Page 64 of Breaking All The Rules
“And are you?” Austin had no idea how that sort of thing worked, but clearly Beatrice did if she’d been headhunted for it, and he couldn’t help but think of her magnificent sketch of the lake. “Maybe even a little?”
“Have I ever come across as a Hallmark kinda woman to you?”
Austin chuckled. “No.”
“Right.”
“So you told them no.”
“I explained I don’t think I had the temperament for schmaltz. And then I sent them some scanned copies of three quick mock-ups I drew to illustrate the current state of my personality so they had a thorough understanding of my unsuitability. I don’t think they’ll be knocking down my door anytime soon.”
Austin grinned. “Can I see them?”
She didn’t say anything for a while, and Austin worried that he had uttered some unforgivable request, given how super squirmy she’d been over the lake sketch. But then she pushed herself up to gaze down at him. “Sure, if you want.” She looked over her shoulder. “I think the originals are beside the bed.”
She rolled away then, her back to him as half her body disappeared over the side of the bed. Her T-shirt rode up with the movement, and he trailed his fingers down the furrow of her spine from mid-back to ass, because it was impossible not to touch. Rolling back again, she levered into a sitting position, crossing her legs as she gazed at her drawings. Austin also sat up, cross-legged, as Beatrice handed them over.
The drawings were very different from the one of the lake, the caricatures of herself and Princess uncanny in their likeness. They were in mostly black, the addition of color adding flare and detail. He especially liked the tiara for Princess, who was currently lying on his shirt again, glaring at them. She may have only had one eye, but her disgust at their debauchery was coming across loud and clear.
Each drawing was slightly different and so was each caption, which made him laugh. The drawings were funny as hell. “Yeah,” he said, glancing at her, “these ought to do it.”
She smiled at him. “That’s what I thought.”
“They’re really good, though. You’re really talented, Beatrice.”
If he wasn’t very much mistaken, her cheeks pinked up. “They’re okay.”
She took the sketches off him and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Clearly, she wasn’t comfortable talking about her art, and he couldn’t help but feel there was a lot more to that issue than she was letting on.
“You want some water?” she asked as she headed for the kitchen.
“No thanks,” Austin murmured, enjoying the view of her half-naked form, the bottom curve of her butt cheeks just peeking out below the hem of her T-shirt. His dick twitched at the sight.
What he wanted didn’t involve water.
“You want to come out to the ranch on Sunday?” he asked, watching her fill a glass up at the faucet.
She paused briefly as she reached to turn the faucet off, and Austin watched as she took several long swallows of water before she turned to face him, her ass pressed against the sink. He couldn’t see anything—everything was covered—but she might as well have been naked given how thoroughly ravaged she looked. Her expression was cool, but everything else about her was hot.
He doubted anything could counteract her crazy bed/orgasm hair, the two hard points of her nipples pressed brazenly against the cotton fabric, and the way her T-shirt rode indecently high on the very tops of her thighs.
Thighs he’d been buried between not that long ago, and his dick was doing more than twitching right now. It was expanding. Rapidly.
“Why?”
The question was even cooler than her expression and caught Austin off guard for a moment. It didn’t do anything for the state of his erection, but it made him remember her skittishness. Did she think he was inviting her home to meet his family? His mother? Or hell, did she think he was pushing for her to do that sketching of the house he’d suggested?
“Nothing to do with my mom’s birthday present, I promise. It’s just…we have horses,” he explained. “If you still want to ride one. And I thought we could sleep out under the stars. Take the pickup and head out to the far corner of the ranch. Throw a mattress in the back.”
“You have horses?” Her brow furrowed, but at least her body visibly relaxed at the news he wasn’t taking her home to meet Mommy or to stick her in front of an easel.
Austin chuckled. “Umm, yeah. I live on a ranch.”
“Oh yes.” She gave a little laugh as she shook her head. “D’oh! Of course.”
“What do you say? Let me show you something I’m really good at?” Suddenly he wanted her to see where he was from, the place that was stuck deep in his bones. The reason why he’d returned to Credence and the reason he never wanted to leave.
“Riding a horse?”
