other held the back of
her head, breaking her clip like she’d broken his control.
    If Kerri had been firing on all
cylinders, she would’ve jumped to her feet and celebrated her victory. But her
cylinders and brain cells, and even stark reality, shifted out of focus as he
deepened the kiss.
    Her whole body tingled and felt
alive. She’d never been kissed like this before—like she was the most important
thing in the universe. Worshipped. Needed. Desired . Connor’s mouth was
hungry and firm, his tongue touching hers, and judging by the increase in the bulge
she was now sitting on, the cowboy wasn’t as allergic to city girls as he claimed.
    City girls…
    Reason returned to her muddled
brain with a thud. She abruptly ended the kiss and scrambled to her feet,
thankful her boneless legs somehow supported her. One look at his desire-laden
eyes, however, and she nearly sat back down for some more.
    Thankfully, Kevin cleared his
throat.
     “Do you want this back now?” he
asked, handing her Connor’s hat.
    Sanity returned and brought with it
the reason she’d agreed to kiss Connor in the first place. To prove to him, and
herself, she was desirable and…and…for now that was enough.
    Baby steps.
    Kerri placed the Stetson back on
the unbridled cowboy’s head, then with shaky fingers, took his chin in her hand,
forcing herself to complete her redemption. “Never underestimate the back bone
of a young city girl again, Connor McCall.”
    With a wink, she spun around, and
ignored the snickering happy couple to her right.
    Cripes, she’d forgotten they were
even there. Oh well, it would certainly be an engagement party they’d remember.
    She wasn’t likely to forget. Ever.
Her mouth still tingled, and she had no idea how her legs were working. Must be
the new heels.
    As Kerri walked past Kevin, the
blue-eyed cowboy grumbled about her not kissing him like that. A smile tugged at
her mouth because she knew she now wore the same smug expression she’d just
succeeded in wiping from Connor’s face.
     
    I t hadn’t gotten any
easier. Not one damn bit.
    A whole week had passed since Kerri
had settled onto his lap and proceeded to kiss the tar out of him. What had
been with that ? Connor wondered as he sat behind his desk at the ranch.
    He was supposed to be entering this
week’s expenses into the computer, but he’d only gotten as far as booting up
the laptop when thoughts of a brown-eyed, brown-haired cook with her sinfully
delicious kiss