Ride With Me: A Possessive Cowboy Romance

Oh why didn't he just leave me the hell alone?

That or get on with it. All this pussyfooting around was driving me insane. I shook my head. I should just insult him as usual and send him on his way.

"Not as much fun as you from the smell of it."

He smiled and sipped the cup of coffee in his hand.

Coffee, I thought in surprise. That was interesting.

"I heard you singing."

I glanced at him and continued stacking the clean dishes in the cupboard. I felt a sudden jolt of insecurity. I knew I was good. What did I care what Jake Delancey thought?

"You're incredible. You could be a huge star."

I turned around and lifted my chin to stare down my nose at him. Not easy to do considering he had a foot on me. But I managed it.

"Not could be. I will be a working musician. Stardom isn’t what matters to me. I just want to be paid fairly for what I do, and get a chance to do it.”

He just stared at me. I knew he was going to do something rash before he even moved. He crossed the room until he was standing close to me, holding something over my head. I looked up in surprise. It was a little sprig of something green with red berries, tied with a red velvet bow.

I narrowed my eyes, not certain what he was up to.

Maybe it was the confidence I got from singing, but I decided I wasn't going to back down this time. Or scurry off the relative safety of the kitchen. If he wanted to play with fire it was on his head. I tilted my head to the side.

"What is that, Mr. Delancey?"

"Call me Jake."

"What's that then, Jake?"

"It's mistletoe."

He stepped closer. I could feel the heat coming off of his body in waves. It felt nice. Very, very nice.

"What's it for?"

He grinned at me and slid an arm around my waist.

"It's for kissing."

He yanked me against him and lowered his head to mine. I inhaled sharply at the contact. He didn’t waste any time, kissing me hard right off the bat. His lips felt silky smooth and soft against mine. As good as I remembered them. Better even. He angled his head, nudging my lips apart.

The moment I opened my lips, the kiss exploded.

I moaned as our tongues tangled in a primal dance. A dance Jake seemed to excel at. He used his tongue to stroke, tease and caress me as I stood utterly helpless in his arms.

Damn, but the man could kiss!

Finally he pulled back, leaning his forehead against mine. We were silent as we both struggled to catch our breath. He stroked my hair as we stared into each other’s eyes.

"Come upstairs with me."

"I can't."

"Please Elle…"

"I'm working. Let me go, Mr. Delancey."

I stood there, watching him do as I asked him to. Even though what I really wanted was him to pull me into his arms again, to kiss me, to drag me upstairs. I did not say a word as he slowly stepped back and walked away.

It took all my strength not to call him back.

Chapter Fifteen

Jake

I rubbed a brush over Thunder, one of the newer horses they'd brought in for breeding. He was a young stallion, beautiful but still more than a little bit untamed. I had taken an immediate shine to him and vise versa. In fact, I was the only person who could really get close to the horse at all, let alone ride him.

It seemed that one discipline case recognized another.

It would be a shame for the horse to be used as breeding stock and little else. He had potential, even if I was the only one who could see it. I was thinking that maybe I would stick around… long enough to set things right with my father and work the stallion.

Long enough to get to Elle.

Thunder tossed his head and kicked the back of the stall. He wasn't trying to hurt me. He just wanted to run.

“Easy Thunder. I’ll get you out there, I promise.”

I knew exactly how the horse felt.

I’d been like a caged tiger all week, keeping away from everyone except my father and the horse. The old man was getting worse. I had taken to reading the papers to him in the afternoons. But it was hard to keep still. I wanted to move, fight, fuck.

I especially wanted to fuck.

I wanted her dammit.

She wanted me, too. I knew it, especially after that kiss. But she was being elusive as hell. And now she'd taken a day or two off to do something mysterious. I just had to find out what her reason was. I put down the brush and headed back into the house. Mrs. Garretty should be up by now. She would know.

I knocked softly on her door.