Free Spurred On (The Quick and the Hot) by Em Petrova Page A

sparkled with dew, illuminated by the moonlight when it peeked through the clouds. Rain tomorrow. She could smell it.
    Releasing her breath, she wrapped her arms around her middle and headed toward the barn. She’d waited to leave the house for her meet with Hayden, not wanting to appear overeager, especially after the way he’d treated her the other night.
    She firmed her lips. Why she was giving him another chance was anyone’s guess. The stolen moments in the barn had been good, but she could take care of her body’s needs herself. It was something about the rugged cowboy that burned all her reason until it curled up in smoke. The way he looked at her gave her a high, and even if he’d made a mistake she wanted more of that fix.
    As long as he didn’t make two mistakes. Then he was getting the ax.
    Tripod came around the house, his back end waggling with happiness at finding her. The dog had an uncanny ability to track her down. At times he’d even follow her into the bathroom. Maybe he knew she’d saved his life.
    Maybe Five Feet would know too.
    When she neared the barn door, a shadow moved. The muscled outline of the man added a thrill to her nervous belly—broad shoulders tapering to a six-pack straight off the pages of a men’s fitness magazine. Hips perfectly holding up a pair of low-slung jeans.
    “I didn’t think you’d come.” His deep voice sent twinges through her system, twangs of a song they hadn’t yet written. He drifted close, stepping into the pool of moonlight with her.
    She tilted her head up to look at his face. He wasn’t wearing a hat, giving her a clear view of his chiseled features in the dim moon glow. Her breath caught as he encircled her wrists. His long fingers overlapped.
    “I don’t know what it is about you, cowboy. You make me lose all sense.”
    The corners of his eyes creased with amusement. “The same goes for you, cowgirl. You make me feel as if I’m in the arena again—running on pure instinct and adrenaline highs.”
    She swallowed at the parallel he’d drawn. That she’d give him a rush like the one he’d once gotten by competing left her with a seed of warmth in her belly.
    He tugged on her wrists. “Let’s check on the calf; then I have a surprise for you.”
    With romantic notions swirling through her head, she allowed Hayden to lead her into the barn. He reached into his back pocket and withdrew a flashlight. When they shone it on the calf, it came forward on much stronger legs to nuzzle Zoe Beth’s hand.
    “Brought you somethin’,” Hayden crooned, extending a palm and revealing a lump of sugar.
    Zoe Beth grinned as Five Feet scooped up the sugar with her tongue. “Greedy thing.”
    “She is. She’s cleaned out my pockets in the last two days—taken all the sugar I usually treat the horses with.”
    That he walked around treating the animals made the warmth in her belly grow. He definitely wasn’t what she’d expected him to be. The foremen of the past had been harder, crustier. They were all about the business—ruthless in their drive to make the Cole Ranch what it was today. While that was a good thing on many levels, she was glad to see a hint of humanity on the ranch.
    She’d always admired the trait in her father.
    After she and Hayden had rubbed the calf’s silky nose and ears, he grabbed Zoe Beth’s hand and led her into the night. His strides were difficult for her to match, but she hurried alongside him, loving the feel of his fingers around hers.
    They walked some distance from the ranch. Night sounds enveloped them in a private cocoon. When they crested a hill, moonlight reflected on a truck parked there. Hayden’s truck, white with a racing stripe she knew was electric blue even if she couldn’t clearly make it out in the darkness.
    He tugged on her hand and tossed her a smile over his shoulder. “C’mon.”
    Once they reached the truck, he opened the driver’s door and turned the key. The soft croon of a country ballad