The Rancher and The City Girl (Tempting the Rancher 1)

She’d never been so instantly attracted to anyone in her life.

But this trip wasn’t about landing a man. One night of fun was all she had on the docket.

“Looks like I need to catch up,” he said, looking at the empty glass next to her full one.

“Yeah, sorry. I got here a little early.” She glanced down at herself. The thin straps of her yellow sundress tickled her shoulders—or maybe it was Tripp’s eyes, because he was looking at her like he’d never seen the color yellow before.

“You don’t have a much of a poker face,” she said with a smile, and took a sip of her drink, kind of liking his bold glances.

“Just appreciating a fine woman. You look lovely.”

Oh, he’s good. Her cheeks warmed. “Is everyone around here so well-mannered?”

He lifted his hand at the bartender, who brought him a beer, then shifted his seat so he was looking at her straight on. Like she was the center of his attention. Goose bumps flared across her skin. Had she ever been looked at so attentively before? Doubtful. It felt like he didn’t want to look at anything but her. And God, did that feel nice.

“Manners are a good thing,” he said, “but I prefer direct communication. Like you had with your car today.”

He winked and she laughed, that heat in her cheeks rising another degree.

“I was hoping you hadn’t heard me.”

“Such a pretty mouth yelling such awful things,” he said with a grin.

She feigned outrage. “Excuse me, I was not yelling.”

“The whole block heard you, darlin’.”

“Well, then I give Cheyenne a four out of ten rating on their response time because if everyone could hear me and you’re the only one who came running, wh

at does that say?”

“That any man with half a brain would run your direction in a heartbeat. Cursing, kicking, or biting.”

That made her flush in a different way. The cowboy was flirting, yet something about his advances seemed serious. Man, he was smooth. Good-looking. He must know his way around a woman—and a one-night stand, for that matter. Probably didn’t have a care in the world beyond that night. Which was fine for her. She didn’t do commitment anyway.

“So the hospitality and manners haven’t convinced you to move to the great state of Wyoming?” He ran a finger down her exposed arm, then pulled away, frowning, like he’d just realized what he’d done.

She lifted her glass to her lips, wishing she could hold it against her now blistering hot cheeks instead. He was either less experienced than she thought or far more affected by her than she expected. Hopefully the latter.

“Um, no,” she said, placing the glass back on the table. “Sorry, this place is very different than where I come from. I’m just visiting,” she said, keeping the reality of her complications to herself. Like her Grammy and the fact that she had a life back in L.A., just not a very fulfilling one. Which was why she was looking for a firm where she could take her career to the next level.

He nodded. “Well, we’re glad to have you for the short time you’re here.”

“You say that like you’re the mayor.”

“Oh, better than that,” he said. “I’m a local cowboy. Yee-haw and the like.”

She laughed. “I bet you are. Watch, I come into town and find you working at a bank.”

He chuckled. “No way in hell. I love the outdoors too much.”

“That explains the state of you earlier today.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to offend.” Pink tinged his ears. The sexy-as-sin cowboy was…blushing? Excitement vibrated through her like a thick guitar string that had just been plucked. He was definitely affected by her, which gave her the confidence she needed to make the next move.

“I wasn’t offended,” she said, tracing the back of his hand with her fingertip. “I was interested.”

That made him look at her dead in the eye. The heat was there. They both knew it. She could smell it on him, and he sure as hell should’ve been able to read it on her.