Free What a Texas Girl Dreams (Crimson Romance) by Kristina Knight

the comfort of the fling they’d engaged in for the past few weeks.
    “Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Why don’t you sit back, relax, and watch a little bit of Texas go by? We’ll be there in another hour or so.”
    She settled against the leather seat. “Be where?”
    “You’ll see.”
    Just over an hour later, Trick turned off the highway onto a gravel road that looked a lot like the driveway to the Double Diamond. Green, rolling hills stretched to the horizon spotted with a few head of cattle and a few packs of glittering coleche . The bluebonnets were mostly gone, but a few hearty flower-souls remained on the hillsides, beckoning them down the lane.
    “Are you still sticking with the mystery or do I get to know where you’re driving me?”
    “Canyon Lake.”
    “Yeah, I got that from the five hundred billboards on the highway. Where at Canyon Lake?”
    “A secluded little place I know that packs the best picnics in the business.”
    A hint of fire twinkled in her eyes when she turned to him. “So you outed us to my family, but a hundred miles away from Lockhardt you take discretion seriously?”
    “First, I didn’t ‘out’ anything. As far as your family is concerned we’re going on a first date. As far as I’m concerned they don’t need to know anything else about the past seven weeks.”
    “You’re splitting hairs.”
    Trick ignored that and continued as if Monica hadn’t said a word. “Second, we aren’t a hundred miles away.” Trick grinned. “And where we’re going has nothing to do with discretion and everything to do with wanting some time — alone — with the prettiest girl in Texas.”
    A blush spread over her cheeks, and the fire brightened in her eyes. Monica tossed back her hair. “I don’t do things on a first date.”
    He chuckled. “Sweetheart, by the time we’re finished with lunch, you’ll be begging for it.”
    “Is that a dare, Mr. Samuels?”
    Trick thought about his dare from the night before. Daring Monica to kiss him had awakened a side of himself he hadn’t known existed. Today was a challenge to himself as much as it was to her. Monica didn’t do relationships. Until eighteen hours ago, Trick had been content to stick with her no strings rules. Ready or not, they were about to find out if there was more to the spark between them than sex.
    “I believe it is, Miss Witte. What are your terms?”
    • • •
    Trying not to be charmed by Trick was hard work. And Monica had a feeling he wasn’t even half trying. She blamed the fall in Utah. Living twenty-four years without receiving flowers from a man. Being too attached to a veterinarian she should never have noticed.
    Pick your poison, she told herself. Any of the reasons would do.
    Calling her the prettiest girl in Texas. Come on. No one fell for lines like those any longer. Especially girls who knew frizzy hair and freckled complexions were the farthest things from pretty. But he had sent her flowers and now he was driving her into the Texas wilderness and daring her not to have a good time, and she was falling for the scenario hook, line, and sinker.
    Bright sunlight in the cab picked out the sun-bleached highlights in his hair. He reached for the radio knob, turning up an old Alabama song as they continued down the narrow road. He wore an old tee shirt and jeans, the same brown boots he wore on vet calls, and had a straw cowboy hat on his head. For a guy who wanted a ‘real’ date, he hadn’t dressed up at all.
    They rounded a bend in the road, and a pretty clearing spread out before them. A few horse rails sat at odd junctures, and a path led into the trees. A trail ride? It would be easy to avoid Trick if they were on different horses, but already her sore hip throbbed at the thought of spending even a few minutes on horseback.
    He pulled to a stop beneath a leafy oak and parked. In a flash, he was around the truck and standing in the open doorway.
    “Now, here’s where you have to trust