The Rancher's Rules

“Don’t be so literal.” She didn’t know why she was arguing this particular line of debate. She didn’t want a commitment from Grant; she wanted to get rid of this desire that stopped her from wanting other men and seeing them as potential mates.

“I’m not afraid of commitment. I’ve been engaged once.”

She looked him straight in the eye. “So you’re saying you are looking at the possibility of marriage to me?”

His gaze shifted and his expression turned troubled. “I don’t know what the future holds, but I want to explore the possibilities between us.”

Right. He wanted to go to bed with her. Somewhere between his horrified reaction to their encounter that morning and when they’d gone for dinner Grant’s attitude toward having a physical relationship with her had changed. He no longer had a rule against kissing her. That did not mean he was looking at forever. But she wasn’t either, she reminded herself.

She refused to acknowledge the emptiness inside her the thought provoked. Grant was offering her the thing she’d decided she wanted most—an opportunity to assuage the lust she felt for him. He wasn’t offering love, but then neither was she. She wasn’t.

“Okay.”

“Okay, what?” He was looking at her with a distinct air of wariness.

“I’ll go to bed with you.”

He frowned. “Just like that?”

“Did you want me to play hard to get a while longer?”

His frown turned up a notch. “No. I’m just not sure what we’re saying here.”

“You’re saying you want to go to bed with me, and I’m saying yes. It’s pretty straightforward.”

He didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t want to talk about it any longer. So she took the steps necessary to bring her body into frontal contact with his. She grabbed the back of his head and yanked. His mouth landed against hers with a gasp of surprised air. She took advantage and slipped her tongue inside to tease his. His response was everything she had hoped for.

He stopped trying to talk. She wasn’t even sure he kept breathing. He planted his hands on her backside and lifted her until she hooked her legs around his waist, and then he kissed her back with a masculine passion that left her panting and her heart racing faster than the pace car at the Indianapolis 500.

She was enjoying their kiss so much that the annoying ring of the telephone did not immediately register. Grant peeling her from his body and pushing her gently away, however, did.

The phone shrilled once more, and with a look of apology Grant leaned past her to answer it. “I’m expecting a call from Mom and Dad,” he explained as he lifted the receiver off the wall phone.

“Hello? Sure, just a minute.” He handed the phone to her. “Your principal.”

She cradled the phone against her ear. “Hello, John. What’s up?”

“Hi, Zoe. I need to talk to you about something. Are you going to be at the Christmas Pageant tonight?”

“I’ll be at the program, but can’t we just talk about it now?” He had interrupted an incredible kiss, for heaven’s sake. They might as well talk.

“I’d rather do this face-to-face, if you don’t mind.”

His serious demeanor was making her nervous. “What—am I fired or something?” She said it jokingly, but a small part of her was worried that it must be pretty serious for him to be unwilling to discuss it over the phone.

“Of course not.” His immediate denial soothed her nerves. “We just have a small matter to work out. That’s all.”

“Is this about the bunny incident? I apologized to the other class, and I have been very careful to keep Pete in his cage since then.”

“I hadn’t heard about that. You’ll have to enlighten me when we talk tonight.”

Shoot—hadn’t that police officer who’d pulled her over for a broken headlight told her never to volunteer information? That had been after he had asked her if she knew why she’d been pulled over and she had proceeded through a litany of ticketable offenses before he’d finally shut her up and told her to get a new headlight. Well, she was done offering information.

She’d wait to find out what was on John’s mind tonight. “Fine. I’ll see you there, then.”

She hung up the phone and met Grant’s gaze.

“What was that all about?” he asked.

She shrugged, her brows drawn together in thought. “I don’t know. He wants to talk to me about something tonight at the program.”

Grant pulled her back into the circle of his arms. “I take it he wasn’t calling about the bunny incident?”