Page 9 of Sultry Summer

“Tell me,” he whispers, his breath closer, brushing over my skin leaving goosebumps in its wake.

“I want to see things. Experience things. Leave here and explore the world.”

I shiver when his hand tightens. He pushes himself and I hear the leather of his saddle creaking as Nutmeg shifts. But his breath dances along my cheek and then his lips caress my jaw before his mouth moves up to the side of mine.

I shiver and my eyes close. “Hunter?” I whisper, a broken sigh that rasps out of my throat. My suddenly dry throat.

“Fuck, you’re so beautifully breathtaking. It almost hurts to look at you.” His voice is low, raspy, agonized.

I have to drag my eyes open. His eyes are so close that I can see the deeper blue scattered like little bursts of midnight sky buried in the lighter orbs.

His eyes search mine and he groans. “I swear if you keep looking at me like that, I’m gonna pull your pretty ass off this horse and have my damn way with you.”

I smirk. “I’m not making love for the first time on the hard ground.” Then I stop, my heart hammering and my whole body going rigid. Titan feels it and shifts, huffing.

His grip tightens on my chin and he refuses to let me look away. “You’re a virgin?”

I jerk my chin away. “None of your business.”

“Oh, it’s definitely my business, sparkles. As soon as I saw you I knew there was something special about you.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, I’ve waited for too long and I scare men off.”

He eyes me, his gaze focused, never even blinking. “I’m not scared.”

“Great. Doesn’t matter though. You’re leaving soon and I’m not throwing something that I’ve saved this long away on a one-night stand with someone passing through.”

“We’ll see. I’m flexible, sparkles. And I don’t know how this is all going to work out but I know I don’t want to go without you.”

Titan whinnies loudly and I jerk in the saddle. “Do you smell that?”

Hunter glances around and sniffs. “What is it?”

But I’ve already seen it.

Smoke.

“Oh shit,” I breathe. “We’ve got to get back and warn the town.”

His eyes narrow and then widen. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Fire,” I snap and then turn Titan on a dime and kick his sides. He breaks into a trot and I glance back at Nutmeg who’s following along. “Just hold on. Nutmeg will follow Titan.”

He nods sharply and leans over Nutmeg’s dark neck. I lean over Titan and mutter. “Come on, Titan. Let’s go home.”

His dark ears prick and he charges forward like he knows. I hang on for dear life and pray that it’s not as bad as that smoke looked.

And that I let them know in time.

CHAPTER 6

Hunter

We charge into the barn yard to the ranch that we borrowed the horse’s from and I leap from the horse just like Aspen does. The rancher eyes her up, smiling.

“That was fast. I was sure you’d be gone longer than this.”

“I would have been. But I need to let the fire department know. There’s a fire up in the mountains off the south trail. At least that’s where I saw smoke.”