“Sorry,” she breathed. He’d been joking, but in a way she saw the wisdom in it. There was something about this moment that felt charged.
“Hmm, turns out your hair doesn’t taste like strawberries. It sure smells like it though. It’s in my face.” He reached up and brushed the escaped strands away from him. The tips of his fingers caught against her neck and sent an odd tingling sensation straight through her.
She gulped. “Yeah, West doesn’t like… eating my hair, either.”
Ugh. She was horribly tongue tied all of a sudden. Taking a deep breath, she conjured all the times West had kissed her that she could, but the memories only felt like they were covered in cobwebs in the dustiest corners of her mind.
What was her problem? Her fiancé had kissed her goodbye only a few hours ago!
At that moment, Dopey decided to charge ahead. The horse stumbled. Cole let out a breath, and apologizing in advance, he seized Eva with one arm to stop her from falling and wrestled back the cow with the other. Her heart shot into her throat as Cole’s strong fingers pressed into her stomach.
The horse shuddered in response, but Cole expertly kept his saddle. His legs rammed up against hers as he fought for control over the two powerful beasts.
By the time Dopey had returned to its usual lope, Eva was hopelessly lost in Cole. Her ear was jammed against the rough stubble of his neck. Struggling to untangle herself from his arms, her lips actually ran up against his firm jaw. His skin felt exactly how it had when they’d kissed in the barn.
She shot up straight, her spine stiffening into a pole.
That was it!
Eva was going home, and she was finding West. She’d force him to work on that pumpkin with her, and they’d do something cute like throw pumpkin seeds at each other and make pumpkin bread or pie or something amazing, so that she could feel her heart go pitter-pat at the very thought of him again!
She glanced back at Cole. He grimaced at her, arching a brow. “I guess this is just another thing we don’t tell West?”
She laughed weakly. “He must’ve not realized that he’d left us with one way back.”
“Yeah, normally, he’s so thoughtful.” Cole’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
West might not be exactly thoughtful, but he wasn’t dumb either.
What was going on with him? Westdidhave a lot on his mind, but how heavy a burden was he carrying? She began to worry about what that was exactly. She’d been kept in the dark from it for far too long—whatever it was—because… something big was happening right in front of her nose for him to–to keep accidentally throwing her at his brother.
If she was just some normal girl, he’d lose her.
Suddenly, she was in a hurry to get home and beg him to tell her everything.
Chapter Sixteen
“Dopey? You named our calf Dopey?” Cole asked Eva.
Her delicate shoulders lifted in that careless way of hers. “It’s better than Sleipnir.”
“That’s it,” Cole said. “You’re walking the rest of the way.” Even as he said it, his arms tightened over her. He’d cracked enough lame jokes to keep her at a distance the whole way back, but now that the barn was in sight, he realized how reluctant he was to give her up.
West had a lot to answer for.
Cole did, too.
As soon as he’d realized that his brother had left them no other way to return, he should’ve headed for Funches to beg for his phone. Cole would’ve given West a scolding that he’d never forget. But no, Cole thought he was strong enough to handle a country ride with Eva… and through the stunning colors of autumn decorating their vast property awash in wild beauty, no less.
It turned out that he wasn’t.
Eva had set his blood to boiling with her soft skin and even softer smiles. She smelled good, even under all that mud with her strawberry-scented perfume… or was it her shampoo?
He knew better than to ask.
Was he absolutely insane? Even if she wasn’t his brother’s fiancée, she was still too dangerous to mess with. Eva was Trout’s only daughter. The tycoon protected her more shrewdly than he did the location of his tax shelters against the IRS.
West was being far too reckless with her. They were all asking for trouble.