SEVEN
Monty
When Griz saidhe would show me around last night, I thought he was just being kind. I should have known better. If he says that he’s going to do something, then he always follows through on it.
I was about to get lunch on the table when he came in early and said we should go on a picnic instead. It was so surprisingly sweet that I agreed without a second thought. I don’t think I’m fooling anyone here with this bet. Every second I spend with Griz, it’s clear that I’m losing. The crazy thing is, I don’t mind.
My big, sweet cowboy slows his pace a bit, keeping stride with me as I hurry to catch up. “Sorry, darlin’. I’ve got these long dancer’s legs,” he says with a wink.
“You dance?” I tease, skipping beside him.
I spin around, my long hair blowing around my face and making me giggle. When I look back at Griz, he has a look of awe on his face. Because ofme? I have no idea what to do with all of his attention, but I love it. I’m hungry for it. Greedy for all of Griz’s heated stares and slow, sexy smiles.
“I’ll take you for a spin anytime, beautiful,” he responds, making my thighs clench together. It’s similar to his lametake you for a ridepick-up line, but this time, everything is different. Griz isn’t the player I originally judged him as. He’s not vain, and so far, he seems genuine and earnest in everything he does.
He was talking about his brothers last night and how he wished he had some of their traits. I wanted to correct him but couldn’t find the words. I don’t think he realizes just how amazing he is. I can’t believe I almost missed it.
Griz is so much smarter, sweeter, and patient than I first thought he would be. He said that Kai was the jokester, but he’s always making me laugh. Lord knows I love hearing his rumbling laughter, the way it fills the room and warms me up. I think that he’s fearless, just like Remy, and he’s been going after me with a single minded determination that is hard to resist just like his brother, Wyatt.
“Maybe after lunch,” I say with a grin. “Want me to carry anything?”
He’s got a picnic basket and blanket in one arm for lunch later on.
“No, I’ve got it. We’re almost to the spot anyway,” he says, turning around to flash me a wide smile.
I never thought dating would be a good idea. It always seemed so nerve wracking. What do you talk about? Where do you go? How do you act? I never thought I would be able to shut my brain off for long enough to enjoy any of it, but with Griz it was different. He puts me at ease and makes me feel like I’m just talking to a friend.
I suppose that’s how I found myself on another non-date with Griz.
I pause when we’re about halfway up the hill and turn to look back down at the farm.
“It’s pretty from way up here,” I comment. Griz stops, letting the picnic basket and blanket rest on the ground at our feet.
“Yeah. I used to play up in the trees here as a kid all the time. We had a treehouse over there, deeper in the forest. Now our foreman, Seth, lives there with his wife.”
“In the treehouse?”
“No,” he says with a laugh. “Their house is right next to the treehouse.”
I nod, turning back to take in the view when a movement catches my eye and I turn to see Griz taking off his shirt.
“Really?” I ask him, and he grins.
“What? I’m hot! You’ve got me carrying all of this stuff.”
I roll my eyes but really, I’m checking him out. All of his tanned skin is on display and I want to run my hands over him. The tendons in his back and neck flex as he pulls his shirt the rest of the way off, revealing tightly packed muscles in his chest and torso.
Holy hell, this man is ripped. I knew it, but seeing it up close and personal has me flushing from head to toe.
“You doing okay, darlin’?” he murmurs, his voice low and rumbly. “You look rather hot yourself. I wouldn’t mind if you took your shirt off, too. Fair is fair, after all.”
I narrow my eyes at him, but truthfully, my body is screaming for me to strip both of us down and finally give into this sweet, sexy cowboy. “I’m not an exhibitionist,” I say in what I hope is a sassy tone. My voice comes out more like a whimper, betraying my crippling lust.
Griz’s blue eyes flash with something dark and possessive. He stalks toward me, the sun at his back, silhouetting his tall, muscular frame as he leans over me. I squirm under his attention, the dull ache between my thighs turning sharp, almost unbearable.
“And I don’t share,” he growls, dipping his head closer and closer to mine until I can feel his lips brush against the shell of my ear. “You’re mine, Monty. And I took you all the way out here so we could be alone. No prying eyes. No one to hear you moan for me.”
A wanton sound escapes my lips, and I roll my body against the irresistible cowboy standing in front of me. He’s got me crawling out of my skin with a need I hardly understand.