Kissing Her Cowboy (2 page)

“Oh my God, he’s gorgeous,” she whispered,
truly seeing him for the first time.

Trey turned and smiled. “There’s no better
horse alive.”

Daisy smiled back, every nerve ending alight
at their close proximity. She wondered if Trey felt it too.

Maybe he did, because he reached down and
squeezed her free hand with his. His grip was strong and steady,
and she wished he wouldn’t let go. “Stand by the fence with me. You
don’t have to worry.”

Easy for him to say, she thought, eyeing the
huge beast.

Trey took her cup, set it on the ground with
his own and then stood by the rails. Hesitantly, telling herself
the fence looked strong, Daisy moved up beside him. Soon Big Blue
walked close, nickering softly and flicking his tail.

Daisy took a step back as the horse neared,
but she stayed focused on the animal. Big Blue seemed to watch her,
too, because he blinked and made funny sounds as if acknowledging
her presence. She wondered if the stallion could hear her heart
hammer.

He stopped moving forward suddenly and just
stood there, watching her watch him.

Trey glanced from Daisy to Big Blue and
back. “He senses your fear but respects your space.” The cowboy
flipped a hand. “See? Neither of us is going to force you into
anything.” He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a
plastic baggie holding a carrot stick. When the bag rattled, the
stallion’s ears flicked and his nostrils flared. The horse moved
closer. Trey spread his hand and offered the carrot on his palm
through an opening in the fence. Big Blue took the snack gingerly
and crunched on it with his enormous teeth. When finished, the
stallion nuzzled Trey’s palm as if to say thanks.

Trey tucked the baggie back into his pocket
and grinned. “See? He’s like a great big puppy dog.” He gave the
horse a scratch behind the ears as if to prove his point.

Daisy had to smile. “The biggest dog in the
universe, that’s for sure.”

Trey was clever; she had to give him that.
The cowboy understood psychology and conditioning techniques. She’d
used them many times on suspects after an arrest. She eyed her
teacher and let the tension trickle from her neck and shoulders.
Her heartbeat slowed.

The easy camaraderie Trey shared with Big
Blue made Daisy wonder about the horse that would become her
partner in the mounted police. What would he look like? What kind
of temperament would he have? Trey was stroking Big Blue with
obvious affection. Clearly they’d formed a bond. Daisy’s chest
tightened with the hope that her relationship with an equine
partner could be as meaningful as one with a human counterpart.
Better, perhaps. The men she’d worked with on the force had barely
tolerated her presence. Most resented having to work with a female
officer, especially after her royal screwup. They’d said she wasn’t
strong or fast enough, and she’d finally proved them right.

Daisy rubbed her perspiring palms together
and then shook her hands. She’d signed up for ten lessons at Breezy
Meadows Ranch and paid her deposit, so she was going to follow
through. If she wanted to stay in Houston, there was no other
choice. Her success depended upon these riding lessons. She
wouldn’t make it through the Mounted Patrol equestrian training
otherwise. There was no more room for failure. She had to let go of
her past and her fears. Did she want to be a cop or not? Did she
want the damn transfer or not?

Daisy moved back to her original position by
the fence and shook the remaining tension out of her arms like she
was shaking off dust. Even if she didn’t want to ride, why not take
advantage of this time? There were worse ways to spend an afternoon
than with a sexy Texas cowboy and his prize stallion. What was the
harm of just looking at Big Blue and getting used to being around
him?

If she’d acted this way in front of her
coworkers, they’d have rolled their eyes. Trey grinned like she’d
just done something brave.

“That’s the spirit,” he said. “Just
watch.”

As if Big Blue understood every word, the
stallion trotted off with a steady gait and made his way around the
corral’s practice ring. Sunrays slanted over his blue-tinged back
while those spectacular legs lifted and lowered with beauty and
grace, and all at once Daisy imagined Big Blue marching in a
downtown Houston parade, or patrolling city parks and streets with
her astride him in uniform. Pride swelled her at the picture of
authority and strength they made. What a privilege it would be to
work in tandem with an equine partner like this!

While she fixed her gaze on Big Blue, the
horse had begun to lope around the ring. “Is he putting on a show
for me?”

“He likes you,” Trey said. He turned and
brushed her palm, and only then did Daisy realize in her excitement
she’d reached out and laid her hand over his. When she glanced up,
the glint in his stunning blue eyes and his crooked half-smile said
Trey liked her too.

Daisy held on a few heartbeats longer and
then released him. Her cheeks heated at the inappropriate contact.
She stared over at Big Blue again to avoid looking at Trey. “I
guess I got caught up in the moment.”

“I’m glad,” Trey replied. He touched her
wrist and let his index finger drift. “See how easy it is to forge
a connection when you let yourself go?”

Goose bumps lifted over her skin at his
touch. An involuntary shiver trailed up her arm, and she wondered
if he noticed. The upward curve of his mouth said,
oh
yeah.

She’d forged connections before that hadn’t
worked out, and she needed to learn from them. Regret like knots
tightened inside her solar plexus and Daisy started backing away.
She hadn’t come here to get hot for teacher but to prepare for
Mounted Patrol training. She needed to keep her priorities
straight.

“I’ll see you tomorrow for my next lesson,”
she said.

Trey pulled what looked like a battered
watch from his jeans pocket and glanced at the time. His brow
furrowed. “We still have ten minutes.”

Too much time to fight the urge to kiss
him.

When she’d put some distance between herself
and Trey, she turned back, pointed at him and said, “But don’t
expect me to mount…”
Crap.
“Your horse. I mean, don’t plan
on me doing any riding just yet.” This cowboy got her worked up in
ways that messed with her mind.

She took off at a pace brisk enough to make
Big Blue proud, but not before she noted the challenging tilt of
the handsome cowboy’s head or the gleam in his eye.

Chapter Three

Trey hefted a western saddle over the top of
a stable gate covered with blankets and tried not to wince with the
effort. Though his back had mostly healed, some days were better
than others.

He secured the saddle to the slats for
Daisy’s second lesson and checked again to make sure it would hold.
The horses were grazing in the fields, and the ranch hands were
working on a property line fence, so he and his student had the
stable to themselves. He would show Daisy how to mount a horse,
pretending the gate was Big Blue.

He patted the worn leather seat. “Climb up.
See how it feels. Stallions are broader, of course, but this will
give you an idea of what to expect.”

It took Daisy a couple of tries, but she
finally hitched her left sneaker into the stirrup and swung her
right leg around and over. Trey tried not to smile as he watched
her wiggle her small round butt in the seat, thighs spread, to find
her comfort zone. When her eyes widened, he knew she’d found
it.

She glanced over at him, cheeks aflame. She
didn’t seem to know what to say, so he said it for her.

“Feels good, huh?” Lots of friction,
especially in the stretchy bike shorts she wore with her crop-top,
no doubt. He really needed to talk to her about her choices in
riding gear.

She didn’t seem to want to move, so he did
that for her too. “Let’s pretend you’re on horseback. I’m going to
swing the gate back and forth, just to prepare you for motion. A
horse moves up and down, though you’ll feel rotation from his
flanks and haunches. Imagine you’re riding.”

He showed her how to hold the reins in one
hand to guide the horse’s route. “I’ll swing the gate right or
left, depending on your lead.”

He watched her practice, her expression
filled with determination. Slowly, as he shifted the gate in the
direction of her reins, she began to visibly relax.

“You’re doing fine. See? Not so bad.”

She looked over at him and huffed. “This
isn’t a real horse.”

“Ah, getting anxious to try the real thing?”
He swung the gate a little faster.

“Don’t push it.”

Trey had to laugh. “You’re the boss.” He
needed to keep that in mind. She was a cop and he was her riding
instructor. No matter how sexy she looked in those ridiculous bike
shorts, he had to keep things professional.

Daisy shifted in the saddle. “Riding
certainly does, uh…stretch your muscles.” She wrinkled her nose
when she talked, which Trey found endlessly fascinating. And
adorable. “My hips and thighs are getting a workout.”

“Stick to wearing loose-fitting jeans. Bike
shorts and tight clothes have no place on a ranch. Buy some boots
too. Once you get on horseback, you’ll have to learn how to post.
You need sturdy clothes and footwear for that.”

“I see what you mean.” Daisy winced. “Even
if I wanted to ride Big Blue—and I don’t yet—I wouldn’t last ten
minutes in these shorts. I don’t know what I was thinking when I
read the word ‘comfortable’ on your website’s list of
instructions.”

His website specifically stated comfortable
jeans
, but Trey suspected her clothing choices reflected her
fear. By the time Daisy started her equestrian training, she’d be
ready. She just didn’t know that yet. “Every sport has its own
rules and equipment. We’ll get you sorted out.”

He moved to her right side and laid a hand
to the back of her leg just above the knee. The heat from her skin
penetrated the thin fabric of her shorts to warm his palm.

“To post,” he said, “press your knees
against the blankets and lift up from the stirrups. Make the
muscles in your legs do the work. When your horse moves, you move
with him. After a while, you’ll develop synchronicity. You’ll also
build flexibility and strength. Those are great assets for a police
officer. Horseback riding is incredible exercise.”

Daisy practiced the motions, and Trey
watched her calves and thighs flex and release. The urge to run his
palm over the length of her slender leg forced him to take a step
back, and when she looked down at him and smiled, the first
glimmers of triumph shining in her beautiful green eyes, his belly
tightened with pleasure.

She let out a sigh. “I think I understand
what you mean. But a gate is not a horse.”

Trey chuckled and agreed. “Not by a long
shot.” He reached out to spot her while she dismounted, then
suggested, “How about we say ‘hey’ to Big Blue?”

She held on, and then swung her leg up and
around in a near perfect arc. “All right.”

Trey watched her sweet little bottom rotate
around to face him, and his eyes homed in on the bands of her thong
that showed through the fabric above the perfect swells of her
buttocks. He was beginning to love this job.

“Good dismount.”

She jumped down and turned. “Think so?”

“For a first try, I’m impressed. I think you
have untapped abilities waiting to be explored.”

It was true, he imagined, about her as a
woman, an officer,
and
an equestrian. All three were about
connection, an area in which Daisy seemed to be having trouble. Why
else would she be here?

“You’re saying I have potential?” Daisy
closed the distance between them, lips parted, eyes bright. The
color in her cheeks remained high, and the quickening of her breath
sounded like…arousal.

Riding often had that effect on women. But
when her tongue touched the center of her bottom lip and she
maintained eye contact, he saw she wanted
him
. Considering
the branding-iron smoking his pants, he damn sure wanted her too.
He’d known that since the first moment he saw her. He might have
fractured his back, but he was still capable of kissing—and he
hoped a lot more. Maybe Daisy would help him learn how far his body
would take them.

If and when the time comes,
he
reminded himself. He needed to stay focused. Daisy was paying him
to teach her to ride, not to treat her like some rodeo buckle
bunny.

“Have you ever petted a horse?” he
asked.

Daisy shook her head.

Trey clicked his tongue, and Big Blue walked
to the opening of his stall. The stallion flicked his tail and
waited.

Daisy moved a few steps forward. “He can
stay there,” she said after a moment. “I’ll stand out here and get
to know him.”

“That’ll do,” Trey agreed. “But will you
trust me?”

He reached out with one hand and turned to
meet Daisy’s gorgeous green eyes. Every time he looked at her, they
drew him in. She stood still in return, sizing him up like a law
enforcement officer assessing risk, and he liked seeing that. Daisy
might be skittish around horses, but she had strength at her
core.

She nodded and held out a hand. “After
you.”

When they reached the stall, Trey placed his
palm over the back of Daisy’s hand and guided it to the stallion’s
sleek neck.

“Pet him in long strokes. Like this.” Trey’s
hand glided over Big Blue’s coat with Daisy’s hand beneath. Her
skin felt soft and supple under his roughened flesh. “What do you
think?”

“He feels smooth, like velvet. Better than I
imagined.” She smiled up at Trey, and a sudden radiance filled her
expression. “He seems…nice.”

“Pat him, talk to him. Let Big Blue get used
to the sound of your voice.”