The Virgin Next Door (Stud Ranch)

“Like playing hard to get. Are you sure this isn’t dating advice?”

Calla laughed softly, still never taking her eyes off the horse. “Can’t say I know much about that.” Her eyes flicked his direction and Liam wasn’t sure, but he thought her cheeks reddened.

After retreating to the fence again, Calla gestured at him. “You try saying hi to her this time.”

She stayed by the fence while Liam headed toward Satan’s Mistress. He felt his heartbeat thudding in his ears. Ridiculous. It was just a fecking horse.

Worthless.

Useless poxy shite.

“Remember to breathe,” Calla said from behind him. “She’s reading your body language. So make sure you’re giving off calm with every step you take. You might not make it all the way on the first pass. That’s okay. Find her line and take just one step beyond it.”

Liam stopped and watched the horse. She leaned down and took a bite of grass but the way her head was cocked, it felt like she was still watching him.

He took a step forward. When she just kept chewing grass, he took another. Then another. Her head came up and she shifted nervously a few steps.

Liam backed away just like Calla taught him. And to his astonishment, the next time he approached, Satan’s Mistress let him come all the way up to her. Liam had only made it this close a couple times before—both of which had ended with Satan’s Mistress snapping at him with those big teeth of hers.

Liam took a deep breath in and out and held out his hand toward her nose. But unlike in the past, he didn’t keep pushing to try to touch her. He left his hand about a foot away from her. Then, when she didn’t move, he took another step in. Her ears flicked at this.

One step past the line. Okay. Liam took a tiny step closer and then blew at the horse’s nose. Which felt frankly ridiculous.

But instead of snapping, the mare nosed a little closer to him. Like she was curious. A thrill shot through Liam’s body.

He was doing it. He was actually doing it.

“Now back,” Calla said.

Liam wanted to take that last little step so he could touch the mare. Maybe even try seeing if he could get her to take the bit.

Then he considered his failure rate before Calla had shown up. Baby steps. He backed off.

When he got back to Calla, her eyes were shining as she beamed at him. “You’re doing so good. You’re a natural at this.”

His chest flushed with warmth like he’d just had a shot of whiskey on a cold day. “I don’t know about that.”

Calla scrunched her eyebrows together. “Wait. What’s that?” She bumped him on the shoulder before looking up at the sky. “Did I miss the pigs flying? Is Liam O’Neill actually being modest?”

Liam barked out a laugh. No one ever took the piss out of him. And everything was just so natural with her. They’d had sex—not just that, but she’d lost her virginity, maybe not technically to him, but as good as. And yet here she was, not making a big deal about it or pressing anxiously for more.

He’d been joking earlier when he said the tactics she was using on the horse would work for dating but maybe there was something to it after all.

He wrapped her in his arms, lifting her up off the ground and spinning her around. She shrieked and hugged his neck. He set her back on the ground and nudged the bill of her cap back until it fell off her head. Damn she was pretty. Those flushed cheeks. The adorable freckles sprinkled across her nose. The way she looked at him like he was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to her.

He leaned down and kissed her hard. He probably should have taken it slower. But for once he was letting go of all his normal calculated moves and just going with what felt right.

From the way she kissed him enthusiastically back, he’d say it was the right way to go.

At least until she pulled back. She was still grinning at him as she pulled out of his arms, though. “I still want to work with Painter a little more and get him groomed. See you at dinner.”

“You bet your arse,” he said. Then, before she could turn to go he stepped forward and kissed her again.

She was laughing as she pulled away. “I’ll see you.” Then she turned and slipped back out through the fence. She walked away but looked back at him a couple of times, that radiant smile still on her face.

He frowned. What if she was playing him? This innocent, not immediately available, hard to get act could just be that—an act.

It wouldn’t be the first time a woman had tried games to capture his attention. There was nothing he hated more than people trying to fecking manipulate him. For a long while there he hadn’t thought there was any other way to interact.